I got off work Friday afternoon and drove straight to my favorite park. It was the first day here in the Chicago suburbs that truly felt like spring, and I really wanted to acknowledge it in some way. It had been far too long since my last fling with a swing set, so after a good twenty minutes pumping my legs as hard as I could I finally remembered what I love about it: everything.

Nestled in the depressed valley between the Hudson and Delaware rivers, are some of the most inspiring landscapes on the east coast. This part of Northern New Jersey is one not many people know about. It’s a place where life is a little slower, and a little more wide open than the typical New Jersey stereotype of bridges and tunnels and byways and smoke stacks. Our family and our group of friends are lucky enough to be able to work in Manhattan but live in a world apart, and we like to take advantage of it.

This year, in Early December, my wife Anna and I joined our friends Mark & Jessie Weaver with our kids and friend Michael Smyjewski to track down the perfect christmas tree. Mark & Jessie had gone to Wintergreen Farm in Lafayette, NJ the year before and wanted to head back, and we were happy to go along.

It’s just so refreshing, when you work in the city all week, to be able to spend your weekends in a place that seems like it should be hundreds of miles away. I like to think all of us draw inspiration from these little adventures our families take, even if it’s just from watching our daughter Lola (tan coat) and Mark and Jessie’s daughter Olive (red coat) sprint through the trees and laugh uncontrollably.

All photos shot on a contax 645 with Kodak portra film by Matthew Novak. Click here to view all the photos from this trip.

On Sunday we went to see Annie at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. We have season tickets to their Broadway Series, and this was the second of four productions in the series. I am really proud of our local theatre and all the people involved in putting these productions together. It’s just so exciting to have Chicago and New York City quality productions in our city. From the performances to the sets and costumes and the choreography and direction, it’s all top notch. If any of you are local readers and want to see fantastic productions at unbeatable prices, I highly recommend taking a look at the Paramount’s website. Beyond the quality of the productions, the Paramount itself is a beautiful building that will definitely impress!

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving my mom and I went in to the city to see Les Miserables. I drove us, and since I’m not used to driving in the city, I didn’t realize that there was a “self park” garage on every other corner. That being said, we had a few blocks to walk to our destination: the Cadillac Palace Theatre. With plenty of time before our show, we made a pit stop at Daley Center to use the bathrooms. I honestly think if this day trip in the city was going to go south it would have been there, in the long hallways leading to more long and inconspicuous hallways. But worry not, we eventually realized we had walked too far (the dead end was a helpful sign), promptly turned around, decided we couldn’t find it and were halfway up the escalators when I shouted, “by George, I think I’ve found it!” I’m kidding, I would never shout that out in a courthouse. Most likely. So we looped around and headed for the metal detectors that would garner us entrance into the blessed bathrooms we practically no longer needed. She had a snack bar with a metal wrapping and I was wanded by a female officer, but what difference did it make? We were in! Yada, yada, yada…the musical was wonderful.