One of Zachary's long-time best friends Blake is a Chicago Bears fan, and for his 8th grade graduation he was gifted a trip to see the Bears play up in Chicago where his Dad grew up. The original intent was for Blake's grandpa to come as well, but at the last minute he wasn't able to join them and the tickets had already been purchased, so the Bs graciously asked if Zachary would like to join them at the game. This was an inaugural event - other than summer camp, Zachary has never been on a trip without the Z parents but we've known and entrusted the B family with our childcare since they were born, so we felt very comfortable in letting Zachary spread his wings - so off he went!
It was a whirlwind trip, they flew up just for the weekend and walked around Chicago on Saturday and then went to the game on Sunday. The weather was COLD, so they bundled up and took rain gear as it was sprinkling on Sunday at the game. It was a great fun experience, and we are thankful to great friends for inviting Zachary along!
Some of the things that they did and saw included: The Navy Pier, Millennial Park, The Bean, Chicago skyline, the Tilt and of course Soldier Field.
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| Subway ride |
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| Blake and Zachary |
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| Chicago Skyline |
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| Millennial Park |
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| Chicago Eye |
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| Soldier field |
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| Amazing seats for the game |
While Zachary was away, the rest of us had a fun-filled weekend as well with lots of activities to keep us busy.
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| Addison sang at church with the children's choir |
And then Addison and Amy in the afternoon went over to the church to participate in a family activity of building a manger scene and reviewing the true gifts that God brings to the world. Very fun!
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| Contest to wrap up our friend Elin as a present! |
The church also hosted an evening of watching the Christmas story "the Star" and then afterwards they had these incredible bubbles that would float in the air and were made of fog/smoke -- not the typical wet bubbles. They were so fun - you'd touch them and "poof" they'd pop into smoke again. It enamored all of us, including the adults!
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| The bubbles are filled with the smoke |
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| Snuggling with big brother watching the Star movie |
In December of course there are lots of Christmas parties through work and school. Kaleb had his Uno Voce Christmas party in which they had a costume contest - Kaleb had a suit jacket that had battery operated lights that would twinkle - so he was a twinkling light for the evening - complete with a bowtie and red pants. He had fun with it, and ended up winning the contest amongst his group (although Kaleb is always gracious and said he thought that another friend John Mark should have won, as he came dressed up as an actual Christmas tree but had taken off his outfit by the time the contest was judged -- because who wants to walk around with tree branches on you all night!? 😂)
Amy had a fun work party in which we went out and painted a picture as a group, after which we did a gift exchange and lunch. Very fun with a great group of people that she is blessed to work with!
Aside from Christmas parties, Addison had a fun outing with Grandma and Grandpa to pick strawberries - they were huge!
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| Sampling the huge strawberries as they picked them! Yummy! |
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| Tons of berries that they picked! |
Random pictures:
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| Playing games together - hopefully they bond well so that as adults they are friends! |
