Monday, October 26, 2015

Fall Fun

 Hayrides and farm animals abound....

Dragons Love Tacos! And Halloween!

As a surprise to the boys this past Saturday, we took them to a play in the city based on the children's picture book Dragons Love Tacos! by Adam Rubin.  The play was good - Sean was really engaged. Gretchen acted like it was beneath her but I think she liked it too.  She likes the book but acknowledges that it's for "kids".  She's ten going on twenty. 

 After going to the play, we enjoyed some Lou Malnati's before heading over to Maggie Daley Park for the Inaugural Chicago Halloween Gathering event.  The kids got to be in a children's costume procession on the ribbon and then afterwards we hit the stations and played in the park.  We had time to kill before the evening Halloween parade so we went to Gretchen's favorite place in the city:  Crown Fountain. The parade was good but we had exhausted all of our energy reserves by the time to got going.  We'll have to head out later next year.  In general it was one of the busiest weekends I've planned in a while.  I need a vacation from my weekend!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Fifth Grade Music Program

The girl is playing trumpet this year in band but before she's ready for a band concert, her grade had a singing program.  Gretchen sang, danced and played a drum.


Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Chinatown Tour

I took Gretchen's girl scout troop to China town this past weekend through our local council.  Apparently, even though I've been to Chinatown a lot, I did not know that tours of Chinatown are a thing - something you can do as a tourist.  I shouldn't be surprised but it would be cool if every neighborhood had this!  The girls enjoyed it a lot - the tour was walking and only an hour but afterwards we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.  I was so impressed that the kids who came with us were not picky eaters.  They mostly tried everything and enjoyed it.  It was a nice day and a great cultural opportunity.  Our council has been really good at offering things to do in the city so I try to take advantage of it as much as possible.  Next month we're going to see a play!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Besties

Gretchen's best friend from Kindergarten moved away a few  years ago to a suburb closer to the city.  We don't see her very often but Gretchen insists that she is STILL her best friend.  While I am dubious about it, I will say that whenever these girls are together they just seem to pick up where they last left off.  That is true friendship in my opinion so I hope they keep it up!  The party was ice skating which Gretchen had never done before but she was so determined to skate the whole night that she kept at it.  I was really proud of her!