Alex's First Hockey Practices

Alex had his first weekend of "real hockey" where he did hockey drills with his stick. He did a great job!

Climb Kalamazoo

After visiting Santa, Phil took the boys to Climb Kalamazoo. They had been asking to go again for a while and it worked out well since they were already downtown. They are good little climbers.

Cookies and Santa

On Sunday, I had my girlfriends over for my annual cookie exchange. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate so the girls from GR couldn't come but I still had nine in attendance. While we enjoyed brunch and cookies, Phil took the boys to hockey and then downtown to see Santa.

Fancy!

On Friday night, we went downtown to celebrate our friend Michelle's 40th Birthday. They had reserved a private room at the nice steakhouse downtown. It was fun to have a fancy night out!

Saturday in Chicago

After breakfast on Saturday morning, we walked to the Metra station and rode to the Museum of Science and Industry. The boys love the "water room" and the trains. We also saw the Omnimax show of "National Parks" which was really fun. After the museum, we had a late lunch/early dinner at Eataly. Then we spent some time at the hotel before taking another train ride. William decided he did want to go to Zoo Lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo but Alex didn't want to go. So we split up for the evening. William had a hockey game at 8:10am on Sunday, so we got up super early to get home in time. Although quick, it was a fun weekend.

Friday in Chicago

On Friday morning, we packed up the car and drove to Chicago for our annual holiday trip. Grann drove in the night before and we were on the road by 7:30. Phil dropped us at the hotel so we could check-in while he and Alex parked the car and road the El back. Then we started our day! We went to Shake Shack for and early lunch before heading to Water Tower Place to explore the Lego Store. The boys each picked out a small Lego as a souvenir and added several to their Christmas lists. Then we went back to the hotel so the boys could (very briefly) swim. Next we walked down to the Macy's on State Street to put our name in for dinner by the big Christmas tree in the Walnut Room. We had a 5pm reservation, so we spent the rest of the afternoon watching the boys skate on the skating ribbon in Maggie Daley Park. Dinner in the Walnut Room was fun and the boys were excited to see the fairy. After dinner, Phil and boys went for a "just for fun" train ride before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

On Friday we followed tradition and went to Hart's Tree Farm to find the perfect Christmas tree. We met our friends in the parking lot and took the tractor ride to the Frasier Firs. There were a lot of great trees to choose from but in the end we all agreed on the same tree. After tree hunting, we drove into Rockford for lunch at the Corner Bar. We got there just before 11 and were sat right away. We got there at the perfect time - within a few minutes there was a line/wait. After lunch, we went down to the spillway and shopped a little bit before heading home to decorate the tree.

Found it!

6 adults and 6 kids

Nightly ritual - writing a letter to Santa