Imagine Dragons Concert Fun!

Annabel's friend, Aggie, told her one day way back in like April that they were going to see Imagine Dragons in August and I had been waiting years for them to come to Chicago so I jumped right onto that bandwagon immediately and bought tickets for our entire family so we could go, too! We made a really fun night of it! It was a Friday night, after the first full week of school, a great night to be out celebrating, and gorgeous amazing weather for an outdoor concert. 

We started by meeting up with our friends at Lou Malnati's by the concert venue (Hollywood Casino Amphitheater) and had a yummy pizza dinner. Then we headed to the venue, parked and walked in. It was so crowded- we later heard something like 24,000 people! We had lawn tickets (Thanks to my parents for the gift card they gave us a while back- we finally put it to AWESOME use! The best!) and also rented lawn chairs, which came in really handy while waiting for the concert to begin (after that everybody was standing of course) and then later Aggie's 2nd grade brother, Stephen, fell asleep in a chair (yes, during the loud loud concert...he was out, it was so funny, but the poor kid was so tired after a long week of school). We enjoyed the first two bands, King's Elliot (they were okay) and Macklemore (whom I had never heard of, but Ben had and was excited to see them). Macklemore really got the crowd amped up- they were very entertaining. 

And then came Imagine Dragons!! They played all our favorite songs and more. The lights and special effects were so very cool. It was a really great show! We just all loved it so much. We were riding on a concert high, all 4 of us! Annabel LOVES her souvenir t-shirt- wears it all the time! I'm SO glad we got to go!! And again, glad we were healthy and could go! It was a great night out for our family and with Annabel's friend, too!

I thought this email was funny..."Fan Alert!" Actually, because the show was expected to be SO crowded, like sold out crowded, we kept getting emails alerting us to traffic and parking delays and to plan that into our night. We ended up totally fine, no problems at all nor much waiting. It was all well organized.

So they don't "do" tickets anymore- it's all digital of course. But the day after the show, I got an email telling me I could find "ticket stubs" in my account. They were even signed- how about that? Anyway, a fun little memento, if only an image.

Such a great night all around!!!

We're Not Throwing Away Our Shot

Hamilton!!!

Need I say more?!?!!

When I saw that Hamilton was touring and performing a stone's throw away from Chicago (up in Madison), I sure grabbed the chance to go! I got the tickets just before Annabel's 11th birthday, so we made them her birthday present and it was just the BEST present!! She was SO EXCITED!! Waiting till August 21st was a long wait, but it was so very worth it. 

We had great seats, hiiiiiigh up, but third row from the front of balcony, and with the seats tiered such as they were, we could see pretty well. It was really fun to enjoy the show from up above, to see the choreography, the movement, and the lights from that perspective, having already seen the faces and close-ups on Disney+. I was glad for the different perspective. The show was great and it was the best family outing we could have asked for as an end of summer/back to school kick-off. I'm just glad we were all healthy enough to go!! Phew, close call for sure, but we were not going to throw away this shot, that's for sure!!!

The theater was not far from the state capitol, so it was fun to walk around the area a little after lunch and see that before the show, too. And then of course I grabbed a few photo ops at the theater. Enjoy the pictures! We had such a great day trip!

What a fun memory!!

Middle School Times Two

I now have not one but TWO kids in middle school!!! How? How is my baby in middle school already??

August was full of orientation, locker practice, and schedule walk-throughs and of course the first day of school!! Annabel was VERY excited for all of this (we're just glad we could squeeze all the fun in among our sick days- yikes, close call!) and couldn't wait go see her locker and do the new schedule of changing classes and all that. Daniel was not excited, but he did want to do the walk through of his schedule twice and we managed to get his tricky locker open a few times. All in all, the kids are set and ready for school to start!

Annabel has been steadily collecting magnets for her locker door and she decorated this pencil cup with vinyl stickers (something else she loves collecting and shopping for).

6th grade orientation day! Annabel even got to ride the bus this day! She was so excited!

Annabel with friends and neighbors- Aggie, Bri (a new neighbor), and Elizabeth.

After the first part of orientation was over, the parents all joined the kids at school and helped with locker decorating (magnets in our case) and schedule walk-throughs. I made Annabel do it multiple times, even coming up with a few little silly phrases to help her remember where certain rooms were. She should be just fine come next Wednesday!! (Daniel's walk through was the day before Annabel's- he's set, too...plus we did go back with both kids a few days later just to really set it all in.)

She can almost fit in the locker, haha!

Such fun magnets!!

My middle schooler! Annabel is getting so big!

Daniel and I took advantage of a really good sale at Bricks and Minifigs- I considered it his last blast of summer fun! Plus, he was the lucky one who did not come down with COVID the last week of summer, so some new Legos kept him busy while the rest of us were quarantined and resting. I'm glad we got this fun trip squeezed in- I had the best time with Daniel that day! Our trip did involve a visit from the local fire department since the alarms went off. We had to leave our bag of Legos behind for a little while and wait outside, and we were delighted to be let back in to continue our hunt for fun Legos. Ben said the sale was just too hot. Haha.

Lots of resting and reading happened the last week of summer...kitty snuggles included!

One more schedule walk through for both kids! This time we brought shelves for Annabel, who decided she wanted them after all. She and Daddy even painted them a light aqua color and covered the tops with cute contact paper. Annabel also has a tiny little rug square at the bottom for boots- her idea and such a cute one, too! Annabel also made a printout of her schedule to put on the back of her locker- it's adorable.

We watched a movie outside for our last weekend of summer. That was fun! I'm glad we made these moments happen.

And just like that, summer was over and the first day of school was upon us! Here's my 8th grader and my 6th grader, all ready to go!

Grandma Mary Kay left the kids a note in the driveway! So sweet!

Annabel let me walk to the bus stop with her and I even got a picture. Daniel took off, of course- I don't blame him one bit; I kept my distance away from the kids as it was anyway, I just wanted to be near and Annabel was cool with that. (I didn't go the next day, just this once.)

And gosh I thought about my kids ALL day long, especially Annabel with this being her first day of middle school- I watched that clock like crazy thinking about their schedules and what they might be doing. When 3:00 hit I was at my open door waiting for them to come home. Annabel saw me and ran! I got one of those wonderful run-at-me big hugs!! Oh my heart melted. She has no idea how much I loved that. It made my day! I snapped this picture, dropped the phone and ran out to catch her and give her that hug. She was ALL smiles!!! She loved every minute of her day and every thing about middle school!

Annabel got to decorate her composition notebook. We got started on that right away, using her vinyl sticker collection of course.

Friday night, one of her friends, Katelyn, hosted a pool & movie party to celebrate the first week of school. Annabel had a great time! Such a fun night for the girls. These were pictures Katelyn's mom texted to us all.

I got this Shutterfly reminder of Annabel's first day of school five years ago- first grade (2017)!! So cute!

After a busy weekend (we didn't throw away our shot...let's just say that!), it's Monday again...back for another day of school...the cats really miss the kids these days...

Here's hoping it's a wonderful school year!! Annabel was made for middle school, that's for sure! And Daniel- we'll be planning his freshman year of high school this year- now, that's WHOA!!