Hamilton's Chicago

In early November we had a long weekend in Chicago to see the musical "Hamilton".  Joe and I had seen this musical with the original cast in NYC, but the kids had not seen it.  To say that our family is obsessed with this musical is a bit of an understatement.  We quote "Hamilton" on a daily basis.  This kids insisted on many pictures to remember this.

Recreating our NYC picture.

The set of "Hamilton".  Our seats for this performance (about the 10th row) were much better than what we had in NYC (2nd row from the top).  

After the musical, we walked to Macy's to see their Christmas windows.  Yes, Christmas windows in short sleeves in Chicago.  Crazy weather.

And how can you go to Chicago without getting Chicago style pizza?  This is at Giordano's.  

Swimming in the hotel pool - the kids do get along at times!

The next day we visited the Field Museum.  It had been years since we had last gone.

They Egyptian exhibit did not scare the kids this time!

Having fun in the underground adventure.

Learning about Native Americans and totem poles.

Everyone must get a picture with Sue the T-Rex!

A big reason for us attending the Field Museum - to see the Terra Cotta Warriors from China.  This exhibit was excellent - so many Warriors were exhibited, and we learned a lot about them.

Ethan with his favorite animal.

Ready for the 4D Galapagos Island movie - it was excellent.

The Month of Halloween

As usual, our Halloween encompasses the entire month of October.  From everything pumpkin to costumes to candy, we really make the most of this holiday.

Olivia's history class did a pumpkin decorating project.  Olivia based hers on the musical "Hamilton":  Lin-Manuel Boo-randa.  

Pumpkin picking at our favorite patch.  Two wagons just aren't enough!  I have a bit of a pumpkin obsession - I must have at least one of each variety available, and the quirkier the better.  To be fair, I leave them in our landscaping through the month of November to get the most of them!

My absolute favorite Springfield event - Jack Spectacular at the Washington Park Carillon.  We never miss it - and this year was no exception as Joe and I ran through it before going to a concert that night.  No pictures of Ethan since he had to wait until the next night to see it with Grammy and Grandpa Brett while Joe and I were in St. Louis.  This year's had 2016 carved pumpkins throughout the park, although there were a little too many Cubs World Series pumpkins for our taste!

Olivia and Grammy with the carillon in the background.  We like to attend when it is still a bit light outside, and then by the time we leave it is pitch black, so we get to see the pumpkins two ways.

The October weather was crazy this year, and it forced our church's Trunk or Treat to move indoors.  Considering we ran out of candy about 3/4 of the way through, we would say it was still a success!

Pumpkin carving time!  Typically I do not carve my own pumpkin since I am busy assisting Ethan with carving his, but this year he did it completely on his own (after I had gutted it!).  So next year I will have to get my own pumpkin so I am not sitting on the sidelines.  Please disregard Olivia's eye make up - she is not going goth!  It was part of her Halloween costume and she had not washed it off.

Both kids are now participating in the Hoogland Kids theater program.  They have a Halloween carnival to raise funds for this program, including several singing performances during the carnival.  Ethan is in the front, and Olivia is in the back row, left side.  She was thrilled that she won an award for her costume.  

Olivia was very proud of her costume this year.  She was Tape Face, who was a mime on the TV show "America's Got Talent."  She really did a good job with this ensemble!  She kept the tape on her mouth, and would partially remove it to talk.

Ethan went as Marvel's Black Panther.

Ready for Trick or Treating!  For the first time, Olivia went with 3 friends and no adults.  Ethan went with 2 friends but had Joe go with him.  

Our traditional post-Trick or Treating viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" while eating candy.  This year we had additional friends join in.

And a few Thanksgiving pictures, just because.  First is Ethan showing our traditional cranberry sauce from a can.  

A turkey day miracle - Olivia allowing a hug from a parent!

The whole Thanksgiving gang.

Post turkey family snuggle time.

Wrapping Up Summer

Our summer ended with a bang - from water fun to sports to a history lesson, we had a bit of everything going on in our family life!  First pictures are of the kids tubing on Lake Springfield.  Family friends invited us to join them in some fun with boating, tubing, and stand up paddle boards.  The kids had never been tubing before, but both really enjoyed it (once we convinced them to try it!).

Ethan wrapped up his kid-pitch baseball and soccer seasons with a bang.  We noticed improvements in both sports.  He enjoys batting the most in baseball, but prefers defense in soccer.

We made time for our annual apple picking at Brooms apple orchard in Carlinville.  We love this place since they allow you to pick your own apples, eat as many as you want while picking, climb the trees (okay, they don't actually "allow" that, but...), and they have good small town fun with their creative playground and corn maze.

After apple picking, the kids then helped out at grandma and grandpa's with picking vegetable, feeding the fish, and mowing the field.  And the sweet potato that Ethan is holding isn't even the biggest that grandpa grew this year!

Finally, Olivia competed on her school's 7th grade Gettysburg Address puzzle team.  The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum invited schools to recreate the address from memory using oversized words in the shortest amount of time.  Olivia's team finished in 20 minutes, but her school's 8th grade team smashed the previous record with a time of 14 1/2 minutes.  It was fun to watch and was a really good lesson on teamwork.