We headed to Chicago on Dec 18. Actually Ethan's school break had not yet started.....so why an earth did we pull him out of school for a week? Well, over a year ago, when Jason had to make his vacation requests, we looked at the calendar and saw that Christmas was on a Sunday. So, as responsible parents we called the school board to ask when winter break would be. They said they could not guarantee it, but historically when Christmas fell on a Sunday, break was the week before and after Christmas. So Jason requested and received the week before Christmas off. Then last June, the school calendar came out......lo and behold the vacation was the two weeks AFTER Christmas. Jason couldn't switch, so we had to pull Ethan from school. Oops.
Anyhow, we apologized to his teacher and headed to the Arctic...I mean Chicago. The HIGH on the day we landed was -2. Absolutely frigid. Luckily, as the week progressed, it warmed up and by the time we left, it was consistently above freezing!
There was snow, which was fun for the kids. Not so fun was the fact that BOTH kids managed to get sick in the one week we were there--Alaina with a fever and a cough--and Ethan with a fever and vomiting on Christmas morning. Awesome.
Other than that we had a nice time. I got super lucky and won tickets in the Hamiton ticket lottery on Wednesday, and Jason and I had front row seats for the show for $10. It was amazing....we are both really big fans of the music, so it was really fun to see it on stage.
Also did some ice skating--Alaina's first time in skates went ok, and Ethan is improving--and Ethan went sledding with the Kurinsky family. Managed to squeeze in a dinner with my Illini friends as well!
We celebrated Christmas with my parents and brother's family. Kids loved playing with their cousin, who is a lot more interactive than last year!
We flew back Christmas night so Jason could work the night of the 26th...And had a nice Christmas at home on the morning of the 26th--more about that in the next post!
