Something to do again

The Magnificent Mile lights festival was awesome!

Ashley, her friend Sarah and I took the train to the city Saturday after Ashley's dance class and walked through the Ogilvie Center right out to the Chicago Water Taxi dock. The Water Taxi was free, it took us from the train station to Michigan Avenue, they had Christmas lights on board, Christmas music was playing and Fannie May was giving out chocolate bars along with coupons to stop in and get a free cup of hot chocolate! It certainly started things off great.

We walked a short way to the plaza on Michigan Avenue where we were able to deposit non-perishable items we brought for the food depository in exchange for a piece of cheese cake from Eli cheesecake. Yum!

There were lots of cool things going on. We tried a sample of pumpkin milk from Whole Foods. It was interesting to taste but we agreed once was plenty. We waited in a long line to try to win tickets to Blue Man Group and ended up with glow sticks (from answering questions about our festival experience) and a magnet.

Ashley was not amused by the magnet because it left us in the back of a very large crowd at the Radio Disney stage where Corbin Bleu (from High School Musical) performed at 4pm, for 20 minutes. As I watched all of the dads with little girls (preschool age) on their shoulders cheering "Corbin!", I thought of all the great things Drew has done for our prince and princess and what my brothers-in-law have to look forward to with their princesses.

Oh look in the performance picture, while getting pushed around and holding the camera up where I had no idea what we would see, there he is in the white shirt!

Ashley was beyond excited, her first celebrity sighting and it's Corbin! The video I took she wants on a dvd and loaded onto her Ipod to share with her friends at school.

All this video business was tough on the camera batteries so there was no battery power when he appeared later in the parade - not 50 feet from us. The video and audio is keeping me out of trouble for missing the close up shot.

The street was lined with hundreds of thousands of people. We found our spot and stayed there for over two hours, right on the edge of the parade route.

This is the first year this festival was televised "live" and was delayed apparently due to the Michigan State/Penn State football game running over. After the parade there was an awesome fireworks display set off over the Chicago River.

Our patience was rewarded by seeing the parade and the fireworks up close. It was really beautiful but Ash & I can't wait to return downtown when it is snowing with our snowflake glasses!

Sarah had never seen the holiday windows at Marshall Fields (Macy's) so we walked there and were really disappointed. This year's story is The Nutcracker. Only one side of the building was dedicated to the "cliff notes" version of the story and they had it end with Clara ending up in Chicago. ??

Ashley & I decided this was fun and we should do it again next year. It was fun to share today with Sarah.

On the way back home there were so many people that the train was 15 minutes late. We dropped Sarah off, went home, got Ashley's catching gear so she can sleep over at a friend's and catch for her pitching practice tomorrow morning.

That is adding up to me sleeping in this house for the very first time without anyone else here. I am clearly beside myself because it is 2:56am and I am here instead of asleep. Drew always says the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner tomorrow will be here. I best go to sleep, Ashley will return tomorrow and the guys will return Monday.