What a busy day! It started at Dave’s and Kristena’s house as Andy put on his “IT hat” and got to work. He set our old server up for them and did a bit of other work. We followed that up with lunch at Rosati’s in Belvidere where we got to “behold the power of electronic devices.”
Yes, that *is* nine kids – you just can’t see Addyson in this picture – being absolutely quiet. Now, before you go making comments about how sad it is that they were engrossed in the electronic devices and not talking/laughing with each other, please keep in mind that nine kids can make a *lot* of noise. The restaurant is very small and they would have been extremely disruptive to other diners. Besides, this was actually quite funny because I think it was the *only* quiet time they had the entire time they were all together!
After lunch, we headed for downtown, arriving about 3 pm. We checked in, put on our long underwear, and headed out for time on the town! The Kassel Family separated from the rest of the group because we wanted to go to Daley Plaza. Our first stop was to see the windows at Marshall… Oh, um, I mean Macy’s. The windows were great this year and the kids loved them! Their favorite window was about “Miracle on 34th Street”. The movie was actually playing in the window display.
Next, we visited the big Christmas tree in Daley Plaza. The kids were amazed at how tall it was. I always love to see that Christmas tree because it makes it really feel like the Christmas season.
We visited the Christkindlmarket where we purchased a few things, including another dragon statue for the kids’ room and an Alpaca scarf for me. The scarf was definitely a splurge, but I love it! After a quick dinner, we headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening in the BlumeNation hotel suite with family. I had intended to stay for just a short time because the kids were tired, but it wasn’t until well after 10 pm that I dragged them down to our room for bed. Actually, there wasn’t much dragging as both Laura and John asked if they could go to bed. And to bed they went! It was sleep in less than two minutes. A fitting end to a very fun, busy day!
