I actually wasn’t a big fan of Wrigley Field, which was small and many of the seats had obstructed views. We had some of the highest seats in the stadium, and it still cost a fortune.
But, the Cubs fans made up for the stadium’s deficiencies. It was a sold out crowd that watched and cheered for every pitch. When the Cubs beat the Brewers, the atmosphere was electric.
Afterward the game, we visited the Cubs’ World Series trophy.
The family and I learned all about Chicago in their city’s history museum. After it closed, we walked though Lincoln park and briefly visited the zoo in the park, before it closed for the day.
We filled the time before our flight home by going for a hike in an Illinois forest. Then we visited beautiful Lake Katherine and the creatures at its nature center and gardens.
It’s hard to believe Gavin is already in middle school, starting 6th grade at Oak Valley. Connor is excited to be in Mrs Cunningham’s class for 3rd grade this year at Turtleback. Have a great school year boys!
Gavin was brought in with bases loaded and got 2 strikeouts. Then he pitched the next inning and rang up another two Ks.
One of Gavin’s strikeouts:
Gavin pitched the last inning, getting all three outs with strike outs.
Making new friends at the Zoo, such as the spurred tortoises, Mickey the umbrella cockatoo, anteater, gerenuk, and reindeer.
The Safari Park is the new home of 2 platypuses, the only 2 outside of Australia. The zoo had been working on getting them for over 100 years, as it was a dream of the founder to have some.
Unfortunately, it was quite dark in their exhibit (they are nocturnal), and I had a huge line of people behind me, so I didn’t get any good photos of them. The exhibit had only been open one day, so hopefully next time I go I will have more time to try to get a better shot.
We spent the day before Aliciana’s birthday at Disneyland, so she could celebrate it like a princess. Everything was decorated for the holidays and the castle looked beautiful with all the lights.
The boys got to paddle the canoes for the first time, and I got soaked when I went on Splash Mountain with Gavin. The new Star Wars land has an amazing atmosphere to walk around in; it really felt like you were on a remote outpost on some alien world.
I managed to snap some photos of Connor while I was running the “stack the hex nuts” station. The kids had a sugar filled chaotic blast.
