End With a BANG!

When we returned from our trip to the UP, we picked up my mom from the airport for her annual "back to school" visit. It's become her tradition to come here when school starts. It's nice because I have to get my classroom ready and help my kids prepare for their first day, plus the first day is always a half day for them, so it's nice to have a family member greet them when they're done with school while I finish up with my first day with new preschoolers.

We decided to spice this Labor Day weekend up with something different, since our annual Stake Picnic was held earlier in the summer. My friend gave me the idea of following my dreams (and Karissa's and my mom's) and going to see Hamilton!! It's not in Detroit anymore, but in Chicago until January. Jason helped me find $92 tickets and I had a free stay at a Marriott, so it couldn't have been better! Since no one else in my family cared to see it, they were just fine with the three of us going on the 4 hour drive on Saturday and coming back Sunday. Jason will take the rest of the kids to the BYU game in Toledo at the end of the month.

Living it up in the city!

Our drive was fast and smooth. We parked around the corner from our hotel in downtown Chicago and were able to walk to dinner at Mercadito (yummm!) and walk to the production of Hamilton, which was even closer! Our seats were amazing, for how cheap they were, the show even better than I imagined, our free suite luxurious, and our free breakfast the next morning divine! That made my summer! I had been trying for lottery tickets to see it for almost a year, to no avail, so I was pretty stoked to make it happen without breaking the bank.

Mercadito

My first glimpse of it!

We made it!!

On Labor Day we tried a new activity that Karissa did as a Beehive activity recently: we went to Ann Arbor and floated down the Argo Cascades in inner tubes. It was super fun and adventurous! There were little cascades every so often that we'd splash down, and then float to the next one on the current. Next time we want to try kayaks there.

I didn't get any pics of the cascades themselves, but you can see the white water from the first one in the background here.

Finally, school started, and we survived the first week. Victoria started early morning seminary and high school. It's hard to believe that she's at the phase already! She has an awesome schedule for her first year there and is loving it. Karissa is enjoying her second year at East as a 7th grader, Austin likes being a 5th grader (the last grade in elementary school here), and Erik is in my favorite grade: 2nd!

Hooray for school!