A Night in Chicago

 About a year ago, Kade started playing music by a rock band called Third Eye Blind. When he played a few of their biggest hits I was immediately taken back to my days in high school where I was introduced to the song Semi-Charmed Life and a few others that I really enjoyed. I know I have heard these songs here and there, and even some of their newer ones, probably on the radio or from my brother because I was very familiar with a lot of the music, just as if it hasn't been over 25 years since I first heard them. 

When we were driving back from our trip West to drop Victoria off at school, Kade and I listened to a lot of Third Eye Blind on that 24-hour drive home! Austin and Erik were busy with their audiobooks and other music and games in the back seat. It was a memorable road trip. One song in particular played in my head repeatedly when Kade was in the hospital in the fall. 

A few months ago we discovered that Third Eye Blind was going on tour in our area. The best time and location for our schedule was in Chicago. Kade has a friend who also loves the band and we planned a quick trip to Chicago. 

Our hotel was right in Chinatown, much to our delight! We explored shops and ate very delicious dumplings and rolled ice cream. It was the most I have ever explored Chinatown and I really enjoyed it- Kade and Finnley did too!

The best dumplings!!

Lamb kabob.

Ok, rolled ice cream is divine!!

Kade and I love our ice cream!

Our hotel.

We stopped in the Mini So earlier, this was taken after the concert on the way back.

Since we were there for the concert and I am pretty rusty with city transportation, we had to leave plenty of time to get to the Huntington Bank Pavilion on Northerly Island. After asking various people questions about the best way to get there, we finally arrived in plenty of time and without getting lost! It was only a short walk, subway ride, and bus ride away! It happened to be drizzling throughout most of the journey there, which was kind of annoying, but luckily I had done my hair curly, so I think it looked better than if I had worn it straight. We couldn't bring umbrellas into the pavilion and even though I did wish I had brought my rain jacket when the rain came down harder for a few moments during the concert, it didn't take away from the enjoyment of the night. 

Chicago from our seats!

Lake Michigan is on the other side of the pavilion.

The group Arizona performed first and they were fabulous! Next came an amazing group called Yellowcard, which I didn't recognize the name of the group, but I did recognize some of their hits. I especially enjoyed watching the violinist! It's not very often you see a violinist in a rock band! It got Kade excited about his viola-playing skills. I was very impressed by Yellowcard and how grateful they were to be there, playing as the opening act for Third Eye Blind. They were humble and talented! The most interesting part was that the lead singer mentioned that Third Eye Blind debuted in 1997, which confused me because I graduated in '96 yet I distinctly remember hearing their music at lunch on the quad at Royal Highschool. I looked them up on my phone and learned that while the debut was in '97, they formed in '93 in California and signed their first contract in '96. Since I lived in CA, I think someone was able to get their hands on the music immediately and play it. I went to BYU in the fall and probably listened to some of their music then, but I don't remember. I do know that by the time I met Jason in '99, I was listening to country. That's mostly what we listened to when we were first married. As I said at the beginning of my post, I must have heard them here and there because I wasn't totally unfamiliar with some of their other songs, though our family listened to a lot of Disney music and Kid's Bop during that time (nothing went past Victoria- she repeated everything she heard, very loudly, so we had to play age-appropriate music for her!) When Kade played Semi-Charmed Life which is super catchy, I was immediately taken back to my high school days.

Yellowcard violinist!

The couple in front of us at the concert turned around and said, referring to Kade and Finnley, "I assume these guys weren't even born yet when Third Eye Blind came out." I confirmed the assumption and told them Kade and Finnley have very good taste in music. They were definitely the youngest there and Kade knew the lyrics the best and sang them louder than anyone! He even got a fist pump from some other dude who had started the "encore" chant, which Kade excitedly joined in on. 

Kade rocking out to Graduate!

Singing all the lyrics!

I especially enjoyed it when the lead singer had us put our arms around someone nearby and remind ourselves that we were there for each other and it was going to be a "summer of joy". It was a memorable night for sure! 

Kade gave me some grunge clothes to wear. You can't see in the pic very well, but the jeans could fit two of me in. I wore one of my old belts and Kade's flannel. The nice thing was I could fit my bottled water in the pocket! The bad thing was they got super wet dragging on the ground in the puddles. 

Bringing on Summer

 Though we've only been out of school for just over a week, we've been anticipating the end of the school year for a few weeks with all of the end-of-year activities. Now that Austin is finally feeling better, and Jason too, I feel like I can go back to appreciate some of those celebrations. 

My mom was here for Austin's final track meet, piano recital, Erik's band concert, and Canton Cup, which I already posted about. Kade and Jason attended the orchestra banquet, which I typically attend but chilled with my mom instead. Jason and I got to attend Austin's track ice cream social together. And we all enjoyed the start of the backpacking training for the Young Men's trip at the end of July.

Orchestra banquet

Track ice cream social 

Austin's coach was so proud of his accomplishments!

I had to swing on some vines with the kids on our hike and I didn't have a backpack to carry!

We went to an air show and Kade got to go on a senior beach trip with CJ. We attended many grad parties, as I mentioned before.

Lake Michigan

CJ's grad party (Kade's bestie)

Susie's grad party (Vicky's bestie, but I got to represent Victoria who couldn't be there)

Kade and I got nailed going into his dermatologist appointment by a crazy downpour. We were parked in the first space, closest to the door and we were drenched in the 2 seconds it took to get under the overhang!

Most of us made it to the last day of school, well, Austin did, but barely, so I didn't take any last-day of school pics of him.

Some of my amazing co-workers!

Here we are, well into summer now. We made it through the school year- phew!

Grads and Dad

 We've been to a lot of graduation parties since school ended. You know, it's the Michigan way. Austin got to go to the most important one for him, his best friend Owen's older brother, but then Austin got sick with some crazy end-of-the-year sickness and couldn't go to the other 3 that we went to. It's been over a week, and Austin's still sick, though I can say he's finally getting better.

Last Monday, two days before school got out, his throat started to hurt. Those last 3 days were half days because of finals. He managed ok on Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday, he had a fever and I still had to send him for his last day, with a face mask, so he could take his last final. After school, I took him to the doctor to see if he had strep. He had spots on his throat and I was sure it was strep. Well, the rapid test came back negative. In the following couple of days, the tests for covid, influenza A and B, and the longer strep test came back negative. Then, he developed problems with his ears. They hurt and were plugged up. Meanwhile, his throat still hurt and he started coughing. On Sunday, he woke up with bright red eyes, so red I didn't think it was even pink eye because they didn't look like any pink eye I'd ever seen. His voice sounded awful and he was all plugged up. Monday morning his eyes still looked horribly red along with a lot of goop, so I took him to the doctor again and they looked at everything. His ears weren't necessarily infected, just plugged up. They didn't think he actually had pink eye. It sounded like they weren't really sure what to label his sickness as, so they prescribed him amoxicillin and said they would treat it as a sinus infection. They also prescribed him eye drops for us to pick up on Wednesday if his eyes didn't improve. Now it is Tuesday, more than a week since his first symptom of a sore throat. He had a bloody nose this morning while trying to blow his nose and he still sounds congested, but his eyes are starting to improve and he told me a few minutes ago that his throat finally doesn't hurt anymore. I'm really hoping he's done with this because it has been a long week of sickness for him. 

Meanwhile, Jason had developed a horrible cough, as is his main symptom with most things he catches. He caught it before Austin.  We think he might have gotten it from Erik who had an ear infection before that, but they treated him with amoxicillin immediately. When they told us Austin's was viral and wouldn't give him anything on that first visit, we were confused as to where everyone caught everything. Jason's cough was one of his more intense ones with lots of late nights up coughing and plenty of coughing throughout the day. He sounded pretty bad too. He had a sore throat, but that was his only other symptom. Luckily for him, he just started to feel better for Father's Day. 

I made him a breakfast hash with peppers, sausage, and eggs and then copycat In and Out burgers with broccoli and fries for dinner. The burgers really did taste like In and Out! I was super happy about that because I'm not the greatest at working with meat, but it was mostly the sauce and the veggies that made the difference with the burgers. I made copycat Wendy's frosties for dessert that also were surprisingly easy and much like the real thing. Kade made blonde brownies as well because he typically makes his gifts in the form of dessert. We played some card games and relaxed together. Jason and I got his gift the day before- new church shoes that he picked out. 

This was actually Saturday night.

Sunday night. 

We zoomed with Victoria too.

Kade and I have been trying not to get sick. I think Kade will get it in two days when Austin's all better. I probably won't get it because my immune system has been insane this year! I almost had a sick student every week, or a least every other week, for the whole year, with strep, covid, pink eye, stomach bug, flu, pneumonia, and other things, and I never even got a cold this whole school year. 

Also, Kade is dog-sitting for two weeks, so Pepper got to celebrate Jason with us too. She's such a good dog and we're enjoying having her here! The cats are getting used to her as well. 

She enjoys sitting with us on the couch.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!