Middle School, here we come!!!

We had locker set up night on Thursday night. It was chaotic! I took both girls myself, but should have brought Matt for backup to divide and conquer. We started off at Morgan's locker which is on the main floor. It took quite a while to get her locker open. We both tried the combo and didn't have a lot of luck. Ugh. Once we got it open, she put all her stuff in there and then we headed to Avery's locker, which is on the lower floor. (Their lockers are near their home rooms.) Avery had a different style locker and hers was easy to get open. After we got her stuff put away, we walked their schedules. Avery's schedule is all over the place, switching from main to lower floors and from one end to the other of the school. She won't have many chances to go back to her locker. Morgan's schedule is a lot easier (which is probably better for her!) By the end of the night, I was sweaty! It was hot in there and we had gone up, down and all around the school - ha! Morgan's locker is next to someone from our elementary school, so that's nice. We're not sure if Avery is near anyone she knows because we didn't see anyone around her locker while we were there. Just a reminder, the middle school combines all the nearby northside elementary schools, so it's a big change for all the kids. Their elementary school had about 50 6th graders and now they are joining up with the others for a total of 300+ 7th graders. And they ride the bus this year.. so many changes!

Day in the city

We spent the day in the city today enjoying the awesome weather! We got up early to watch the newest episode of TSITP because the girls and I are obsessed - ha! We caught the 9AM express train to the city.

We walked to the Willis Tower and visited the Sky Deck. We had fun walking through the museum before going up to the top. It was fun to see all things Chicago!

Chicago Style Hot Dog

Deep Dish Pizza

Second City

Then, we took the elevator up. Matt timed it and it took less than a minute to get to the top. Our ears popped a few times on the way!

Once we were at the top, the views were amazing! We lucked out that there were no clouds and it was beautiful!

We waited a few minutes to check out "The Ledge". I am not a fan of this! They have it set up pretty nice now where they even take a picture of you while you stand out there. We didn't get that last time! The girls were not scared at all, which surprised me (well, at least for Avery - she's afraid for heights!)

I was holding my breath here trying not to look down! Ha!

Since we were at the Willis Tower, we went up to our office. I was surprised my ID still worked considering I haven't been in the office for more than a year! Morgan checked out where Matt sits when he goes into the office.

We lucked out and saw Elta on our tour of the office. She gave the girls a bag of swag! Avery loved that our company's color was purple!

Then, we walked up to the River Walk. On our way, we waved to Ross!

It was such a gorgeous day on the River Walk!

The girls had eaten at Ed Debevic's for their friend's birthday, so they really wanted to go back. The waiter called Morgan "Brace Face" and called Avery "Princess" after we told him a little about her!

We took the water taxi back to Union Station to catch our train home.

We had a fun time in the city wrapping up our extra long summer of fun! We still have this upcoming weekend in the Dells to officially close out the summer!

Sneak Preview

The girls' new middle school had a "Sneak Preview" for the kids to tour the school and meet the teachers a couple mornings this week.

On the second day, they all had to wear their new Herrick shirts.

Just a few more days until they start middle school. They are both really excited for the first day! :)

Chicago Development Showcase Soccer Tournament

Morgan's soccer team played in the CDS tournament this weekend. We couldn't have asked for better weather - it was gorgeous! They had two games on Saturday. They tied their first game 1-1 against the Firebirds (who they ended up playing in the championship game). Morgan scored their goal on a penalty kick. They won their second game 2-1. On Sunday, they tied their first game 3-3. We had found out before this game that they had already made it to the Championship game, so they didn't have to win. The championship game was after lunch. They ended up losing 0-3 in the championship game. The other team's first two goals were on penalty kicks from some questionable calls by the referee. After that, the girls got down on themselves and just couldn't get it back. It didn't help that the referee was a mess. He gave out three yellow cards in the game. And then he missed obvious fouls, including one where our player was basically tackled from behind in the box while shooting at the goal. It was really frustrating. The girls got medals for 2nd place!

First time wearing the new uniforms!

Here's Morgan scoring on the penalty kick.

The yellow uniforms are a little busy!

Here's Avery showing off her OOTD to watch the soccer games. She was a good cheerleader for Morgan's team all weekend! :)

Coach Andres handing out the medals after the game.

First Row: Gabby, Jules, Mina, Josie, Caili, Ellery, Abby
Second Row: Elle, Nora, Lauren, Clara, Caiti, Emily, Julia, Morgan, Lynnea, Coach Andres

TSITP

Anyone else watching The Summer I Turned Pretty??? The girls and I are watching every Wednesday! We saw this cute sweatshirt out shopping and Avery wanted it! She wore it to the pool because it was actually a little chilly!

On a side note, Erin met us at the pool and hasn't been watching TSITP. She thought this sweatshirt was a fun reference to the cousins (aka Grayson, Beckett, Hunter, Nolan, Calvin, Morgan and Avery) spending time at the beaches in Michigan each summer. :)

Back to school shopping and Olive Garden

The girls and I went shopping at the outlet mall to find some clothes to kick off the new school year. We were successful... both girls found some great things! Since Matt was working, the girls and I ended the day with dinner at Olive Garden.

Here they are waiting for our table, showing off some of their new clothes!

Mean Girls Jr - Show #4

We wrapped up Mean Girls Jr with a final performance on Sunday afternoon. My parents were able to drive up for the show which made all the kids super happy! If you don't recall, my mom fell right before vacation in July and broke her knee cap. She had surgery a few days later and ended up missing out on our annual Michigan vacation. She's been laid out at home since then and was really sad to miss out on seeing the kids in the show. But, they decided to give it a try and set her up in the back seat of the car to try to make her comfortable for the drive. They were able to spend some time with the kiddos, see the show and drive home afterwards. :)

After the show, they had a small cast party at a nearby restaurant. We stopped by for some pizza and drinks. The kids enjoyed playing the pinball machines. Avery wore her "On Wednesdays, we wear pink" shirt! :) As always, Avery had a fun time and made some new friends. She's hoping to have time to do some more shows with this group!