jrgray.net

Local

Starved Rock

Every January, a group of bald eagles returns to Starved Rock state park in Illinois. Troop 317 took a day trip to the park where we spotted the eagles, took in a nature demonstration and did some hiking along icy paths

NASCAR & IndyCar

In July, we returned to the Chicagoland Speedway to watch the NASCAR Lifelock 400 Sprint Cup race, won by Mark Martin, and in August, went back for the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300, won by Ryan Briscoe.

Chicago Red Stars

Rebecca and her Bolingbrook teammates were invited to lead the Chicago Red Stars professional womens soccer team out onto the field at one of their games in Naperville

Rebecca Cheerleading

Rebecca participated in a cheerleading camp at Neuqua over the summer which included a chance to perform before a Neuqua Valley varsity football game

Labor Day Parade

Alex marched and played his trombone in the Naperville Labor Day parade with the Neuqua Valley Marching Wildcats

Halloween

After a few candy corn martinis, made with vodka infused with candy corn, we took Punk Pirate Princess Rebecca around the neighborhood to panhandle for candy.

Chicago Bears in Minneapolis

On Black Friday, we drove up to Minneapolis for the weekend with plans to shop at the Mall of America on Saturday and to take in a Chicago Bears game at the Metrodome against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The Vikings, 9-1 at the time, defeated the Bears 36-10 behind two touchdown passes from Brett Favre. Due to the game being moved from noon to 4PM, we ended up driving to the Wisconsin Dells and staying the night there before returning to Chicago on Monday.