Circus Boy

Circus Boy was one of the “Winter Escape” events from the Dundee Township Park District. 
I think they hold a special event once a month, on a Friday, during winter. You have to 
register your child for the show and there is a fee. $3 pre-registration fee or $4 at the door. 
We had been to one of these events last winter, a magic show.  These are really great kid 
shows. 

There is chair seating but also a big open floor space near the stage for kids to sit and be 
up close to volunteer for onstage participation. Aiden sat on the floor with the other kids 
for the magic show, but this time, for Circus Boy, he chose to sit in the chair seating area 
with his cousin and us.  However that did not stop him from getting involved in the show.  
He would jump up, shout, and raise his hand to volunteer. 

Circus Boy, Bobby Hunt, is from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.  He juggles, 
spins, balances objects, etc. and he kept us laughing throughout the show. He also had a 
couple instances when he brought out his son, a performer in training, to do magic tricks.  
He was really good as well and even showed us one of his props after the show, to prove 
it was real. Great kid, truly following in his father’s footsteps.  

Aiden really had a good time at this event. He thought it was amazing and hilarious. We all 

did, really. We are looking forward to the Dundee Township’s next Winter Escape!

McHenry County Holiday Fest - Crystal Lake, IL

 

This is a holiday marketplace that took place at D’Andrea Banquets & Conference Center in Crystal Lake.  It’s flyer description says it has 32 exhibitors for shopping, visits with Santa, Santa mailbox, crafts, face painting, live entertainment and a man cave.  We saw everything listed except for the face painting, live entertainment, and man cave. Not to say it wasn’t there, maybe we just weren’t there at the right time, but we didn’t see it.  This event was free and we received a free reusable bag when we walked in.  We saw that Santa was there so we stood in line to see him.  

 

 

The line wasn’t too bad so not a long wait.  Santa was nice and showed Aiden the bottle of magic he carried with him to get all the gifts delivered on Christmas Eve.  He told him that because Aiden asked him if he was real. LOL.  After that we went over to Santa’s special mailbox so that Aiden could drop off the letter he had written him.

 

 

From there we looked around at all the vendor booths. Some of them had cute craft stuff but a lot were also corporate booths.  After that we headed downstairs to the kids craft making area. That was as packed and crazy as you’d expect. Each table had a different craft going on. We took the first table we saw and Aiden got to decorate a cookie with frosting and sprinkles. He enjoyed that but wasn’t really interested in doing any other tables.  I was thankful for that because they were all packed and so tightly crammed together.  

 

Overall, I would have to say this event was underwhelming.  There wasn’t a lot of vendor booths and it would’ve been nicer if there were less corporate stuff.  It would’ve also been nice to see the advertised live entertainment. But the short line for a picture with Santa was nice, and he was a good Santa. The special Santa mailbox was a nice touch as well. And Aiden definitely enjoyed decorating a cookie.  All that stuff was good, and free, so it was worth the trip for us.

 

 

Apple Fest - Long Grove, IL

Apple Fest is a yearly event in downtown Long Grove.  There are hundreds of apple-inspired treats and dozens of local merchants.  There is also live music playing on 3 stages throughout the fest. There is a Kid Zone with activities for smaller children and a carnival for all ages.  This was our first time here. Parking was difficult but we got lucky and didn’t have to walk too far. There was a $5 admission and kids under 12 were free.  

There were lots of people here the day we went and it was super hot. It’s an apple fest, yet when I remember it, all I really think of is chocolate.  There were lots of booths with different chocolate covered foods.  It would’ve been nice if these booths had more “taster samples” available but they didn’t and food wasn’t exactly cheap.  We did however get to try a sample of Belgian chocolate covered grapes, which we all liked.  

We saw the Kid Zone area when we first walked into the fest.  I don’t know what different kinds of activities were taking place, besides blowing bubbles, but we could clearly see that it was an area for much younger children so we did not take Aiden there.  

The streets were lined with vendor booths of food and other products and all the little specialty shops were open.  There was one store there that I really liked called Creative Hands. We ended our day at Morkes Chocolates for some really good taffy apples and chocolate treats.  We actually never saw the carnival area until we were in the car leaving.  That’s ok though. It was just way too hot to continue.

Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Bus

This double decker bus is what Aiden calls the “London bus” thanks to the London portion of the Sharknado 5 movie.  We decided to try this bus out while we were at the Chicago Air & Water show. 

Aiden was excited to try out something he’d seen in a movie and we were excited to relax and just take in the sights.  We saved about $8 each on tickets using Groupon ahead of time and a kids ticket is about half the price of an adult.  We sat on the top level with great views and a great breeze. Aiden was a little taken back because there were no seatbelts.  He wasn’t scared, just surprised.  The thing that was scary, though, were the tree branches that we passed by.  We learned quickly to watch our heads and duck.  And also to keep our hands inside.  The bus drives really close to the sign and banner posts on the sides of the streets.  

The tour had several stops all over downtown.  You’re allowed to hop on and off the bus as much as you’d like for the day.  Our tour guide seemed to know her Chicago history pretty well and although her jokes could use work, they were still appreciated. This was really a relaxing ride and it was a truly awesome view of the air show.

Chicago Air & Water Show 2017

This was our 2nd year going to the Chicago Air & Water Show.  Thankfully we got almost the same spot as the last time, under the only shady tree in Chicago.  Again it was super hot that day but we got there early in the morning and snagged a spot under the shade and on the cool sand of the beach so it was really quite nice.  

This time was different from the last in 2 ways.  One was because Aiden was physically reacting differently, initially.  I think he was a little bit nervous about going and his stomach was hurting when we got there.  Why he may have been slightly nervous this time around? I have no idea, but I do think I know why his tummy was hurting, allergies!  It’s something I’ve begun to notice with Aiden over this summer.  When the days are super hot he tends to start sneezing and sometimes gets a runny nose and now, to add to the list, a stomachache.  Once I gave him the handy Zyrtec that I had packed he was fine for the rest of the day.  

The 2nd new thing was that we decided to leave the beach a little early and take a ride on the double decker bus, which Aiden calls the “London bus”  because he had seen it in a London movie before. That actually made the air show even better!  Now we were directly below the jets and it was really an awesome view!  Aiden really enjoyed it and we all did as well too.

Veggie Fest - Lisle, IL

Veggie Fest is a festival of food vendors, cooking demonstrations, health products and practitioners, music and kids activities.  Basically anything and everything that promotes a positive healthy lifestyle. 

This was a trip that I requested and my boys went along with for the ride.  I wanted to go for the opportunity to try out different foods. That’s not a strong suit for Aiden but I give him a lot of credit because he tried every freebie we came across.  

We visited all the food vending booths and most of the products ones but, of course, what Aiden appreciated the most was the kids activities area where he made a couple of craft projects.  All in all, I would say Aiden handled this “mom excursion” quite well.  

Couple things you won’t learn from their website; most food products are not actually for sale at the individual booths, they’re just for show, you don’t purchase food with money, you purchase with tickets so get tickets before standing in the super long lines (although they do move at a good pace). And lastly, a good chunk of time was spent just trying to park the car!  We waited in an extremely long, extremely slow moving line before we ever even reached the parking lot.

Lambs Farm - Libertyville, IL

Lambs Farm is a non profit organization that provides residential services and employment for adults with disabilities.  It includes attractions like a petting zoo, pet shop, miniature golf course, carousel, bounce house, thrift shop, restaurant, and a bakery. We visited all these attractions except for the carousel and mini golf.  

The carousel was too small for Aiden, and we intended to do the mini golf last but forgot about it when we walked to the opposite side of the farm to explore what they had on that side. The whole area is divided in two. 

One side has the admission area, bounce house, carousel, and petting zoo while the other side has the pet shop, thrift store, bakery, and restaurant.  The food at the restaurant, Magnolia Cafe, was awesome! As were the goodies at the bakery.  

Aiden really enjoyed seeing and feeding the animals and brushing the goats.  There were even a few loose cats walking or sleeping around the pet shop that he got to pet, so he was very happy about that. 

This was really a nice place to visit and we were very happy to support an organization that provides opportunity and community to adults that might not otherwise find it.