NCC Chicago 2012 Tour

Here are some highlights of the Chicago tour:

First, the 6am arrival time and first leg of the trip to St. Meinrad's Monestary.

Sweet Caroline with the girls.

Maddie, Briley, Megan & Ava with Belle.

Hannah braiding Belle's hair.

Arriving at St. Meinrad Monestary

 

Ah, finally made it to Chicago!  Dinner at Gino's East, to be followed by Blue Man Group:

 

 Next morning--the Mother of all sightseeing trips to Chicago.  We went EVERYWHERE.

Lots of bus time.

I think this is a portion of  Grant Park.  Those are legs.  Nine or ten foot tall legs.  Apparently, this is called "art".  LOL

Trying to get 80 kids to pose for a group shot...

Sisters.

Friends.

Buckingham Fountain

The Bean.  See me?  I'm waving.

Lunch on the street.

Chinatown

Bus time.

Lincoln Park Zoo

Navy Pier

Hershey's Store (yes, right across from Ghirardelli's...but this was for the children...)

Lego Store

Posing with Abbie.

 To finish the day, DJ dinner & dance cruise aboard the Mystic Blue.  

Guess who never left the dance floor?

Limbo!

 

 

So much fun!

The next morning, we were off to tour the museums.  The NCC performed a number of songs at the Field Museum of Natural History...in front of Sue the T-Rex.  Largest audience E-V-E-R.  Get it? :)

At the Shedd Aquarium.

Belle is irritated at the "pseudoscience" that claims that the triceratops ever existed.  Don't ask me.

At the Adler Planetarium.

Final concert performance at First United Methodist Church of Downers Grove.  Family and friends showed up for this concert with the Cantores Community Choir.  The NCC had one of their best performances of the year at this venue.  I was so glad that my family and friends got to be there for it!

And finally, the morning of our departure we went to the House of Blues Gospel Buffet.  What a great time, and the kids got to wow the crowd with an impromptu gospel performance of "Music Down in My Soul!". 

The last day of tour was Mother's Day, and they gave out white carnations at House of Blues.

Belle made me a "card" from the paper table coverings.

Unforgettable.

Thanks to James Wells, Dr. Madeline Bridges and Josh Wright for making this first year at Nashville Children's Choir such an excellent experience in every way!

 

James Wells

Dr. Madeline Bridges