Winter Jam

January 29:  This year we took the kids to Winter Jam!  I'm not sure who was more excited... me or them!  I have been wanting to attend Winter Jam for the last several years, first without the kids, and more recently with them.  Winter Jam is a HUGE Christian Concert--10 Bands, $10 at the door.  They always have a Chicago area show.  They do not sale ($10) tickets ahead of time, so you have to go early and wait in line.  Being our first time, we were not really sure what to expect so we got there about 45 minutes early.  We packed hot chocolate and bundled up.  There were multiple lines (to 2 different entrances) and the lines were REALLY long already.  We saw some people we knew who had already been waiting in line for over an hour (and they were not too close to the front!)  You do the risk not being able to get in if they reach max capacity but we decided to chance it.  

After much waiting the line started moving.  When we made it through the doors, it seemed like the first level was starting to get pretty full so we headed to the 2nd level (out of 3).  We were in the first wave of people to make it to the 2nd level so there were lots of seats.  They had a couple bands playing for the pre-show as people were finding seats.  Overall, it was as awesome experience!  The kids had a blast and Marc and really enjoyed it also.  Unfortunately we did not make it to the end (to see "For King & Country" who I was really excited about it) but it got so late.  We left around 10:30 and there were still 2 bands left.  We had to make it home to pick up Carver from a friend's house and get our kids to bed for basketball games in the morning.  Some of our favorites of the night were Lauren Daigle, SideWalk Prophets, and Matthew West.  We also got to hear some rap and heavy metal (which the kids thought was cool).  Great night of worship and entertainment.  We can't wait to go back!