Chicago's 2012 Magnificent Mile Lights Festival

Saturday, November 17th

"Jetta," I called out to my pup as she lay in her bed. She looked up at me with curious eyes. "Do you know where Daddy is?"

She promptly replied, "Woof! Woof!"

"That's right, Jetta! Daddy's on the roof putting up Christmas lights," I replied as I gave her a gentle scratch behind her ears. Her little tail wiggled with joy. She is one smart pup.

The weather was quite mild this weekend. Sunny and in the 50's makes for an easy fall. Dan got up early so he could work on the outdoor Christmas lights. While I am not someone who approves decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, I also believe that it's wise to put up the outdoor Christmas lights when the weather is favorable. So while Dan was on the roof putting up our Christmas lights, I spent the morning with Jetta.

Dan got most of the outdoor lights put on the roof just after 11:00 a.m. He made plans to finish the rest of the lights once our neighbor (Frank) is home and can lend Dan a very tall ladder to reach the roof peaks.

A couple of days ago I stumbled across the news that Chicago was having its annual Magnificent Mile Lights Festival over the weekend. Once I found out Colton Dixon was doing a free outdoor concert on Saturday, I just had go. That's really why Dan got up early. He wanted to put up the Christmas lights, but he also wanted to take me to the festival so we could see Colton.

At about noon, we left the house. Our first stop was Orland Square Mall so I could get some Ghost Armor put onto my new iPhone 5. Dan had Ghost Armor put on his iPhone 4S and it has held up beautifully, so I knew I wanted the same protection -- plus, I'd get to turn my phone purple. While my phone was being worked on, Dan and I grabbed some lunch at Panda Express. It took about 20-30 minutes for my phone to be done, so once I got it back we departed the mall and were on our way to Chicago. Normally we take the train into the city, but since we wanted to make sure we'd get home in time to tend to Jetta, we decided to drive.

We made it into the city with no problem. As we were walking towards the BMO Harris Stage I noticed a bride and groom strolling through the crowd.

"Aww, happy wedding day!" I said to Dan as I pointed to the bride and groom. Just then, I noticed a familiar face. I grabbed Dan's arm and exclaimed, "It's Robb! Robb's the wedding photographer!"

Sure enough, there he was! Our longtime friend Robb Davidson, leading the bride and groom down some stairs, snapping their picture as they approached him. Dan and I both pulled out our phones and snapped photos of Robb so we could tag him on Facebook and Twitter. We didn't want to interrupt him while he was busy, but at one moment we did notice that they seem to be taking a moment to regroup. Dan whistled really loud and we both hollered, "Robb!" Sure enough, he saw us and gave us an excited, "Hey! What's happening?!" and a friendly wave. Running into him was excellent timing!

We arrived at the BMO Harris Stage at about 2:00 p.m. They were setting the stage for a group called R5. Neither of us had ever heard of them, but we snagged a spot in the crowd to make sure we had a good spot for seeing Colton Dixon -- who was scheduled to be on stage at 3:00 p.m. There were a lot of little kiddies who were in the audience. Many of them were hoisted up on their parent's shoulders for better viewing. Towards the end of the mini concert, most of the kids were off their parent's shoulders and I had a better opportunity to snap a photo of the band.

Once R5 was done and the stage was adjusted, Colton Dixon took the stage! A majority of the kids and teens that were standing in front of us moved on to follow R5 off the stage, so Dan and I got to move up in the crowd and get a better view of Colton.

Colton wasn't on stage as long as R5 (or so it felt), but he did manage to sing a couple of his news songs and I fun version of Jingle Bells. Colton has released two singles so far. His first CD is scheduled to be released at the end of January, but he has two singles available Never Gone and You Are. He preformed Never Gone at this mini concert and it was beautiful! I am very excited about getting his CD, I'm sure it's going to be amazing.

After the show, Colton stuck around for about 5 minutes to meet and greet his fans. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to say hello, but Dan did manage to snap this photo of us waiting. Oh well, maybe next time.

Dan and I decided to stick around and enjoy Chicago. We went into a couple of stores to look around while we waited for The Magnificent Mile Light Festival Parade to start. When we went into Zara Dan found a jacket that looked, oh, so good on him! Since the price was surprisingly affordable, Dan got the jacket as an early Christmas present. He was so excited he swaped jackets once we were outside the store.

At about 5:10 p.m. we decided to claim a spot to watch some of the parade. Waiting wasn't too bad since it wasn't super cold. It was in the 50's during the day, so we were quite comfortable being outside, even after the temperature dropped.

The crowd wasn't too bad, but once 5:30 hit the streets were extremely packed. Where did everybody come from?

We had a pretty good view of the parade as it started to come by. Mickey and Minnie led the way, lighting the The Magnificent Mile the whole way. Mickey and Minnie have certainly gotten better over the years. Now they blink their eyes and move their mouths as they talk! It's quite remarkable and very entertaining to watch.

We didn't stay too long, since we had to get home to Jetta, but we got to see some fun Christmas characters, a marching band, and Colton Dixon come by before we left.

It took us about 30 minutes of battling the large crowds to get back to our car -- which wasn't too bad. Getting out of the city was a breeze. We had no trouble getting home.

When we got home we decided to make pizza for dinner -- and when I say "make pizza" I mean, make the dough, add the topping and everything. It has been a while since we've made a pizza, so it was fun putting it together. We even made the crust stuffed with cheese! Dan is a pro at wrapping the cheese in the dough, so that's usually his job.

Once the dough was ready and the crust was stuffed with cheese, we topped the pizza with sauce, pizza cheese, green peppers, mushrooms, and apple wood smoked ham. We baked the pizza on our pizza stone and anxiously waited for it to be ready.

The pizza was delicious! We usually dine on a lot of frozen pizzas, so this was especially delicious! We even had two slices leftover. It may be a lot of work, but making homemade pizza is always a good meal. I don't know about you, but just looking at those pictures is making me hungry!

We spent the remainder of our evening cuddling with Jetta and watching D2: The Mighty Ducks. It was a nice way to wrap up an eventful day.

I think next year we'll make another attempt to view The Magnificent Mile Light Festival Parade -- and we'll plan to stay for the whole thing.