Father Son Bonding

This past week my son, Dante was off school for spring break. I took off work on Friday so we could spend some quality time together. I had to go to Chicago (Navy Pier) to pick up my race packet for the Shamrock Shuffle 8k on Sunday, so I decided to go on Friday and make a day of it with Dante. We took the train into the city, which I do every work day, but to a nine year old there is something special about riding the train. We arrived in Chicago and headed to Navy Pier. I like to walk, so I figured that we would start out walking and take a cab when he got tired. We made there, three miles with no problem. We stopped at a few stores on the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue) to warm up and browse. Dante is a big hockey fan so we stopped at the Blackhawk’s store, where he got a new hat. After arriving at Navy Pier and swimming our way through the sea of people, we headed to the packet pick up and health expo. This section was located in the farthest end of Navy Pier so we had to fight crowds all the way there. I was picking up race stuff for myself, my wife and wife’s friend which required me to wait in three lines for each envelope and then I was directed to the other end of the hall to get our bags and shirts. We waited in three more lines for shirts and bags since there were three different sizes. After that, we walked around looking at the booths for freebies and to see if there were any deals on running stuff. I did end up purchasing a new pair of sun glasses for $30, which wasn’t too bad. We were standing at the Wrigley Gum table getting a brochure and free gum, when a lady asked us if we wanted tickets for the Chicago Bulls (basketball) game on Saturday. We said sure and she handed us two tickets. She said they were donated at their office earlier in the day and she gave them to us. My son was so excited, a train ride to the city, a new hat and now this.

After we left Navy Pier, we stopped for lunch across the street from the Trump Tower, where he proceeded to call mom and explain what had happened. After lunch, we headed to Millennium Park to see the Bean (see photo below) and other touristy things at the park. We walked the whole way and by this time, I estimate we had logged in about 7 miles. What a trooper, I am proud of him for going so far. He was getting tired so we took a cab back to my office, where we took a little break and then proceeded to the train home.

I enjoyed spending the day together and it made me feel good to see how much fun he had.

We did end up going to the basketball game the next day on Saturday. It was an afternoon game, so it was no problem driving into the city and finding parking at a reasonable rate $13. We parked about 2 blocks away and were inside sitting in our seats in no time. Dante was still in awe that a complete stranger had given us these tickets the day before and we were actually at the United Center watching the Bulls game. Again, I was thrilled to see all the excitement in his face, as this was his first pro basketball game. The bulls played the Pacers and ended up winning 112 to 106. I think he will remember this day for a long time, I know I will.