Friday 12th - Last day of the Conference - Boys skate Grant Park!!

Friday and a massive day at the conference for me starting at 7.15am with a guest speaker at breakfast and then continuing through until 4.45pm. Being the last night the Gala started at 6.30pm and goes until 10.30pm.

Meanwhile for the boys it was breakfast and off to Grant Park.

Skating along the path through Grant Park.

 One of the many fountains in the park

A Squirrel

 Dan, the photographer, in a photo at the same fountain

One of the stages still up from Lallapalooza

 The path that runs all the way along the edge of the water for miles.

The Water Taxi coming in for a pick up.

You can hire these "Segway's" in the park. In this shot these guys are trying to sneak up on the group in front of them. They look totally weird. You see the Police on them in the street and also in the Airports. They can actually cover 24miles before needing recharging. But they do look weird!!

Deep Space Adventure!! I don't actually know what it is haha.

A shot of the city from the edge of the park. It is a great looking city.

Mermaid

Explorer Adler Store

I don't know about these but they looked good.

The boys looking very mature before we head down to the Gala Dinner. They made me proud to be their dad

Here we are at the Dinner

Janet Burton presenting

As usual the presentation is very slick and a great job was done by the RMHC Staff

Dan hamming it up just a little with the Wallabies scarf. I ended up giving mine to Fred Hill who then gave it on, with my blessing, to one of the ladies from Taiwan who he knew really wanted one. Then later on in the night that amazing man, Alan Gilmore, gave his to Fred and we were able to spend about 15 minutes with Fred and Fran, a very special time for both of us (Alan and I) .

And the winner of the Best bets award overall is... TAIWAN yeah ($25,000US)!! one of our APMEA nations. We all actually voted for the winner individually on the night with keypads!! Pretty special. The results were posted in real time on the screen that you see here. If you look closely the orange line is Taiwan. 2nd place was the Red Shoe Team.

Well that's it and we will be on the plane to LA then Sydney tomorrow!!

It has been an incredible trip and I want to thank Rohan for encouraging me to take Matt and Dan and also than Matt and Dan for being such great mates and sons.

An awesome time!!

Maybe next time Rohan and I will be able to come.

See you all soon. Chicago is a great city. 

Lots of love the Aussie Bingham's Matt, Dan and Ross xxx

Thursday and the Chicago Cubs Win!! and... we were there yeah!!

Thursday 11th dawned and the weather was perfect so the Cubs game that was postponed from Monday night would be on for sure. The dilemma should I go to the Cubs game with the boys or go to the afternoon conference session? After a fantastic morning session I decided I could afford to miss the afternoon and hit Wrigley Field. That's right it's named after the chewing gum magnate, Wrigley Field.

 Built in 1914 it's the second oldest field in the Major League. This day even though it was 1.20pm 34,500 fans came to the game, incredible atmosphere. We walk in and Everyone stands hats off and hand over  heart for a stirring rendition of Star Spangled Banner.

 Here the teams are warming up and all around you are people selling (screaming) "Cold water", "Old Style" (Beer), "Hot Dogs", "Bud Lite", "Get ya Dibs" (Ice Cream), "Budweiser". 

We've got our program and can easily check out the quality of each batter and pitcher from the stats.

 The boys are in seats 6 and 7 and I'm in 105 and there's only 2 seats between us and there under the awning and perfect!!

 Making the boys look up for another embarrassing photo haha. We've got the Cubs hats on and are part of the American way for a day.

 The Cubs are even on 1 all after 5 innings an then in the 7th innings play is stopped as we all take off our hats stand and sing "Take me back to the Ball Game" (I'm fair dinkum)

The photo above looks like part of the grand stand but if you look closely it is actually stands built on top of the buildings across the road. Apparently they are corporate hospitality suites and tickets there include food and drink.

Another longer shot of the stands on rooftops. Well its the end of the 7th and suddenly the Cubs score 3 runs with 2 balls hit out of the ground!! Amazing stuff yeah!!

 Then in the 9th and final innings the Washington Nationals (other team) load the bases with only 1 out and they have the potential to pass us if they can hit a "homer". The fans are out of their seats and yelling and booing and into it!! We get one out then they get 1 home and it's 3-4. Then 2 more No Balls  and then 3 strikes and they're out!! Happy days!! everybody starts singing this massive Cubs song ( I have recorded it but it is about 23meg).

 The neon signs are flashing "Cubs Win" and 34,500 people move peacefully out of the stadium with not one hold up!! amazing how easy everybody moves along.

 Outside we are being entertained by these amazing blokes playing the "pickle drums" (again I have recorded a bit of this)

 These blokes are making hundreds haha. The cubs fans are happy as!!

We catch the train back and visit the Sports store again to get some jerseys for the boys then back to the Hotel. I have an Asia Pacific Dinner at Fados Irish Pub (below) and the boys decide to go down to the Pier and have dinner at Bubba Gumps.

The rest of the night goes off without a hitch except when the internet keeps dropping out whilst I am trying to do the blog aaarrrggghhh!!

Another day done in Chicago and a very rewarding one at that.

Bed at 1.30am as usual.

Talk to you all tomorrow

Aussie Bingham's xxx

The Boys go to the Navy Pier and the Conference continues...

This is the view from our room. A beautiful city built over the water.

Today Matt and Dan rode their skateboards out to the Navy Pier. It is nearly a kilometre long and is the most visited attraction in Chicago. More than 7 million visitors each year

 The Ferris Wheel is 150 feet high (46metres) and there are heaps of Hi tech rides and food stores along the way

 All of these photos are actually on the Pier and you can see how wide it is.

Matt skates down the middle on the way out with Dan doing the photography

 This is a look at the The Grand Ballroom at the end of the Pier. It is one of he few remaining 1916 buildings with 180 degrees of Water views out the windows.

 Matt is now in front of the Ballroom at the end of the Pier looking at those views

 And this is the view back at the city from the end of the Pier

 The entry to the Pier Beer Garden!!

Now riding back towards the city.

Meanwhile at the conference we had the opening session where the Chicago School Choir sang and we had a great presentation on the impact of Ronald McDonald Houses around the world as well as the devastating effects of the Earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan

 This was our APMEA (Asia, Pacific, Milddle East and Australia) stand at the trade show that followed the opening

Including a great photo of one of our families with Chantelle our Assistant House Manager at Newcastle!! Great picture

 I had a stand for 90 minutes to discuss with other colleagues about the Ride for Sick Kids and how they could run their own. If you loook carefully you can see Dan ducking down behind the table behind me haha.

 A great fundraiig gruop called the Red Shoes that are essentially a club of young professionals that meet socially and raise funds for their Ronald McDonald House. It costs $89 a year to join the club and they oprganise social outings and a Ball etc. I loved it the shot above is their Ball where everyone wore Red Shoes

A great pair of Red "All Stars"

We finished up the day with a cocktail party and the boys were able to join us looking very mature!! Dan is actually wearing my pants (which are actually Jack's pants haha).

We finished up the day finding a Laundry about 10 blocks and away and successfuly washing and drying 2 loads of clothes Yeeaahh!! (12.30pm)

Well that's it!! sorry this blog was late but I got there.

About to head of for the first morning session.

I hope that you all sleep well in Aus and Jakarta

Love from the 3 Bingham's abroad xxx

The Conference begins and the boys hit Chicago West and North!!

Not a lot to report from my end today as the conference kicked off with Rego and breakfast then 2x3hr sessions on Leadership, that were very well presented by the Kellogg School of Management. Then a short break and a networking session for dinner.

However the boys hit the road and ventured further than ever

 I told you about Matt colouring in the tooth on a photo in Gino's East the other night, Dan took a photo of it haha

 A visit to the Lego shop unearthed this build of Woody.

 The 3 complete Skate Boards we have now procured on our trip.

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A Lamborghini Superleggera beautiful in black

 The Subway was taken this time to Weston  then Addison (north Chicago 6 miles) and Wilson (West 14 miles) to find this skate park and a legend skate shop.

 This is the huge skate park at Wilson, 2 to 3 times the size of Merewether

 Another section of the skate park

 And this is what they bought 4 sets of wheels, riser pads, speed cream, Nike shoes and they got free stickers and 2 movies from the Uprise Skate Shop highly recommended by Dan and Matt if you're ever in Chicago. A good bloke!!

And this is Matt in his favourite position (shared with Dan) logged onto my computer.

Early start for me again tomorrow breakie then an 8.30am start. 

I am also manning a stand on Building  Community Relations focusing on the Ride for Sick Kids at 3.45pm tomorrow (Wednesday).

Have a great day in Australia and Jakarta.

Missing my lady!! Love to all xxx

Matt Dan and Ross the aussiebingham's