Markel Family Combo Breaker 2025 Getaway–Day Three

Last Thursday, Chickadee and I had a little adventure before we really got to work…we visited the Leaning Tower of Niles! More details to come in the future…

We both had custom badges for the event for the first time…it was very exciting!

We did manage to sneak in a walk around the hotel…that was the last time we set foot outside until it was time to go home!

There was also some craziness with room switching, but we finally got it straightened out and our stuff moved into the room we were supposed to have…it was a nice one!

We took a peek at the main floor…truly the calm before the storm!

And then we got to work setting up our first meal of the weekend:

Up next…the first day of Combo Breaker!

Chickadee Thursday

Here’s a few more photos from our Combo Breaker trip…we worked hard and had a great time!

Markel Family Combo Breaker 2025 Getaway–Day Two

The second day of our Combo Breaker trip was one of my favorite days of the whole year, because we took the Metra into Chicago!

Bunny’s first objective is always to find the pigeons and feed them, and it was a successful mission!

We walked close to 10 miles…down to Buckingham Fountain, up the Magnificent Mile, and everywhere in between!

It was a chilly, rainy day, but that didn’t (if you’ll pardon the pun) dampen our spirits!

It was nice to take a break indoors at Water Tower Place, though, and we stopped in a few of our favorite shops while we dried off and warmed up.

We visited the Starbucks Reserve Roastery again this year, and this time, we actually figured out the menu and ordered some drinks…I got a lavender matcha malt (shocking, I know), and it was absolutely amazing…I’m going to try to recreate it at home!

Of course we stopped by Marshall Field’s of Blessed Memory, where we admired some of the historical details of the building and bought an entirely too expensive (and small!) box of Frango mints.

But eventually we had to get back on the train to head back to the hotel…we always ride upstairs on the return trip.

Back at the hotel, we switched to Combo Breaker mode and got to work alphabetizing badges. Once that was done, it was time for another swim and more game time in the lobby.

Up next…a trip to Italy? And the real preparation for Combo Breaker begins!

Markel Family Combo Breaker 2025 Getaway–Day One

Time for a look back at one of our favorite events of the whole year…our annual trip north for Combo Breaker!

We were able to leave pretty early last Tuesday, which was nice. It was even nicer that we didn’t have to drive through a dust storm! We stopped at Wally’s, as is our tradition:

And we took a brief detour to see this year’s Umbrella Sky Project in Elmhurst. I was really excited to see it, because the color scheme is different this year, but they were all closed, most likely due to recent windy and (ironically) rainy weather. It did still look cool in its own way, but I’m a little sad we didn’t get the full effect.