Umbrella Sky Project

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.

After that we went to the hotel, where we had some challenges getting checked in, but got things worked out eventually.

We stopped at Meijer (which is a treat for us) for some supplies for our week in Schaumburg:

And then we went back to the hotel for a swim and some games in the hotel lobby.

Up next: Our annual day in Chicago!

The Umbrella Sky Project

I have been wanting to see a cool alleyway art project for years, so I was super excited to learn that the Umbrella Sky Project has an installation in Elmhurst, IL, that wasn’t too far out of the way on our trip to Chicago last month!

The day we went, the project was a very literal statement as it was pouring rain, so I didn’t get quite as many photos as I wanted, but I did get quite a few, and the wet ground really sold the theme!

It’s such a fun and colorful way to brighten up a public space!

We don’t have a reason to go back to Chicago to see it, but I hear they’ll be swapping out the color scheme of the umbrellas later in the summer, and I bet that will look cool, too!

Markel Family Combo Breaker 2024 Getaway—-Day Six

After we got the coffee started on Sunday morning (I seriously think we made between 400 and 500 cups a day!), and put out another two cases of water, we went to church at the congregation of my childhood. It was Trinity Sunday, but I was very relieved that we didn’t say the Athanasian Creed, because my feet hurt!

On the way back to Combo Breaker, we stopped by the Umbrella Sky Project in Elmhurst. I’ve wanted to see a display like this for a long time, but it was a bit too literal, as it was pouring rain while we were there! It was still really cool, though!

We made it back to the staff lounge in time to help with lunch (and make more coffee!).

We were done in the staff lounge in time to see the end of the Tekken Top Eight, and after that, we all stuck around for the staff raffle, which was quite entertaining.

We hadn’t all been in the same place at the event until that point, so we finally got our annual family photo…next year, I’m hoping we all get flannels, because I think that would make the picture even more amazing!

It was a great weekend!

Up next…the trip home, with many stops along the way!

Chickadee Thursday

Chickadee had a great time at Combo Breaker!

We had a fun time checking out the Umbrella Sky Project in Elmhurst…in the rain. Let me tell you, the umbrellas in the project definitely did not keep us dry!

On Monday, we visited the Chicago History Museum for the first time…Chickadee really liked how interactive it was!