chicago at chateau ste. michelle

To celebrate my birthday in August, David and I went to one of the outdoor concerts at Chateau Ste. Michelle, Washington's oldest winery, and just a mile and a half from our house. I love taking visitors there because the venue is beautiful with its French style chateau on 87 acres of gorgeously landscaped grounds. It's a beautiful place to walk around the grounds and have a picnic. They also have an amphitheater where they host amazing concerts every summer. The concerts usually sell out by January, but we were lucky enough to grab some seats for the Chicago concert thanks to my ticket-savvy friend, Lindsay.

Growing up with 9 older siblings, I have many memories of singing along to "You're The Inspiration" and "Hard to Say I'm Sorry", so I was more familiar with their 80's stuff. Little did I know, their earlier music is amazing and we had so much fun dancing and singing along. This was their 50th anniversary concert! Crazy they've been iconic musicians for so many years. The crowd was mostly older than us, but it was so much great to see how good musicianship and performance doesn't have an age. I'm sad that I never got to see Peter Cetera but I have to say - James Pankow was such a great entertainer! The replacement singer for Peter Cetera was excellent as well and the entire show was just really fun. I danced so much and probably looked ridiculous since my dancing skills are subpar, but I genuinely just DID. NOT. CARE.

I was sending these videos to my older sisters, who taught me all I know about 80's music, and thinking about all the memories I have of listlessly watching them put on makeup and tease their massive bangs before they went on dates. I was little in the 80s, but I wanted to be just like them. My sister, Debbie, with her long, mauve-painted fingernails that she could use to pick up buttered popcorn without getting her fingers dirty. My sister, Diane, who has the best laugh and great sense of humor. My sister, Alice, who everyone dubbed me her "mini-me" because of our noses and singing voices, and who would turn David Lanz music for me so I could fall asleep. My sister, Helena, who I envied because she of her smarts, confidence and popularity. My brave and bean burrito-loving sister, Charity, who had the cutest clothes that I would steal from her and she never yelled at me. My sister, Heidi, who I copied for years because she was just SO COOL. It was so much fun to grow up with all these sisters who babied me and were like second moms. I feel lucky to have had them growing up.