Henry's Fencing Tournament in Chicago!

We pulled into our driveway at 1 a.m. on Monday morning after a long weekend of fun in Wisconsin and just outside of Chicago (in Libertyville). Here are some Instagram posts to tell our story! Here's the first post from Friday (about what happened on Thursday and Friday):

Spent last night in Wisconsin Dells on our way to 2 days of fencing for Henry near Chicago! Lots of water rides, chlorine-burned eyes, sock-stealing Charlie (to use in a play place), and a 5+ mile run with Henry!

Finishing up a fun slide!


Putting my socks on Charlie so he could play in a play place.


Henry and I in the middle of our run together!




On the way to Chicago from the Dells.

Then a post from Saturday morning:

Henry had his first of two days of fencing at a regional tournament outside of Chicago this morning. In pool play, he beat one guy 5-0 in 22 seconds! But then in the next bout, he faced a 6’ fencer who fences for Yale who smoked him 0-5. 🤷🏼‍♂️ We laughed because when it came to his “direct elimination” bracket, he was up against someone from the metro area he had fenced a few times before in local tournaments - we all didn’t need to drive 6 hours to fence near Chicago. 😂 He was happy with how he did, and is hoping to do better in tomorrow’s events. ❤️🤺

Waiting to warm up.


Big venue! 6 basketball courts were used to house 28 fencing strips.




In the middle of his 5-0 match! (You can see his score is 3-0, and the red light
going off is signaling his 4th touch - notice his super bent blade getting the touch!)

Sunday morning (as we were getting ready for Henry's 2nd day of fencing), I posted this:

We drove into Chicago yesterday afternoon after Henry was done fencing. We saw “the bean,” rode the 200’ ferris wheel on Navy Pier, and had some deep dish at Pizanos (not to be confused with the old Paisanos that used to be on Selby and Dale in St. Paul). Final day of fencing this afternoon!!

We missed seeing "the bean" when we were in Chicago 2 years ago because it was fenced off.


Selfie in the bean.




It looks like Charlie is floating/morphing into the bean. :)


Walking to Navy Pier!


On the 200' high ferris wheel!


View over Navy Pier.






Boba on Navy Pier.


Over the Chicago River.




Deep dish at Pizanos...


... to recreate this photo from our 2023 trip to Chicago (when we went to Giordano’s).


Getting full!

Finally, I posted this on Monday:

Henry’s 2nd day of fencing yesterday near Chicago went well!

In pool play, he fenced average. He didn’t win any bouts like he did 2 days ago, but he had the top ranked fencer coming into the tournament in his pool, and Henry got 3 touches on him! (Henry lost 3-5.) Only one other person got 3 touches on him, and everyone else got fewer touches. This was BIG for Henry! This kid was kind of a jerk, so Henry was happy to have helped keep him from being ranked 1st going into direct elimination by getting 3 touches on him. 😄

Then in direct elimination, Henry did something he’s only ever done once before: he WON A BOUT IN BRACKET PLAY! He took down someone ranked just above him 15-5!! He looked GOOD!!

Henry’s “reward” for winning in the DE bracket was that his second bout was against the fencer who was seeded 1st after pool play. Henry held his own at the start of the bout (with a score of 4-7 at one point), but none of us had any delusions that he was going to move past this point. He lost 5-15 but gained some good experience, didn’t finish at the bottom, and got some good feedback from his coaches.

Then at 7 pm last night, we hopped in the car just outside of Chicago, and finally pulled into our driveway at 1 am this morning. We’re all still doing fine, but tomorrow might hit like a cement truck. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Nice work Henry!! 🎉❤️🇺🇸🤺

Henry getting a touch (to the chest) in his pool.


And the rest of these are from his winning bout in the direct elimination bracket.

The boys woke up just fine on Monday morning! Everyone slept in the car from 9 pm until we got home - Sarah woke up when I had to get gas about 40 mins from home, and then she was awake the rest of the way with me (from about 12:20 to 1:00 a.m.). I actually got up at 5:30 a.m. after less than 4 hours of sleep to go for a long run. And I survived! Fun and busy weekend!!