Wanna See What I Saw?

Ok, after much time spent on the computer, I think I've finally gotten the majority of our Chicago pictures downloaded, edited and ready to see. It took forever to do because I had three different cameras to get them from. I had pictures that I took with my digital camera, which isn't the best and has no zoom capabilities, my daughter's digital camera, which is awesome and does have zoom, and my cell phone, which has zoom, but very poor picture quality. So, some of these pictures are awesome and others are pretty poor. Forgive me for the bad ones. I wasn't going to download them, but it was actually easier to just select all my photos then it would have been to go in and pick and choose. Anyway, to see my pics just click on my Flickr badge in the side bar. Enjoy!

We're Back

Our Chicago weekend is over and, truthfully, I'm glad. It was nice to get away from home/work, but it was also very nice to return to our normal routine. Vacations, to me, are supposed to be relaxing, but this one was anything but. We were on the go the entire time. Hubby woke up early Sat. and Sun., woke me up, woke the kids up and then we were off. The only time I got to actually relax was on Friday evening when we first got there. My back was bugging me so he took the kids out while I stayed in the hotel by myself for a whole hour. Woo Hoo.

We did see a lot of stuff, but hubby was in such a big hurry to see EVERYTHING that we didn't actually look at anything for very long. Like I said, Friday evening he took the kids out to Navy Pier. They stayed one hour. Not nearly long enough to enjoy themselves or see everything they wanted to see. Saturday morning we went to Shedd's Aquarium, again stayed for about an hour and a half, only making it about a quarter of the way through the entire building. It was easily something that if we'd wanted to do so, we could have made an entire day out of it, but hubby got tired of looking at "fish tanks" and wanted to leave. After there, we went to Sears Tower, went up to the observation deck and looked around. Didn't stay there long either. Stopped to eat lunch at Giordano's Pizza. Let me just say YUM! It was the most delicious pizza I've had in ages. After eating, all I really wanted to do was go back to the hotel, but we'd told the kids that we'd take them to the beach so off we went. We got there and the kids took off, hubby and I spread out our towels on the sand and sat down. I could have easily spent the remainder of the afternoon there, but after a couple of hours hubs was all set to go again. Back to the hotel, cleaned up and went back to Navy Pier to take one of the boat tours they offer. We hopped onto the Seadog, which was a speedboat tour. Fun stuff, but not nearly long enough. I thought that might have been something that would kill the rest of the day, but nope, half an hour and it was over. Back to the hotel and I was finally able to sit down and relax. My back and legs told me about all the running we did too. All night long, I had leg cramps and a throbbing back. Not fun.

We got up about 9:00, Sunday morning and got ready to go. Hubby was just itching to get back home. I guess I was ready too. At least I knew once we got here, he could go about doing his own thing and I could actually relax in the pool.

Well, the pool idea didn't come to pass. When we got home, we unpacked and then I went to check the pool to see what temperature it was. Walked out and the pool was filthy. From all the rain we got Thursday and Friday mroning, the bottom was just covered with dirt. The water was clear though so I guess that was good. I swept it out, but after doing so and checking the chlorine levels found out it was reading zero on chlorine. I added all the chemicals needed and came in, figuring it would be good to go swimming today. No such luck. It is raining this morning and the pool is now green, a sign of not enough chlorine still, so putting more in and will maybe get in later if the rain stops and the chemical levels are ok.

I feel like I need a vacation now to recuperate from our weekend vacation!

Getting Ready

Today has been spent getting things ready for our trip to Chicago tomorrow. I did a small clutter busting mission throughout the house this morning since my mom will be coming back Saturday to feed and visit with our kitty. I have started a list of things I want to pack. Haven't actually started packing yet, but as long as I have my list it shouldn't take long. Did a small load of laundry this morning to wash up some outfits that my daughter wanted to wear this weekend. Checked the batteries in my digital camera (they were dead so bought new). I even made a few small snacks (popcorn, pretzels, crackers, etc) to take in the car for the road trip so we didn't have to keep stopping for munchies or drinks. It's only a 5-6 hour drive, but I'm sure someone along the way will say they are hungry or thirsty.

Later this evening, I will also be attempting to color my hair. At the moment, I have several gray strands peeking through and I really don't want them "peeking" out in any pictures that might be taken of myself this weekend. I don't like having my picture taken anyway, let alone with a skunk stripe of gray running down the middle of my head so will get that done tonight.

I am really hoping that my back doesn't decide to flare up on me and bother me this weekend. I'm worried that the long drive up to Chicago will set it off or that the different bed Friday night will make it to where I can barely stand up straight Saturday morning. I already know that I'm not going to be able to do a lot of walking before it starts hurting. I tried doing some yesterday and it didn't take long at all before pain started shooting down my leg. I even tried walking laps in the pool, but only made it three times around before it hurt there too. So that is going to limit some of my sight-seeing fun. My daughter did let me know that Navy Pier rents out wheelchairs, but I really don't want to do that. I'm not disabled, I just have a pinched nerve and I would hate to take a chair that someone else might need worse then I do.

Anywho, I should probably get off here and finish up some more stuff. I'll be sure to fill you all in when we return on how our trip went. As for now, I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Finally Figured It Out

After much, much, much debate on where we should go this upcoming 4th of July weekend for a nice, albeit short, vacation, we have finally decided on the Windy City...yep, Chicago here we come.

I was beginning to think that my family was never going to agree on a location. We had places ranging from Tampa to San Diego to Galveston...all of these are plane rides away and would require a bit more planning on my end to accomplish. We also had Lake of the Ozarks, Kentucky Lake, Chicago, and Nashville on the list too, all within driving distance and much more doable, in my opinion, for a 3 day weekend.

All of these places would be nice to visit. I'd love to actually make it to every single one of them eventually. BUT...when you only have 3 days and really don't want to spend a lot of time either driving or a lot of money to fly, well, a 3-4 hour trip is just so much better.

I think we will be able to accomodate every person's vacation desires by going to Chicago. My daughter wants a beach/ocean view...well, there's Lake Michigan for her. My son wants fun stuff, like amusement park rides. Well, hello, Navy Pier!! They have a huge ferris wheel just beckoning him to test it out. My hubby's desire was good food. Hmm, Chicago and food? Yeah, I think he'll be pleasantly surprised with what he can find to tempt his taste buds in good ol' Chicago. Myself, well, I didn't really have any one thing that I wanted in a trip. Mine was more a combination of a water view (again, the lake), fun stuff to do (all types of attractions) and being able to spend a nice weekend with my family and not having to worry about work. I definitely think that one is doable.

Does This Mean He's Addicted?

I love my hubby dearly. He's sweet, kind, funny, all the good stuff. However, there is one characteristic that I'm not overly fond of and that is that he is addicted, yes I said addicted, to pizza! I'm not kidding. He could eat pizza 3 meals a day, 7 days a week and never get tired of it. He's been like this forever so it's not a surprise to me. At least once a week since we've been married, he has had pizza for a meal. He also has an all-time favorite restaurant (Chicago's Pizza) that we go to once a month, if not more. The kids and I are constantly joking with him and saying that he is addicted to their pizza. We were JOKING, but apparently we were closer to the truth then we knew.

Two weeks ago, we were going to go to Chicago's Pizza to eat dinner and when we got there, they had a sign on the front doors saying they were out of business. No reason, just that they weren't there anymore. My dear hubby was heart broken. He loved their pizza...it was delicious and cheap...When he saw that the restaurant was no longer open, it was almost like he'd lost his best friend. He moped around the remainder of the weekend, but eventually said that he would find another pizza place to know and love.

We all thought he'd gotten over the loss of his dear friend, but last night proved us wrong. When hubby came home from work, he said that he wanted to go out for dinner. I am not one to pass up a night of not having to cook so I told the kids to get ready and then we were off. I thought we'd just go to one of our favorite places in town since we all had to get up early the next day either for work or school. When hubby drove out of town, I thought that he was wanting to hit one of the restaurants in the next town over instead. They have a few more popular chains over there then we do here in our little town. So, we're driving along on the interstate when the exit comes up. Hubby, however, is not slowing down. He drives right past. Ok, so maybe we're going to the other side of town. There's an exit there too and several restaurants so I say nothing and go along for the ride. Second exit comes up and he's in the wrong lane and isn't slowing down and we bypass that one too. Hmm, now I'm wondering so I ask "Where in the world are we going?".

Hubby gets a wicked gleam in his eye and says "It's a surprise" and keeps on driving. All of a sudden, it hits me. We're going almost to INDIANAPOLIS because there is another Chicago's Pizza there. OMG! Who in their right mind drives for over an hour to get pizza? Apparently, my hubby does. I asked him if he had possibly called ahead to make sure they were open. Since our Chicago's had closed, I thought it might be a big possibility that the entire chain went under. No, he hadn't called. He knew in his heart that they would be open. I made the comment that I really hoped we didn't drive all that way to find them closed. He just smiled. I asked if he knew their hours and he assured me that they were open until 10pm.

So, at 8:01pm, we pull into their parking lot. There are about 7 cars there so hubby parks and we all get out of the car, stretch our weary legs and start to walk up to the front door...only to be greeted with the restaurant personnel SHUTTING OFF THE LIGHTS!!! My hubby was so mad. He went on up to the door. The kids and I got back in the car (Hey, it was cold:) He knocked and one of the waitresses came and opened the door. I guess he asked if they were closed for the night and she said yes, it had been slow so they were closing early. He told her that we'd driven all the way from ILLINOIS to get their pizza, couldn't they please stay open for us? She obviously said no and I truthfully didn't blame her. She'd probably been itching to get out of there and go home all evening. Needless to say, hubby was peeved.

The drive back home was very quiet although I remember hearing a few snickers from the back seat where our kids were trying not to laugh. We ended up eating at Applebee's, which was very good, but you could tell that hubby was not happy. The moral of this long, drawn out post? If you are craving food from a restaurant that is in a town almost 100 miles away, call before you drive all that way. You never know when the restaurant will close early.

Another Weekend Trip

In my previous post I told you that one of our trucks was again in the shop. Well, yesterday, I got more news about one of our other trucks. This is the one that we've taken 100 miles away for the past two weekends to have repair work done on it. This is the one that was SUPPOSED to be fixed and ready to get back out on the road. Apparantly this is not the case. Hubby told me yesterday that it is again leaking oil from the rear end soooo that means another trip down to the Sterling dealership to have it worked on this weekend. The only good news about this is the fact that we won't be paying a bill this trip, but we will still have the gas cost to get down there, a hotel room for the evening, and time taken away from other things that we could be doing here. I've told hubby that we really need to find places around here or that are at least a little bit closer to be doing some of these repairs, but unfortunately that's what happens when you live in a little po'dunk town in the middle of nowhere. There just isn't a market for those types of places around here so we have to go elsewhere. I just hope that the next weekend trip I have to take is actually one that is for fun and relaxation and not work related.

Friday at last!

So, hubby is heading up to Michigan tonight and won't be back until tomorrow. He's going up to pick up the truck he purchased. Last weekend, him and my son went to Evansville IN for a boy's night out and the weekend before him and I were in Louisville KY. Hmm, I think he needs to stay home for awhile. What do you think? Well, that isn't going to happen because he's already got plans for next weekend too, another trip to Michigan and then a basketball game in Indy. Guess it'll just be the kids and me tonight and tomorrow. I'm sure we'll find something fun to do. And I KNOW next weekend, my daughter and I will have fun. It'll just be us girls so we'll have a blast. We always do:)

Yesterday I was able to visit with my best friend who is home for a visit from Iowa. She brought her three kids (ages 5, 4 and 2) and I can't believe how much they've grown. They're not babies anymore! I also can't believe that she drove almost 400 miles in her little car with three kids. They were all pretty loud:) I can tell I'm not around little kids anymore because I was deaf by the time I came home. It was fun though and I can't wait for them to come home for another visit this summer. By then I'll have the swimming pool installed and they'll be able to come here for a swim. That'll be interesting, I'm sure.