Category: Excursions

Halloween

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Our Halloween morning was more exciting than our evening because we decided to visit a local gun range. We’ve both owned a handgun for awhile but unlike Joe, I’ve never actually fired mine. We also have a rifle, so we took all three guns with us.

Joe fired a few rounds from my gun just to make sure it wouldn’t jam and then let me take over. The second shot I made with my gun caused an injury to my thumb when the hammer struck it making it bleed. Between that and being overwhelmed with the mere act of shooting a gun, plus the noise in the range, I put it down and told Joe I was done. But after I watched him for awhile I decided to try it again. I want to know how to protect myself if the need ever arises whether that be the zombie apocalypse or an intruder.

After adjusting my grip, I was able to fire my gun without any further injuries. I enjoyed firing the rifle more, though. Here’s some of my targets from both my handgun and the rifle, which are 22 caliber:

GunRangeTarget-Nicole>

Here’s one of Joe’s from his gun which is a 9mm (I think):

GunRangeTarget-Joe

He was impressed with my aim. What can I say, shooting up “ghosts” at Indiana Beach as a kid paid off. ;)

By the time we left the range I was much more comfortable with handling and shooting my gun. I also stopped jumping every time someone else fired their weapon. It was crazy crowded in the range too so I’m glad Joe booked the earliest slot.

After dropping our guns off at home we swung by Noodles & Company since we had gotten a BOGO coupon. We also stopped at Baskin Robbins for ice cream since all scoops are $1.31 on every 31st of the month.

We spent the rest of the day at home in anticipation of the trick-or-treaters. It was cold and rainy out, so we only got seven kids (three groups) which was lame. We also watched a movie Joe’s coworker recommended called Oculus. It was pretty good.

Next Halloween I’d rather be out of town. I love Halloween but it never lives up to the hype.

Our Anniversary and Lincoln Park Zoo

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Friday was our ten year wedding anniversary so Joe took the day off work so we could spend it together. We didn’t have anything too exciting planned – just a relaxing day and then a nice dinner to celebrate. In the morning we participated in a gummy vitamin taste test and a research facility. It was about an hour of our time and we each made $25 so that was nice.

We tried a new Thai restaurant in Wheaton. Well, it was a Thai place before so I’m not sure if it’s new owners and the old owners changing the name and trying to garner new clientele, but it wasn’t that impressive.

After lunch we made a trip to the arboretum to check out the fall foliage.

Morton Arboretum

We also stopped at a forest preserve called Churchill Woods but the weather was turning more grey so I didn’t get any good photos there.

Churchill Woods

We debated over whether to try a new to us, but expensive steakhouse, or stick with a place we knew. We opted for the latter and had it narrowed down between Claim Jumper and Lonestar, deciding on Lonestar which required us to drive out to Elgin. The meal was disappointing to say the least. My filet was way overcooked so I had to sit there watching Joe eat his (I insisted since I didn’t want it to get cold) while they prepared a new filet for me. The new one was at least cooked like I requested (medium), but I need A1 to make it tasty, which in my mind means the steak sucks (never needed A1 at Claim Jumper). I have no idea if this is a fluke, the location we visited sucks, or if Lonestar in general has gone downhill, but it ruined that chain for me. I’ve always loved their inexpensive food but I’ll think twice before ever eating there again.

We decided to get dessert and went to this Mexican ice cream place that had high ratings on Yelp. I didn’t care for it at all. My chocolate ice cream tasted like Hershey’s syrup. Ick. Needless to say the eating portion of our anniversary sucked.

Saturday we drove down to Oak Lawn to pick up E for lunch. We went to Culvers out in Orland Park. After dropping E off at home we hit the Walmart where I was finally able to find a pair of jeans in my desired size and color so I can wear my Cuddl Duds underneath them at work from now until April.

We had planned to attend a Halloween flea market Saturday night but changed our mind. It’s $7 to get in and all outdoors (for some reason I thought it was indoors) and it was drizzling. A few people online complained about the long lines last year which really discouraged us. So we went home and binge-watched some more Modern Family instead.

Sunday we decided to visit Lincoln Park Zoo. They had been bragging on their social media sites that the two red panda cubs born four months ago had just made their public debut and encouraged everyone to come visit them over the weekend. So we came, but we didn’t see squat!

We arrived to the zoo early and found free parking on Cannon Dr. which was awesome. The zoo gates were open already so we walked over to the red panda exhibit but it was empty. Thinking perhaps they wouldn’t be out until the official 10 am zoo opening, we checked out some other animals, including the lions where I got some great photos.

Lioness

We made our way back to the red pandas just before 10 am. By then a crowd had formed but we were able to secure a spot in front just to the left of the exhibit. I had just learned that my SLR’s battery was on one bar so I vowed not to use the camera again until the red pandas came out. In the meantime, two cute little Eurasian Lynxs were let into their exhibit to our left. I wanted to get a photo and/or video of them but didn’t want to miss out on the pandas, so I reluctantly waited some more.

At some point after 10 am a zookeeper came into the exhibit to prepare it for the red pandas. Why they didn’t do that before the zoo opened, I don’t know. We waited almost an hour before an employee informed us that one of the panda cubs wasn’t ready to come out yet and they weren’t planning on opening the exhibit until he was and had no idea when that would be (and their indoor habitat is not viewable to the public). By this time the lynxs were back in their non-viewable to the public den so I missed that opportunity as well. To say I was disappointed, not to mentioned pissed off, is an understatement. Sorry, but I think if you’re posting all over social media asking the public to visit your zoo to see the pandas you better damn well put the pandas somewhere they can be seen. Seriously!

We spent another two hours at the zoo checking out the rest of the exhibits and returned to the red panda one several times but they were never out.

Finally we gave up and drove to Rodgers Park to this great Thai place to have lunch.

Monday I had an early doctor appointment to go over some stuff and she sent me for some routine blood work.

Gallery of Ghoulish Homes & Sonny Acres

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E bailed on us for the weekend to watch the playoffs with his friends so we did our October traditions alone.

Friday we were going to do a haunted hayride but it was too cold. I hope next weekend the weather is more cooperative so we can go.

Saturday evening, with homemade cocoa in hand, we took the Gallery of Ghoulish Homes Tour in St. Charles. There were a total of fifteen houses this year but we only visited eleven because four of them we’ve seen before and didn’t like. There were four rookies this year and all but one were very good.

Here’s a video I took of our favorite homes on the tour.

Sunday morning we headed to Sonny Acres for apple cider donuts and a walking taco for yours truly. The weather was pretty decent and we enjoyed people-watching for awhile. We stayed for about an hour and then headed back home in time for the Bears game.

Scarecrow Fest

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Another fantastic weekend is behind us.

Saturday morning we got together with friends to check out St. Charles’ Scarecrow Festival. It was the perfect day weather-wise. It was cool in the morning but the sun was out so it wasn’t too hot or cold.

First we had breakfast at this fabulous restaurant near the festival. I got the same thing as last time – Hawaiian eggs benedict. Joe and our friends each had a skillet. Both men ordered bloody marys too.

After breakfast we browsed the scarecrows before the festival officially opened. I didn’t bring a camera because I wasn’t sure whether I would take any photos, but I couldn’t resist, so I used my iPhone. The photos with the sun behind me came out fine but the other ones leave a lot to be desired. Ugh, I hate the iPhone camera because it’s so inconsistent in quality!

Revenge of the Great Pumpkin

We left the festival temporarily to check out a Ferret show at the Kane County Fairgrounds (our friends are huge ferret fans and own one). They had some really cute hammocks for sale so we got two for the rats. One is a big Halloween-themed cube hammock which I put in Milo and Gizmo’s cage. They love it.

After seeing everything at the show, we headed back to the festival so we could check out the craft booths. By this time it was close to noon so the parking garage we had used earlier that morning was completely full. We drove around the area for awhile and stumbled upon Delnor park which turns out is only a few blocks walk to the area where the crafts were. Score!

We spent some time checking out all the booths together. I bought a chocolate covered pretzel to snack on since I find them irresistible. We also spent some time checking out their petting zoo from a distance. They had a very interesting collection of exotic animals including a kookaburra and wallaby, but we had difficulty identifying one of the animals hopping around. The first thing that came to mind was jackalope which is funny because they don’t really exist. But this thing looked like a cross between a rabbit and a deer which is why my mind went there.

At this point, a stranger who had apparently been listening to our conversation, stuck his phone in my face to “prove” to me it was a capybara. I told him I’ve seen those at a zoo before and they were way larger than this, but he insisted, claiming it was a baby. Whatever. Mind your own business, dude! Finally, I got the attention of one of the animal handlers to ask her what the creature was and it turns out it was a pantagonian cavy.

We were pretty hungry after all that walking around, but the one thing that is not impressive at this fest is the food, so we went to Beef Shack for lunch. It was such a beautiful day we sat outside to enjoy our food. And we officially ruined Portillo’s beef for our friends by introducing them to Beef Shack, haha! Their beef sandwiches are the best!

On our way back home (we picked up our friends at their house that morning so we could take one car), I pointed out to our friends that Fermilab was nearby if they ever wanted to see the bison, so they asked if we could stop then. Unfortunately, the bison were way out in the field so it was hard to see them. We did see a hawk, though, and some killdeer (which is the only place I’ve yet to see these birds).

When we got back to our friends’ place we went inside for a bit to talk and play with their cute ferret. Overall it was a very long, but fun, day. There are very few people I could spend that much time with but even so, I did have a headache and we used the rest of the evening to decompress by watching tv. It has become very clear to us that while we do enjoy time socializing, we are very much introverts who could not do it two days in a row.

Which is why on Sunday we renewed our Costco membership and did some grocery shopping before the Bears game and spent the rest of the day inside. Since it was what I’m guessing the last warm day of the season, we opened the windows to get some fresh air. It was nice to walk around barefoot in the house; I predict I won’t be able to do that again until spring. For dinner I made beef stroganoff in the crock pot and apple muffins for dessert, both of which were delicious. It was a nice relaxing end to our weekend together.

» Scarecrow Festival photos on Flickr

Weekend Happenings

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I saw two new animals I’ve never seen in the wild before this weekend:

A skunk on our street when we were coming home after spending the evening at my parents’ house on Saturday.
A Blue Jay being quite vocal at the arboretum on Sunday morning.

I know both of these animals are native to the area but I have never seen either. I certainly can smell the skunks most nights, though! I swear our town is overflowing with them.

The weekend as a whole looked like this:

Friday night we were invited to play BINGO with a friend at the VFW. Didn’t win squat (but at the least the pizza was good).

Saturday morning we stopped at the newly opened Chik-fil-a for breakfast, then did some grocery shopping at Meijer.

Saturday evening we headed to my parents house to celebrate my mom’s birthday. We brought over fried chicken, a rotisserie chicken, chicken tenders (specifically for Brother # 1), broccoli, and mashed potatoes. After dinner we played What’s Yours Like and Pictionary Jr. with my mom and both brothers. My mom tried to give me $10 for some of the food; we ended up playing a game of giving back the money by “hiding” it. I won because I slipped it under the rug by the stairs when I was putting my boots on to leave. Right in front of everyone, no less! No one found it (even though my mom admitted she went around the house after I left looking for it because she knew I had left it there) until the next day when I told them where to look. I don’t want their money. I’m not rich by any means but I don’t feel right taking money from them either.

Sunday morning Joe went with a friend of ours to a gun show and then when he got home we headed over to the arboretum to check out the scarecrows (photos will be posted later this week). On the way home we picked up some Mexican food which we ate while watching the Bears game (they finally won this year).

Our DVR decided to act like a jerk and not show the Bears game on it until after the game was over. That sucked because we got home a half hour into the game and had planned to catch up via the recording. It usually shows everything even while it’s recording so I don’t know why it didn’t this time. On top of that, last night a bunch of really old recordings, some dating back to January of this year, reappeared on the DVR. I had to go through it and delete all the stuff we’ve already watched. Way to go, cable company! It’s not like I don’t spend a fortune on your service or anything.

Monday was cleaning day since I put it off all weekend.

By the way, I am already hating the cold. Even though it was 70 degrees when I left work today it was freezing in the office and I had to pull out my heated floor mat. I’m going to have to dress in multiple layers from now until April and I’m not happy about it.