Fun & Games – Page 19 – Not Content to Crawl

Bingo and porno

Posted onNovember 9, 20081 Comment

Today plans to be a lazy Sunday. Maybe we won’t even get out of our PJs. Last night we put them on at 5:30 pm because that’s the kind of party animals we are.

Friday night we did actually go out after work; first to Portillo’s for dinner, then to Bingo with some friends. We successfully pissed off an old lady at a nearby table. I guess she doesn’t like it when other people are having fun because she’d get so mad when anyone laughed. She’d swear up a storm when she didn’t win too. Pretty much all night she had a scowl on her face. At one point I happened to be the only one still laughing from something someone said and I got a tongue-lashing from her. So unfair considering I was the quietest one there, but whatever. I was really tempted to tell her to pull the stick out of her butt. Most of the people there take it way too seriously. It’s not a way to supplement your income; it’s supposed to be fun. But you wouldn’t know it from the serious looks on some of their faces. I hope we end up sitting by her again. It’s my mission now to make her explode. ;)

Yesterday we finally got to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno. We decided to check out the “new” theater at the mall closest to us. It opened a good year or more ago but we’ve never gone because the tickets are pricier than our usual theater. Joe had gotten free tickets through Fandango, however, so we figured what the heck, we might as well check it out.

First off, the concession prices are insane! $10.25 for popcorn and a pop? I don’t think so. Good thing we brought our own treats. Secondly, the ticket taker had no idea what to do with our printed tickets even though they clearly said “Scan ticket” on them. She goes, “uh, ok” and just hands them back to us. Nice. Thirdly, the theater was small and it didn’t have that cozy theater look and smell I’ve grown to love. So thumbs down for that place. We’ll stick with our usual theater from now on.

The movie itself was disappointing. There were a lot of vulgar jokes, which of course I do love, but the plot was predictable and it was just missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on. It makes me want to watch Mallrats just to redeem Kevin Smith in my eyes. He may feel it’s his weakest film, but I adore it.

Exercise & Nature

Posted onAugust 10, 2008August 10, 2008

Friday evening after a healthy dinner of grilled chicken, potatoes, and veggies, we took the kids to Mallard Lake forest preserve to get some exercise. To make it fun, I gave them each one of our old Nikon digital cameras so they could take photos along the way, which they enjoyed. The only one who didn’t entirely enjoy the walk was Joe since the mosquitoes love to dine on him.

Saturday morning we bought the boy a tennis racket and played Pictionary Jr. and Disney Scene It while waiting for the rain to pass. We managed to fit 45 minutes of tennis between rain showers but ultimately had to head home when the lightning siren went off. The rain finally went away in the evening so we took a walk around the neighborhood after dinner.

After dropping off the kids this morning, Joe and I headed to Willowbrook Wildlife Center to check out the new sandhill crane exhibit. You can’t get good photos of them, or any of the wildlife they have on site, as a matter of fact, due to the way the cages are designed. We mostly got flower photos instead. They do have a butterfly garden but it was more like a bee garden today. Not that I mind – I love the bees. Oh, and we saw a baby raccoon as well.

We stopped at Trader Joe’s on the way home because I wanted one of their pizzas. $47 later we have pecans, almonds, dark chocolate covered raisins, tapenade, orange chicken, garlic chicken, chicken fried rice, bananas, sea salt, and some other stuff I can’t remember right now. We usually don’t buy that much stuff there but it all looked so tasty, probably because we hadn’t eaten breakfast!

After dropping the cameras and food off at home, we went to the mall where I finally found a bathing suit. It’s a lot more colorful than I usually go for, but it will do. Joe bought more stuff than I did which was a bit annoying. I couldn’t find any clothes I liked at New York & Company or Kohl’s, except for the bathing suit. I did get a cute Nike tote bag, though. I’m all about the bags, much to Joe’s chagrin.

I even got a new bag for my work laptop at Target. I hate the Dell one that comes with it, as do all of my colleagues who have laptops. It has sections to hold other stuff as well so I’m not dragging around several bags and feeling like a pack mule.

After dinner we’re going to go play tennis again. I forgot how fun it was until recently. We used to play regularly when we lived in the apartment but stopped for some reason after we moved.

When it rains, the money pours

Posted onJuly 20, 2008July 20, 20082 Comments

We had all these plans to visit different nature areas this weekend but the constant rain and storm clouds ruined all that. Instead we spent money. Between yesterday and today, we bought:

New hair dryer (mine went up in smoke, literally, Friday morning) ($12.49)
Travel hair dryer ($8.49)
1st season of How I Met Your Mother on DVD ($19.99)
2nd season of The L Word on DVD ($19.99)
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader DS game ($19.99)
Wii Fit ($90)
A faux leather storage ottoman ($59)

That doesn’t include the little items like food and diet pop. Yeesh, it’s expensive to spend a weekend without anywhere to go!

We also rented two movies:

The Bank Job – I give it four stars (****) because it was fairly entertaining and Jason Statham is nice eye candy.

I Am Legend – I give it five stars (*****) because I love doomsday movies and Will Smith is a terrific actor. One of the best movies I’ve seen this year by far.

So far I am liking the Wii Fit. I got 20 minutes of workout points in my Wii piggy bank, which is so cute by the way! My BMI is in the normal range but we had to add the extension legs to the Wii fit board before it would calculate my weight correctly. At first it had me pegged 8 lbs. lighter than I am. Shoot, I wish! Oh and the hula-hoop exercise? Much harder than it looks. I’m not nearly as coordinated as this chick.

Indiana Beach

Posted onJune 17, 20081 Comment

Saturday we took the kids to Indiana Beach. This time we remembered they’re an hour ahead and got there before the rides started at 11 am. We didn’t get our super premium parking, however, because they are building a new rollercoaster right by the entrance and the in-park lot was blocked. We also had to walk further to get into the park.

The first thing I noticed was how they repainted a lot of the rides including the skyride. It used to be all white and now it’s yellow, pink, green, and blue. Not sure how I feel about it to be honest. It’s a bit odd. They also sealed the boardwalk so it is black instead of gray for the time being. Nothing else seemed to have changed.

The weather was much better than last year; I didn’t sweat nearly as much and I didn’t burn at all because I put on enough sunblock and wore a hat.

Everyone got ride wristbands ($23 each) but Joe and I didn’t go on a lot of rides. The kids went on the swings the most. The lines got a bit long as the day wore on. In fact, even though we were there longer than in the past (10:30 am – 4:30 pm), we seemed to do less. We didn’t play any games or miniature golf.

I dragged the kids on the Shafer Queen for a half hour tour of Lake Shafer after a lunch of yummy tacos. It’s an Indiana Beach tradition. You have to ride the Shafer Queen at least once and they had never been on in the years we’ve been going.

Next year we plan on taking Thursday and Friday off and going for the evening ride time. I think it will be cool with all the lights, plus there’s no sun threatening to cook you.

All Indiana Beach photos.

Wisconsin Dells

Posted onMay 25, 2008

Thursday we left the house around 9:30-ish so we’d “miss” the morning rush-hour traffic. We made it to the Dells around 12:30 pm just as we anticipated.

We located our hotel just so we knew where it was but it was too early to check-in, so we rode around the area scoping out where everything was. The first thing we did was play 18-holes of miniature golf at Pirate Cove’s Golf. We hiked up to the hardest course, Pirates Challenge 18, and enjoyed the sunshine while working up an appetite.

After golf we headed to the downtown area to find a place to eat. I had read about how good the burgers were at a place called Monk’s, but we got really poor service and didn’t end up eating there. I gave them a lovely review over at Yelp if you’re interested. Instead we ate at Sharky’s Sports Bar and Grill. The food was your typical bar fare but at least we were waited on promptly. Plus they had a dart board with which we occupied ourselves while waiting for our food.

After lunch we walked around the downtown area for a little bit but there’s only so many t-shirt stores (it seemed as if they sold nothing but clothing that said Wisconsin Dells on it) and candy shops one can take, so we made a pit-stop at Walgreens to pick up some snacks and then headed back to the hotel to check-in.

The hotel I chose, the Hilton Garden Inn, was a good pick. Not only was it very clean and modern, the rate was reasonable ($99/night) and since it doesn’t have an indoor waterpark, it wasn’t overflowing with kids. Our room had a king bed, fridge, microwave, and a desk with a complimentary high-speed internet access. The alarm clock had a line-in which allowed us to listen to our iPods which was nice touch. The bathroom was very clean and bright. Inside was a sink with a granite counter-top and a shower with more than adequate water pressure. Complimentary Shampoo, conditioner, mouth wash and lotion were provided. My only complaint was the lack of fan in the bathroom. Otherwise this was one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed in.

I got online at the hotel to scope out places to eat and we decided on Buffalo Phil’s Grille which turned out to be really good (their coleslaw is the best I’ve ever had) and in retrospect the best place we ate at during our stay. Before dinner we checked out the attached place called Knuckleheads Bowling and Family Entertainment Center. In addition to the bowling, Knuckleheads has pool tables, air hockey, go-karts, small rides for the youngsters, and an arcade. We played air hockey, skee-ball and some other games before dinner and afterwards played a few more games including Deal or No Deal and a Lord of the Rings version of a pinball game. I’m not a fan of LOTR but I do love pinball machines. In addition to the pool, air hockey and poker tables I plan to have in the game room of my dream house, I would like a pinball machine.

The restaurant and amusement center are located directly in front of Tanger Outlet Center so we headed over there before they closed because I wanted to check out the Old Navy store. What a disappointment! There’s nothing outlet about their prices. I saw no better deals than at the regular Old Navy store at home. It’s official – I’m completely over outlets and won’t bother ever shopping at one again.
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