Category: Fun & Games

Bananafishbones

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We invited my brother and his girlfriend to go on a haunted forest walk with us last night. These plans were made two weeks in advance, but you can’t fight mother nature. Shortly after they arrived it started raining, so after our dinner of Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza we played some games instead; Pictionary and Guitar Hero, to be exact. I also made brownies which everyone seemed to like.

My brother must have enjoyed himself because he really didn’t want to leave but they both had to be up early the next morning. I hope his girlfriend had fun. It’s hard to tell with her because she’s much more quiet than he is. I hope the long drive, which was made even longer by the Friday evening rush-hour traffic, doesn’t turn them off from visiting again.

I had a lot of fun. I’ve been wanting to spend some “quality” time with my brother but in the past it seemed he wanted nothing to do with me. Perhaps now that he’s older we’ll be able to hang out more often. I may be 10 years older physically, but not mentally. ;)

I apparently don’t look to be in my thirties either. I was standing in Sears today waiting for Joe to grab the bathroom rugs/towels from the car so we could return them when an older employee asked me if she could help me with anything. When I told her I was waiting for my husband she was genuinely shocked and said I looked too young to be married. When I told her I was in my thirties she wanted to know my secret. Just lucky, I guess. Now I don’t feel so bad for being mistaken for twelve years old back when I was eighteen.

Fall fun

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I’m trying to plan some fun things for the kids to do to celebrate the wonderful Fall season but it’s rather hard when the weather isn’t cooperating. It’s supposed to be in the mid-80’s this weekend; taking them to a pumpkin farm seems wrong. We might take them bowling instead since I have a coupon for a free game. Of course there’s still shoe rental. Why are those god-awful shoes so expensive when you’re only wearing them for an hour and a billion other people have worn them before you? It’s pretty gross if you think about it too much.

I’m really looking forward to when it gets a little cooler and we can take the kids to this place called Sonny Acres. We drive past it all the time since it’s close to home, but we’ve never stopped. We’re just not up to the apple picking trip this year (or last year, apparently, since we never went). I just can’t justify the cost of all those apples that end up rotting before we can eat them. There’s nothing else for the kids to do there so we drive 45 minutes one way for them to pick apples for 10 minutes and then we browse in the bakery and leave. Hardly seems worth it.

But Sonny Acres looks like it has a lot for the kids to do. The petting zoo sounds cute, and they have a spook barn which isn’t too scary for the boy, and a real haunted house for the girl. Not too sure about the hayride, although I think I’d enjoy it. They have concessions and whatnot too. I’m guessing we’ll drop $50 on our visit but I suppose that’s to be expected. Although, I must be cheap because that seems like a lot for 1-2 hours of fun. I’m just glad we only have two kids. When I see huge families at these places I often wonder how they can afford it. Or how they can stomach spending so much money on one excursion.

It’s kinda like those large families who I see at the movies from time to time. Each kid has a combo meal and the parents have a huge popcorn and pop, sometimes candy too. I marvel at what that one movie must have cost them. And there we are with our small popcorns, sneaking in candy and water bottles to avoid paying the outrageous concession prices. It’s kinda funny when you think about it.

Kelly Miller Circus

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The circus came to town last week and I decided we needed to check it out. The last time I remember going to a circus was when my grandparents took me. I was about 10 years old and I got to ride an elephant which was the highlight of my week. I also got a blow-up elephant to take home that I loved until the day my cousin sat on it and it popped. I was so pissed off sad. But I digress.

This circus wasn’t too shabby. Not that I have much to compare it to. The tickets were reasonable and the show was longer than I expected – nearly 2 hours (longer if you count the intermission). The first round of gymnasts, I guess you would call them, was a group of Asian guys. They reminded me of that guy in Ocean’s 11. If you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about. They are very flexible and were jumping all over the place, through hoops, etc. There were also some acrobats that climbed a pole another acrobat was balancing on his shoulders or forehead. No nets either! There were horses, dogs, camels and elephants that performed too. And only one clown, whew! Not a big fan of clowns. I liked the juggler, however. He was near the end of the show.

Now the not so great stuff. It felt a little claustrophobic inside the tent and it was hard to breathe. They took every opportunity to try and make more money by selling tons of concessions, toys, coloring books, elephant rides, etc. I felt bad for the people sitting behind the kids who won these monster balloons. It was a gimmick to sell bags of peanuts – some bags had a tag inside saying you won a balloon. Like they couldn’t wait until the end of the show to do that? It was packed in there as it was.

But in all, I enjoyed the show and I managed to get a few decent photos too. I had my camera on the fastest shutter speed and ISO I could get away with. Of course I ran out of memory just as the elephants came out and had to switch to my Powershot which sucks in low-light situations but what can you do? It was still an interesting experience.

Labor Day

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I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day! I didn’t crawl out of bed until 10:30 am because we didn’t get home from my parents’ last night until 1 am. We had a blast! Played lots of games including Friends Scene It and Guitar Hero with Brother #2. He seems happier since he dropped out of school. I worry about that decision, but it’s nice to see him less stressed and friendlier. He rarely spends the entire time hanging out with us when we visit, so it was nice. Plus I got him addicted to Pictionary, muhaha!

Playing two player mode on Guitar Hero was interesting. Apparently you can battle each other or play cooperatively. Brother #2 would play on Hard mode and I’d play on Easy yet he beat me every time except once. I’m impressed how quickly he can play that thing. Now Joe wants to get a second guitar so we can play two-player at home. We’ve actually got a rolling list of things we’d like to purchase this year if he doesn’t lose his job. He’s got an interview for another position on Friday, so please keep your fingers crossed.

We didn’t leave the house at all today. I wasn’t about to jinx it since I feel better than I have in nearly a month (check the private entry from a few days ago for the details). Maybe the new calcium pills I’ve started taking are having a positive affect. I watched a few movies including Shaun of the Dead (love that one), cleaned Peanut’s cage, and made a yummy dinner. I’m shocked how quickly the time passed since we didn’t do much.

I don’t want to go back to work!

Sending out an S.O.S.

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We did an awful lot of running around today. First we hit Walmart so Joe could look at paintball gear since he’s going paintballing with some friends in a few weeks. I also checked out the Guitar Hero guitar but wasn’t satisfied with the selection, so we went to Circuit City to check their prices. They only had the bundle with the game, so we left. We spotted a Panera, and even though it was only a little after 10 am, we had soup and a sandwich.

After our early lunch we went to Petsmart. Standing in line to check out was a guy with his yellow lab, Jack. He got a kick out of demonstrating for us how well-behaved Jack is. He had him sit, lie down, stay, shake, etc. and proudly told us how he taught the dog everything himself. I was impressed and I wish more dog owners took pride in training their dogs like that because they are more enjoyable to be around (unlike our next door neighbor’s dog).

We ended up buying a wireless guitar at Fry’s Electronics since they were priced the same everywhere. I used my AMEX gift cheque on it so our contribution to the price was minimal. It was funny later when my mom was on the phone and I listened as she told my brother we got it for $15. He was so upset until my mom admitted to him that was the price after the AMEX. Haha!

It was well worth every cent because once we got home we rocked out to I Ran by Flock of Seagulls, Message In A Bottle by The Police, and Heat of the Moment by Asia.

“You framed an Asia poster? How hard did the people at the frame store laugh when you brought this in?”

The game is fun, but hard! Even in practice easy mode I was having trouble. For some reason I did the best to Message In A Bottle, and I’ve had that song stuck in my head all day now. I can’t wait to bring the guitar to my parents to play against my brother who will no doubt kick my ass.