Category: Fun & Games

Festival of food

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We contemplated going to the Balloon Festival today like we did last year, but neither of us felt like getting up at the butt-crack of dawn. Besides, it looked to be the same exact balloons as last year and the sky was hazier. So maybe that will be an every few years type of outing.

We ended up at the mall earlier so I could look for some socks. I also got a pair of purple jogging pants and a cute purse.

Later in the day we decided to check out the Taste of Lombard which we’ve never been to before. Other than not finding close parking, we really liked it. The park they use for the festival grounds is huge so everything is spread out really nice. In addition to a ton of food, they have lots of tents to escape the brutal sun, carnival rides and games, live entertainment, and bingo.

The first thing we did was eat. I got a yummy steak taco and Joe got a beer brat. We sat down and listened to the band onstage for awhile before we walked over to the bingo tent. We didn’t win anything, but it was still fun. I always love bingo! After that we walked around a bit to check out the rides, then went back and listened to some more music, including the Lombard Idol, a singing competition. We only caught the beginning which included girls ages 10-12. I felt rather embarrassed for a few of them because they weren’t very good. But I have to hand it to them for getting up there and trying. I was also a bit surprised by one of the under 12 girls who was walking the stage and carrying on like a wannabe Britney Spears. Way too sexual for her age, if you ask me. By that time we had been there for over two hours, so we decided to leave.

For dinner I grilled some burgers, onion rings, and fries. Yes, I used the actual grill. They came out delicious too.

We’re not planning on trying to find somewhere to watch fireworks tonight. I do like fireworks, don’t get me wrong, I just hate the whole process of having arrive early to get a good spot and then waiting around forever til they actually start. I think we’ll just wait til our town has their summerfest; we can catch two fireworks shows from our driveway. Yes, we really are that lazy!

Hope you had a fun 4th of July!

LCD TV

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Ever since we bought the plasma tv last year, we haven’t had a good tv to play video games on. Joe has been putting a 19″ tv in front of the fireplace and using that from time to time which clutters the living room, not to mention sucks as far as picture quality goes. We had been mulling over buying an LCD TV strictly for gaming but they aren’t cheap. The least expensive one in an acceptable size was a Polaroid 32″ LCD HDTV that Circuit City normally sells for $999. We looked at it last weekend and Joe read reviews about it on their website but we really couldn’t decide. Until this morning, that is, when Joe opened up their ad in the Sunday paper and saw it was on sale for $899. We headed straight to the store and then spent a good hour or so going from store to store looking for a decent tv stand under $100 for it. We finally found a nice stand at Value City of all places. It was a stand I had been looking at on Walmart’s website that they didn’t have in the store. It cost a bit more, but only by $5 after factoring in the shipping charges we would have had to pay. So now we have a kickass gaming station upstairs in our loft. The only thing that stinks is the space isn’t laid out too well (here’s our current setup) so there’s nowhere good to put the leather chair that was up there so you can sit on it while playing. I think we should put it in storage for the time being and get a bean bag chair or something. I swear, that’s it for furniture. I’m starting to feel like it’s getting a bit too crowded in here as it is.

There’s more than corn in Indiana

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Indiana Beach Damn you, Indiana. As if I didn’t need another reason not to like that state, they go and mess up our arrival time to Indiana Beach by deciding to observe Daylight Saving Time beginning this year. Unbeknownst to us, the majority of the state is in the Eastern time zone. However, since they didn’t observe DST before, we never noticed because we only visited in the summer when our times matched. So imagine our surprise when we arrived at the amusement park this morning at what we thought was 10:20 am and couldn’t figure out why all the good parking was gone and the rides that don’t start until 11 am were already running. Um, yea, because it was actually 11:20 am. We had to park in the free lot and walk. Can you imagine? I’ve never had to do that before. We usually pay the $3 or $5 fee and park right under the Flume ride.

Other than that, we had a nice time. We went on $20 worth of rides, ate tacos, nachos, elephant ears, and a corn dog (well, Joe ate the corn dog), and played air hockey and skeeball. I almost thought I had lost my skeeball skills when I kept getting 10 points on every ball, but as I told Joe (who didn’t believe me at first), it just took me awhile to warm up. My best score was 320. I’m sure I could top that given more quarters to waste but I think $5+ was enough.

I have to say something, though. Either it’s me, or the place is getting more crowded every year. Between the smokers and the people wearing inappropriate clothing, my eyes and nose have been assaulted. I think it’s lost a lot of its magic for me as I’ve grown older. But we’ll be back again later this year because we promised the kids we’d take them. We’re contemplating going in the evening for a different experience and to avoid that awful sun. I put sunscreen on but I still got burned. :p

Game Night & Saturday Plans

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Game Night was SO MUCH FUN! Seriously, I haven’t had that much fun with someone other than Joe in a long time. I only invited two people because I am very particular about who I spend time with … I don’t like being uncomfortable in social settings. Anyway, I almost thought that E, my friend (and boss!), wasn’t going to make it because she’s been having the week from hell, but she did show up a little later after we had eaten dinner and she ate while we played Aggravation. My other friend, C, left around 9 pm. I was worried that maybe she wasn’t having fun since we kept quoting Friends episodes and she’s not a fanatic, but I think maybe it was because she’s older than the rest of us and goes to bed around 10 pm, even on weekends. She did look pretty tired when she left too. I love her and I really hope she had fun! I would hate it if someone didn’t enjoy themselves at my place.

After C left, we watched some baseball and played Yahtzee. When you get me and E together, we revert to 12 year olds. It’s pretty scary, especially if we start acting like that at work. Plus we (yes, we, not just me) have foul mouths. I was mildly concerned we might be disturbing the neighbors since the patio door was open but I really didn’t care since they are always bothering us. Interestingly enough, I didn’t hear the annoying dog bark once so they probably were out and took him with (otherwise he barks the entire time they are gone). Figures. The rare time I can irritate them and they aren’t even home!

E stayed til about midnight and then Joe and I surfed online til about 1:30 am before going to bed. We slept in until 11 am and I felt hung over even though unlike Joe and E, I didn’t have any alcohol at all! We haven’t done much since getting up other than shower and eat lunch, but I think we might head to Marshall Field’s in a bit since I’ve got some decent coupons and wanted to buy this cologne we tried that smells awesome on Joe. I’d also like to look at some shoes. Tomorrow we’re going to Indiana Beach, just the two of us, to check out their cottages. We’re thinking of renting one for a night and taking the kids later in the summer. Can’t wait to have some of their yummy tacos. And you thought I went for the rides. Well maybe, but I want to play some skeeball too!