Category: Kids

Staycation Days 1-6

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Staycation Day 1 (Friday July 17)
Cleaned the house, basically, while Joe was at work.

Staycation Day 2 (Saturday July 18)
Joe and I hit the local theater in our mall to see a matinee of Trainwreck starring Amy Schumer & Bill Hader. While it was a bit long for a comedy (2 hours), I thought it was pretty good. Afterwards we headed to a different mall so I could check JCPenney for jeans and swimwear, but first we stopped at a place called Moochies for lunch. It wasn’t all that, although their greek fries, covered in feta, were very good. Our mall shopping trip was a complete bust and we left empty-handed. UPS delivered my new camera while we were out so I charged the battery and set up wifi & ability to transfer photos from the camera to my iPhone which will make posting to social media on our vacation possible. Technically you can post from the camera directly to Facebook and YouTube but it’s cumbersome trying to type out a caption.

Staycation Day 3 (Sunday July 19)
We visited Cosley zoo in the morning to test my new camera.

Fox

It’s pretty decent. It’s really hard not to compare it to the results I could get from my SLR which isn’t fair to a point and shoot model. Pros: zoom is magnificent, shutter speed is impressive, and you can shoot HD video in any camera mode which is a plus. Cons: battery life is crap, there are limited aperture settings so you don’t get that lovely blurred background, and the camera kept changing the exposure on me (although I’ve since learned by reading the manual how to lock that moving forward).

After the zoo we went to Walmart for a few things and bought this cute beach bag for $5.

Beach Bag

It will come in handy on our day trip to Indiana Beach.

We also decided to grab Chipotle for lunch. Normally we eat there but it was rather busy so we decided to take it home. That turned out to be a good thing since five minutes after getting home E was dropped off by his mom (he’s supposed to text Joe when he’s on his way, but he didn’t do that until he was more than halfway to the house and we had zero idea what time she was planning on dropping him off). Since he hadn’t eaten lunch, he made himself a sandwich and we had grilled hamburgers for dinner.

Staycation Day 4 (Monday July 20)
We headed to the mall to see Inside Out. Was I the only one who balled their eyes out during this movie? Damn Pixar really pulls at one’s heartstrings! It was a great movie, as most Pixar films are. After the movie we went to Round1 to play ping-pong for an hour. It was only $5.25 which was even less than the pricing on their website. I’m so out of shape because my calves were sore the next day. We had Portillo’s for lunch and I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

Staycation Day 5 (Tuesday July 21)
The boys wanted to see a Milwaukee Brewers game so I purchased tickets on Stubhub Monday evening for a Tuesday night game. We decided to head up to Milwaukee at noon (arriving at 2 pm) to visit their zoo first.

I was originally going to bring my SLR but didn’t relish the idea of carrying my camera and lenses into Miller Park, or leaving them in the car, so I decided to bring my new camera instead. It performed pretty well, although, like always, it was a disappointment compared to my SLR (do I sound like a broken record or what). That being said, one cool feature is that you can change the aspect ratio of the photos. I’ve gotten so used to my SLR 3:2 ratio that I was thrilled to learn I can do the same on the new camera, even though I do give up two megapixels to do so, effectively changing my 16mp camera to a 14mp one.

I also tested the new crossbody bag I purchased from ebags earlier in the week. I do like it, although I find it a bit uncomforable to wear across my chest due to how thick and unpadded the strap is. I swear, I cannot find the perfect bag. This one gets so close other than the strap. It is a good size, although a bit heavy even when empty.

Getting to the zoo at 2 pm was quite odd. We’re used to getting there when they first open and leaving around noon. The parking lot was full, but not overflowing, and most of the exhibits were not that busy so it was nice. The only downside to arriving so late is the ridiculous amount of fingerprints on all the exhibit glass. I couldn’t find a smudge-free spot in order to get a shot of the lions. By the time we made it to the Great Apes most of them were nowhere to be found. The exhibit buildings close at 4:45 pm but it seems like they take the animals off exhibit closer to 4:30 unless there was some other reason all the gorillas were MIA.

Giraffe

My camera’s battery died just before we were done seeing everything so I’m definitely going to need to buy a spare battery for our trip to Disney. I hope two batteries will be sufficient for a full day of fun. I don’t plan on hiding behind the camera the entire trip but it would be pretty fun to put together a nice video montage of the parks.

Staycation Day 6 (Wednesday July 22)
We originally planned to visit the arboretum to check out the new LEGO exhibit and then get lunch from our favorite BBQ place, Smoque, but E was not feeling well. His sinuses have been bothering him since Sunday and today his throat was hurting too, so Joe took him to immediate care. He tested negative for strep throat but was diagnosed with a sinus infection. He’s allergic to all but the strongest antibiotics which they didn’t think he should use for just a sinus infection, so he basically has to treat the symptoms and let the infection run its course. He’s taking Pseudoephedrine and Flonase and resting. We suggested pushing back our Indiana Beach trip to Friday but he really wants to still go tomorrow so we’ll see if that ends up working out.

2015 Vacations

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We’ve got two vacations planned in the next two months!

Our first vacation is actually a staycation in a couple of weeks with E. We plan on visiting Indiana Beach amusement park and Whiting’s Pierogi Fest among other things.

Our second vacation is in September. We mulled it over for awhile and decided to celebrate our 10 year anniversary a month early by visiting the place where we honeymooned – Disney World. I’m so excited! I’ve already booked the hotel, airfare, and rental car. We’re going for 5 nights and staying on Disney property. This will be my fifth visit to Disney but my first time staying within their little world. It should be lots of fun! I’ve been doing a ton of research to make sure we visit the parks on the least crowded days and all that jazz. Plus we’re going to spend a day at Kennedy Space Center.

The only thing that sucks is I feel guilty because I know E would love to go too. However, given the fact that a) it’s our anniversary trip and b) when we’ve tried taking him on a big vacation in the past his mother once flat out refused to let him go and the other time purposely waited too long to get back to us so we could book airfare, I just don’t see it working out this year. That being said, we plan to take him next year as a graduation present (assuming he wants to go; he can pick another destination if he wants). That will work out better because by that time he will be 18 and won’t need permission. Plus if he chooses Disney World, we’ll know exactly what is and isn’t worth our time and we might be able to go for a longer time period than we could this year. So in the end it might work out better for him. I just hope he isn’t too disappointed that he will have to wait until next year. :(

4th of July

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Friday we went to a tattoo shop because Joe wanted to get a new tattoo. But the guy who would be doing it had stepped out temporarily so we left to get lunch a nearby pizza place / bar and planned to go back. Except we didn’t end up going back because I was a little freaked out about the whole thing and Joe didn’t want to proceed until I felt more comfortable. I feel bad that my anxiety stopped him from getting the tattoo since I’m sure I’ll be fine with it once it’s said and done. I’m just weird about the placement of this one (forearm). He already has a tattoo but you can’t see it easily since it’s on his upper arm. This new one would be visible pretty much all the time unless he wears long sleeves (which is very rare) and I’m worried I won’t like seeing it constantly. I have this thing where I don’t like tattoos you can see all the time. So once I get over that I’m sure he’ll be getting it.

Saturday we watched E’s band in the 4th of July parade. Then later in the day we went to my parents to play bags, badminton, and Taboo (E didn’t come along even though it was our year to have him for the holiday because he wanted to hang out with his friends). Only my mom, dad, and Brother # 1 was there. Brother # 2 was somewhere with his girlfriend.

Yesterday we went to the pool for a little while. It was only the second time this season we had gone and the first time I actually went in the water. I would have stayed in longer had it not gotten so crowded with kids jumping in and splashing. I look forward to the day we have a house and our own private pool.

Christmas Part Deux

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Yesterday was our Christmas with E. He seemed to enjoy all his presents: baseball cards, a White Sox collectors coin, candy, Dunkin Donuts gift card, McDonald’s gift card, Google Play store gift card, and $100 in cash (because he didn’t really give us any ideas for presents and we eventually ran out). Not surprising, to me at least, was how much he liked the oversized ceramic Pikachu bank we got him. He sure loves Pokemon!

Pikachu Bank

The only thing he wasn’t keen on was the Skullcandy bluetooth wireless speaker we got him. We had seen it at Target for 50% off so we took a gamble knowing he might already have one at home (he does). So I gave him $20 for it and I’m debating whether to keep it or take it back. I already have a wireless speaker but this new one has twice the battery life so it’s tempting to hang onto it but I’m not sure if I really need it.

We ran out to Target for a little bit in the early afternoon and E decided to use some of his money to buy some more baseball cards. I showed him how they were 30% off in the Target Cartwheel app and when we got home he had downloaded it and signed up since he goes to Target sometimes. I’m happy to be a role model for him on how to save a couple of bucks.

I made a delicious Cook’s shank ham that we got at Meijer. I used to get a spiral ham at Target but found that the shank ham comes out much more moist. The regular sides we have every year were included – green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, crescent rolls, corn, mashed potatos, gravy, stuffing, and macaroni and cheese, except the latter was my homemade version instead of boxed.

We spent the day watching movies and just relaxing. It was nice.

Loud Teenagers, Selling My iPhone, Etc.

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Another fabulously fun weekend has come to an end. Luckily Joe didn’t have to work on Saturday so we actually had two days together.

But first we had to get through Friday night’s high school football game to see E in the marching band. It seems like every time we go to a game the crowd gets worse and worse. This time there was a teenage girl sitting next to me who kept flipping her head around so fast to look at her classmates sitting behind her that was I literally getting slapped in the face by her long ponytail! I wish I was making this up! And even though I kept moving away from her she managed to keep moving closer to me. She also elbowed me several times and kicked my water bottle onto the ground without any apology. The kids sitting behind us kept kneeing me in the back and screaming in our ears as well. By the time half-time came around I was ready to assault someone. We left the bleachers and went down by the fence to watch E’s performance before leaving. I have absolutely no desire to go to another game ever again but if we have to, I will just stand by the field instead of subject myself to the rude and obnoxious behavior of teenagers. I just can’t believe how loud and fidgety they all were! My god, it made me so anxious! I was so incredibly happy to get back to the calm solitude of our home.

Saturday started out with a trip to the doctor because Joe’s arm has been hurting him. He may have torn something lifting weights so she gave him a referral to a specialist. She also ordered some blood work and EKG because he’s 45 now and it’s been awhile since the former and I guess with his age she wanted to check his heart with the latter. We headed straight over to the hospital to get both tests out of the way since we were close and he just so happened to have been unintentionally fasting which was required of the blood tests.

Once we were done with all that we met up with a guy who was interested in buying my iPhone 4S which I had posted on Craigslist. I was initially asking for $250 when I posted it last weekend but wasn’t getting any interest because there were a ton of people selling the same phone in my area. I bumped it down to $199 and he asked if $170 was ok. Seeing as though I paid $200 and used it for three years I was fine with that. I even threw in three cases and a portable battery because they were useless to me now anyway. The guy was nice and was purchasing the phone for his niece to play games on as she’s only six years old. He was telling us how he spoils her.

It feels weird to no longer have the phone, but I’m sure I’ll get over it soon. I actually had a dream about it the other night and started feeling anxious about getting rid of it. Does this happen to anyone else where they become attached to an inanimate object? I think this is why I never ended up selling my iPhone 3GS which is now collecting dust. I pulled it out yesterday and charged it and it felt so small yet heavy! I’m actually giving it away to Brother #1 to play games on. Once I get over the weird sense of loss I will be happy to not have these useless devices sitting around the house. I’m feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff we have so anything I can find a new home for is a good thing.

After selling my phone we decided to pay Cosley Zoo a visit since I’d been itching to take some photos.

Mallard Duck

I really wish I had a longer zoom lens, though. I checked last night and Canon released a ton of new rebates but unfortunately they’re for L lenses (the big expensive white ones that typically go for $1200+). What a bummer!

On the way home we checked out the new Caputo’s grocery store that opened on Thursday. It’s now the closest grocery store to the house and technically within walking distance although I wouldn’t brave crossing the busy intersection it’s on to walk there. It’s sectioned off in an interesting way and I haven’t decided whether I like it or find it obnoxious. It was super busy which sucked but we’d probably shop there early morning (they open at 6 am every day) anyway so it shouldn’t be much of an issue. Plus it will come in handy on those occasions where I’m missing a key ingredient for dinner and don’t want to spend a fortune at Target since it’s usually produce which is way overpriced there.