Saturday (04/11) we headed to the Schaumburg Container Store to pick up an order I had placed. They were having an online only 30% off sale and I wanted a few more multi-purpose bins like I bought years ago. I also bought a reusable microfiber duster. I had to pay for everything though because at some point Discover removed them from their gift cards offering. Our cash back balance keeps increasing because most of the gift cards now being offered by Discover are for places we don’t frequent. I joked with my friend I’m going to be ordering $500 worth of Taco Bell since they are one of the gift cards we actually use. I also can’t believe they added McDonald’s when those jerks won’t even let you pay with the gift card in their own app. I submitted feedback to Discover how I don’t like that they added McDonald’s for that reason.
Afterwards we hit up a nature center I used to frequent when I worked in Schaumburg and needed to get away from the office for a bit. It was surprisingly crowded, and other than briefly spotting what I think was a winter wren, it was a dud bird-wise.
Since we ran errands earlier in the morning, it was after 1 pm by that point so we headed over to KD Market (a Polish store) where we loaded up on all the things like stuffed cabbage, pierogis, soups, Polish sausage, etc.
We stuffed ourselves silly when we got home and not one, but two hermit thrushes showed up in the backyard while we were eating lunch. There’s something about seeing uncommon birds in your own backyard that is so thrilling!
Sunday (04/12) we headed over to a hidden gem near the house to see the white pelicans a fellow birder texted me about the day before. Luckily they were still there!
Afterwards we went to the arboretum. We spent three hours driving around and hiking some of the trails, one of which we hadn’t been on before but might be perfect when the warblers make their appearance soon. Also, we’ve been hearing frogs calling in big puddles for weeks now but can never see them. Well, I thought I had finally spotted one and got a photo, so I was excited!
Upon checking my photos I see it was a northern leopard frog. I guess it was hanging out with the chorus frogs who were making all the racket.
After the arboretum we stopped by At Home to look at a container (are you sensing a theme here?) I was interested in. I decided to pass after seeing it in person (looked cheap even though it was more expensive than The Container Store stuff I got).
Next we visited Whalon Lake in Naperville which had been a goldmine in waterfowl the first time we visited it last month. Unfortunately it was a bit of a dud this time around. The migrating ducks are moving north and won’t be seen again until late fall.
Our next stop was a place I’ve been wanting to try for awhile – Minnie Bird. It’s basically a chicken place that has an extensive dirty drink menu (sodas and coffee). We split a 3 wrap combo and tried a dirty soda called The Marshmallow which is basically Mr. Pibb with marshmallow cream. It wasn’t my favorite, but the chicken wraps (especially the pimento one) and fries were so good we’ll definitely be going back soon and will try a different dirty soda flavor. Or maybe a coffee since those look delicious.
Across the parking is a Korean store called H Mart that we’ve been wanting to check out so we ended up buying a bunch of things there before heading home in pure exhaustion. Now the freezer is full of leftover Polish food and dumplings, and the fridge has Asian drinks and desserts. Not sure what to try first!