Friday morning we HAD to stop at Target after the movie to take advantage of the junk food that was on sale. Seriously, the healthiest thing in our cart was the non-artificially sweetened ketchup! Doritos were $1.50 and there were cupcake flavored Oreos on clearance. It’s no wonder I can’t lose weight! Joe works out like a fiend so he can’t go hog wild on the weekends and he’s still lean and muscular. I hate that.
After dropping the groceries off at home we decided to catch a matinee showing of Angry Birds. I was really looking forward to seeing it but it was just ok. It’s funny how the two movies I was looking forward to were just average but I really enjoyed the one Joe wanted to see (Captain America Civil War). I guess I should let him choose all the movies from now on.
After putzing around the house a bit we headed to Hickory Hills to meet up with E and his girlfriend to have dinner. We’ve been trying to find places that have Groupons since I can get Groupon Bucks from our Discover card cash back. That way very little is spent out of pocket. We got a $40 Groupon for The Sock Bar and Grill so our bill was only $1.58; with tip our total OOP was $10. Not too shabby for four people to eat and Joe to drink a few beers. We probably spent closer to $20 though – since E was running late Joe and I played two games of darts while we waited. It brought back memories to when we first starting hanging out and would play darts fairly regularly at two specific sports bars. After dinner E and his girlfriend played a game of darts as well which we paid for and Joe had one last beer (which was only $1.50).
Saturday morning we got up early (6:30) and rode our bikes over to Camera Park and did a few laps. In total it was only 5 miles which is not much for Joe but was enough for me as I get used to biking. There’s a pond at the park that is full of wildlife. I stopped to rest while Joe did an additional loop and I spotted ducks, two egrets, and lots of songbirds. I think there was even a beaver dam. I plan to go back there soon with my camera.
Later Saturday morning we went to the JustPlay! festival in Carol Stream and walked around. Most of what they have is geared toward kids although there was a zip line that looked interesting but the line was too long and I’m afraid of heights so we decided to skip it. After tiring of all the people watching we headed to Walmart for a few things.
Back at home we were just lounging around enjoying the breeze from having all the windows open when my brother (B) texted to ask what we had going on. I invited him over and after some back and forth discussing specifics he eventually arrived at 4 pm. We played bags for awhile, mostly while Joe was picking up a deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s. We still had the $25 bonus certificate from December which is only good through June so might as well.
After dinner and chatting we watched a comedy special on Amazon Prime and Joe was falling asleep so he went up to bed. B and I stayed up to watch another special until I found myself dozing on the couch. It was midnight by that point. B decided to spend the night and we went to bed.
Sunday I was up at 6:30 again and after realizing I wasn’t going to be able to sleep any longer I played on my phone for awhile and then worked out on the elliptical for 45 minutes. B finally got up around 9:30 am and we all had breakfast while discussing what to do on such a beautiful day. We decided on visiting Northside Park in Wheaton because they have a zip line there. Unfortunately there were a ton of kids using it so we just walked around the paths there. We spotted an Eastern Kingbird (which I’ve never seen before and was only able to identify thanks to my trusty Merlin Bird ID app) and a Baltimore Oriole. We also saw some very small, yet very loud, frogs in one of the water logged areas. The park was looking real good and with all that wildlife I’m itching to go back with my camera.
After the park we went to Bulldog Ale House to take advtange of their 39¢ wings on Sundays. I always get the garlic parmesean. Joe got sweet chili and B got savory boubon and garlic parm. B also ordered some warm soft pretzels as an appetizer to share because he treated us to lunch which was real nice and appreciated.
We didn’t do much after lunch but hang out at the house. B and I played a game on the PS3 which I had borrowed from the library – The LEGO Movie Videogame – which was really cute. It’s not quite as fun to play as other LEGO games I’ve played but I liked how it follows the movie plot as it progresses. I don’t think B enjoyed it as much since he hasn’t seen the movie.
B took off at 6 pm and we spent the rest of the evening watching shows off the DVR since it’s going away on Tuesday. I was so sleepy that I went to bed at 9:30 even though it took me awhile to actually fall asleep. That happens a lot – I will be falling asleep on the couch but when I get upstairs I lay in bed awhile. Weird.