September 02

Vaca in the Smokyes Pt 2 (ok, I admit, a little late)
Thursday we woke up bright and early, grabbed grubb, then headed off to the Hillbilly Amusement Park a/k/a Dollywood.  While Meghan enjoyed our visit to Dollywood, I found it a bit unimpressive.  It is more expensive than Great America, smaller than Great America, and out dated.  I will not take away from the fact that we had fun, but it was a bit of a let down.  Now if the kids were a little older it  may have been a little more worth the money to ride some coasters, etc, but nothing fantastic by any stretch of the imagination.

Later that evening after our Dollywood adventure we decided to try the place called MagicQuest…now this place was all kindsa cool.  You pay one price (not cheap, but not bad) to participate in 4 activities (1) a live interactive video game (we will get back to that), (2) a mirror maze, (3) a laser obstacle course (comparable to a James Bond movie where your trying to get through a room with laser alarms (4) mini golf.  Every activity was cool as hell, but the interactive adventure was fantastic, like a live Dungons and Dragons.  You are given a magic wand, create a character, then you accept a mission that is much like a scavenger hunt.  You then explore these different rooms that are elaborately decorated to look like a mid evil fantasy Dungeons & Dragons type place.  You wave your want at shit and it reacts, things talk to you…really friggen neat.

This pretty much ended our Vaca, Friday morning we hopped on our car and headed home…we loved TN, want to move there now.  The clear skys, nice people, beautiful scenery, it was just fantastic.



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August 17

Vaca in the Smokeys pt 1
Two weeks ago Trish, myself, and the kids hopped into the trusty Town and Country and trekked it 9 hours to Pigeon Forge TN for a little R&R.  I did surprisingly well on the commute through 5 states (counting our own and our destination), Im usually good for about 2 hours in a car and then start annoying the family.  At the end of the day the drive was half the experience; it was beautiful, and eye opening to how dull the state of IL is.

Tuesday
We departed early AM and arrived to our beautiful cabin in the Smokey Mountains at about 6pm or so.  Our cabin was a one bedroom two story residence with full wrap around porch that overlooked breathtaking landscape (and had a nice large hot tub to soak in while taking in the impressive views).  The lower level of the cabin had a large master bedroom with Jacuzzi tub, living room with a sofa bed (where the children slept), kitchen, and dining room, tons of windows, and soaring ceilings that looked straight up to the loft.  The loft was a game room that had a pool table and tons of space to entertain (but it was just us, so the kids used it).

Now when you drive into the Smokey Mountain region the first town you hit (or at least we hit) was Pigeon Forge.  The two main towns are Pigeon Forge and than Gatlinburg which comes next (we chose to stay in Pigeon Forge due to it being a more “kid friendly” and activity filled environment).  When you roll into Pigeon Forge you are immediately taken back by the lights and attractions that are nestled within some of the most beautiful landscape you have ever seen.  Pigeon Forge is 10x the Dells with a little bit of Vegas Flair (I think that explains it quite well).  The nice part about Pigeon Forge is if you veer off the main strip a few blocks you are immediately consumed by the surrounding mountains cape and don’t even realize that the Vegaseque  street with endless family friendly activities is just a few moments away.

After we took in the amazing landscape and parade of lights, settled into our cabin, and explored the immediate area; we decided we needed to get some dinner.  We ended up going to this carrousel themed restaurant that was very impressive from the outside and quite drab from the inside.  Everything inside was very unimpressive and the food followed the atmosphere, we couldn’t wait to leave.  After dinner we did a quick grocery shop, a little more exploration, and then headed back to the cabin to enjoy the outdoor hot tub.  The kids took the first dip, after they went to bed me and Trish enjoyed the 98 degree water…that’s all Ill say there.

Wednesday
We woke up and prepared for an adventure into the mountains.  We chose this as our day to take in what we could of the Smokey Mountain National Park and experience what it had to offer.    Without question this was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my entire life.  You first exit Pigeon Forge and enter Gatlinburg, which is a beautiful town by its own rights.  While there are many attractions, it is more a shop based down similar to Galena IL (but much more scenic).  This would be the place to stay if it was just me and Trish going on a vacation, more adult things to do (shops, restaurants, bars, etc).  It is actually really nice that the area offers these two places so close together, really gives you two different feelings with the ability to experience it all. 

After you pass through Gatlinburg (which is very congested and busy) you start entering the Smokey Mountain National Park…all I can say is that it was a life altering experience.  The mountain rages and views are unreal, I think it would take 10 lifetimes to be able to see all this place has to offer.  Since we were on a limited budget of time, we did our best.  We pulled over in many locations to take pictures of the mountains and landscape, did a little hiking here and there, hiked down into a nice stream / river where the kids got to kick off their shoes and splash around…it was unreal.  Throughout our little adventure here we met many cool people, and quite a few from IL.  One couple told us about Clingman’s Dome which is supposedly one of the highest points in the US (I have yet to confirm that)…but that should not take away from how magnificent this place is.

We drove through the mountains…actually I should say up the mountains to a point where you had to park.  From here on out it was a hike to the highest point in the Smokey Mountain Region.  Meghan did fantastic, Gavin not so well (later on we found out he was sick…whoops).  Much of the hike up I had an extra 40lbs of boy strapped to my shoulders, the thin air was doing a job on my lungs…let me say it was totally worth it!  Now the whole time you are taking in beautiful landscape and mountain ranges, you were so high that you felt like you could kiss God (and let me tell you, this was a religious experience for me).  When we finally approached what looked like was going to be the top, we saw this circular walkway that went a few stories in the air with a dome on top (mind you your pretty exhausted when you get to this point).  I made a joke to Trish telling her that we have to go up there…ended up my joke was the truth…but we did it.

When you get to the top dome you are at the highpoint…on a clear day they say you can see 5 states, it was cloudy so we couldn’t see that far.  BUT, it was no less beautiful, I was speechless.  After we took many pictures and enjoyed the highpoint we decided to take the hike down (besides we were hearing lots of thunder in the distance).  The hike down was easier on the lungs but a killer on your upper legs (but again that may be attested to the additional 40 lbs I was carrying).  By the time we got back to the car we have spent all day in the Smokeys…and didn’t bring any food, we were starving.  We ended up driving down the mountainside and back to Pigeon Forge to get some grub.  On another side note, as we were walking to the car it started to storm, talk about good timing.

We ended up having Linner (our term for a lunch dinner combo…kinda like brunch) at this southern cooking place called the Old Mill.  Throughout my whole dining experience in TN (which was surprisingly not very good…this place was the best, awesome!!).   We ate till we were about to explode, then we headed back to the cabin to have a little nap time.

After our nap we drove into Gatlinburg to experience Ober Gatlinburg , an attraction that a lady I work with told me about…besides it was the only place in Gatlinburg we could find parking.  I highly recommend Ober Gatlinburg, it is an amazing attraction.  Once you arrive you take a “sky tram” which is like a giant ski lift that holds about 130 people up to the top of a mountain.  On the way up you see beautiful landscape, as well as unbelievable houses built into the mountainside (ie: a replica of the Barbie Dreamhouse, all to perfection, a house owned by ATA that was built using the wings from a plane, a beautiful house owned by Dunkin Donuts Corp…the list goes on).  Once you arrive at the top you walk out into a small amusement park (best described as a carnival type place with rides, food stands, ice skating, etc).   Out of all the rides and attractions available to us here, only one really caught our eye, the bobsled!  You take a small 2 person ski lift up to another section of the mountain and slide down on a bob sled…this we had to do.  I rode up the 2 person ski lift with Meghan, thank God she is braver than me.  I about shit myself the whole way up, you were so high, the lift was shaking…it just looked so easy to plunge to your death.  We ended up missing the stop for the sled and went all the way up…which again was worth it.  We saw beautiful mountains capes up there, absolutely breathtaking.  We then took the ski lift back down, and then back up again to the proper spot for the sled.  Me and Meg boarded a sled, Trish and Gavin another…then we raced down (me and Meg won).

When we were done at Ober we went back into Pigeon Forge and took the kids to a kick ass arcade.  We had a great time playing games, eating junk food, etc…was a great day and night! (to be cont.)





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July 24

Rest In Peace Grandma Liz
Sometimes you just don't realize how short life is, you just take it for granted.  Jim (aka Harley Jim), one of my dearest friends, and stepfather just lost his mother to cancer last night.  Grandma Liz was only 72 years old, 7 months ago healthy as can be, just retired from being an RN...got sick one day with pneumonia and discovered she has cancer.  Within the past 7 months she went through a multitude of emotions, treatments, chemo, radiation, in and out of the hospital...all while deteriorating faster than the eye could see.  People (inclusive of myself) live life with this aura of invincibility, nothing can harm us, things are great today...not realizing what 7 months can do.  It really brings perspective into place, makes you look at what is important, what is not as important, and how fast life actually is and can be...you never know.  The sad part of this whole situation is that while I am reflecting on life laced with grief...7 months will go by; Grandma Liz will still be missed and loved, but my appreciation for not taking life for granted will be forgotten, covered up by the daily stresses of work, money, a new TV or car, or what have you.  We as humans forget to fast how much we should appreciate what we have, that is pathetic and sad.

Grandma Liz was too young to pass, but at the same time suffered greatly for the past 7 months.  Grandma Liz, you are loved and will be missed.  Rest in Peace.


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July 23

Congrats!!
Congrats to Kid Rizo and not so preggers any more on the birth of their baby boy!!


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July 22

Meghan & Gavins 7th and 4th Birthday Party
When I woke up I felt like my head was beat with a bat (I say that a lot in the summer), this time beat exceptionally hard.  When everyone finally got up and dressed we all departed (we all meaning myself, Trish and my sis who crashed at our joint) for breakfast.  The meal was quite somber, everyone’s head was pounding equally and talking just seemed to make it worse.  After our breakfast we dropped my sister off (funny, I really don’t remember that part) then commenced on cleaning the inside of the house, setting up the tables outside, setting up the coolers, setting up the chairs, decorating…ok, this is going on long enough, basically getting everything ready for the 50 guests that were going to arrive within the next few hours.

Party Pt. 1
The beginning of the party was like a normal family gathering, I had to run and get a few things, pick up catering, guests were arriving slowly, children swimming (mind you it was only 65 out…in the end of fucking July, but I had the pool heater set at 92).  I maintained my extreme hangover without letting too many people know between my whining and crying, with that said I stuck to drinking diet pop…until I realized the best cure was probably the hair of the dog that kicked you in the ass the night before.  Before I began on hangover cure I made sure everyone ate well and was having a good time.

Party Pt. 2
After dinner I began on my cure…and I ask myself, did it help? Absofuckinglutly.  We did the fun children games…break the piñata that happened to be a FedEx shipping box wrapped in paper (again, friggen party city sucks), opened presents, etc.  Slowly but surely the old fogeys began to fade, and the youngins stayed.

Party Pt. 3
The kids stayed up playing, the adults started a bonfire and drank icy cold beverages and concoctions I made in the Margarita machine…lots o laughs and fun.  Eventually it was time for the kids to go to bed so we relocated the firepit to the front of the house (aka driveway, apparently we were too loud) and continued our adult time. 
At this point in time Connolly clan was going to stay the night, so Peter had to run to Walmart and get an air mattress (at 11pm mind you).  Attending to the fire and beer was me, Harley Jim, K-Dog, Kid Rizo & Pregs, my sis, and my Mom (if there were anyone else there I apologize for forgetting).  Peter finally returned with some “fancy” beer and joined our little fire.  After some point in time Kid Rizo, Pregs ,my mom and sis left and we continued (with Trish popping out here and there).  At about 1:30 or 2:00am I received a text from my lovely bride, the text was simple and to the point: “SHUT UP”.  We all came to the conclusion it would be best to move the firepit to the very back of my back yard (furthest distance from the house); so myself, Harley Jim, K-Dog, and Peter relocated.

The party continued, and at some point I was telling a funny story about my son telling people he had a “big fat penis”, as I was telling the story I leaned back on my 20 year old white gel chair and it cracked…my ass ended up on the ground.  After everyone was done laughing at me, we decided to throw the chair in the fire….did that SOB burn hot!  The night (or morning) proceeded, at one point I laid down in my kids trampoline, and K-Dog thought it would be a good idea to go in it and jump up and down, proceeding to spill my beer.  In a tussle between us he broke one of my crocks (yes I was wearing crocks, eff you, there comfy).  I went back to my new chair and K-Dog then pulled off one of my broken crocks and threw it into the fire…all I can think to do next was throw the other one in.  Shortly thereafter we decided to call it a night and let the plastic induced fire burn itself out…but not before we went into the house and made beef sammiches, make a loud ruckus and wake the kids.  Trisha said this is the last time were doing a Saturday birthday party…I thought it turned out fantastic!



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Hair Bands and Old Friends
I took Friday off of work so I can prep for our Saturday family kids birthday party, hang with my sis who came back into town, and go to the Cheap Trick, Poison, DL show that evening with Trish, My Sis, the LouLou’s and a group of friends.  I got a eff load done around the house, pool ready, bla bla bla…the yard was just about ready for the party.  At 6ish my sis arrived and me, Trish, and Sher went across the street for some pregame beer and pizza.  The LouLou’s had some friends over, etc…got a nice little pregame buzz going, then we all hopped in our rides, I popped my iphone onto DL / Cheap Trick / Poison Greatest Hits shuffle …and we were off.

We got to the World (I refuse to call it the Midwest or what the fuck ever its called now) during the middle of Cheap Trick’s set, I have to say they sounded great.  We entered into the sea of bleach blonde hair and silicone boobs and found a nice section in the lawn to call our own.  We settled in, loaded up on $11 dollar beers…yes that’s right kids, $11 fucking dollars for a beer (side note, my ass hurt like a bitch by the end of the evening…not from the ground, but from being raped by the Worlds beer vendors).  We were all feeling pretty damn sweet after Cheap Trick ended…somewhere in between the Cheap Trick set and Poison’s start, Caren arrived.  We had to track her down at the gate and give her, her ticket she was anxiously waiting for.  We eventually made it back to our seats to watch the rest of Brett Michaels belt out “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and the never should have been recorded “Un-Skinny Bop”.  At the end of the day Poison rocked, they sounded great and we had a kick ass time.

In the meantime I have been coordinating the meetup of a few different friends, one in particular I haven’t seen since right after high school.  The coordination didn’t work out with anyone but my old friend Danny (everyone else was pretty much settled and hammered in their own little area and didn’t care enough to leave…I don’t blame them, its not like I was out seeking them.  My attitude was I am here, come find me, otherwise Im getting my drink on while hearing some good tunes).  The first little bit of DL’s show was pretty much playing catch up with my old buddy (that’s when he found us), was real nice…had a great time catching up with him, probably hang out again real soon (ahhhh, then benefits of social networking websites).  After our little catchup he had to run and find his chick who was on the other side of the joint…I continued to get my $11 drink on (I did not add up what was spent…would have been quite scary Im sure).

After my friend left I started paying attention to Def Leopard…they sucked.  Whats his faces voice was gone…all raspy, it just did not sound very good.  Many people seemed to be enjoying themselves, but they had beer-muffs on (the ear version of beer-goggles).  Me myself being unenthused with the performance, I just sat down next to my sis and chillaxed.  I eventually looked up to see some twat hitting on my wifey…at first it was a bit entertaining, but then it got annoying.  I finally had to reach up and give my wifey a slap on the ass so he got the clue…luckily the drunk Tim of the day was pretty mellow, if not the scene could have gotten quite ugly.  Eventually twat face left…good thing cause mellow Tim was starting to get un-mellowed and had the urge to pound him.  Eventually Trish sat down by me, I found out later that she was tense as hell cause she was afraid I was going to start a fight (I told her Im growing up and being more mature…I think I handled myself quite well, but I guess you would have to know the many stories of my past).  The rest of the DL show seemed to go on forever and never end, everyone in our group was pretty much done with it.  We packed up and headed out, we initially were going to go to LouLou’s for some BBQ, but somehow ended up at Wendy’s for wings (yes wings and Wendy’s, and from what I remember, which was not much, they were quite good).  After the wings it was bedtime, the end of an interesting summer Friday.





10:29 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

Go Go Whitesox
Ok, Im behind here, so this pertains to Wednesday July 8th.  I left work early so me, Trish and the LouLou clan can head down to “da cell” for the Sox game.  We kicked off pre-game with about 2.5 hours of beer drinking, washer throwing (a game), music playing fun in the parking lot…we wanted to fit in as many 12 dollar a case lites before we had to pay 8 dollars a cup lites.  We had a great time, near the end of our tailgate festivities we were joined by Custom Scottie (LouLou’s buddy) and one of their other friends…they wanted to mooch some beer.  Now mind you, all of our tailgate activities took place under a tent and with jackets on…it’s July people, wtf is going on here.

After we were good and liquored up we made our way to our front row seats (yes front row right on 3rd base line…my feet actually hung out into the field…kicked ass).  We met up with some other friends of LouLou’s and made some new friends (Im a social butterfly when I’m fulla beer).  The game was fantastic, brats kicked ass, beer was cold (and expensive), we were cold and wet (was like 50 and rainy), but after enough beers the cold and wet part didn’t matter.  The game kicked ass, the Sox won, the fireworks show was fantastic…I couldn’t ask for more.





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July 09

Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday we woke up to fantastic weather, sun was shining; my headache from the previous night’s festivities wasn’t so bad…the day would be good.  Me, Trish and the kids went down the street for a kick ass breakfast at Bosley’s, then went to the store, then headed over by LouLou’s for a visit.  We finally went back, did some cleaning up, chillaxed, and then got ready to do our respective activities (Me and LouLou poker run, kids, women, younger loulou to the beach).  All in all it was a great day, after the poker run we joined the our families by the beach, relaxed a bit and then did some grillin.

We ended up heading home at about 5ish, was nice to get home and breathe a little.  Was a shame about our golf cart but life must go on. 



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The 4th
Saturday morning I woke up with the sound of rain beating on the roof causing my headache to vibrate from within my head.  As I am typing this some things just came to mind, excessive beer bongs at LouLou’s the previous night, totally forgot about that.  That was chased up with Apple Pie Moonshine spiked with Everclear (that explains my lack of memory).  Pretty strange I forgot about all that until now…but now I remember that it was a good time, felt like a college kid.  After we all finally got our asses in gear, me, Trish, my sis, and the kids all went out for a very shitty buffet breakfast down the street (the breakfast served as a laxative to cleanse myself from the previous night…TMI, I know). 

This had to have been the shittiest 4th of July weather I could recall, it rained from morning to night.  My parents came up to spend the day with us, we all pretty much were cooped up in the trailer the whole day (Me, Trish, my sis, My parents, 3 dogs, and 2 kids…glad we got the new trailer).  We played a few games, drank A LOT, made the best of the crap.  On a side note I got a great drink recipe, UV raspberry vodka, lemonade, and ice all put into a margarita machine…turns out like a raspberry lemonade slushy, so good and very potent.  At some point the rain let up a hair so me and Harley Jim went down to visit LouLou with instructions from wifey to run up to the video store (I didn’t realize that was optional…whoops).  We some how ended up participating in horse races (toy horses whose moves were dictated by dice rolls) for about an hour while my Mom, sis, Trish, 2 kids, and 3 dogs were cooped up in the trailer, needless to say they were not too thrilled with us when we got back.  After that we BBQed some dinner, sat under the awning outside and watched the rain.  Finally my parents and sis gave up and they headed home.  About an hour after their departure the rain ceased and we started a fire.  The LouLou’s came for a bit and then we started doing the back and forth thing again (their place, our place, etc).  We ended up having a good time despite the craptastic weather.  Happy 4th!



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July 08

Some Bastard Stole my Golf Cart!
Thursday after work me, Trish, and the kids headed down to Oak Fest for rides and food.  My sister who just came into town and Mom joined us shortly after we arrived.  We had a good time, but after a few hours of crowds I was done (not a fan of congested places).  We all ended up back at our house and had a nice bonfire accompanied by beer in the back yard.  It was a nice visit, I miss having my sis around.  Trish ended up calling it early cause she had to work in the morning, I convinced my mom and sis to stay for a few more.

Early afternoon on Friday me, the kids, and my sis hopped in the car and headed to Indiana for the 4th of July weekend.  Our lunch stop at the South Holland Oasis really put a damper on our weekend.  While we were eating lunch Trish called (she was still working) and told me that she just received a call from the LouLou’s (who was already up in Indi for the weekend) and our golf cart was stolen.  I had to excuse myself from my sister and kids, go to the “Family” restroom (so I was sure there would be no interruptions, and screamed every curse word in the book.  The remainder of the ride up to our home away from home was pretty gloomy (I felt bad for the kids).

When we got there I had to explain to the kids what happened, they were pretty upset, and at the same time really didn’t understand why someone would take something that wasn’t theirs…first time anything has ever been taken from them.  It was a real invading feeling, I saw that they blacked out all my outside lights with these cut out and taped black garbage bags, then cut off all my power (anything I had in the fridge was shot), and not only took the cart, but broke into the shed and stole the charger.  I was sick to my stomach at the sight.  The police finally arrived, we did the police report (the cop was actually quite a tool), example: 
officer friendly “what exactly did they take from your shed sir?” me: “ The golf cart charger” officer friendly: “what color was this charger?” me: “black” officer friendly: “what was the approximate value of this charger” me: “I don’t friggen know, it came with the cart”.  Basically the tool spent more time asking questions about the charger than anything else.  The guy didn’t even ask the color of the golf cart, I had to tell him…but apparently the color of the charger was of vital importance.
Finally after officer friendly finished his questioner and stressed his lack of desire to be there proven by a few snide comments, he did go around and question my neighbors.

The remainder of the afternoon was a little gloomy (the mood from something like this happening).  Trisha finally got up there, she was pissy, the whole mood was shot.  BUT…somewhere inbetween all of this I found a silver lining through beer goggle lenses (don’t know what the silver lining was but I wasn’t so miserable).  We ended up having a BBQ cookout over at LouLou’s with my sis, the kids, their kids, and a few groups of their friends.  We had a great time, forgot totally of the days woes.  Later on in the evening we participated in the golf cart parade (with a borrowed golf cart which died out on us…yes we were having a grand ole day).  After that we had a bonfire at our place, finally got the kids to bed, then we were joined by some of the LouLou crew.  We basically took turns going back and forth between our places making sure an adult was present at all times (the kids were sleeping).  It ended up being a fun night, and funny to say…I don’t remember parts of it.



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July 07

Short Week Last Week
Was a nice short workweek, I took off Tuesday so me and Trish could run to the Jasper County Courthouse in Indiana to put her name on the Indiana deed (only way Lake Holiday will give her a key card).  Trisha’s Mom was kind enough to watch the kids Monday night and Tuesday morn/afternoon to make it easier on us.  We took advantage of having an Monday night to ourselves and went to see “The Hangover” after Trish got home from work.  The movie was ok, but honestly I was expecting way more.  People were making it out to be the funniest thing in the world, while it was funny it didn’t compare to “Superbad” or “Knocked-up” (similar type of humor).  If the movie wasn’t so built up I would have enjoyed it much more.

Tuesday morning we headed out to Indiana to take care of our business, went smooth.  We figured we would stop by our place and do some cleanup in prep for the holiday weekend, then Trisha’s idiot husband (that would be me) realized he forgot the keys...couldn’t do a damn thing.  Although if I waited until Wednesday when some kind people (sarcasm) decided to steel my Golf Cart and break into my shed to steal the matching charger, I’m sure they could have taken care of getting me in with no problems. 



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June 29

Beer, White Sox, and ripped shorts...another day in the summer of me
The summer begins…outings, events, excessive over consumption of alcoholic beverages, dog house with wife…ahhh, gotta love the summer.  The week was insane, between work, house work, pool maintenance, and self serving masturbation; I was freakin beat by the time Friday arrived.  Trish had arranged to go to the “NKTOB” (wow I cant say that without laughing) concert Friday night, so I was going to have a few of the neighbors over for a “couple” beers.  Trish ended up not going, but I still had the boys over for a bonfire and beer.  Our couple turned into about a case & a half, we had a kick ass time…much needed on my part.

Saturday morning I had to wake up bright and early (with a monstrous beer hangover) and mind the children while Trish went to work.  Luckily the kids chose this day to be particularly good…made it a very tolerable morning considering my head felt like I was jumped beat down by 10 guys the night before.  After Trish got home from work I was off with Jay to the Cubs / Sox crosstown classic (a first time attendance for me).   (side note:  Thanks Unc, great time!!)

Jay and myself arrived a bit early, since we had time to kill and somehow miraculously ended up with a  cooler of beer in the back of his ride…we tailgated.  A few beers later (and not eating at all yet) we walked to the stadium to watch the Chicago White Sox whollop the Cubs (ok, not whollop, but a kick as game and they won).  We met up with my Uncle Jim and his buddy Eldon, great company!!  After we were done drinking $7 plastic bottled lites and watching the Sox win, we went out by my uncles car for some post game beverages.  After we finished the last of their beer supply we headed back to Jay’s ride to work on what we had left (until the nice security officer kindly asked us to dump out the remainder of our beer and leave…prick).  We went straight from the game to one of Jay’s friends houses in Homewood , there was a little crosstown party going on.  We continued our drinking of carbonated beverages but also thought it would be a great idea to add Tequilla into the mix…mmmmm not a good idea the next morning.

A few beers and a couple of Patron shots later we headed to one of Jay’s other friends houses to continue the party…as my coherency started evaporating we ended up moving onto Blarney Stone (apparently the people that owned the house we were at wanted to go to bed…we weren’t ready).  We had a kick as time at the stone, saw a few peeps I knew, etc…good times.  As my coherency really started to slip we ended up going to Durbans.  For some reason I thought it would be a fantastic idea to bypass the front door and hop the back fence directly into the beer garden…why deal with all those people, silly cover charges, etc?  Jay, being the gentleman he is wanted me to go first (he actually knew that this was going to result in something not good and funny…me the klutz I am sober, trying this drunk).  Lets just say I ended up with numerous bruises, cuts, and scrapes, as well as a ripped pair of shorts (its Monday and Im still feeling like I got the poop-snot beat out of me).  After our adventure at Durbans ( and many drinks later…I didn’t care about walking around with ripped shorts) we went to White Castles to kick our bowel movements into high gear and went home.

The next morning I woke up with a worse headache then the previous morning and Trish smacking me in the head with a magazine.  Needless to say she wasn’t thrilled with the fact that I went out drinking from 2pm to 2am (granted I do not do this a lot)…she felt much better after hitting me in the head with a magazine.  Also I didn’t text as much as usual, and the last text she received from me went like this: “so im burnd sub”…trying to say im so sun burned.  After a morning of feeling like dog ass, we headed out to Bloomington to join the Connolly’s for the Fionn-credible BBQ…had a kick ass time and I stayed away from anything alcoholic.  I suppose this weekend was a great precursor and liver prep for the upcoming 4th of July festivities.



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June 25

I have been slacking...way too much!!
Wow I fell way behind, I hate when that happens…easy to happen when its summer and busy.  With that said I am going to skip the past few weeks and just start at this last weekend.

My Saturday was pretty much devoted to housework: lawn, trimming, working on getting the pool ready (finally), cleaning  up pool covers, bla bla bla.  I had a few hour break in the afternoon when we went to Trisha’s fams for an early Fathers Day BBQ which was a real nice and tasty visit (food was out of this world), but after that it was back to house work.  My day consisted of 3 or 4 showers (I lost track), good food, and lots of work.  After my 4th and final shower of the day, me and Trish took the kids to Red Robbin’s for some dinner and then back home for a family movie of Goonies…which the kids didn’t seem to have a whole lot of interest in (whats a matter with them…the movies a classic!!!!)

Sunday I woke up to breakfast in bed, mounds of kisses from the kids, and praises from the wife…ahhhh fathers day.  I enjoyed my hour of appreciation because the rest of the day was going to be about everyone else lol.  We had Gavin and Meghan’s dance recital at the Rialto which was spectacular (Gavin was grease lightning, Meghan was Marry Poppins), then after that a nice Fathers Day BBQ at my moms (that pretty much sums up the day).  Other then they business, my beloved family blessed me with a wonderful Fathers Day, I am blessed to be the father of two wonderful, beautiful children and a husband to a beautiful wife that I love with all my heart.



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June 01

Father, sun, and son bonding
I love short work weeks…by the time Friday came it felt like Thursday, gotta love that!  I had nothing really planned for Friday night, Trish had a demonstration / party thing at Marilyn’s so I was taking responsibility for our offspring that evening.  When I got home from work I ran into Jay next door who invited me and the kids over for a movie night which worked out quite well.  We watched that Paul Blart “Mall Cop” Flick, ended up being a pretty good movie.  Meghan seemed to enjoy it, but Gavin lost complete interest within the first 30 minutes.  All in all it was a nice evening…very relaxing.

While Trish was working Saturday morning I took the kids to Indiana, there was no sun going on at home; so I figured what the fudge, maybe some sun in Indi.  Sure the hell enough, there was sun in Indi…yippie.  After Trish was released from her Saturday imprisonment of work she met us up there to share in our sunshine.  The LouLou’s went up so we hung with them for the day, enjoyed the sun, drinks, then went to “The Rodeo” for dinner.  Later on in the evening we had a little bonfire gathering at our place, the kids played while us old folk enjoyed some icey cold beverages.

Sunday morning Trisha and Meghan headed out early, they were going to the Mary Poppins play downtown.  I decided me and Gavin would stay up by the lake for the day…a little father and son bonding; fish, hang out, etc.  We had a great time.  By the time 4pm hit we headed home, no fish were caught but I got a kick ass sun burn!



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May 29

Memorial Day Weekend 09
Early Saturday morning, me and the fam packed up both cars and headed to our little slice of Hillbilly Heaven in Indiana.  This was our official “opening” weekend as well as the 1st weekend in our newly purchased trailer.  We pretty much dedicated Saturday to working, we had to unpack, do lawn / landscape work, clean, power wash, and many other ball busting tasks.  Luckily Trisha’s parents came down for the day to give us a HUGE hand. Trish and her Mom occupied the kids with the beach and other activities while me and Dad did work…lots of work (but well worth it).   After Trisha’s parents left we took the fam to a local diner for dinner (way to friggen exhausted to grill), then took the kids to the Saturday night DJ dance party at the front of the campground.  After grooving to tunes of Lady Ga Ga and Billy Ray whatever his name is, we headed back to our place to roast some marshmallows.  It was a real nice evening with just us, after the kids went to bed me and Trish just hung out by the fire, had a few drinks, and just simply relaxed while enjoying the beautiful night. 

Sunday began fairly relaxed, nice time with the family, took the kids on numerous golf cart rides, set up lights, re-configured my bar area, etc (important stuff).   By early afternoon the Curnutte clan joined us for the day, Marilyn and Trish took the kids to the beach for some family friendly fun while me and Ricky participated in the annual “poker run”.  We lost the poker run, but managed to get fairly trashed…by late afternoon I was more than half in the bag.  Shortly after the poker run and a few other activities Harley Jim arrived to hang for a while.  Was fun for him, but not so great…he rode his bike up and couldn’t drink (while we were all drinking pretty healthily).  We were later joined by Caren, her brother and her brothers wife, we had a regular party going on by this time.  By now I was in no condition to BBQ  so we ordered some pizzas and called it dinner (note:  I did BBQ ribs for lunch).  The night went on with  the booze flowing, bonfire firing, kids roasting (marshmallows)…was a kick ass night (although I was probably too drunk for my own good).

Monday was much more relaxed, we had breakfast as a family, went and did some crafts together…basically just enjoyed the country air.  Michelle, Jordan, and Jack popped by for a visit late in the morning, shortly after their arrival the rain kicked in.  After a little of this and that we packed up and headed for home.  All in all it was a kick ass Memorial Day weekend!!






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May 18

Last 2 Weeks in a nutshell (pt 2)
Since we decided to buy our new summer home…ok large camper / trailer, I took the liberty of listing mine on Craigslist…I didn’t expect such an overwhelming response!  I had arranged to show the trailer to this girl Tuesday evening; Harley Jim also agreed to come with and help me transport my golfcart back to Indi.  That evening in a nutshell: Picked up Golfcart in Blue Island, finished installing stereo system (gots subs and all g), loaded golfcart on trailer and headed to Indi, got to Indi and met girl who was interested in my joint, girl agreed to buy joint (gave me half the dough…woohoo), unloaded golf cart, went to local pub for dinner and beers, headed home, got home and watched the Fringe season finale with my bride.  The thrilling part of all this…I sold our place!!!

Thursday came, I didn’t go out due to Trish attending Nicole and Tom’s wedding rehearsal dinner (she one of the readers).  Friday I took off work to take care of some odds and ends and go to Nicole and Tom’s blessed day.  The wedding was great aside the fact it rained all freakin day!  I behaved myself   throughout most of the wedding, but at the very end the cheap wedding booze took its toll and I turned into instant cocksucker…made Trish aggravated and regretted rail booze (as usual).

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early with a splitting headache and had the fun privilege of setting up our garage sale at the ass crack of dawn!  Hosting a garage sale with a huge hangover is absolutely NO fun…ZERO fun…quite painful!!!   I did manage to get through it, and at the same time kissed Trisha’s beautiful ass all morning for the annoyance I was the previous evening.

Later that afternoon me and LouLou headed to Indiana, the girl who was buying my trailer was coming to pay the rest and pick it up, and we arranged for the new one to be brought over.  I unpacked my place, of which I highly underestimated the amount of shit we accumulated throughout the past year, it was as bad as packing up a freakin house!  The girl came and picked up her new summer chateau  and shortly after mine was brought over…it worked out perfect (nothing EVER works out this smooth for me).  Me and LouLou decided to stay the night out there and celebrate by getting totally shitfaced beyond coherency.  We had a great time…but woke up feeling like an elephant just jumped up and down on my head.  After we dragged our asses out of bed we hooked up my new casa de la summer to the sewer system, visited a local car show, ate shitty burgers, looked for LouLou’s cellphone he lost during our evening of non-coherency, did a little unpacking, then headed home.  It was great to get home to the family, but at the same time it was great to see them go down the street for a birthday party so I could fit me in a little nappy nap.  Good times!!




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Last 2 Weeks in a nutshell (pt 1)
Im gonna start by backing up two weeks here (not last Thursday, but the Thursday prior).  Thursday was a continuation of work madness, I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with lawyers and sit it court…oh so fun.  It actually panned out not to be as bad as it could have been, but nevertheless it still was stressful.  Friday was an extension of the Thursday madness and I was quite relieved when the day came to an end.  After work we had to do some store runs and then ended up having an impromptu driveway bonfire across the street at LouLou’s pad.  It ended up being me, Trish, the kids, Mr. & Mrs. LouLou and their 2 kids, and Court.  It was a great time, overconsumption of alcoholic beverages, kids got to play, adults chat…good times.  For some stupid reason, bonfires at LouLou’s end up leading to Buffalo Wild Wings…I don’t know why, but it happens almost every time without fail.  After the kids and wives retired for the evening; Bill, Court, and myself jumped into Trishas stylin Town and Country and went to BWW for some pitchers of beer and boneless wings (we really did not need more beer, but they offered it to us and we said yes).  Aside from shoving wings and beer down my throat, the remainder of the evening ended up being a blur…yes summertime has arrived (neighbors, friends, and drinks).

Saturday morning I woke up with a wee bit…ok a BIG hangover.  Trish went to work and I had our offspring…we played in the backyard, then I did some lawn work, etc.  After Trish got home from work, we all packed up and headed to Indiana to open up our place for the season and scope out a new place someone had for sale.  Shortly after we got there, the LouLou’s arrived (the decided to come out for the day as well).  The LouLou’s took our kids and me and Trish proceeded to rake and bag 23 bags of leaves…we get a butfuckload of leaves!!  We also fitted in time to take a gander at this nifty fifth wheel trailer for sale (as I like to call it…a new summer home or cabin…sounds much nicer than trailer).  We immediately fell in love with the trailer, it was much larger than ours, the master bedroom was on a different level (which was neat)…ok, three steps up, but it adds character, the bathroom was huge, it had a cute little living room and a cute little eat in kitchen.  2 seconds after walking into the door Trish started whispering to me…”I want it, I want it, I want it”…I spoil my love, what she wants she gets.  We made an offer, they accepted and then we headed to hooters for dinner.   Note, the Hooters in Merriville Indiana sucks donkey ass!!!  Really does.

Sunday morning I got up bright and early, scooped up Meg and went and picked up breakfast for the fam…it was Mothers Day!  We had a real enjoyable morning together, when the afternoon hit we packed up and went to Trisha’s fam’s to celebrate MDay and Trishas Dad’s Bday…had a great time relaxing and visiting.  Later that afternoon we left there and went to my Mom’s to celebrate Mday and visit…had a great time there and stuffed our faces with more food.  By the time the evening hit we were wrecked, it was a busy, nonstop weekend!  The important thing is everyone had fun, and Trish had an incredible Mothers Day…she deserves it, she is an incredible wife and mother!!!



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May 05

1st weekend in May...wow the year is nearly half over!!
I skipped my Thursday night out (again) due to the workday I had laid out for Friday.  Friday was planned to be crazy; a meeting  at my office at 8am, a meeting downtown at 10am, and then another meeting downtown at 1pm…all meetings very very stressful (gotta love lawyers).  I was required to be sharp and on top game for these meetings, therefore I didn’t need a Thursday night hangover fogging up my brain.  By the time this day came to an end I was burned on so many levels…I just wanted to go home and collapse on the couch, which is just what I did.  The rest of my Friday was pretty chillax, Trish took Meg to a girl scout thing, I hung with my little man…that about wraps it up.

Saturday morning we all woke up bright and early with nothing planned for the day (which NEVER happens at our house), low and behold the day was friggen beautiful!  Since the current economic conditions of our country are equivalent to a used port-a-potty next to Lindie’s Chilli at the Taste of Chicago, we have made the decision to cut back on a few things…since Trish had to get rid of our cleaning lady, I had to get rid of my lawn dudes (note that hiring lawn peeps was Trisha’s idea from day 1).  I yanked my lawnmower out of my shed (where it has been sitting for the past 5.5 years) put some oil and gas in her and she started right up…I mowed my own lawn for the first time in ages…and actually enjoyed it.  After I was done I rolled my hog out of the garage and started polishing her up for the summer…this day rocked in my book.  We took a family walk for some lunch, we chilled, kids played in the yard…was perfecto.

Saturday evening we had planned to attend a bowling benefit for Kid Rizo’s sister.  I have known her since I was 5, she is like family to me; so we were really excited to go to the benefit and offer any support we can.  I really wish I could have done more for her.  The amount of people that attended the benefit to root for her was amazing, she is truly a wonderful person and it was nice to see the people she blessed with being part of their lives pitch in during her time of need.  Besides for being an event for a great cause, it was a really good time…I got good and liquored up.  We hung with my Mom and Harley Jim…Sailmate stopped by and donated some cash and had a drink or two with us, then shortly after one of my Mom’s friends joined us.  It was a great evening.

We woke up Sunday morning to another beautiful day, we enjoyed the morning and then all hopped in the car to head down and visit the Connolly clan in Bloomington.  We had a great day with the Connolly’s, the kids had a blast, it was great seeing them and our Godson.  We went to the zoo by their house, then went for dinner at Peter’s pub, then went back to their house a bit, then headed home (got home at about 9ish).  It ended up being a great weekend!



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April 24

Feeling Like a Sunday Morning
Sunday was pretty chillax.  I woke up without a hangover, and felt pretty damn good.  I met my sister at Bob Evans for some breakfast, then headed back to the condo and napped.  Later in the afternoon, I went to my sis’s house, we walked around her subdivision (she showed me her pool, etc), and just hung out…had a great time.  We then went to Two Seniorita’s for dinner…hence the best Margarita story on Saturday.  The food here was great, very odd Mexican food.  I had a stuffed pepper, stuffed with beef, grapes, almonds, etc…was a great combo of spicy but sweet.  We had a great dinner, then went to a little toy store so I could buy the kids souvenirs.  After that we called it a day…the rest of the evening was just chillaxin at the condo.  I did manage to go for one last topless cruise, but a quick one, I was beat down dead tired.

Monday morning I woke up, drove to Tampa, hopped on an airplane and came home to cold, rainy Chicago.  I would take Cold rainy Chicago any day!! I was very happy to see my wifey and Gavin…I missed them tons.  I couldn’t wait until Meg got out of school so I could see her as well…great trip, but great to come home.  Sherry, thank you for a spectacular weekend…I had a great time with you and cant wait to do it again!  I miss you and Roxy tons!!!  Dino, thanks man, you were the shiznit!!!!  It was a great pleasure meeting you and hanging out, I look forward to doing it again very soon.




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Saturday: Florida, Sun, Hooters, Flatbread, alcohol, and scotch…winning mix
Saturday I woke up feeling like a semi truck ran over my head.  It has been a long while since I drank like that, I actually have not been drinking too much…been on a health kick.  I rolled out of bed, popped some Advil and sat on the toilet to take my morning wiz.  Yes I sat like a girl, my head was spinning and pounding too hard to stand.  I eventually made it to the coffee pot and put in enough coffee for 12 cups but only made 5 (I like my shit strong).  I finally noticed my sis was trying to get a hold of me, apparently I overslept…me oversleeping, wow!!! Vacation accomplished lol. 

I got showered, stopped at this department store and bought a tank top for the day, then went to my sisters to meet her and Dino.  We drove down to Channelside in Tampa, this is a really cool area, its where all the cruise ships port, so theres tons of restaurants, bars, and shops.  After fighting a fuckload of traffic we finally arrived at our destination (thanks for GPS, Sher and Dino were no help…jk guys).  We had a long overdue lunch at the Channelside Hooters…great hangover grub!  After our lunch we browsed some stores, I almost broke down and bought an Affliction t-shirt (fucking $100 for a t-shirt), I refuse to buy Affliction because everyone is wearing it, bit it was a kick ass Black Sabbath one!!  I texed wifey for her opinion, she saved me by calling me a sellout, instead I purchased 2 novelty tees for $30, one that says I love MILFS, and one that says Masturbation is not a crime…brought to you by the Porn Industry (my maturity is showing).  We actually had a great time scoping out the area, etc, but we were beginning to get thirsty.  We saw a rooftop bar called Margarita Mammas, it overlooked the port where the cruise ships were departing from, sounded good to me.  Note: up until Sunday this place served the best Margarita I ever had, but Two Senioritas in Sarasota beat it out Sunday.

We enjoyed the bar for a number of hours, good conversation, there was a great guy playing guitar and singing…sun shinning, it was perfecto!  The atmosphere was totally “Florida”.  We finally departed and headed back home for a little naptime (which didn’t work for me), cleanup, and chillaxing.  At about 10pm I picked up my sister and we met Dino at this place called Urban Flats for a late dinner (I think we finally ate at 11 or so).  Urban Flats was fantastic!!!!!  Did I say it was fantastic???  We just ordered a bunch of shit and all ate whatever was on the table.   The restaurant over served us liquor during out dinner…remind me to sue them.  After our dinner we went to this bar called “Smokey Joe’s” in downtown Sarasota, nice little bar, relaxed.  We had some cocktails and played “Erotic Photohunt” don’t ask, very addicting game. 

After a few drinks here, we walked down the street to “The Gator Club” very interesting nightclub with a “Scotch” bar upstairs.  We had a great time, I enjoyed a fine scotch, Belvienie 12 year doublewood (courtesy of Dino), it was fantastic.  As the Gator Club was closing, Dino found himself a chicky, so me and my sister headed home.  We were both not drunk, just a nice buzz…made for an easy Sunday morning.



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