Still In Wisconsin

Monday the 8th

Today we had a day off from doing anything except relaxing. Tina, Denise and Heather went shopping. I hung out at the house reading and watching a little TV.

The excitement came in the afternoon as we watched TV weather track a thunderstorm through our area. Sure enough, as a tornado was spotted to the northwest of us we got hit with the edge of the storm. The sky slowly turned black, then the rain began. It came down in buckets but by 5:00 PM had passed over us towards Lake Michigan. A half hour later the sun was out, the sky was blue and there was little evidence that a huge storm had passed this way.


Tuesday the 9th

This morning we got up early - five of us are getting pedicures at 9:30 AM at "Nails and Spa" in Lake Villa. Denise, Tina, Alicia, Andrea and me all got a nice foot massage along with our pedicure and the girls got color on their nails.

After our pedicure we drove over to Lindenhurst where Tina and I signed our closing papers to refi the house and get our rate down to 4.75 percent. This only took a half hour then we drove back to Antioch where we all had lunch at "Davids Bistro", a real treat! The food was excellent and very reasonable.

After lunch we spent the afternoon relaxing before going over to Mark and Tammy's for dinner. We had a nice visit at their house and made it home around 9:00 PM where we called it a day.


Wednesday the 10th

Today the girls planned a shopping trip to take advantage of some sales at JC Pennys while I stayed home and worked on our budget and financial stuff. Later in the afternoon we went to Steve and Alicia's home for dinner and a visit.


Thursday the 11th

Today we planned to drive into Chicago to go to the newly renovated John G. Shedd Aquarium. We left the house at 9:00 AM and made good time until we got to the outskirts of Chicago. Two hours later we finally made it to the area of the Aquarium, Museum of Natural History and Planetarium complex but ended up going the wrong way on IL-41. Eventually we were able to turn around and head back only to find no way to get off at the aquarium. Tina finally got us off of IL-41 and onto a side street headed in the right direction. We wove our way through several parking lots, underneath McCormick Place Convention Center, out through several more parking areas and finally made it back to the aquarium. But where to find parking? By now the rain is coming down pretty steady. We drove around for another fifteen minutes doing a loop to find where to park until Tina pulled over and she, Alicia and Denise got out to go over to the entrance.

I got behind the wheel and started off looking for a place to park. I got really lucky and grabbed a spot at the curb in the passenger drop off area. I parked and got out to find the girls. It's still raining. After a few false starts I got headed in the right direction when my phone rang - it was Tina. They were just at the top of the steps leading into the building. As I rounded the corner I was facing a long line of people waiting to get in the aquarium. Tina was waiting for me. The girls had gone into the lobby to use the restroom. I decided to do the same thing then we all gathered to decide what to do. At this point we would have to stand in line in the rain for another half hour plus another half hour to get into the aquarium. We decided to head back to the car and pass on our effort to get in the aquarium.

Once we were in the car we had to try and find our way back to the freeway. After several false starts, twists and turns through downtown Chicago we finally got back on the freeway north back home. We got off the freeway and drove to the "Triangle Family Restaurant" for lunch.

Later that evening Jim came over, loaded up my Mtn Bike and took me to an area next to Gander Mountain Ski area for some off road riding. An hour and a half later we were back after riding to the bottom of the mountain all the way to the river, then retracing our route to the car. From there we continued to the top of the mountain where we close enough to reach out and touch the station at the top of chair lift. We explored a few other short trails then rode back to the car and headed home.

When we got back I took a shower and Tina fixed me steak and eggs for dinner to build my muscles up. Thus ended another relaxing day in Wisconsin!