But did it ever come? I have to say the weather around here certainly has been really lack luster for summer. Except for this weekend its been unusually cool. Seriously I want my money back! Is that possible Tom Skilling?  You know by now I would have posted things on here about all the wonderful things we’ve done so far, and sadly it seems like we really haven’t done that much but yet we actually have.  If you follow my twitter stream there’s all kinds of stuff going on.  We’ve gone to Michigan (and we’re going again one final time next weekend), Durand a couple of times, downtown to the Field Museum, a NIN show, the St. Charles Riverfest right off the top of my head. We’ve also had a great time doing stuff with the neighbors too. Seems like a lot doesn’t it? How come I feel like its been wasted?

Maybe its the old familiar feeling in the back of my brain that school is just around the corner, and I’m regretting skipping Lollapalooza this year. Nah not really, it was damn hot this weekend.  You know its funny I have not been to actual school in such a long time, yet it still haunts me for some reason. Its like I’m afraid I’ll wake up in class one day in my underwear. I suppose working at NIU doesn’t help. But now I can transfer these anxieties to Erik, who will be starting Kindergarten in a couple of weeks. That just blows my mind that he’s actually starting school.  Our little Erik is going to school! Holy crap they are right the time just does seem to slip away.

Its getting late, time to sign off and get ready for my final week of summer hours and then its back to the ole grind stone.

Listen to the audio version of this post:

Sorry for the poor audio production..need to get a better mic!

Well now, its been quite some time since I’ve actually written something on this blog so I suppose something should be in order right? Hell, I’ve been busy okay? If you really want to keep up with my daily doings just follow me on Twitter, or on Facebook, although I essentially treat those as the same platform. I think the lack of effort on here is mainly due to my Nintendo Wii addiction, thanks for that one family! I just can’t seem to get enough Call Of Duty 5 (and now Guitar Hero)  in every free minute of my life.  So, lets recap whats been going on around here for the last few months:

• We just came back from Las Vegas, commonly reffered to as ‘The Big Out’ (no kids!).  It was a friggin good time, so lets just say what happens in Vegas…. No I can easily boil the 4 days down for you;  Walking, drinking, eating, gambling, drinking, walking and did I mention walking? If interested check out the photos in the gallery in the link above.
• I finally finished the basement! Well, mostly. There are a couple of things left to do but by golly I got it done. It only took me almost three months. We decided the heck with it why not just do the whole thing. I would have a photo of the finished product but its already been taken over by kid toys, which is obscuring my fine work. I don’t feel like cleaning it up either.  Yeah ever since I finished I’ve been on a lazy streak.
• Erik and I went to another Monster Truck Show! Cars were crushed, the kids went wild.
• The kids have been busy growing up (its what they do best.). I can’t believe my baby girl is now a toddlin smack talkin toddler.  Lauren is something else I tells ya, and so damn cute.  Erik is just a massive ball of energy. For a kid who doesn’t eat much, where the heck are his batteries?
• I turned 36. I won’t go further into details on this one.
• Working.  NIU was keeping me busy with plenty of overtime stuff this past winter. By the way is Winter finally done? This was a brutal one.

So there ya have it. 3 months or so packed into a nice little list. Exciting and impressive I know.

Decided to do things a bit different this year. Instead of the usual beer and cake type gathering that is usually held (if I feel like it that particular year), we decided to drink beer and eat cake downtown instead. It was time to take some time off work cash in our gift from Christmas and stay at the Hotel Burnham for the night.

Wow, what a nice little boutique hotel, right smack in the middle of Loop near Daley Plaza. The gift we had included a package deal with a bottle of champaign with chocolates and a continental breakfast.

Ah yes, bubbly went down fast and the chocolates were delish. So, now it was time for dinner, and we have been wanting to go visit Rick Bayless’s place Frontera Grill for a long time. I suppose Trisha and I are foodies of sorts, we love watching the Food Network all the time and also if we happen to catch Rick’s show Mexico One Plate At A Time we always watch. We thought we wouldn’t have a problem getting in the joint because it was a Thurday night. No way sorry! We walked in and were promptly told there was no more seating for the rest of the night and were pointed towards the bar area, which also served the full menu. OK, this place must be good! We got lucky and found a little corner to sit at. Trish and I then proceeded to have one of the best Mexican dinners we’ve ever had. WOW! The food was fabulous, I highly recommend it.

A few drinks and empty plates later it was time to head off to our other destination of choice The Green Mill. Always wanted to go to this place and tonight was the night to do it. After some fumbling about with where it was at with the cabbie we ended up on the north side, not the kind of neighborhood I would freely walk around in (at least that was my impression). So we walk in the door and the place was jumpin, a full Swing Orchestra was crankin out the tunes. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Al Capone himself walked in the door. Trish told the bartender it was my birthday so he made me so a shot of some kind of turpentine or maybe kerosene with him. That was it for me, check please!

On Friday, after a gut busting artery choking breakfast in the room we wandered around a bit. We went into Marshall Field’s one last time before it becomes Macy’s (Booo!). The we headed over to Millennium Park to see it in all its finished splendor. Man what a nice day too.

Oh lovely joy..another birthday is here.

Heres what popped up in a google image search for “birthday cake”.

Thanks for the watch Trish and Erik! Pretty cool.