Friday was an early celebration of my grandma’s 78th birthday. Stacy and I left DeKalb and came down to Morris and got in a workout at the Powerhouse Gym before getting ready for dinner.

My Aunt Faye, her boyfriend Al and my grandma met Stacy and I at the La Mex restaurant sort of downtownish Morris. We had a fun dinner and Aunt Faye and Al finally got to meet Stacy. Stacy and I left the restaurant and headed over to the high school for the Morris Redskins homecoming football game. We got there in the middle of the second quarter and left after the third quarter and Morris won 42-20. It was a fun time and I was happy that Stacy agreed to go to the game. We headed back out to the house and chatted some with my grandma before heading to bed.

Saturday was an early morning since Stacy had to go to the University of Chicago hospital to have her bloodwork done. The UofC hospital is connected to the Bernard Mitchell hospital where mom and dad would always go. I got a bit of a cold chill as I walked out of the parking garage after dropping off Stacy. It took a minute but it went away and then it was on to just a tremendous day.

We went to the Planetarium first. I had never been there so we went for my cultural enrichment. We didn’t partake of the exhibits due to time constraints but we did watch the Space In Your Face show and the TimeSpace show. TimeSpace sucked ass. It was like a 3D roller coaster ride that was giving me a headache and some little kid kept fcking with his seat and hitting my knee with his seat. I was going to post a picture of the $10 cup that the cafeteria was selling but it didn’t turn out. Here’s a picture of the planetarium though:

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After leaving the planetarium, we took a walk around the Lake and on the beach. It was my first time on a beach. It wasn’t an ocean beach but it still counts. Here are the pictures from our stroll along the Lakefront and the beach by the planetarium.

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We then drove over to the Navy Pier cause I had gotten us tickets for a dinner cruise on the Mystic Blue. I had ulterior motives for wanting to go as well and it was just a great time. We went on the ferris wheel and had a talk that went rather well. We had a discussion in DeKalb about “what if” on a few things including “what if” things had went differently in high school. Well I don’t know how things would have been different or what would have happened but I do know that this is well worth the wait. Here are the pictures from the pier:

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We finished the cruise by dancing to Rascal Flatts “God Bless The Broken Road” and here are those lyrics…I think it was a fitting song:

I set out on a narrow way, many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn’t see how every sign pointed straight to you

Chorus:
Every long lost dream
Lead me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way
Into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God bless the broken road
That lead me straight to you.

I think about the years I spent
Just passing through
Tryin’ to find the time I lost
And give it back to you
And you just smile and take my hand
You been there, you understand
It’s all part of a grander plan
And that is coming true.

Chorus

And god bless the broken road
that lead me straight to you

We headed back to DeKalb and then left for Utica for the Burgoo Festival this afternoon. I couldn’t believe the number of people there. It took 45 minutes to go 2 miles to get into town off the Interstate due to traffic for this thing. I didn’t think that many people would be interested in celebrating the cooking of road kill. I met Stacy’s aunts and cousins and we walked around the huge flea market area. I watched some of the Bears game in a tavern that we entered for a restroom stop. Bears win huge.

We headed back to Morris and stopped in to see my grandma and then went in to Stacy’s parents house to visit with her brother and his girlfriend. We went to Romine’s to eat and I had the should have bean there burger.

Overall a tremendous weekend. One of the best.

Well I’m exhausted and grandma will be waking me up early tomorrow.

Good Day.