Vacations are super sweet.

Hey, so I had 4 days off, all in a row. They were filled with obligations and plans and everything else, but I had a pretty wonderful time. I kicked it off on Friday, where I slept in late and spent my morning working out and running. Mullens called at lunch time, and man... it was all downhill from there for the day. We had a few beers, then followed it up by having a few more beers, then maybe a few too many beers. We finished just in time for him to drop me off at Kouri's for even more beers.

For those of you reading this who were in attendance, I woke up on Saturday morning feeling great (whoda thunk that would have happened, huh?) and instantly remembered that pink-purses' friend Suzanne rode my bus in high school, and I used to give her hell because she was 17 and not driving. So even though I was being that creepy guy who wouldn't leave her alone, I did, in fact, know her from my past.

Anyway, Saturday Angie and I ditched our Starved Rock plans because of the gas prices and our not-exactly-fuel-efficient vehicles, and instead went out to Wildlife Prarie Park, which I hadn't been to in many, many years. We hit the 50' slide, but it was out of commission for repairs. I found Woody, which was awesome. As I told Angie about my plans to hunt him down again, she looked at me like I was crazy and I started doubting my memories of this man who was built into a tree. But Woody did exist, and he was way creepier than I remembered him when I was just a lad.

That night was a family reunion. I don't have a whole lot to say about it, I guess. One of my more interesting relatives is my mom's cousin. I've only met him a handful of times, but he's a pretty memorable guy on account of his missing fingers and horrible scars and burn marks from the time he crashed an airplane that he built himself in his back yard. Jack couldn't stop looking at him and asking questions about why he looked the way he did. He was good natured about it and answered his questions. Even though the crash happened 20-some years ago, I'm not sure I could be so good natured about a crash that scarred me for life and killed my brother-in-law.

That night Robert and I went to see Transporter 2, which rocked, but didn't rock quite as hard as the first one did.

Sunday I was absolutely humiliated in a poker game, where I came in 4th place out of 5 people. Not my proudest moment. After the game I went to Alan's and started watching a movie, but almost fell asleep in the middle of it, so I just went home. Earlier in the day, I helped my sister and Robert do a bunch of yard work. It wasn't how I would have chosen to spend 5 or 6 hours of my vacation, but I'm sure they'll help me when I get a yard that requires a bunch of yard work.

Monday I went shopping with Angie, met Fabish and Mullens for lunch at Dynasty Buffet, then ran more errands with Angie before changing her oil and finishing and moving her custom-built corner cabinet. I picked up dinner for Alan and drove it out to the airport and hung out there for a bit before heading home, walking to Blockbuster to make use of my new unlimited rental thingie, then walking home to get some laundry done.

And there ya have it. Arguably the busiest I've been in a weekend in a long, long time. Next weekend I'm taking a train to Chicago for a Cubs game. About a week and a half later, I fly out to California for Brice's wedding. About a week later, I fly out to Vegas, baby! Have I mentioned how excited I am about Vegas?