Long Weekend-Aquarium, walks, new book

On Thursday evening I went for a walk. I don’t normally go on walks, and when I do its usually to push Baby O in his little car around the block while he lays on the horn at whoever we pass by, but that night I decided to. It was wonderful!

The sun was almost set, the darkness was taking over, and there was a perfect breeze blowing through the neighborhood. It was quiet and peaceful. It was also great exercise and something I plan to continue doing! 

In fact, I did it again Friday morning. I woke up at 5am, got dressed and took a nice walk around the neighborhood again. This time it was a little chillier (which I loved) and much, much darker. It wasn’t scary though. I feel safe where we live, but I definitely didn’t put my headphones on. I wanted to be aware of my surroundings (just in case). I’m glad I didn’t have them on because I could hear the crickets and the birds chirping. I could hear the cars in the distance as people left for work. I could hear the trees rustling in the wind. It was perfect. 

Once I came back home I went downstairs and did a quick workout. I’ve shared my basement work out before (a long time ago). I call it my “Burn Notice Workout” lol. Has anyone ever seen that show? Burn Notice? It’s one of my favorites! In college, my roommate, dad, and I were obsessed with it. Of course, my dad was back home and not in college with us, but when the show was on my dad and I watched it together before I left for school. 

My roommate and I loved watching it together as well when we were back at school. So much so that we looked up the “Burn Notice workout” online and started doing it together a few times a week lol. It’s one workout I found online that I’ve kept. Being in Michael Weston shape would be great (he’s the main character and in really good shape lol)! So I did that when I returned home from my lovely walk. Then it was time to get ready for my day since Baby O was going to be up soon. 

Thankfully, I was able to spend more time with him before I started working. The day went by quicker than normal since I was able to get off work 90 minutes early. By the time I was done, Lea’s parents were in town and at our house. They came up for the weekend for a reason I will explain in a bit. The rest of the night was nice and relaxing. My father-in-law and I took Baby O for a walk in his car while Lea and her mom made dinner. It was a pretty quiet evening. 

On Saturday I proceeded with my normal routine. Woke up, ate, waited maybe thirty minutes before Baby O was awake, then watched Tv with him. Before we knew it, it was time to get ready to leave! We were taking him to Chicago to go see all the fish at the Shedd Aquarium. It was a lot of fun. 

(Note to self and to whoever is reading: Don’t go to the aquarium on a holiday weekend!). It was a lot of fun but it was also very crowded. I think Baby O was a bit overwhelmed at times because of all the people and the new species he was encountering on the other side of the glass. One animal he loved were the penguins. He was so excited when they would swim up to him and splash their fins (?) around. Of course, he had to get a penguin stuffed animal before we left!

After a few hours it was time to call it a day. Baby O was tired and ready for his afternoon nap; Lea, her parents, my mom, and myself were all tired as well. We were ready to head home! Later that night I put on the Notre Dame football game. I’ve never been a fan of college football. I can’t tell you why. I was just never interested in it at all. However, one of my friends from college adopted two of my professional sports teams (Bulls & Bears) because he didn’t have any of his own. So he told me that I had to support his college football team because it’s only fair, right? I don’t mind. Notre Dame is pretty cool to root for and they are close by to the region. So now I have a college football team to watch!

After two busy days I finally thought Sunday would be my chance to relax. I was wrong. I realized I had a lot to do in the yard. But first, before I could start any of that, I had to run some errands! Step 1: Get an oil change. This took forever. Way longer than I expected and it was a little irritating, but it had to be done. Step 2: fill up the jug with gas for the lawnmower and buy weed killer. These two steps only took so long because I had to stop back home to get the empty jug I use for the gas. I forgot it before going for my oil change (SMH). Step 3: cut the grass. It was beautiful out so I really had nothing to complain about this time. Step 4: pull weeds. This  also didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Most of them came up pretty easy and then I poured the weed killer on it. Step 5: plant grass seed. About a year ago (maybe?) the electric company came and dug a big hole in my backyard in order to reach a cable they needed to fix. They covered it back up with some crappy dirt and the grass never grew. So I had to pull the weeds from there and plant new seed. We will see how it grows. I had no idea what I was doing lol. 

Finally, those chores had come to an end and I spent the rest of the day with back pain lol. Once Monday morning came around I woke up early so I could go for another walk. It was six in the morning and probably 50-something-degrees outside. Way colder than I expected, but it felt like Autumn (although it truly doesn’t start until later this month).This time, instead of listening to music or the birds chirping, I brought a new book I’m reading: The River of Doubt by Candice Millard. 

Here is the summary from the back cover: “The River of Doubt – it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids – choked tributary of the Amazon…” It’s a longer summary of the book. I didn’t feel like writing it all lol. I’m only a couple chapters in but so far, I really enjoy it. In fact, I enjoy it so much that when I was on my walk Monday morning I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, which resulted in me almost walking into a parked car lol. Thank God I lifted my head up in time to see it. It was a really close call and would have been SO EMBARRASSING! Imagine if I had dented it with my face and I had to wake up whoever’s car it was to explain what happened? I’m cringing just thinking about it being a possibility that morning!

Monday afternoon was spent with family. One of my aunts invited us over for a cook out. It was a smaller gathering this time, which was unexpected because there’s usually a ton of people there, but I was okay with it. The food was good, it wasn’t too loud, and Baby O had fun running around outside. Overall, it was a great long weekend! 

Peter