Weekly Review 88

This week was full of healing, discovering new roommates, falling back into normal routines, and (finally) celebrating Lea’s birthday. It was a fun one!

Early on Monday morning I realized I was not going back to sleep. At this point I had only slept a few hours, but since I wasn’t going back to work until Wednesday I didn’t stress about getting my beauty sleep in too much. Since I am still recovering from my procedure, I assume sleep is a luxury I cannot afford right now. After lying in bed for a couple of hours, I made my way downstairs and set the recliner all the way back. I turned on Home Improvement and relaxed with Lea and Mr O for a bit, until Mr O suddenly looked out the window and realized some birds had made a nest on our porch. 

“Dada, why birds on our porch?!” he asked excitedly. I know birds fly around out there but I never noticed the nest they created. It was a surprise to me, and I guess we will leave them there until the eggs hatch, Lol. I didn’t want new roommates, but here we  are. 

After resting and eating, I started feeling normal again. Meaning my energy levels were rising and my appetite was growing. So I went upstairs, trimmed my beard and cleaned myself up. It was time for the trim. It was sad to cut it off, but it’s warming up outside and my mustache was getting to an irritating length, where it starts going into my mouth and I can’t stand that! So I trimmed it as low as it could go without shaving it all off. 

It was a stormy day here in the region, and with me still not fully recovered we didn’t do much (which is our style anyways). Throughout the day we relaxed. I was able to play with Mr O a little bit again, watched TV, made dinner, and ended the day watching Toy Story. It was great to have some energy back. 

On Tuesday morning, I was up with Mr O. I had finally slept well after a week of being up all night. I made us breakfast and we played for a bit before Lea took him to daycare. A few hours later, Lea and I went to my follow up appointment (which went well!). I started to really feel like myself again today and my energy levels were rising once again. 

After my appointment, Lea and I went to Barnes & Noble. She wanted to get some new book series called Off Campus, along with another series that I don’t remember the name of (I only remembered the first because she’s sitting right next to me and I asked her. She doesn’t remember the name of the other series either!). I browsed while she was on the hunt for those, and I came across The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I realized I never read it before and it is considered a classic, so I bought it. So far I’m enjoying it, but haven’t had much time to really read it yet. 

Once we left the bookstore we made our way to The Shrine of Christs Passion in Saint John, Indiana. It’s a beautiful place, with a walking trail depicting Biblical events, as well as a really great store and a huge statue of the Virgin Mary. After the shrine we made our way home, but first I wanted to stop at Culvers. I love that place! I ordered the chicken tenders with honey mustard this time and it truly hit the spot. 

After sitting around for a while, I did some laundry and packed for our upcoming trip. I will talk about it soon, but I planned a little getaway for Lea’s birthday earlier this year. I wanted it to be warmer when we went so I planned it for Memorial Day weekend. After all of that, Lea read and napped on the couch, while I watched TV, played Skyrim, and soaked in the last few relaxing hours of my last day off. 

Before I knew it, I had to leave to pick up the boss from daycare. He was so excited to see me! I never pick him up, I mainly drop him off, so it was definitely unexpected to him, lol. When we came home we sat on the couch and ate popsicles while Lea made dinner. It was a good day.

Wednesday is when my normal routine began to take over. I was up early with Mr. O and made us both breakfast. We watched Spidey and his amazing friends or whatever it’s called, and then played upstairs, then back downstairs. Eventually, I had to go to work for the first time in over a week (sad face), and Mr. O was not happy with me. “Dada I no want you to go to work”. How could I possibly go after that?! I went, but it stunk! 

In the evening, Lea had a meeting so it was just me and my boy. I made us dinner, we watched half of two movies because he couldn’t decide what he wanted to watch, and then we played in his playroom before going to bed. It was a tiring day.

When Thursday rolled around, I was fully back into my normal life. Mr. O was up at the first sign of the sun. I worked on getting both of us ready for the day, and then drove him to daycare. He sang and talked the whole car ride, lol. It was a peaceful morning drive , listening to his cute little voice in the backseat. 

The workday took forever, but once it was done I put my shoes on and went outside to cut the grass. It was driving me nuts! I hadn’t cut it in over a week and with all the rain it grew like crazy. It looked terrible! I was so happy to finally give it a trim. It did take forever, though. Our grass is so thick and our mower can’t handle it. Maybe I’m not taking care of my mower well enough? I’m not sure. I will figure it out eventually, but it’s tough!

When I finished cutting the grass it was nearly 7 PM! I hardly had time to see Mr O when he came back from daycare. Although he did play outside and help me cut the grass, I didn’t get to truly spend time with him while doing all of that. Once I cleaned myself up and ate dinner, I was able to spend some time with him before giving him a bath and reading him to sleep. While reading to him, I started to read really slowly and quietly. I noticed he falls asleep faster, Lol. Or maybe he’s just exhausted, but I like to think my little trick worked. 

After I snuck out of his room, Lea and I watched Psych and hung out before heading to bed ourselves. Later in the evening, Mr O was up and came to sleep with us, which meant he was on top of me the whole night!

Friday was a very special day in our house. It was the three year anniversary of Adoption Day! The day we became Mr O’s parents in the eyes of the law. I can’t believe it’s been three years already. It went by so fast. Mr. O, if you’re reading this, we love you so much! You’re the biggest blessing we’ve ever been given and we’re so proud and blessed to be your parents. 

To celebrate this special occasion (which we will do every year), we put a little family party together at the last minute. Next year we will plan it better so both sides of our family can be there, but since we were poor planners this year, and we live by my family, we had a celebration at my Yiayia’s house. 

Mr. O had so much fun! He doesn’t understand what we’re celebrating yet, but he understood enough to know we were celebrating him, Lol. 

Now Saturday was finally here! The day I’ve been waiting months for. I could finally give Lea her birthday present: a trip to the Indiana Dunes. About an hour away from our house, there’s a beautiful beach on Lake Michigan with tall sand dunes, great restaurants, and a little Inn located 10 minutes away. 

I wanted to give Lea a child- free, relaxing weekend. One where she could lay around all day in a cozy room, read her books, watch movies, and not have to worry about anything. She does so much of us in our day-to-day, so the least I could do is give her a weekend to relax her mind and body. 

We left our house around 10 AM to drop Mr O off at my mom’s house. He was so excited to spend the day with his Yiayia. Little did he know he will be spending two days with her, Lol. I’m sure he won’t mind. 

After we said our goodbyes, Lea and I started our Memorial Day weekend adventures. First, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for our breakfast sandwiches. Then, we hit the road! Since we couldn’t check in at the Inn until 3PM, and since it was nearby, we drove out to the Michigan City Outlet Mall, which is apparently called Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets (now that I looked it up). 

We shopped there for a few hours, spending too much money (thankful for credit cards), and getting some good cardio in with all of the walking it entails. We went to a few cool shops, like this Hero museum, which was totally my cup of tea:

We also went to Lids, where Lea and I bought some new hats. I finally bought a Bulls hat and a new Bears hat. Lea got herself a new White Sox hat too. 

When we left the mall, we went to the Dunes. There is this great building right on the beach of the Indiana Dunes, called the Dunes Pavilion.

We ate at Jonnas Beach Cafe and Bar.

I had their Italian beef, which was apparently the owner’s family recipe. It did not disappoint! Lea had a burger and we split a bag of chips. We sat at the window bar which overlooked the lake.

It’s a beautiful place! We will have to take Mr O some time. If you’re ever in the area, definitely check out the Dunes. 

When we finished eating we made our way over to the Spring House Inn.

When we pulled up, Lea said, “This place is so you.” It really is. It’s secluded in the woods, quiet, old fashioned, almost antique-like. The room is so cozy and the view from our window is all trees and green leaves.

Once we settled in, we relaxed the rest of the day in the room. We quietly read our books for a while. Then we went next door to UNO’s pizzeria and ordered food. I got this incredible Detroit style pizza. I put everything on it (except mushrooms) and they made it so thin and crispy. Lea ordered a chicken Parmesan meal with some pasta. 

The restaurant had some cool, old-school mobster photos and articles lying around:

When our food was done we walked back to the Inn. We watched the movie It Ends With Us on my iPad and ate our food. It felt like we were in college again, or on our honeymoon (we do this a lot when it’s just us traveling, Lol). The food was great, the movie was okay. Lea likes it so that’s all that matters. It’s not that I disliked it, it was interesting and new for me, but I didn’t love it. I’d watch it again though if she asked. 

The rest of the night was more of the same. We eventually both passed out and got some good, uninterrupted sleep!

When we woke up Sunday we walked upstairs to eat breakfast. We made waffles, grabbed a few sausage links and a muffin. Unfortunately, something happened in the area and the Inn lost power all afternoon. After giving the power company 5 hours to get it back on, we decided to end our stay early and ended up driving home. On the way, we picked up Steak N Shake. I had a delicious Reese’s peanut butter milkshake with a fresco melt. It was so good! I haven’t had a good milkshake in a long time. 

When we came home Mr O was so excited to see us! He ran and gave us big hugs. Although we were disappointed we had to end our weekend early, coming home to him made it all worth it. 

A Moment I’m Still Thinking About

Even though it was cut short, I’m still thinking about how wonderful it was to spend a whole day just me and Lea. We haven’t been able to do that in a long time. No worries, no responsibility, just the two of us enjoying each other’s company. It felt like old times when we were college kids. Love you, Lea!

Well, that wraps up this weeks edition of my Weekly Review. I hope you enjoyed it! I also hope you all had a great week as well. 

Until next time,

Peter