A Vacation Review

My three days removed from the rigors of work was most welcome. I will admit that it has made it difficult to transition back into the work environment. I do think that I more productive than usual because of the break. I would like to review a few highlights from the weekend:

• We visited the Mars Cheese Castle on our way down to Gurnee. This was not an anticipated stop, but we bought some great cheese and a new beverage. If you like good ginger ale, you'll love this!
• Gurnee Mills is just a big mall. Not that exciting.
• Christa and I bowled at a bowling alley in Waukegan, IL that had 40 lanes!
• We waited in line 45 minutes to get into the Shedd Aquarium. It was well worth it to Christa, who easily took over 200 pictures.
• On the way back we stopped at the Jelly Belly factory. We bought a bag of Belly Flops, failed jelly beans that still taste good.
• Once we got home, we watched Twilight. Wow...that movie is awful.
• The next day we watched Defending Your Life. Much better.
  

Tying Up Loose Ends

The plan is that Christa and I will be heading out on Friday morning to take a small vacation until Easter. It's not much, but we could really use the chance to get away. We're not planning anything fancy. We'll be taking in the Gurnee Mills experience on Friday. I have been to Six Flags Great America many times, but I have yet to be to the mall.

On Saturday, we are heading down to Chicago to check out the Shedd Aquarium. Again, this is something we have known about for a long time, but have yet to check out. Whatever time we have left will be spent in Chicago, which is always exciting! :)

To get to that point, however, there is a lot of work that I need to get done. So, today will involve some extra hours to make sure everything gets done. A few other highlights for the day:

• Mark and I will be playing Gears of War 2 tonight. I am excited to see what allt he fuss is about.
• The beard gets shaved off for tomorrow.