I will update this post later tonight with pictures, but Flickr is blocked at work, so you’ll have to wait.
Friday after work, I too the Metra out to Wheaton, so that Carrie and I could meet her friend Kristen for dinner. Carrie also finally got to take me to the Popcorn Shop, which is this tiny little candy store in Wheaton. It was pretty cool. After dinner we headed home and passed out.
Saturday was SUPER busy. The day started when the cleaning lady showed up half an hour early at 7:30 AM (just as we were waking up). After Carrie attempted to explain what she wanted done, she (Carrie) dropped me off at the Belmont Barbershop for my haircut and shave.
After my shave, it was time to play babysitter. Over the summer, Carrie babysat for a family with three little kids – well, turns out they have a fourth on the way, so they are selling their Bucktown house and moving to the suburbs. As part of their house sale, an HGTV show called “Buy Me” was filming at their house on Saturday. So Carrie was hired to take the two oldest kids (Lincoln, who is five, and Nathan, who is three) out for a few hours.
We took them to Chuck E. Cheese. Here’s a hint to budding parents out there – if you want to have your kid’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, totally do it at 10 AM on a friggin’ cold day. The joint was EMPTY.
We had a good time with the kids – at first it was a little overwhelming; their “strategy” for the games was just to run up to as many as possible and deposit their tokens into them without actually figuring out how to PLAY the game. I think that for Nate especially the fun part was just putting a token in a slot.
However, after a while, I was able to help Nate figure out a couple of the games, and he got really lucky on one and won 125 tickets at once. I also convinced him to climb up in the slide/tube structure (they don’t have the ball pit there anymore, apparently), and we all enjoyed some pizza. Quite wisely, Lincoln and Nate were both not interested in saying “hi” to the guy dressed up as Chuck E. Cheese. I couldn’t blame them – I too found the 6 foot tall talking rat to be a little creepy.
After that, we took the kids home. And were filmed walking into the house, and had to sign releases. So if you are a fan of “Buy Me”, keep an eye out for Carrie and myself.
We left babysitting and headed home for a break. As we got ready to attend the Swingers Ball, we had a few minor meltdowns – Carrie had issues with her hair, and I freaked out because I couldn’t remember how to tie a bow tie. Then, we missed our cab, and I had to raise holy hell to get them to send us a new one. But finally I got my tie tied, the cab showed up, and we arrived at Dave and Julia’s house only about a half hour late (but half an hour before we were supposed to leave for the event).
Swingers Ball was a lot of fun. A group of us shared a limo on the way out there, and Dave wore a bright red tux. All the girls looked lovely, although they were heavily layered on top of their hot dresses, due to the Arctic conditions. Carrie and I danced a bunch – she’s really coming along. She also got to meet Tom Thomas, and danced with him (after she danced with him, Carrie said “I think Tom Thomas thinks my name is ‘Kelly’ and that I’m 100% Irish.)
We had a reserved table, and for those of you knowledgeable about the history of swing dancing at the Willowbrook, you’ll appreciate that our table was to the right of the stage – back where the “cool kids” used to gather in the heyday. And Tracy was chosen as Queen of the Ball. Which was funny, but neat.
Sunday was really busy – we got up early, and went to Crate and Barrel to register. Afterwards, we went to the Bagel to get some matzo ball soup to warm up, and then headed out to Wheaton to Carrie’s parents’ house to watch the Super Bowl. We ended up leaving a little early, because Carrie was feeling really sick. We got home about two minutes before the game ended. It was sad.
I’ll fill this in with some pictures from the Swingers Ball when I get home, but if you want to go look now, cruise over to https://www.flickr.com/photos/mugsy and take a gander.