Sorry for the delay in posting some new info...we've been at the worst MOTEL in the state, therefore no wireless. How did we ever survive w/o the internet before the internet? Wednesday was a fine day with numerous interactions throughout 2 states. Our internet connection is quite slow, so if posts seems incomplete, we gave up until we can find a high speed connection.
We spent some time at the Star 88.3FM in Fort Wayne. Melissa Montana, the general manager, gave us the nickel tour, which was quite informative for the tech geek in our group, which means Danielle was totally bored with the hours of conversation about TSL, cume, contesting, and new studio design, along with budgets.

We had a great day at Cedar Point, with details to follow. We are getting kicked out of Fazoli's, where we are currently updated the blog. More later.

**ROADTRIP HAS BEGUN**

MONDAY: Civic is ready for the battle. New tires & an Oil Change!
TUESDAY: A little work, then the trip begins. We left Elk Grove Village at 6p and drove south, stopping for dinner at the ONE place that would set the tone for the trip...

We called Grandma Dottie when we were outside Dyer, IN. to sneak attack dinner plans. She showed up to join us for dinner. We enjoyed queso, dinner and good conversation. Once finished, we hit the road and drove for the next 3.5 hours to arrive in Fort Wayne, IN. at 11:00pm. Along the way, we saw many "pieces of life" that included Valpo University, a fence store, details on a leprechan hunt coming up in August, and Grovertown truckstop at mile 120 of our trip. Who says Indiana has nothing to offer?

We needed to stop 3/4 of the way for a late night Frosty...

Wednesday, we head to my freelance station, Star 88.3 FM (www.star883.com) and drive to Sandusky, OH. to enjoy Cedar Point. Thanks for checking in...check back often!!!

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Saturday evening, we were treated to the "musical" stylings of The Jewish Elvis...NEIL DIAMOND at the United Center. Plans for dinner at The Billy Goat were scrapped due to absurd traffic on I-290. So, the night started off with a gourmet dinner of hot dogs and French fries, with a Hot Pretzel for dessert, chased down by a BIG pink lemonade. Once settled in the section 303, where the air was quite thin...we were in for a great show, and not let down.

View from our seats...before the show!

Everything from Beautiful Noise to You Don't Bring Me Flowers to Forever In Blue Jeans to Brother Love's Travelin' Salvation Show lit up the stage. Danielle and I have a new found love for Sweet Caroline...SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD. Click the link below to experience it like we did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvXTXS-cBlc

More stage action...

This weekend was very busy preparing for our roadtrip to Cleveland and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with a day long stop at Cedar Point. We are working out the details to blog and video our road trip as it happens. Stay tuned!

Moving the LAND ain't FREE...but worth it when you have someone to BRAVE the heat and do manual labor. The week before our vacation sees the front yard being "reshaped" into the home front we were hoping. Gone is the HUGE evergreen tree, which was sad to see such a full tree get cut up, but it is affecting the sewer pipe to the street, so it had to go. Now the front yard has grown in size, and will be re-seeded for a fuller, green look...next year!

Now we need to make sure we don't kill the grass!

We are free...enjoying freedom from work for a three day weekend, of fireworks, BBQ, ESPN's coverage of the Hot Dog Eating Contest, and family time, in no particular order.

We started the holiday weekend by taking 1st Place in our "Who's the most patriotic" office contest. As you can see from the pics below...there is no doubt as to who won the $50 gas card.

Friday night(7/4/08)...we enjoyed the company of Dan & Susan(& Avery& Romey), and Paul & Anita at the Taste Of Lombard, with a fireworks simulcast on AM 560 WIND, being run by the stylish "Freedom Elvis" pictured above. Thousands tuned in to hear the celebration starting at 9:30p on AM 560 WIND. They will let anybody with a laptop run the music for a fireworks show. It was a cool experience to run the soundtrack from a tiny tin trailer in the middle of 100,000 people in a field.

The rest of the weekend was filled with house projects(painting the gas meter and front porch railing and installing new gutter extensions to move rain water away from the house), BBQ, hot tub, family and fun, and awaiting the insurance adjuster as our neighborhood has fallen victim to severe hail damage from Wednesday night's storms...we had some damage, but were very lucky with only a handful of holes in the vinyl siding, and some roof damage.

The pictures show how lucky we were compared to some of our neightbors. It was the worst storm in recent history for McHenry county, and no one was hurt.

And of course...4th Of July weekend is not complete without a home fireworks display of the lamest festive smoking balls available!

Hope you had a great weekend!