I think I’ve had 3 straight weekends this May of just pure fun. And I have two more coming up. Next week is Memorial Day weekend with my cousins and Trevor; that’s followed by my Carlsbad Inn Beach Resort getaway with Katrina and our two Irvine cousins. I’m kind of scared to let it wind down; ’cause really if you aren’t living, what are you doing? A lot happened this last week, following in the wake of Cask Fest 2012. (On a side note: I was pretty happy to get featured on their e-mail, and on the Facebook page for Cask Fest) Jimmy moved out; Diablo III came out (I’ll address these in my Thursday/Friday post); took Will to Dominick’s for the first time ever, played mini-golf on Ford with Trevor, his Mom, and John; and went to the Botanical Gardens and Domino Farm’s for the first time with my cousins! This picture is full of pictures, so enjoy the visual appetizer.

We took Will to his first trip to Dominick’s. While he wasn’t extremely experienced with Sangria he did enjoy his quart of it. Meanwhile Dante and I split our Constant Buzz, and eventually when Elson showed up we shared with him. After a time, Dominick’s closed at 10 PM and shooed everyone out with a rather obnoxious siren. At this point we decided to go visit Pat who was out at Good Time Charley’s.

When we got there, we found Mark, Pat, and Jill hanging around in a booth and joined them. They were pretty well buzzed and Trevor and Will grabbed some purple rain. Trevor talked to some girls, and after Pat and Co left we headed over to the Blue Leprechaun to check out the scene. After a quick Stella Artois that Dante bought for everyone, I walked us over to the Blue Tractor.

Will hadn’t eaten too much yet, so I took him to happy hour at the Blue Tractor. All Beers were half off, and the food was delicious. Everyone ordered something. Will ordered 5 sliders, I got a single slider, Dante got some hoisin BBQ wings, and Trevor got a burger. After Blue tractor we headed to Mélange for a bit, but it wasn’t really our scene. So after a quick drink, we headed to Alley Bar. We enjoyed the last 20 min of the night there before heading back to the car and taking off for home. It was a great night, and probably exactly what we all needed.

On Saturday I was supposed to go to the Yankee Air Museum with Trevor, his Mom, and his Mom’s boyfriend John. But I may have been enjoying my sleep too much. I woke up after they had returned, and met them at Ashley’s for lunch. They were in the midst of some games of pool, and being no great pool player myself opted to just watch. Though I was persuaded to play one game, which I did reasonably well. I managed to break AND knock all but 2 of the balls in the pockets in my first go around. After that I was left with crappy shots and Trevor won, but I consider it a job well-done as I rarely play pool; I impressed myself by how well I did.

After lunch we went to the mini-golf/batting cage/go-kart that’s located on Ford Road just after Hix. It wasn’t anything astounding, but anything is fun with friends. It was 82°F out, and being outside the whole time with no shade started to dehydrate me. Trevor wanted to take his mom and John to Dominick’s on such a beautiful day, so that’s where we headed to next. I had some delicious ginger ale and garlic bread while Trevor had his usual half-gallon of sangria and ordered a pizza for everyone. It was a great day.

The next day I met with my cousins Sarah and Connie to meet Connie’s high school mate for lunch in Ypsi. We went to a Chinese restaurant called Hidden Dragon. The food was very authentic, and if I could remember anything they ordered in mandarin I would be sure to order it again.

After eating we had to decide where to go. Connie’s friend had planned on visiting Domino Farms, and I had suggested The Matthaei Botanical Gardens. We ended up going to both, but we went to Domino Farms first. The petting arm would have cost $7, so we didnt’ go into that portion, but there was an outdoor area with animals we could view.

After the short visit to Domino’s Petting Farm, we trekked over to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The conservatory is free, so we walked through the various tropical biomes. It was SOOOOO hot. The plants were cool, but the greenhouse was ridiculously hot. I really enjoyed my visit, I want to visit again when more of the outdoor flowers were in bloom. I know the arboretum peonies are almost in full bloom so I’ll have to check that out. One of these days I’ll also catch the Midsummer Night’s Dream performed in the arb.

After spending most of the day outdoors in the heat, we decided to cool off with some ice cream. I suggested Stucchi’s, and so we went. Usually I only get vanilla ice cream when I go to an ice cream shoppe, but I really felt like having some sorbet, of the raspberry variety.

Overall a very busy weekend, but filled with fun. I look forward to the next two weekends of craziness and fun. Until Thursday, peace out.

-Evilmanta