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Profile of Stephen Paulikas

Don't sweat the small stuff, this too shall pass!

Walking Tours, Camping, Trail Riding, Horseback Riding, Scuba Diving, Snorkeling more
  • Location: Orlando, Florida
  • Birthday: August 27th, 1960
Malerie Kaplan
Tiffany Muehleis
Bart Muehleis Enjoys: Hiking, Back Packing, Camping, Snorkeling, Canoeing, Fishing
Chris Paulikas
Cal Neary Enjoys: Climbing, Camping, Scuba Diving, Snorkeling, Surfing, Kayaking
Jorge Jhuez Enjoys: Hiking, Bicycling, Trekking, Walking Tours, Camping, Horseback Riding
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7/11/2009 Adventures - They come in all shapes and sizes, What's yours!
As a kid growing up in the Midwest, sounds so rural, it was really the suburbs of western Chicago. Moved to Addison, Illinois in 1967 (from Westchester, Illinois) lived there till 1993.

I'd say in a kids mind moving can be an adventure. At least that's what the adults tell you to alleviate the fears of new house, new friends, and new schools, just so much new a kid can take. My folks decided that the place I had called home for the 6 years of my entire life was just too small to accommodate the ever growing Paulikas Family; number 5 was on the way that would be Andrew Joseph Paulikas as he would be officially titled - we call him Andy, my new baby brother.

Well the summer of '67 was supposed to be moving time into the new home in Addison. It seemed so far away, 30 minutes tops, but they were excruciating minutes - we had to sit still, stop teasing each other, You all know the phrase - "Will you stop touching me!!!" followed by "MOM!" or the ever rear reaching, knee crushing, left hand from my father followed by "Don't make me pull this car over!" - Why did I always have to sit behind Dad! To this day I still don't know how he could ALWAYS grab my knee - I even switched once with my brother and it became the ever rear reaching, knee crushing, right hand. I am lucky I didn't end up in knee braces.

The new house -was a semi-custom built home, twice the size of the Westchester home - the problem was it had to be built, we drove out to Addison, Mom and Dad picked a lot from a beautifully drawn map of green with dotted lines showing all the lots as they were laid out in the subdivision of Friars Cove. We asked and they showed it to us on the map but you look out past the model home and you were in the middle of this huge patch of dirt there were no roads, the curbs weren't even in yet. Mom and Dad started this process in the fall of 1966; we have pictures with the lot covered in snow, ice, water, multiple delays later.

Mom and Dad sold the Westchester house and we moved into My Grandparents home in Oak Park, Illinois. It was such a chaotic time, new baby, new schools in Addison, living in Oak Park, no finished new house not till after we started schools, 3 kids in 2 schools. Grandpa Chris would drive us, or as the new kids/friends would say chauffer us to and from school, in his Sedan Deville - Cadillac.

It was on one of these many drives to and from school that we noticed we would go west out of Addison; past some old barns and a field that had several horses. We would then end up turning 180 degrees back to the East to drive back into Oak Park past Westchester to my Grandparents home. It was later developed into a plan that we would one weekend walk out to the pasture and checkout the horses; but this would have to wait for the house to be finished. This would be the planning phase for the horse adventure.

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