My favorite part was the underwater adventure. It’s just like being in the tank with the fish. They swim around and above you and it’s so neat. The tube you walk through is 4 inches thick and I was surprised that I didn’t get much of a glare taking pictures there. The amusement park amazed me too. It’s bigger then I thought it would be and they have quite a few rides in there. We didn’t ride any of them though. I asked William if he wanted to as I would go with him if he did but he said no, he’s ridden roller coasters before so it was nothing new. Besides it’s expensive! The underwater adventure is too but we had coupons that saved us $13.00 so we only had to pay $42.00. They have a Lego world and they have areas where children can build anything they want too and just play there. It’s amazing what you can build with Lego’s!

That place is so big and we walked and walked. My leg and hip hurt so bad when we got back to the hotel but it was worth it. My favorite store was Archiver’s. I could spend a whole day in there but with two men waiting for you it’s impossible lol. I wish they had one closer to me but the nearest one is in Madison so that was the first time I’d been there. There is every kind of store you can imagine and if you had a lot of money it would be heaven for you. William’s dad gave him $100.00 to spend and boy did he have fun when he found a store he liked. He bought himself a T-shirt, a hat, a wallet some gloves a cd and a shirt for his dad. I think he did pretty good for the amount he had.

Walking down the hall we passed a sports store and guess what we saw. A Brett Farve Viking shirt lol. My family threatened to hurt me if I bought one so you know we had to.  Well, actually Bill bought one for him. He’s bigger then I am so I don’t think they’ll hurt him lol. I look at it like this…it might be worth money some day hehe. They’ll be sorry if we get rich off of a shirt now won’t they lol. Anyway, we get back to the hotel and I take a pic of him with my cell phone and send it to everyone. Boy did I get some replie text messages on that hehe. They told me I better not bring it home or else. I’m not scared though, I know they still love me. I’d put his pic on here but it’s in my cell phone and I haven’t loaded it yet.

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn which is right across the street from the Mall. Unfortunately it’s also right across from the airport too. Our hotel was smack dab in the landing pattern and those planes were coming in one after the other. They were so close you could almost reach out and touch them. I took this pic from our window and I tried to zoom in so I could get a pic of the pilot but they wouldn’t slow down for me. It was kind of fun watching them though. I thought for sure we wouldn’t get any sleep at night but surprisingly they didn’t fly in at night. I don’t know if the city makes them land on a different run way at night or what but we didn’t hear a thing after about 8:00.  Thank God for that eh!

Now for the bad part of our trip lol. On our way there we stopped at a rest area to use the facilities. William said he didn’t have to go so Bill and I got out and went in. Bill was back in the van before I was and when I got back he started it up and started to back out. when all of a sudden I look up and there’s William running after us waving his arms in the air. I said oh my God Bill stop, there’s William. He decided he did have to go after all and got out and went in. Him and Bill must have just missed each other as Bill didn’t see him in there. Our van has tinted windows that are pretty dark and hard to see inside and Bill didn’t notice he wasn’t there when he got back and the seat back are pretty high so when I got in I didn’t notice William wasn’t there either. I’d have to turn around and look to see over the seat back. Needless to say our hearts just sank when we saw him running after us. I even got a stomach ache thinking what we had done. We laughed about it but it really wasn’t funny. William thought it was hilarious and had to call his dad right away to tell  him what we did. His dad told him to tell us not to lose his kid lol. At least William had his cell phone with him he could have used if we hadn't’ seen him running after us. To think we could have left him there makes me sick thinking of it.

Then…because my leg and hip was hurting so bad I decided to take a nice hot shower when we got back to our room. I get in and I didn’t notice the curtain liner wasn’t inside the tub like it was that morning when I took my shower. The shower head had a pulsating dial so I turned it on and let it message my back and leg and it felt so good I just stood there for several minutes. When I’m done I open the curtain and step out and you guessed it, the floor is flooded. With my aching back I had to use mop up the floor. Thank God there was quite a few towels in there to use. I laid my clothes on the floor so of course they were soaking wet too. We had only planned to stay one night but decided to stay two when we got there but I didn’t pack for two nights. I was just going to wear my jeans that I wore up there back home  and just brought along a extra shirt and undies. It’s a good thing they supply hair dryers with the rooms as that’s what I used to dry off my clothes lol. That will teach me to ALWAYS bring extra no matter how long you plan on staying. I tried to pack light and that’s what I get.

All in all it was a great weekend and we had a great time. Here’s a couple video’s I took inside the underwater adventure and I’ll put some pics I took in a album.

Because we are taking a short trip. We are leaving either tomorrow or Saturday for the 

We won’t be gone only a day or two but getting out of this house and town for even that excites me. William is going with us as well. Both he and his dad was going to go but we waited too long and now his Dad is in school so that’s that. He doesn’t care though, after all he went to New York this spring and William hasn’t been anywhere. The rest of the kids have all gone somewhere except for him so he wants to go along. I can’t wait to see the aquarium there. I hear you walk through it, how cool is that. We were there once years ago but never thought about going there or to the amusement park they have in there. I don’t know what we were thinking.  We’ll have to do a little back tracking first though. We have to take William to Milwaukee to get his stitches out from having his wisdom teeth pulled first so we might head to Minnesota from there.  It’s only a 5 hour drive so when we get there we’ll get a room then head over there. I can’t wait. Of course while I’m there I want to go to Achiver’s scrap booking store as I’ve heard so much about them so I want to check it out. I’m as happy as a clam right now lol. I love traveling and it’s been quite a spell since I’ve gone anywhere. Gee, maybe I can find a Brett Farve T-shirt while I’m there lol. They say his stuff will be worth something when he gets drafted into the football hall of fame.

What in the world has happened to August? For that matter what’s happened to summer? It is another chilly, cloudy rainy day and has been for the last few days now. This has been the coolest August that I can remember. The whole summer has been that way for the most part to me anyway.  I don’t mind the cool nights and no humidity but I much prefer temps in the 80’s and right now it’s only 64 and won’t even reach 70. I think we have just two or three 90 degree days this year. I’m glad the humidity has been almost nil but come on I want more warm sunny days then we’ve had so far.

Anyone who knows me knows I am the least grouchy person in the world. I rarely get angry and am in a good mood most of the time. I don’t nag or complain either although there have been days I would have liked too lol. Sometimes I think I’m too patient for my own good. Well anyway, the other day Bill was talking to his friend about their class reunion coming up. I heard him ask Tom how his wife Ruth was. Of course I couldn’t hear what Tom said but then Bill laughed and then said “ ya I have one here too” After he hung up I asked him what was so funny and he told me that Tom said Ruth was fine but grouchy as ever. I said well I hate to make a liar out of you so I guess I will turn into a grouch lol. He was just kidding but I couldn’t let him get away with that now could I lol.

Time for me to get cracking around here. I haven’t been around for a couple days so I’m heading over to your houses first. Put the coffee, on I’m on my way.

Ours was great! It was the boys turn to stay overnight and we had fun. The girls told them what we did when they stayed so they wanted to do the same stuff lol. So, after dinner we went for a walk and took the same route the girls did. I will say that they boys are much more curious then the girls are. They had to stop and look at everything that caught their eye and guess what they found…snails. Of course they wanted to keep them and when we got home we put them in a plastic cup. They even named them lol. I’m just glad their parents let them keep them cause I sure don’t want’em. I don’t know what time they went to sleep, I fell asleep around 11 and they were still up playing games with William.

After breakfast the next morning we went to the park. They had a lot of fun on the playground equipment and that Josh is a monkey. He climbed everything he saw and then jumps off. I tell ya, he scares the heck out me. See what I mean…

Even though Eric is about 9 months younger then Josh he’s a lot bigger and much more cautious then Josh is.. He’ll climb but he won’t jump (thank God) I don’t know what I’d do if both boys were dare devils. I love how they get along though and are always excited to see each other. William is so good to them too and even though he’s 17 he likes to show them how to do things. He didn’t go to the park with us though and it’s probably good as he wouldn’t have any fun there like the other two did. You know how it is when you’re 17, you can’t be seen at a playground with a lot of little kids lol. At home it’s different but in public it’s another thing.

Eric was sitting on rocks watching the ducks and I just loved the way he was sitting there. He looked as though he was in deep thought and just enjoying the day. I just had to take a picture of him like that., I don’t know why but it just struck me and I love it. I wish I had taken bread with us so they could feed the ducks. Those who had bread had the ducks following them. One duck took a piece of bread right out of the child’s hands. They got close to the boys though. They were probably thinking they had something for them to eat.

We didn’t go out to lunch like the girls did ,we just went for ice cream. They had lunch before we left. They were talking about how you use to be able to buy chocolate peanut butter but can’t find it anymore. So I told them we can make our own. I put some peanut butter in a dish then poured chocolate syrup over it and stirred it up. They loved it and said they were going to make it when they get home and show their mom and dad their new creation.

So after the park off we went to Dairy Queen. It was a perfect end to a perfect day. Neither one of them wanted to go home when their parents showed up to get them, just like the girls. They always want to stay longer and that just warms my heart.

My son is attempting his hand at writing and wants me to spread the word for him and invite you all to read what he has written so far and encourages feedback. Here’s the link to his blog http://shapuhi.blogspot.com/ Of course I think the 2 parts of his story he’s written so far is pretty darn good and I’d love to  hear what you think. I’m anxious and looking forward to see where the story goes next.

I can’t believe the cool temps we will be having over the next few days. The high for today is only going to be 68 and then down to 54 tonight and in the 50’s at night for the 3 nights as well. We really haven’t had a real hot summer and that’s fine with me but August is usually out hottest month with lots of humidity. I’m not complaining about that but I hope it doesn’t mean we will have a real cold cold winter. The summer has flown by so fast and I want it to stay as long as it can.

I haven’t read a Stephen King book in years but when I was over at Terry’s her son had one there that he’d just finished titled Cell. It’s about some pulse that went through cell phones and those people who were on their phones when the pulse occurred all went crazy and started killing each other or anyone they came across. After that they talked jibberish and was hard to understand. They also spoke to each other through telepathy and was able to read minds of the normal people. They only came out during the day and would flock together at night and sleep and would never go inside buildings. Those who wasn’t on their phones traveled at night to keep away from the crazies. The main character in the book was trying to get home to his wife and son and hoped they were ok. His young son had his own cell phone and he was worried about him. Strange book for sure and now when I use my cell phone I’ll be thinking of this darn book lol.

I feel a headache coming on so I guess I should go take something before it blows into a migraine. Have a super weekend kids. Go forth and have fun.

Hugs

Me

About William and how he is doing after having all of his wisdom teeth pulled the other day. He’s doing very well in fact. He isn’t in much pain at all and hasn’t needed the pain meds they gave him. I keep asking him if he wants one and he keeps saying no that he’s ok. That’s ok with me though, the less meds you take the better off you are in my opinion. He is however very very swollen, he looks like a cute little chipmunk. He has antibiotics that he has to take until they are gone and some kind of steroid that is suppose to help with the swelling but doesn’t appear to be helping much to me. Then again maybe if he didn’t have them he’d be swollen more then he is. I have lots of puddings and jello and eggs he can eat and he loves tomato soup so he won’t go hungry. Isn’t it funny that when you can’t eat certain things that that’s what you crave? He really wants french toast but I think it’s too soon for that yet. I told him I would make him some in a couple days. He has to go back a week from Friday to get the stitches out but that will be a breeze. So again, thanks to all of you who asked about him. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and that you care. That’s the best part of blogging isn’t it. We have all come to care so much about each other and our families and I think that’s wonderful!

Ok, here’s my rant for today. Why when you are at a intersection and you are turning right and are in the turning lane that someone who is turning left pulls up next to you and blocks your view of oncoming traffic? That drives me nuts. I can turn right on red if there’s no traffic but they have to wait for the green light so why pull up and block my view when they have to wait anyway. There have been times that I didn’t dare pull up any further because if I did I’d be in the lane of traffic. and get hit if a car was coming. It’s usually some big SUV or truck too that does that and I think that’s so rude. I’d like to get out and give them a piece of my mind but I’m scared lol. They might not be as nice as I am hehe.

Hop skip and jump into your day and have a great one!.

Do you watch the show The Doctors that comes on at 4:00 central time? I really like that show and you sure learn a lot watching it. Well yesterday their show was about drug use and I couldn’t believe what I saw. I guess marijuana and drug use has dropped in the adolescents age group so now the pushers are targeting the preteens. They are putting it and other drugs in lollypops, candy bars, cookies,  poptarts and more. Once more the packaging looks almost identical to the real products except maybe the words are spelled a little different. I was amazed at just how much it really looked original. Now too me if someone wants to walk around in a fog all the time that’s their business but when it comes to pushers trying to get someone hooked just to make money is down right disgusting, especially children!!! It made me so mad watching it yesterday that I wanted to go out and round up each and every pusher if I could and put them all behind bars. I have a friend who’s son never drank a drop of alcohol but thought it was ok to do cocaine. One day he realized he was hooked so bad and felt terrible and sad that he let himself be talked into trying it “just once”. Today he’s dead and his mother still hasn’t gotten over it and never will. How can you get over something like that?

I’m not talking about medical use here as I know some people use pot who are suffering from cancer etc., I’m talking about pushers who deliberately go out selling it to anyone who crosses their paths. Drug pushers and pedophiles and anyone who deliberately hurts children are the scum of the earth to me and in a perfect world they would all be caught and put where they belong. I don’t know how children that age could get the money to buy that stuff but I’m sure it happens.

William feels pretty good he says but he sure is swollen. He wanted to come back here after and I was amazed at just how swollen he is. They did put him asleep so I was happy to hear that. I hated the thought of him going through that awake and aware. He’s sleeping right now so that’s good. If he was in a lot of pain I’m sure he’d be awake. I have lots of pudding, Jell-O and oatmeal for him here. The silly kid said he wanted French toast in the morning and I told him that wouldn’t be good so soon after so he said I could put it in the blender for him lol. What a joker!

I guess I’m done griping today for awhile so I’ll be on my way. Wishing you all a great day. Life is the only high we need so go out and enjoy it.

Hugs

I’m feeling bad for William right now, he’s having all 4 of his wisdom teeth pulled today. I didn’t know they did them all on the same day. Poor kid won’t be able to eat. He came back the other day to stay again and he told me he’s not looking forward to this at all. I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t be either. He takes things pretty well though and didn’t seem real nervous when his dad picked him up. He says he’s coming back here after but his dad said it all depends on how he feels. He has to take antibiotics before every dental appointment no matter what they are doing because of his heart so that’s a good thing they remember that. Of course his dad and us would never forget that part. I hate seeing any of the kids have to go through something I know will be painful. Last week Josh and Devan went in for school check-ups and poor Josh had to have 4 shots. He cried a little but Devan didn’t, she only needed 2. She’s like her mom. My daughter always took pain well and never cried when she had to have shots. She had plenty of them too because she would get strep throat at least twice a year when she was little. But she never cried and those penicillin shots HURT! I know, I use to get it too and had more then enough of those shots to last me a lifetime.

You’ll never guess what Bill did the other day. He had to go to Farm & Fleet for bird seed and some other things he says he needed. Well…  he comes walking in the a big grin on his face and I knew he was up to something.  I looked in the bag and guess what he bought! A pair of BIB overalls! He knows how much I detest those things and I told him he won’t be wearing them when he’s out with me lol. I told him that you don’t see people wearing them anymore at all, not even at the famers market. I hate them and they way they make you look in them. He took them back the next day lol. He use to wear them and I hated them then and I still hate them. He knows if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy lol.

I hope you all had a good weekend and I hope this week is even better.No special plans here except for cleaning this dump up. Where in the world does all the dust come from anyway? If you know tell me please so I can stop it lol.

Hello and happy Thursday to you! It’s been a good week so far. Tuesday night the girls had a sleepover at grandma’s and we had a great time together. I just love listening to the giggles of little girls don’t you? After a dinner of hot dogs and brats we walked to the park and sat by the river for awhile. Of course I had my camera with me and I will put those in the album. They wanted to try their hand at take a picture so I gave them the camera and let them choose what they wanted to photograph. Bri took a photo of Devan and Devan took a river scene. They both did quite well. Devan brought her roller blades so when we got home she took a spin on the driveway. Bri was disappointed that she didn’t bring hers or that Devan’s wouldn’t  fit her so she just had to watch. I felt bad for her. When it was dark we came in and played games and watched their favorite TV channel…The Food Network lol.

They wanted to sleep on the floor and I’m so mad that I didn’t get a pic of them before they woke up. They were so cute cuddled there together. There wasn’t anything for the to play on at the park we went to the day before I took them to another park after breakfast. It was going to get hot so I wanted to go before the heat set in. I wasn’t the only one who thought of that as there were quite a few mom’s and dad’s there with their kids as well. This is my favorite pic I took at the park.We stayed there until lunch time then it was off to McDonald’s we went where they played on their equipment. I think it is nice that they have that there. Kids look forward to it and it’s a good way to get  them out of the house and have some fun without being in the hot sun. Just as we were walking out the door they asked if they could get some ice cream for desert so we went through the drive through and got ice cream lol. I bet they thought we were nuts  and wondered why when we were just in there that we didn’t order it there lol. OH well, who cares what they think right.

Needless to say we all had fun and they were so good. Neither of them wanted to go home when their dad’s came to pick them up but they know they’ll be back again soon.  Now it’s the boys turn again so I have to decide when that will be.

It’s thirsty Thursday and you know what that means. I hope Terry goes so she can show off her new do. I see she posted the pics I took of her yesterday for you all to see it. I really like it and I think it makes her look years younger. Yes, she has been Diva’d. I hope it doesn’t go to her head LOL.

Time to get the rest of the pics in a album and come see some of you before I get busy around here. First things first ya know. I do have my priorities.  

Here I am. William was here again all last week but he's gone home now. I don't know for how long lol but he's home for awhile. His friend who lives by them was gone for two weeks but he's back now so that's why he went home. His other friends all live in other parts of town so he doesn't get together with them as often. School will be starting again soon so he won't be here as often then. That kind of makes me sad as I love having him here. When his dad brought some things he wanted I asked him if he brought the child support lol. He asked me what I was talking about. I said William has been here this summer more then he's been home so I figured child support would be nice. He told me when he gets some from his Ex he'll give me some lol. I guess I won't hold my breath as he has never gotten a dime. I hope she never gets pulled over for speeding or something because if she does they will take her to jail. Here in Wisconsin it goes on your driving record if you're behind on support. Besides that, when my son got laid off and applied for state insurance they asked about her and if she was working. It wouldn't surprise me if they started looking for her. You know how the states are when it comes to their money lol. He had to do it, William needs insurance. He has to go to his cardioligist yearly and that's not cheap. Thank God his heart seems to be fine since all of his surgeries but they did tell them there could be a day that one of his valves might need replaced. I pray every night that doesn't happen.

Boy it sure turned hot fast. The heat and humidity came rolling in yesterday and hit us right between the eyes. July was so nice and comfy. The temps were great, the evenings were nice and cool and great for sleeping. But, yestserday I think it hit 90 as it will today too. We were at Terry's for Alyssa's party and my head was soaking wet from the humidity. Every so often and nice breeze would slide by but didn't hang around. I can take the heat but that humidity kills me. My hair turns curly then and I look funny lol.

I'm bushed. Two parties two weekends in a row is hard on this old girl. I give it the old college try though. I can't miss a party with all my kids and family ya know and it's fun. We didn't have any four wheelers or nothing this weekend. Just fun and family and of course a couple of rousing eucher games. I dread when the day comes that I don't feel like going to a party lol. That's not me. I love being around friends and family so I hope I never get too old for that.

Our sister Rhonda got a nice surprise yesterday. Her son has been away for the last 5 or 6 months working and he came home yesterday for awhile. He didn't tell her he was coming and had his sister pick him up at the bus station. He said when she saw him she broke down in happy tears. I wish I'd been there to see that. What a kodack moment that would have been. He's been working on a pipline in Nebraska so he hopped a bus and headed home. He said he had a 10 hour layover in Chicago and when my son heard that he gave him the devil for not calling him as he would have driven down and picked him up. That's a long time to sit around in a bus station. Well, he'll know better next time. It sure is nice to see him though and boy has he lost the weight since he's been gone. He said he's lost about 45 pounds he looks great.

I hope you all have had a nice weekend. Now that William is home for awhile I might get to blog more often lol. I have to run to the store but as soon as I get back I'll be around to visit. Until then....be good.

Hugs & Love

It was a terrific weekend for us. It started off Friday night when we went up to Baraboo for Toni’s son’s wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and the kids looked so happy. The bride was beautiful the groom was so handsome and they were both beaming with joy. We didn’t stay overnight though but it was a very nice evening and it was nice meeting everyone. We got there kind of early and we were both hungry so we decided to go get something to eat. We found this place called Four Star Family Restaurant and it was anything but for star. I wouldn’t even give it one star. Bill ordered fish and I ordered a hot beef sandwich. I took one bite and I had to spit it out, it tasted terrible. Bill took a bite too and we both said the meat tasted spoiled. I called the waitress back and told her and she took it back to the kitchen and I heard her yelling at the cook. I wonder if they thought it might be spoiled but wasn’t sure from what I could hear. Not only that it wasn’t a very clean restaurant either. Our first clue should have been was that there wasn’t any cars in the parking lot when we got there. That was the only bad part of the whole weekend though and I didn’t die of food poisoning so that’s a good thing.

Saturday was Brody’s 1st birthday party and it was wonderful. I was a little concerned in the morning thought because it was cloudy and was raining a little but it cleared up and turned into a beautiful day just for Brody. The whole family was there and the food was great and we all had a great time. Of course I had to ride the 4 wheeler again (I love that thing). Jodi jumped on the back and rode with me then she wanted to drive so we traded. When we got back we told everyone that we hit a bumped, flew up, and when we landed she was in front and I was in back lol. But the best part of the day was Brody diving into his birthday cake. He loved it. Well see for yourself. He didn’t hesitate for a second to dive into his cake. Not only that he did great opening his gifts too. He’d tear off the wrapping just like he’d been doing it for ever lol. The only time he cried all day was when they took one gift away to give him another. He wanted to play. He is such a happy and contented baby and we love him to pieces.

Oh and Brody’s learning to walk. I love that part of having a baby. All the new firsts to enjoy again.

A bunch of us decided to spend the night there. The kids brought their tents and Terry sent Jack home to get their camper. Jon got a bonfire going and we all sat around the fire roasting marshmallows and making smore’s. I however slept in the house in a nice comfy bed. If I’d slept on the ground they’d have to come in and help me get up again lol. I was the first one up that I know of and got the coffee going then when the rest were awake we made pancakes and scrambled eggs. The kids all get along so well and we have so much fun when we’re together. Terry and Jack tried to go to sleep early and snuck in their camper when they thought we didn’t notice. WRONG! We noticed alright and we went and tried to rock their camper lol. It was too heavy though so we just started pounding on the walls. They didn’t even say good-night so that’s what they get when you try to sneak away from us hehehe.

Anyway, it was a great weekend. I hope you all had a great weekend just like we did.