Mother's Day

It was a nice Mother's day. We went to my parents for a BBQ, had some fun chatting, looking at Mom's new Yamaha Clavinova digital piano (drool is more appropriate), and opening gifts. Riley LOVED helping to open everything, and was VERY proud of the gift he bought Mommy.

A funny story is my brother was talking with his friends about what they got their mothers for Mothers Day. Lots of traditional things, flowers, chocolates, typical mothers stuff. When they asked him, he said, "The Photoshop CS3 upgrade." They were all like, "You're kidding, right?" "No I'm not, and she will really love this." And she did. Guess our family is a little different than most. hahaha

Gamefly is WAY COOL!!!

Netflix is a cool way to rent movies as long as you don't want it RIGHT THIS SECOND. We used to use it all the time, but then we had kids and rarely have time to watch anything, let alone a two hour movie.

In the last few years Riley has really been enjoying playing our Playstation 2. We joined the game clubs at Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, but they didn't have much of a selection. Then I found out about Gamefly. It's exactly like Netflix only it's for video games instead of movies. And they have a HUGE selection! Riley's really into Monster Trucks. I found two games awhile back and wanted to buy them both. Only one I could find to buy, the other was not available. However, Gamefly has them both! The other game is now in our queue waiting to be sent to us. Cool! AND it's not that expensive at all. Really it's an excellent service.

If you want to check them out and join, please use this link: Gamefly.com They have a rewards program where if you use this link and sign up, we get points that we can redeem for game rentals and other stuff. Give it a try, I think you'll like it a lot. The other big cool thing for us is we can try these games before buying them - some have looked cool and actually sucked and we were glad we didn't buy them.

Reno trip day 5 photos

I've just uploaded the photos from Day 5, our trip home. Again, lots of road photos of nothing inparticular, just stuff I thought was interesting. There are also some cute ones of the kids. Click the photo to go to the beginning of the Day 5 photos. Enjoy!

Reno - Day 5, the trip home

Sorry, photos will be posted sometime tonight. :(

We sure had a lot of fun in Reno, but it's always nice to come home. The day started with a nice buffet breakfast, gassed up the cars, then hit the road a few minutes before Noon. What a beautiful drive home! Only a few clouds and according to our car, the outside temp ranged from 58 to 72. Sunglasses all the way home. This time we knew how far we could drive before needing to fill up, so we only had to stop once for gas, in Grants Pass, which is about 6 hours out of Reno and 4 hours from home. We also drove it in one day instead of two. Made for a very long day, but that worked out better.

Once again the kids were amazingly great! No fussing, no crying, no real problems at all. The only things that came up were the usual ones that come up when they are tired and ready for a nap. They had fun watching dvd's, and Riley again played Playstation for close to two hours. Maddie took about a two hour nap from 1:30 - 3:30pm, and Riley crashed for about an hour and a half right after gassing up and getting some quick dinner in Grants Pass. The whole trip home took us a little over 10 hours getting in at 10:15pm. When we got gas in Grants Pass I did a quick calculation of our gas mileage - we were getting 26.64 miles/gallon! Not bad for a SUV. We really like our Honda Pilot a lot. :)

Coming back on hwy 44 is the Bogard Rest Area. On Saturday night it snowed there - snowed a lot!! I was watching the web cams all the time to see how the roads were and 44 was covered. But just as the weather had predicted, it was all gone by the time we went through. Whew! We did notice that rest stop is at 5600 feet. I'm sure we went even higher and was a little surprised there wasn't any kind of marker for the highest point - I think it was probably close to 6000 feet. There was a tiny bit of snow at the rest stop and I got some pictures of Riley & Maddie playing with it.

One worry about this route is it's only two lanes and it takes about 3.5 - 4 hours to get through - if you don't get stuck behind a truck or some idiot going really slow. We did get stuck behind a truck for awhile, but he was empty and going at least 60 usually 65, so that was ok (he must have been empty). At one point there's a big uphill where we did slow down to about 40 because of the truck, but at soon a he could pull over onto the shoulder he did and let us go by. Nice guy, we waved thanks as we drove by. Only one other time did we get behind someone really slow and they turned off to let us go by. We made it to I-5 in 3 hours 45 minutes.

Once on I-5 we really didn't have any problems. For most of the way in California the speed was 70 so we were doing 75 until we hit the border. And there were lots of places where we had to slow down because the corners were just a tad too sharp for that speed. One fun thing though. We started up a big hill to the Oregon border. It was probably a 6% grade. I had it in cruise control. When we hit that hill the cruise control kicked it up a gear or two and kept the car right at 70 without any problems! That was cool! I'm sure some people are saying, "Huh? What's so cool about that?" Well, I'm old enough to remember the early cruise controls and going up hills like this they couldn't handle and you'd either have to turn it off or press on the gas yourself. And maybe I just impress easily. ;)

When we got home, Marci took sleeping Maddie upstairs to put her to bed, though she did wake up when she took her out of the car, but she got her back to sleep quickly. We had a FANTASTIC guy watching our animals while we were gone. Three times he called us, twice with questions and once on the way home to make sure our plans hadn't changed and to see if we needed him to visit the animals one more time. A really great guy!! We put the birds in their cages and told him he could leave the dogs outside during the day and inside at night, we setup an area for them. When we got home they dogs were inside and VERY happy to see us. Riley was also happy to see them and spent about 30 minutes playing with them. The birds were at the cage door ready to get out - they are usually only in their cages during the work day, so this was a long time for them. I brought everything in, got everything settled, took bags upstairs (unpacking will be done tonight), got the kids to bed, then crashed around midnight, only to get up at 5am for work. Note to self: Next time take the NEXT day off too! haha

All in all, it was a great trip, we had a fantastic time, won lots of stuffed animals, got Riley some other fun things, Marci had a great visit with her Mom, and now we know what it's like so next time we'll be ready and have even more fun! But it is nice to be back home in our own beds. :)

Reno Day 4 - Last day of fun

Our last day here in Reno, and it didn't start off all that well. Around 3am Riley woke up throwing up. We got him cleaned up and everything, he got back to sleep, then did it again at 5am, back to sleep, then again at 8am. Poor guy! After that he was finally done, slept another couple hours and was feeling better. Our best guess is he had a lot of snack-type food to eat last night, a big chocolate milkshake, lots of excitement, was up late, really wired, and it all just caught up with him.

Marci, Maddie and everyone else took off for a Zoo they found and a little amusement park that also had a mini-putt golf course. (Marci's Mom stayed and gambled, and did very well, as usual.) Riley and I stayed here because while he was feeling better, we weren't sure if he'd do well in the car ride and with everything. He probably would have, but we wanted to make sure he was ok for the long trip home tomorrow. Marci said they had a great time and she took a lot of photos with her new camera phone. Now I just have to figure out how to get them off. haha When I do I'll post them.

Riley finally felt up to walking around so we went back to Circus Circus to have some fun, get some more tickets and a few more stuffed animals. Then on the way back we both wanted hot dogs. Got those, something to drink, and came back to the room. He was still a little tired, but ate all of his hot dog (and it was a BIG one!) and kept it down. So we still had fun.

When everyone got back, we all went out to dinner (click the photo above to see the beginning of the Day 4 photos), then back up to our room to get the tickets we had accumulated, to Circus Circus one last time, got some more stuffed animals, more tickets, then traded them in for fun stuff. Back to the room, playing with the new stuff, then a fun bath in the cool tub, and everyone was ready to crash.

Tomorrow we are going to drive straight home, not stopping to spend the night. It'll be 9-11 hours in the car (including stops for meals and rest stops), but based on the trip down the kids won't have a problem - knock on wood. :) Time for me to head to bed too, some packing to do in the morning, breakfast buffet, then on the road. More road photos tomorrow too, though probably not as many. Night!

Trip to Reno Day 3

Today was another fun day - Click on the photo to go to the beginning of the Day 3 photos on Flickr. Marci got in just as Maddie woke up and wanted her. She had fun with her Mom and Wendy, then we were able to sleep in. Got up for a good breakfast (at 11:30am haha), then walked around looking at all the stuff in the casino - well, stuff where the kids could go. Then we went back to Circus Circus so the kids could play, but after about 30 minutes Maddie was ready for a nap, so I took her back and put her to sleep.

Riley came back, was very good and quiet, we put in a DVD on my laptop for him to watch and he fell asleep, about 2 hours after Maddie went to sleep. Sure enough, 15 minutes after he went to sleep she woke up. D'OH! He slept for 2 hours, Marci came back about 1 hour into his nap, helped with Maddie then left to go have dinner with her Mom and Wendy. Riley woke up then all of us and Brandon went for Pizza dinner. Then we played at Circus Circus again winning more stuff. Came back to the room, played some, Marci came back, and now we're all going to bed.

It was a fun day, though not as many photos as I wanted. I'll try to get more tomorrow.

Trip to Reno

On 4/20/07 we took a trip to Reno. Marci's Mom is a high roller (well, medium roller) at the Silver Legacy hotel. She gets her rooms comped, her meals comped, gets treated REALLY well! She invited us to come spend a few days with her pretty close to all expenses paid (just cost us gas and some food and whatever else we wanted to spend our money on). We couldn't wait!

We left on Friday the 20th. It is roughly a 9 hour drive to Reno. We weren't sure how well the kids would do so we stayed the night in Weed, CA then took off again the next morning.

The kids couldn't have been any better!!!! We were shocked! We probably could have driven all the way through, but it was nice to stop. On the way back we'll do it all in one day. We figure with stops it could take us 10-12 hours.

On the way down it was BEAUTIFUL!! Just a few clouds in the sky and around 60 outside. We couldn't have asked for better driving weather. And everything was amazingly green! I've never been past Corvallis this time of year and once we got past Eugene into the farming country, it was just amazing. The photos we took don't do it justice (click the photo above to see all the ones we've taken so far).

We really only had to gas up once in Grants Pass, but we did again in Susanville just because we've never driven this and didn't know what we had coming up - we had just under half a tank but could have made it into Reno without any problems. Spent the night at a really nice Motel 6. I know, I know, "What? Are you crazy? A Motel 6 is NICE?" Yes, it really was nice and for a place to crash for a night, it was perfect - great price, clean and a very nice shower. No complaints.

Saturday the 21st we got going again. Drove back down I-5 to 89 to 44 to 395 and into Reno. That took us through several National Forests and up as high as 5100 feet, most of the trip was around 4000-4500 feet. NO SNOW!! We saw some on the sides of the road, but the roads were fine. At first it was raining semi-lightly and had some snow/slush mixed in. But soon that stopped and the roads were dry the rest of the way. Only one "official" rest stop between Weed and Susanville, and it was a very nice one (see the photos). But there were plenty of other places you could have made a stop if you had, stores, parks, etc.

Going into Susanville was a very steep downhill. Then from there on out it was pretty flat and lots of nothing to see. From 89/44 to 395 there was very little traffic. We got stuck behind some people now and then, but they were still doing at least 55 so it wasn't bad. And there were plenty of places to pass people. After Susanville it was a 2-lane road with a lot more traffic, but again traffic was moving and we had places to pass if needed. Then about 30 minutes out of Reno the highway divided (lots of land between north & southbound lanes) and we now had two lanes, so passing was easy.

It took about 5 hours to get to Weed, then another 4 to get to Reno. Again, the kids were EXCELLENT!! Fortunately our Honda Pilot has a DVD player in it AND you can hook up our Playstation. They watched a lot of stuff and Riley played some games. That really helped a lot. And it helped us too - we couldn't watch the shows, but we could listen to them. Kinda like listening to a book-on-tape/disc. The car did a great job, and it was a very enjoyable trip.

Now we're here in our hotel room (which is AMAZING and has an incredible bathroom). It's midnight, Marci is having fun with her Mom, the kids are crashed hard, and I'm about to crash myself. Two more fun-filled days here then we leave on Tuesday. I'll try to write more and will definitely be uploading more photos. Gotta love Flickr!!!

Later!

Easter 2007

We certainly had a lot of fun this past Easter weekend. Saturday morning we went to SleighBells in Sherwood for an Easter Egg hunt. It was raining really good so they did it inside. The kids had a lot of fun finding eggs, Riley was REALLY good at it and once Maddie figured out what she was supposed to do, she was finding them like crazy. They were all plastic eggs with candy in them. When they were done, they could sell back their plastic eggs for $.05 each, so both of them got a quarter (the limit for every kid was 5 eggs). Then they could go pick a toy from a table. The Easter Bunny was there, but neither of them wanted anything to do with him. Maddie REALLY wanted to pet the REAL bunnies they had. As we left, there was a turkey outside who was putting on a show for everyone; feathers out, showing off, lots of gobbling, both kids loved it.

Then home to color our eggs. Riley really had fun with that while Maddie was sleeping. One of the boxes came with one of those wax crayons where you write on the egg, color it, and where you wrote isn't colored. Once we showed Riley how that worked, he thought it was pretty cool and went wild with drawing on the eggs. Marci wrote their names on two eggs and as you can see above, Riley enjoyed showing Maddie her egg (be sure to click the photo for a LOT more photos). The hardest part for Riley was waiting for the eggs to boil. About every 5 minutes he'd ask, "Are they done yet?" Or he'd say, "I'm going upstairs to get something out of my room and they'll be done when I get back down, right?"

Sunday morning they both had fun finding the eggs, though once Maddie saw her basket, she wanted to play with the stuff it had, not find eggs. Riley found most, then he took Maddie around asking her, "Do you see any? You're getting warmer... Look over there, Maddie!" It was sooooooo cute!

Sunday afternoon we went to Aunt Joan's (my Mom's sister for those who don't know who she is) for a fantastic dinner and another Easter Egg hunt. It's a really fun family get-together, and the food is always awesome. Even Riley enjoyed it! haha After the meal we went looking for eggs and plastic bags with their names on them. This time Maddie got into it almost as much as Riley, they both found a lot of eggs and had a great time.

It was a fun weekend and a great time!

I'm doing MUCH better!

I went to the doctors yesterday for a follow-up visit. I knew my appendix had burst and it was a mess in there, but he said there was also an abscess and that he had to do a LOT of cleaning of my insides. After examining me, he was really surprised at how well I was doing and told me I was "a very good healer!" That made me feel really good! I guess all that beer drinking has finally paid off. hehe (kidding).

He also said I could lift more than 15 pounds now (he said I have very good abdominal muscles and there's no worry of a hernia), which made Maddie VERY happy. When I got home I picked her up and she did NOT want down, probably making up for lost time. She wanted to sit with me and even wanted me to walk her to sleep, which she usually hates. While my back got sore (and is still a little sore today) from holding her, I did miss that and enjoyed it.

I've got one more visit with him the end of April when he said everything should be fully healed. WooHoo! Man, it was quite the experience but I'm glad I'm in good enough shape to heal quick.

One bummer still. He said not to play my trumpet or workout on the eliptical machine until he sees me again at the end of the month. :( Oh well, better to rest and be 100% ok than push it and have problems. I'll have to really watch what I'm eating so I don't gain 50 pounds. haha

Playing at the Park

On Sunday (3/25) we went to a favorite park of ours and let the kids play for awhile. As usual, Maddie wanted to swing for most of the time, she really loves to swing! Riley had a blast climbing on everything, just like little boys do. Last time we were here there were a bunch of bigger kids playing a little too wild and Riley didn't have fun. This time there weren't too many people so he was able to play a lot and enjoy himself.

As for myself, I'm at work today, it's 11:30am, I've been here since 6:45am, and I'm feeling pretty darn good! A little tired because I didn't sleep well last night, but that was probably just the anxiousness of returning to work. I'm actually being productive, which I thought I wouldn't be, so I'm quite happy! I think I'll sleep well tonight though. :)

Wiggles Concert & Who Needs an Appendix?

March 15th was The Wiggles concert. Maddie really loved it, I was told she was dancing in the isle all the time. And I was told Riley didn't enjoy it as much and was in a little bit of a mood. I think his friends at preschool have him thinking The Wiggles is for little babies and if he likes it he's a little baby. Deep down I think he had fun though. My Mom got a lot of great photos.

I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't get any photos and why I said, "I was told...". Well, that's because on Tuesday the 13th, I woke up Marci at 6am and told her I needed her to take me to the hospital. All night I couldn't sleep, couldn't get comfortable, my stomach hurt as did a little lower and to the right. Sure enough, when I got there the doctors confirmed what I thought - my appendix needed to come out!

It started Saturday the 10th when I spent six hours with seriously liquid diarrhea - ya, I know, EWWWW! I mention this because one thought as to why appendix's need to come out is they get infected by some poop getting into it. After I told the doctors about my Saturday, they were pretty sure that is what caused the problem. Sunday my stomach hurt, then it moved to my appendix area. Then it felt better, so I didn't worry. But Monday morning it hurt again. I was going to make a doctor appointment but then it felt better. Then around 11am it started hurting again and this time didn't stop. It hurt A LOT and just got worse. The doctors are pretty sure sometime Monday afternoon it burst. I knew I should have gone to the doctor then, but I kept thinking it was just a cold or something. Very stupid. I didn't sleep much at all that night and should have woken Marci up sooner, but I didn't want her to panic or worry about what to do with the kids. Again, very stupid.

The doctors were also pretty sure it had burst, which it had. The surgeon said if I'd waited another day I probably wouldn't have made it. Ya, that's scary! He also said it was a really big mess and took a lot to clean everything out and I had a little drain bulb on my side to drain all the stuff they used to clean me out. Fortunately, he was able to do it with three little incisions instead of needed to make a bigger cut.

When I got into the room it was very hard to move. I had a bar over my head to pull myself up with, but couldn't because it hurt too much. Each day I got better and was able to move better. They had me taking a walk four times a day. That first one was really tough and took me forever to get out of the bed, and I was walking quit hunched over. By the last day I had no problems walking and was standing up almost straight. The doctors were very happy with how well I was healing.

I did have troubles peeing so I had to have a catheter - ICK!!! On the last day they took it out and said if I didn't pee they have to put it back in and leave it in for a week! Man, I never tried to pee so much in my life and was never so happy when I finally did! hahaha

What really hurt was when they took that drain thing out. The doctor told me it would hurt a lot, I braced myself, then he pulled it out. At first I thought something in me was just cramping up, then I realized it wasn't a cramp but serious pain. It took me a minute to be able to say something other than some major cuss words. I apologized a lot and the doctor said, "Heck, if someone just pulled two feet of tubing out of me I'd cuss like a sailor too!" Oh man that hurt a lot! Took me about three minutes before I could breath relaxed again.

Came home Friday the 16th. At first I was moving really slow, but each day got a lot better. This last Thursday I finally put real clothes on because I had to go get my drivers license renewed. Then last night we went to our usual Friday dinner. That was a little tough, but the burger tasted very good and it felt so nice to get out of the house.

I'm feeling almost normal. The pants are still a little tight and I don't have a lot of energy, but I feel ready to go back to work on Monday. It was quite the experience. I should have said something sooner and next time I'm feeling pain or odd, I will. The hardest part right now is I can't play my trumpet for another two weeks, and worse, I can't pick up the kids. Hopefully I'll be able to do that next week, we'll find out after my follow-up appointment this week.

Anyhow, it's been quite an interesting couple of weeks and things are almost back to normal, which is good cause there's a lot of stuff to do around here, like mowing the lawn. haha

We Have Fish!

We now have added four Betta fish to our zoo! Friday Marci informed me she told Riley he could get a fish. At first I was upset because she didn't run it by me at all. But then she told me she talked with others are read how fish can help kids learn responsibility - they learn to care for the fish, feed them, clean their tank, etc. So I thought sure, sounds good.

We went to Petco to get some goldfish and ran into a very nice and knowledgeable employee named Morgan. After listening to him for a bit, I could tell he was nerdy enough about fish that I could trust what he said. LOL! Seriously, he did know his fish and his stuff and was extremely helpful. He talked us out of goldfish and into female Betta's. He said they are more hearty, live longer - 3-5 years - and more enjoyable. Worked for us, so we ended up getting three Betta's. The next day we got a fourth just in case two decided to be friends and keep the third out - probably really over thinking it.

Riley LOVES the fish and is doing a good job taking care of them. Maddie also enjoys the fish a lot. So we have dogs, birds, and fish. Now all we need is a cat to complete the circle of life. hahahaha

Riley's in charge of Maddie - LOL!

I got this in an email from my Mom, I found it very funny!

On the way back to your house today (it was just me, Richard, as Dad was home with the Direct TV guys), I reminded Riley that we needed to be quiet so Maddie could take a nap. He said he didn't want her to take a nap. I said that since you were going to Safari Sams tonight I was sure Mommy and Daddy would appreciate it if she had a nap. He said "no they don't care and I don't want her to take a nap. She's my sister and I'm in charge of her and I don't want her to take a nap!" I finally thought, oh well...... As we were at the stop light after Sunset, I thought it looked like she was asleep. I asked Riley if she was and very loudly he said, "Maddie are you asleep? MADDIE!!" But luckily she was completely asleep. I thought that was cute -- she is his sister and he's in charge of her!

Snow!

I woke up this morning to snow on the ground. My first reaction was, "AHHH! I don't want to drive in this!" Then I calmed down and turned on the news to see what they were saying on the weather. "Snow this morning with trace to 1" accumulation below 500 feet, turning to rain this afternoon, high of 43." I again looked at the road and saw someone had driven by, it looked fine to drive on and really was more of a light dusting, maybe 1/4 inch. Plus it is supposed to warm up so I decided to go for it.

Now remember, I HATE driving in snow. Not that I can't, rather all the other idiots on the road freak me out, like the moron in the last snow we had that decided to tailgate me because I wasn't going fast enough for him and he was in a big truck so of COURSE it was like there was nothing on the road for him and he could EASILY stop as if the roads were dry.

Got in my car at 5:40am, I decided not to wait but to get out before the idiots got out. The roads were FINE! Mostly slushy and if I wanted, in some places, I'm sure I could have slid but I would have had to really slam on the brakes. Mostly it was just wet slush. Even our parking lot was just wet slush and easy for me to drive on. Whew!

So I figure if *I* can drive in this, it MUST be ok. Now I'm hoping the weathermen are right and it all pretty much melts so I can get home. haha

Feeding Ducks, Swinging, and a Nutria

Saturday was a beautiful day, I think the high was around 62! We took the opportunity to go feed the ducks and play on the swings. Riley really likes feeding the ducks, almost as much as Marci. haha I held Maddie because she keeps wanting to touch the ducks, and they don't want to be touched. She had a great time just watching all of them come close to eat.

There were also a lot of people walking their dogs and Maddie really enjoyed looking at all of them. She'd be looking at the ducks, see a dog and quickly point and squeal with excitement. Fortunately, most of the people were nice, so Maddie got to pet several of the dogs. There was even a cat that lives around there and came out to see us.

After feeding the ducks, we walked to the other end of the park/pond to play on the swings. Both Riley and Maddie love to swing. At home, Maddie will look at us, point outside and swing her hips back and forth to let us know she wants to go outside and swing. It's sooooo cute! haha Riley is funny on the swings. He wants me to push him higher and higher, then suddenly - almost in a panic - he wants me to stop because he's going too high. But then after he slows down some and isn't going as high, he'll tell me to push him harder and harder, until he hits that too high mark again. After the swings, they both played on the playset, going down the slides, climbing all over it, and really having a lot of fun. Then we walked back to the car to finish our shopping. On the way back home, both crashed, Marci and I had a rare hour or so to ourselves, it was nice! LOL

While we were at the swings, we saw a Nutria feeding in the grass. He wasn't too afraid of people, though some kids decided to run over to him which of course scared him back into the blackberries. But he came back out and I got some good photos.

It really was a fun day, we're looking forward to the weather getting better so we can do this more often.

Monster Truck videos

I don't know why they say you can take cameras but not camcorders. Most digital cameras these days can take video too. ;) I'm sure they are mainly wanting people to not make videos then make money off them. I have no desire to do that, just share the fun even we went to. :) So, I uploaded the videos I took to our YouTube account.

Chocolate Festival

Saturday we went to the Chocolate Festival at the Western Forestry Center. It was AWESOME! We all had a LOT of chocolate that was incredible wonderful. Lots of big, free samples that we all indulged in. Mmmmm..... Chocolate....

Grave Digger

On 2/9/07, Riley and I went to the Monster Truck show, his 3rd time. As always, it was a lot of fun and he really enjoyed it. I'm soooo glad we both were wearing Bose noise canceling headphones! We could still hear everything just fine, and the trucks were still loud, just not the ear-splitting, blood dripping loud.

This year they added dirt bikes doing a big jump in the air. That was pretty cool. And we saw one truck roll over while doing cookies, that's always a crowd favorite.

None of the trucks really went for it though, except the one that rolled over and Grave Digger. I think it's because this was the first of three days and they didn't want to hurt their trucks. We also didn't get to go down and see them up close because I didn't realize that is on Saturday and we went on Friday. :( Next year I'm going to get tickets for Saturday

Still, we both had a lot of fun, got there early, had some overpriced pizza, a soda, bought some stuff, and had great seats. Enjoy the photos!

Ben 10 and Riley is now happy

Yesterday Ben 10 Season 1 came out on DVD and Riley just HAD to have it. Got home and all he wanted to do was sit in front of the tv watching it. Made it nice for us, we just had to watch Maddie and could relax some. haha

I'm trying to keep up with posting once a week and realized it's now Wednesday and I hadn't posted yet. D'OH!

This last weekend it was really nice out, so Sunday we went to a little park and fed cracked corn to the ducks. Riley and Maddie loved it! It was so funny to watch Maddie laugh at the ducks coming up for food. Definitely a fun time and something we will be doing again and again. ...and next time I will be sure to take my camera. :)

Super Bowl Prediction - 3:55pm PST

Ok, so we are about half-way into the first quarter. It's Bears 7, Colts 6. So far, it looks like the Bears want it more. However, the Colts always start slow and come on fast in the 4th quarter, they never give up where other teams run out of steam in the 4th. So, who do I think is going to win? After the Colts just recovered a fumble on the kickoff?

The Bears.

I think they just want it more. I think the Colts have more talent, but that doesn't matter in games like this, it's who wants it more that counts the most. I say the Bears want it more. We'll see in a couple hours. The thing the Bears have to remember is to not let up until the game is over. If they can do that, then they will win. If in the 4th quarter they start to relax with a lead, they will not win.

Edit - 6:38pm, 7:49 left in the game. After the interception touchdown, I change my prediction - the Colts will win. Ya, ya, I know, easy to make a prediction this late in the game. But as I said earlier, the Colts seem to play their best in the 4th quarter when the other team is out of steam. If the Bears wanted to win it, they had to play 5 quarters, not just 4. They have run out of steam, they can't win, the Colts are just playing too strong. Game over, the Colts win.

Oh well, the Colts fooled me again like they have all season. The other team comes on strong at the beginning and it looks like the Colts don't want it bad enough and won't win. Then when the other team has run out of steam, the Colts seem to kick in their 2nd wind and take over the game, winning in the 4th quarter.

Well done, Colts, you earned the Super Bowl!