A Great "Wii"kend

When J & J moved out they bought us a Wii for the rent free months they lived in our basement. Then for my birthday they bought me a Wii carrying case that looks exactly like a bag for a bowling ball and is ironically made by Brunswick. We spent a good portion of the weekend playing Wii, that is when we weren't on the lake. If you've never played before, you should. Talk about fun for the whole family. My favorite games are bowling, golf and Rayman. I rock the most at golf. No one has beaten me yet. I am the golf master. Bowling is fun too but Rick kicks my ass every single time. Rayman just works me up. You have to shoot these rabbits that are coming at you and my heart starts pumping so fast that someday I will keel over playing that game. But the new Rayman 2 has other rabbit games aside from shooting and I have to say I could easily turn into a teenager with the Wii. No wonder the kids can play these video games night and day. They are very addictive. Lauren is very good at all the games, a prerequisite for college, I've learned.

It was so great to spend time with the kids. Not too often we are all together in one place. And with J & J now expecting what we have affectionately named "baby Wyatt" (which has morphed into so many names but our favorite being Wynotta!) made it even more special. Great to see Marc and Ashley too. Someday we will actually go to New Orleans to visit them. Definitely for Marc's graduation from Tulane law school next year. We are so proud of him. And he probably won't like that I'm blogging about this but in two weeks he turns 30. Tough duty to be 30 and be in law school full time.

Rick caught us lots of catfish that we ate on two different occasions and lost his glasses in the lake while cleaning the catfish on the dock. Lauren even tried some and liked it. Crazy, I know. I didn't catch shit. Just one sheep's head or something like that that nobody wants to eat. But it was a decent sized fish nonetheless. To view all the pictures from our week at the lake click here.

Every Picture Tells A Story

For some the story is easy to decipher. For Rick, not so easy. After being presented with this t-shirt by J & J he turned to me and said "Check it out. Justin got me this cool shirt." It wasn't until I slapped him upside the head that he finally got it. Congratulations to Andersons North. Job well done, even if it wasn't in our basement. Can't wait to meet the little one in early December!

Memories

Eddy Arnold died today. When I was growing up in Calumet City, my mother taught me how to waltz to Eddy Arnold. I love that music. Eddy, Ray Price, Perry Como, Tony Bennett. I can't help it. They are all regulars on the ipod playlist. Such great memories dancing with my mother in the kitchen on Jeffery with my grandmother watching and usually hollering at us to turn the music down. It just dawned on me that my love of loud music must come from Shirl. Shirl rocks.


Happy Mother's Day, three days early, to all the Moms out there. We're having the Ubriaco clan over on Sunday for some Mom's Day cheer. Off to Peoria to see IllinoiSkating on Saturday. The last skate of the season. Always sad to lay a program to rest. Lauren comes home late Saturday after the ice show. That freshman year flew by. Then down to the lake with all the kids for Memorial Day weekend. I can't wait to be on the lake again. Last time was last August, too, too long.

Contraband

According to Merriam-Webster contraband is "goods or merchandise whose importation, exportation, or possession is forbidden." Possession being the key word. In my life contraband is many things. Contraband is a bottle of water in my carry on bag at O'Hare, an umbrella at Soldier Field or a camera at a Bruce Springsteen concert. In a kindergartner's world contraband might be bubble gum, candy, permanent markers or a bottle of glue instead of a glue stick. In a teenager's world it might be cigarettes, a cell phone in class or porn. But for a senior citizen............it's salt. That's right, salt. Tonight, as Rick was visiting his Dad in the rehab center, he witnessed his Dad sneaking not one, but two packets of salt to another rehab resident, who we're pretty sure, is not supposed to have salt. Gotta love the old folks sticking together.

Is this what it boils down to? I don't even like salt but my girls better be sneaking me some in my golden years!

May Flowers

Since there is "severe weather" predicted for today I wanted to share my flowering trees with my readers. They are so beautiful now. But once the rains come there will be no more flowers. Good thing rabbits don't climb trees!