If you liked movie "Waiting" . . .

I know where they got their ideas. If you thought that was all made up - think again. The names of these individuals have been removed to protect the innocent, uh - guilty. I will say I personally witnessed these acts when I was in college.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! We had a very nice day here. The boys tried very hard to let me sleep a little longer which was much appreciated. Then Patrick couldn't contain himself anymore and wheeled in a suitcase (carry on size) telling me there was a surprize inside. He was SO excited. So I got up and he was able to give me (well open for me) my gifts. I received the suitcase with perfume, shower gel, and other shower items. Very sweet. I LOVE it! My boys did a good job. Mike and Patrick changed the oil in the Pathfinder. I'm sure Patrick was a HUGE help! :) We were able to go for a late lunch to BJs Brewery which was very good. Even got a Mother's Day gift there-a coupon for a free dessert next time. Then we headed to my parents' house. Mike and Patrick and Auntie Mel went into the pool. Unfortunately I could only put my feet in. (Hope to get in this week.) They had a good time. Patrick and I took Cabo (their dog) for a walk and then came home later this evening. All in all it was a very nice day! Thank you Mike and Patrick for making Mother's Day special!!! :)

Patrick's Dental Work

Patrick had to go to the dentist this morning for some work on his teeth. We had to be there at 7:30. He took the sedation medication about 7:40 or so. He did NOT want to give in to the meds. Guess no different than going to sleep on a normal basis. He became argumentative and "punchy." Guess it was a view of what he might be like drunk some day. He would have been willing to have a fist fight with me. He was swinging his arms and kicking. He was determined to NOT sit still. He kept trying to get out of the room and see what was going on out there. Finally at about 8:40 or so he was asleep for the most part and they put the monitors on. They took him back. I was not allowed to go with him. That is the part I really hated. So I sat in the waiting room and cropped photos. I had them check on him a couple of times. He was doing well. Finally at 10 he was all done and back in the little room. I now had to work out the payments and set up his 6 month appt. to follow up. Let's just say that his teeth better be GOLD! I went in and he was asleep. Tried talking to him and he'd make little noises but that was about it. Finally about 11:30 we got him to open his eyes and talk. They took his vitals and sent us on our way. So we left about 11:40am. Nothing like spending FOUR hours at the dentist office! Patrick is doing well. He's been drinking and wanting to eat EVERYTHING. Bad part is that he eats a little and then wants something else. Such is life I guess. Today he can get away with it. He is supposed to remain calm etc. We'll see how that goes. He's already been outside riding his trike when I wasn't looking. It could be a LONG day! Hopefully some videos will help.

AVP Volleyball at Tempe Beach Park

WOW! I couldn't imagine watching volleyball any other way. My Mom, sister, and I went to the AVP volleyball tournament on Sat. at the Tempe Beach Park. We got to sit in the VIP section on a COUCH! Can you believe watching volleyball on a couch? We also got all kinds of food and there was water and beer too. It was too cool. We got to watch some of the top names compete. It really was a lot of fun. The games were awesome. They were close scores and the competition was tremendous. Looking forward to it again next year. DAD???? :)

Someone Told Me It's All Happenin' At the Zoo . . .

One of our favorite past-times is going to the Zoo. We purchased family passes and we go often. Angie and Patrick get to go a lot more than I. However, we all got to go today. Here are a few photos. The baby Orangutan was born on Patrick's third birthday. Her name is Kasiha. Her father's name is Michael. Here he is on his back playing with a piece of plastic. The giraffes are also a big attraction. The Phoenix Zoo does a really nice job of saving animals in trouble in bringing them into the zoo to live. The exhibits are getting more numerous every year. As you can tell, we had a very nice time.

Per other family member Blog sites, there was a request for old wedding pictures. I thought I had Great Grandma and Grandpa Obert's wedding picture and Grandma and Grandpa Obert's picture in digital form but I couldn't find it. I guess I only had some hard copies of those. However, I came across this great picture of the WWII Obert generation. I believe all of Grandpa's brothers and sisters are in the picture.

Boogers/Winking

Patrick and I were sitting in the chair yesterday morning. He was sniffing. I asked him why he was sniffing and his response was "So I can get my boogers to sneeze." He was SO serious which made it all the more funny. Then yesterday afternoon after his class we saw his Ahoy, Mateys teacher in the lobby. She was telling me that the other day Patrick was playing across the room from where she was. She caught his eye. He kind of looked at her wondering if she was going to say something, if he'd done something wrong. She didn't say anything, but just continued to watch him. He then WINKED at her. She said she had all to do to contain her laughter.

Is It Price Gouging or Not?

I don't like to get too political much anymore - for a lot of different reasons. But this a.m. one of the morning shows during my workout had the CEO of Exxon/Mobile for an interview regarding gas prices. This guy just lit my fuse and I had to vent. Here is a helpful little hint. If you deny something is the truth - deny it! You look like an idiot when you don't answer the question. Here is what everyone in America now thinks your evasive answers to the questions mean: "Yes - we are making spectacular profits off of doubling and tripling the price of gas by playing on people's fears. No we don't care if we put the economy into a recession. If goods are more expensive - at least we can afford things with our record breaking profit margins. Finally - no we do not have any intention changing things." You would have come off a lot better if you had declined to be interviewed in the first place. I might even have more respect for your character had you simply said "no comment." But don't give little propoganda sound byte speaches to avoid the questions. It screams out "dishonest."

Ahoy! Mateys

Here is our little "Pirate." Patrick is currently enrolled in a class through the Park and Rec department called Ahoy Mateys. It's about pirates and underwater animals. He LOVES it. His teacher is awesome. They talk about pirates and animals and make fun crafts. They went on a treasure hunt this day and got all the "goodies" he is wearing. He especially wanted to share this with Grandpa! He's quite the character.

Boy's Best Friend

This is our dog - Badger. He got the name because the night that we picked him up to take him home, he burrowed himself underneath our couch and chewed up speaker wire. He is Patrick's best friend and as you can see Patrick often acts just like him. Here is Patrick and Badger taking an afternoon nap together - notice they have both elected to sleep in the same position. Patrick calls him "Bubba" and tortures the hell out of Badger. Yet - Badger still follows Patrick around everywhere. Probably because Patrick is the most likely to drop food for him to eat.

Mike's New Toy

On Sunday - we went out for breakfast and a brief clothes shopping. After which, Mike suggested that we go LOOK at trucks again because there were new deals being offered by the dealers. I had my suspicions as 6 years ago he made a similar suggestion and we ended up buying our Pathfinder. I was right. Before the end of the day, we ended up buying this. It is just like Dama and Grandpa O's big truck, except it is in Mike's favorite color - Badger Red and it seats 6. It will have to last a very long time though as we will not be buying any other new cars in the near future. I thought that the Pathfinder was big - this thing dwarfs it by miles. We had to do some re-arranging just to get it into the garage. Patrick was very excited because the truck was just like Grandpa's and was a real trooper waiting to finalize the purchase at the dealership. Now we have to get a tow attachment to take this camping. This was the perfect purchase in light of the nation-wide gas crisis!