Time for Me

New Site…

http://grover513.blogspot.com

Hey everyone.. I am changing my blog spot… I am moving it to http://grover513@blogspot.com.!!  The other site lets you do so much more!!!

Hey there folks!!  Hope everyone is having a good week. I’ve been super busy with my birthday and soccer, and everything else happening in my life!!

My birthday was good, cards, cookies, dinner with the family and lots of lovin’!! Can’t complain about that.

Work is stressful. IT’s the last few weeks of school and just like the teachers, the kids want out too. You can’t blame him.. I remember those last few weeks of just waiting for that last day!!!

Benjamin and Cade are in school until June 12 this year because they started after labor day because of school construction.  I am out on June 4, but then go back June 16th, so not much time to spend with them between school and work. 

I am at a loss for words tonight… maybe there just isn’t much to say!! Thank you for all the birthday wishes!!  I really appreciate it!!

Hey everyone, I sort of celebrated Mother’s Day today with the boys. Cade has to go to his mom’s tomorrow (obviously) so I wanted to do something special with him included today. We first went to their soccer games. That was fun, both the boys played pretty well. Benjamin missed the ball when he attempted to kick it and fell on his bottom..so he sort of limped the rest of the game…    I told him to suck it up and play, but I think it really hurt him!!!

Then, the bike race that Ryan’s Club holds is next weekend. The boys are both away at their other parent’s so I took the boys to see where the race was held up in Lake Geneva. It was fun.. they walked the trail and got to see the famous rock garden that the expert riders ride down….. We stopped at RRB the bike shop where we get most of our bike goodies from, and I ended up leaving the shop with a skateboard for the boys to share.  They are better ones so they cost a little more money(of course we get a decent discount because Don, MM’s boyfriend runs the shop..and well, he likes us… so THANKS DON!!) . I told the boys that if they use it and they learn, I would consider buying a second one, but until then, I just got one..  

We then headed into Lake Geneva and took a short walk down the lake side.  It was pretty and nice. IF I could get the pics to post on here.. I would…..   but I can’t..   

Then we came home, had some dinnner, and now we are about to sit down and watch LION KING 11/2… I love that movie!!!  

I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TOMORROW!!

Hey everyone.. .It’s hump day… .

I’m ready for Friday….

I’m ready for my students to get gassed with a bunch of Ritalin and Adderall… (they are SOOOOOOOOOO Hyper)….

I’m ready for June 4 *the last day of school*

I need summer…

I need a break……

I sound selfish…..

but that’s okay, this is about me.

I’m going to bed

Before I run off to relax because I feel like my sinuses are going to explode (it’s probably my allergies more than being sick)….  I thought I would post how my day was..

Had an awesome night last night, Alissa, Geoff, Melissa, and Don came over.  Benjamin was here too. We played a night full of Rock Band (well, the girls and Benjamin did)… it was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs!!   Benjamin stayed up way too late, but he had fun.. and frankly, he’s really good at the guitar!! 

This morning I got up, made Benjamin a nice breakfast (taught him how to make it too!!).. .started cleaning the bathroom in my room and finished up the laundry. I worked on the room for most of the morning and felt like I got no where!!  I eventually did finish it.. .and it looks wonderful. .I even took everything down to the basement and reorganized stuff to make space for the stuff from our room!! (It’s amazing how much bigger a room looks when it’s clean………..my mom used to try to tell me that!!)… .  

Benjamin had a play date with his friend Alec today. They got along great and I think it was a good experience for Benjamin. He is missing his old buddy Gavin (he is Benjamin’s old babysitter’s son) and I’ve had to tell him that sometimes you have to move on in life.. so when Alec asked Benjamin for a playdate, Benjamin was ecstatic!!   

We went for a bike ride… that was fun…. .

then we had dinner and we went and picked up some Dairy Queen… YUMMY!!!

That’s all Folks…..see ya later in the week!! Peace!!

I’m tired today, but it’s been a good day. I needed to catch up on things around the house.  Our bedroom is still a mess because of our remodeling of our closet, but I plan to tackle that tomorrow. I got the rest of the house straightened up so our room is the goal for tomorrow.

Ryan is off at his first WORS race. It is up in Iola, WI, or Steven’s Point, WI.  I was suppossed to go with but Ryan and a few of the guys decided that they would car pool to save money.. which meant that I couldn’t go because Benjamin is here with me because somebody didn’t pick him up.. AGAIN…..  the sad thing is that I love the Iola race. It has really cool scenery and a ‘bowl’ that you can watch the riders ride through, not to mention it is just awesome to ride that course.   It’s okay though.. I got to spend some quality time with my favorite little man in the world… and I got some alone time, and Ryan is getting some ‘man’ time in..    There will be plenty more races this summer!!  The races can get boring for the kids(most of the races land on the weekends they are with their other parent though too).. It is two days of basically sitting around…it’s relaxing for the adults (outside of the stress of racing).. but it can be boring for the kids who well, don’t have much to do but ‘watch’ for two days.   It’s also something Ryan and I love to do together.. and alone.   …It’s sort of our outlet.  Thank goodness for my family and the support they give me to help watch Benjamin.. because getting away for those two days are often what I need to rejuvinate!!!  

Benjamin did get a mountain bike this year and I’m going to start taking him out on some basic trails to see if he would enjoy the riding, not neccessarily the racing part of it.  There are easier trails around here and we’ll start there. If he gets more interested, we will take him to a few races to try it out!! 

As much as I wanted to be at that race, I have to say, it’s nice to be home and have time to just ‘sit’…. The last two weeks have been super busy! I am posting some NY pics today!!  Check them out!!  

Hope everyone else has a good weekend.. oh. .and Congrats to Jenni on the purchase of her home!!!

Took Tori to the vet today, she was suppossed to get a heartworm check so I could get some Frontline and Interceptor for the summer…

I ended up walking out the door $200 later. .. with those meds, plus my dog having newly clipped nails, a freshly squeezed a**, and an ear infection… oh yea.. and a bandage around her leg because when they took the blood for the heartworm, her blood pressue was so high, her blood kept pouring out of her leg…..

I didn’t really like the girl who clipped her nails. Tori never usually cries, but today she did.. ….. She didn’t like her nails being clipped and frankly, I don’t think the girl was really good at it… blah!   Oh well.. whatchya gonna do…???!!!

Hope everyone had a good day.. . .

So, as I was flying into Newark airport, I saw a layer of smog hanging over New York City. It was gross. A turn off. It was terrible.  I thought to myself, “This is gross.”  I gave it the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe Chicago looked the same,  maybe not quite as bad, but I’m sure there is smog.  So, that’s how the trip started. Got up at 2am and was in New York by 8 am CST.   It was strange….. 
 
When we got off the plane we headed directly to the Statue of Liberty.  We go there and of course, the line is like 4 hours long for the fairy. We took a vote and decided that this just isn’t the place to spend 4 hours when you only have 48 hours to see New York!  I have seen the Statue of Liberty before up close and personal, so it wasn’t super important for me to see it again.  We then went and walked around the city. We tasted some of New York’s finest hot dogs and we walked around.  We had some observations:

1)  No one stops walking when the lights turn red.
2) You are pretty much shoulder to shoulder with people at all times.
3) No one in a car listens to any of “New York’s Finest”   (the NYPD)
4) The bathrooms in NYC… well, they aren’t clean!!   

We walked and saw Ground Zero. That was pretty interesting. All the construction going on and all the different memorials they had. It is odd to see the city without the Twin Towers. Last time I was near it.. they were still there!  We walked and walked some more, just sight seeing and trying to make our way to Lombardi’s Pizza. The pizza was EXCELLENT!!! It is a thin crust and according to some magazine is the “first pizza place in America”……It was good.. Big Daddy made an excellent choice on that one!! After Lombardi’s… we decided to head home.. We walked something like 7  miles throughout that day and we were up at 2am.. so we headed back to Jersey to our hotel.  After being in the car all day and through the Holland tunnel.. We discovered something called…  .. ‘THE SUBWAY’ ..   Duh.. you think we would know that that is the best way to get around!!!!!    

So, Saturday all day.. we used the subway which is much more convenient than trying to get yourself through the streets of New York. Saturday morning we went to Central Park. That was pretty cool. It was fun to be in a park in the middle of a metropolitan city!!! We even saw turtles sitting on a log!!  After the park, we headed to the Mets game!! That was fun.. but the fans there are nothing like Chicago fans. NY fans are quiet and well, just not as crazy as us Chicago people!!! After the game we hoppped back on the subway and headed for Times Square.. 

Times Square is crazy and insane, but a lot of fun!! I could have hung out there all day!! We hit a couple of the local bars! I can’t even describe it.. you just have to experience it!!!   

After Times Square we went to dinner in  Greenwich Village… that was some good food!! AGain, another good choice on Big Daddy’s part!! (Big Daddy is Ryan’s co-worker)… We had some melt in your mouth filets and some awesome stuffed mushrooms. At this point it was about 11pm and we had to catch the Subway and NJT to get back to our hotel.  I

This morning we headed to Statton Island.. .that was boring. Plain and simple.. there is not much there and we couldn’t find a road that drives along the beach….. by the time we found our way around, we were hungry and had some lunch.  The boys (Ryan and Big Daddy) dropped us girls (Pat and me) off at the airport.  We were there a little early but we didn’t want to push the time limits.. you see.. driving around NJ is a lot of work. The only way you get anywhere is by making U-Turn after U-Turn. Apparently they don’t make left turns in NJ!!!   It was a lot of work!!!  

I wish I had a few more days out there.. but someone has to take care of the kids .. I will post pics as soon as Ryan gets home. (He is still in NJ for work)……. 

I hope y’all had a good weekend!!!  

So, I got up at 2:30am in Woodstock. at 9am eastern time iI landed in new york isaw the statue of liberty and ground zero today!! it was interesting. new yorkYork has interesting people!! iI am writing this from my phone soitsoot will be short!! just thoughtithought would check in!! have a great weekend!!!!!