I'm Baaaaack!!!!

I am back after a long hiatus. Not a hiatus by choice however.

On Monday June 25th Roscoe lost power for about 4 hours. When that happened a tower for our cable company blew. We lost all of our services from the cable company which for us is just about everything, because we have a lot through Charter. We lost our T.V., our internet, and our phone! After many frustrating cell phone conversations and service calls to us and our neighbors they finally got it up and running again on Friday July 6th! This had a bigger effect on all of us than you might think. Many of us on the street us our computers daily and not just for surfing. There are several people including Phil who use it for their buisness. Phil has a big wedding coming up this weekend and the bride could not get in touch with us because we had no internet and no phone. The lady across from us does hair out of her house and her clients could not get a hold of her. Every neighbor has at least one story like that. It is awful to say but we have really gotten to a place in our lives where we rely on the computer and the internet! It is no longer a toy, it is a necessity. To top all of Phil's and the neighbor's problems, I had to BLOG! Geez, Charter should credit us for that alone!

So, what has been happening here?

We went camping for the first weekend that we had no Charter in the house. For those of you that really know me, this is a big deal. I HATE camping. We went with my best friend Lynne, her husband Skip, and her three kids Courtney, Jake, and Cade. They have a 5th wheel that we all stayed in. That is as close to camping as you will ever find me. Inside they had running water, airconditioning, stove, microwave, and reglular beds! My boys wanted to "really" camp so we set up a tent for them outside and they slept there with Lynne's boys. All in all we had a nice weekend. If there are any campers out there I recommend the Yogi Bear Campsite in Amboy Illinois. They have lots to do on the property and I truly did not see my boys most of the day because they were off having such a good time. They went down waterslides, swam in the pools, went out on paddle boats, and played in the many parks. One of the best parts about the whole trip was that I ran into my cousin Bridget, her husband Dan, and their kids Megan and Ryan. Out of the whole place they were only two sites down from us in thier new pop up camper! What a small world it is!

Jimmy was invited to join the Mustang All Star team for baseball this year and was so excited. They played their game on Saturday July 7th and won 18-4. He ended the game because he caught the last out as catcher when the batter hit a foul ball. He also plays pitcher but didn't get a chance to do that for the All Star game because there were too many pitchers on the team.

After Jimmy's game we went to the annual Ryan Family Picnic. Phil was not able to go because of work but the boys and I had a blast! We loved all fo the new games that were added but laughed the most at the water balloon launch! We sure hope that returns next year! (hint! hint!) Jimmy really enjoyed getting to know Denis and Ray too. In fact he made me get Ray's phone number! Ray better watch out because Jimmy really thinks he made a new best friend! He was a birthday party yesterday and was telling his friends about the cool cousins he just met! He will never get over the fact that he met someone who has carried the olympic torch. Sports are Jimmy's life and to meet Denis and talk about sports and the olympics made this picnic Jimmy's best ever!

Well I think I remembered everything. Hopefully Charter will stay on and I will be able to be more regular about this.