It's here! It's here!

Yes - Rock Band has finally come out for Wii. I apparently was the first customer (loser) to go to Walmart on Sunday morning since I had to ask the employee where it was. The conversation went something like this:

• Walmart employee: How may I help you sir?
• Me: WHERE THE &^%#* IS ROCK BAND YOU *&(#ING *%&HOLE?
• Walmart employee: Sir, it' s right in front of you. Do you need Playstation or XBox?
• Me: YOU DUMB &*(#_ !!! IT CAME OUT ON WII TODAY - WHERE THE #$%% IS IT?
• Walmart employee: Are you sure it came out on Wii today?
• Me: ARE YOU @#%^&ING KIDDING ME???!!! DO I $^&#ING LOOK LIKE I'M SURE? DO YOU ACTUALLY !@#^KING THINK I'M WRONG??!!?? YOU !@#%^$ING DUMB!@#%!!! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM??!!
  
• Walmart employee: I'll have to check in our storage.

I just could not believe that they weren't ready for the onslaught of people who were going to get it (i.e., me...)

Anyway, the drums are a huge thumbs up, but it takes a little getting used to the new guitar (vs. guitar hero). After all, GH's guitar is modeled after a Les Paul and RB's is a Fender (a stratocaster, as well). What I am impressed with is the sheer number of songs on RB. I've gotten through the first 4 "acts" and this is only 20 of the 63 songs - haven't even seen Allie's favorite song ("Are you gonna be my girl" by Jet).

The kids love it and it is significantly easier to "pass" a song on RB when compared to GH. Anna prefers the drums, though she cannot hold a beat .... at all. She just bangs on the colors that she sees on the screen in virtually no particular order and yet still somehow manages about 60% - 70% of the notes. Allie wants the crowds attention on vocals - though she does censor herself when there are bad words in songs (I suppose I got a few months before she starts talking like her mom). At the end of the song she screams "thank you, Bloomington" and takes a bow.

Yes - we're a sad group, but we really rock now...

Changing the face of Wisconsin Dells

How does a lake disappear? I will be interested in visiting the Wisconsin Dells to see how some of the restaurants that overlooked the lake can deal with this. I can't even fathom it.

Anna's 5th birthday party

Anna celebrated her 5th birthday in style with a "tea party". Ter found a woman who has a tea party for girls which included: stuffing their own horse, making a t-shirt for the horse, decorating a picture frame, dressing up, and having a tea party. Clearly Ter wasn't the person who decorated our living room. If you want slightly bigger pics, you can visit them here. I also have the original full size pictures if anyone wants a copy of any of the pictures.

Some old pictures

Slowly I'm working my way through a bunch of old photos.

Here's the kids being goofy when trying to make a Christmas card in 2006. They made this face all the time when they were trying to make you laugh.

Here we can see how I've really polluted my kids' minds. We already know that Anna is addicted to Guitar Hero (she's only one song away from becoming a Guitar Hero on easy). Now we see that she's starting to work out the odds in Hold 'Em. I'm trying to get her to take kids money before her competitors even realize the actual value of money.

Lastly, here's Allie and Ben, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Note that Allie does not appear to be pushing him off. In fact, while she'll try to deny it, I think that that is a smile on her face - don't you?