A New Family Hobby

Brady received a plastic set of golf clubs for his birthday this year. They were well used and loved to pieces in short order. So a new set was purchased for both boys.

The boys keep golfing in the backyard, so they enlisted Daddy's help in getting some skill (perhaps it was all the yelling Mommy was doing as the balls would come flying at her off the hill).

The best place to start: miniature golf. We made a family day of it (although clearly Bronwynn's not quite ready for it, yet).

Almost everyone (including Mommy!!) ended up with at least a hole in one.

Daddy even had two! I'm sure there will be many more golf lessons in our collective familial future.

End of summer visits

We were very lucky to have Grandpa Bill and Nana Joan come to visit recently. We had a great time. Nana made the boys Prince costumes.

Grandpa was a little intimidated by Brownie's small size while she was in the NICU, but this time he didn't really put her down (unless her diaper was yucky).

We went over the their motel to go swimming a couple of times. That was a lot of fun.

We also went the Sierra Safari Zoo. We fed some deer (and were lucky two little boys out of the petting area).

We even got to watch a cheetah give herself a bath. The lion across the enclosure was incredibly jealous and a little less than friendly towards the bathing beauty here. I guess they have to take turns in the tub because we live in the desert. There was only room for one at a time.

Grandpa even brought Brownie her very first Elmo. Each of our kids has had one and has been reluctant to share it. The visit was a lot of fun. We were rather sad to see them go. If Grandpa ever gets around to retiring he can come visit a lot more often. You'd think after 33 years in a hospital he'd be ready to be discharged, but so far he's not budging....

Phineus and Ferb fun

For a little summer fun we went to the Disney Store to make our very own Perry the Platypus Inaction figures.

I did rotate this picture, but apparently it didn't save that way. The boys got to watch an episode of their favorite show before they made their cool Perry. Notice that they were right in the front of the store.

It was an easy process for them to do this and they had a whole lot of fun. Brady loved the process.

Brody had a good time, too. We even started doing some of our Christmas shopping. The boys even were even good about the fact that they didn't get any toys out of the trip.

Brownie was not completely sold on the activity, but she calmed down when she got to get out of her stroller and watch her brothers.

More July Fun!!

In July, Mommy took a class, so Mamina came up from southern California to watch the kids. Papa Nick even came and visited for a weekend, too.

There was a whole lot of fun going on while Mamina was here. And it was very hot, so everyone tried to wear light (or no) clothes.

A lot of fun was had by all.

Fourth of July

This year we were not able to attend the Garrett Family Reunion. Instead we went to the Fernley Fourth of July Parade.

We had to get there early. So there was lots of time to get excited (and antsy) for all of the parade fun. We made friends with the kids next to us and shared the responsibilities of getting the candy that was thrown in our area.

All in all it was a good day. Brownie didn't like the sirens from the emergency vehicles any more than any of our kids have. I suppose we should have known better.

After the parade we went home and went swimming. We ate a huge dinner and then we watched the fireworks from the roof of the house. It wasn't as exciting as watching the fireworks at Uncle Jim's house, but it wasn't as dangerous, either (Some of our cousins's get a little bit crazy).