A Fish Story

over the holidays.

While waiting for Christmas we spent one evening at Bass Pro Shop looking for Santa. The grand kids sat still and posed for this North Pole scene. They had just sat on Santa's lap so maybe they were playing "nice."

And as we always say you can never learn to shoot a moose too early.

Grandpa always gets the buffalo. Jon, too.

and then we went fishing at the Aquarium.

The turtles are always hungry.



And you can always see some crazy stuff like sharks just sitting around

and otters doing flips

and Albino turtles.

Swim Jim the otter was fast and fascinating. Colton thought he might be too close.


But then he changed his mind.

And who doesn't love an alligator ride?

Colton takes a quick look just to refute a suspicion, is this thing dead or alive?

Before anyone

gets the idea that we don't celebrate Christmas here is our evidence to the contrary.

Kirsten was one festive girl in her red and green. Her necklace was made by her dad when he was a little boy. It was a gift for his mom and she had saved it all these years.

The kids all had their matching pajamas on Christmas Eve. Colton is blurry because his Daddy had just thrown (strategically placed) him on the couch and he didn't want to pose. I love Camryn's look of "why are we here?" and Bryce's "shhh, just one more day of playing nice."


Then all we could do is sit around and wait until morning. This is my favorite part of Christmas. My goal is always to be ready to enjoy the next 24 hours. You know not so exhausted and frazzled that you can't relax and at the same time satisfied that everyone is going to be happily surprised at the outcome.

I know families where the kids pick out their own presents so no one is surprised on Christmas morning but not at our house. We always have more toys than clothes, maybe because we have more boys than girls or maybe because we had grandchildren while we still had children but toys are us.

Emily got Just Dance for the Wii and these four did. Emily was really fast.

Colton got this black truck just like his daddy's. Bryce already had his license so he drove and

Colton played with his train all morning. (And Emily her phone.)

Kirsten was all tangled with the dress and the wig.

Camryn was happy with the ribbon and paper before she got to the toys.

Emily loves bacon. Jones Soda, the bacon flavored version not so much.

Geoff loves sleeping, Christmas morning wore him out.


We had such a good time having everyone (but Eric) home for Christmas. Camryn is such a cute, sweet girl.

Bryce had baseball jammies and a matching Casey at the Bat book. We miss Bryce and all the crazy things he says.

Max is not much of a cuddler but we tried not to let him know.

We will miss these silly boys

and their cute faces.

On the road again

with Route 66 mini golf.

Welcome to the painted desert and our claim to the famed roadway.

Miranda was raised in California.

Bryce was born in Arizona.

Kirsten lives in Texas.

Jenny has lived, graduated from high school, has parents that reside, in Oklahoma.

Emily was born in Tulsa.

Geoff has been to Kansas.

But he was born under the space needle.

Okay, Seattle may be only

Incredible Pizza's version of Route 66.

That's Incredible

that a place like Incredible Pizza has a room remarkably similar to a nursing home dining room. The decor, the smell, the show playing on the television (I Love Lucy) , the oxygen. Okay, I couldn't actually see the oxygen but there was evidence it was there.

We had a big group so they seated us here to eat. If you know our family eating can be accomplished faster than you can count how many slices everyone else ate.

We left that nursing home for the girls to play bumper cars.

Once when I was responsible for the baby stroller I was asked if they were twins?

I acknowledged they were cousins but I think they had definitely experienced some bonding moments.

The kid bowling alley was intense.

As Bryce lets loose with the ball he strikes a pose in anticipation.

Colton could barely hold himself back waiting for the results.


I needed a camera with a faster shutter speed to get photos of the motor speedway.

Bryce loved Alayna's driving skills but it was Geoff that got the first place ribbon for this round.

Backyard Bowl

Lonny thought he had enough grandkids to play a football game. Coach T gave them their assignments.

Bryce carried the ball tight to the chest as the opposition closes in.

Kirsten has the two handed grip down.

Tackling needed no explanation.