The Kindergarten Kid

Yes it is true. For three hours a day Deborah is now without a child in the home. Payton had his first day of Kindergarten on August 27th. He was really excited. He wanted to ride the bus to school on the first day, but his mother and I talked him out of that. I came home from school for a few minutes to tell him goodbye on his first day. I admit that I cried a little. It is hard to believe that my little boy is going to school.

Later that evening I asked him what his favorite thing about school was and he said "the bus ride home." He is fascinated by the bus but cannot understand why there are not any seat belts. He also really likes his teacher and has a lot of friends in his class. It is just hard to believe that he is old enough. Where does all the time go?

Golfing with Payton

Those of you that know me know that I love to golf. I am not very good, but I do enjoy the time that I spend out on the course. I also really enjoy watching golf on TV. Most people would rather watch paint dry, not me. One of the highlights of the summer was watching Tiger Woods win the US Open with a broken leg. As I watched Tiger play, I found that I had a little friend watching the tourney with me. That little friend was Payton. I can't get the kid to watch a football or basketball game, but when golf is on he loves to watch.

I went and bought Payton a club that is his size and took him up to Hobble Creek for the first time. Those pictures are gone thanks to the darn delete button on the camera (see previous post). But a couple of weeks ago we decided to do it again and I now have the pictures to prove it. It is a lot of fun watching him hit (or miss) the ball, but it is hilarious watching him try and tee it up by himself. He is so independent. I wonder where he gets that? He also has no idea about the concept of quiet on the course. He just has that high pitched scream. Course etiquette is something that we need to work on.

I hope that golf is something that he will like to do even more in the future. I know that he probably won't be the next Tiger, but it is fun to spend time with him. You gotta love that face!

Happy Birthday Grandma J

Happy Birthday Grandma! On Sunday the 23rd of August we had a surprise party for Grandma Beth. She turned 80, and we decided to give her the best birthday present ever.....a party with all of us. It was a fantastic night, and I think that she was surprised. She came to the party thinking that it was a birthday party for Linkin, which it was, but she soon found out that we were really all there for her.

It was nice of Jeff and Marthea to host the party, and Bobb did a great job sending up smoke signals and cooking the burgers. Age put together a great video with pictures and sound bites from all of the great-grandchildren. The video made me really emotional, especially the pictures with my Dad in them. I looked at all of the things that my Grandma has done, and I realized that at the heart of everything was her family.

We love you Grandma. Thank you for all you have done!

School Days, School Days

Taylor, Baylee, and Kelsea all started school on August 20th. Where did the summer go? We had so many things that we still needed to do. I think that Deborah is really excited to have some quiet time at home...if there is such a thing. Taylor is in the 8th grade, Baylee is in 6th, and Kelsea is in 3rd. They were all so excited to get back to school. I think that they are sick of their parents and are ready to hang with all of their friends again. Don't they look cute?