Saturday Night with Bobbins Family

With Bobbins' brother Mark and family in town, we went out to her parents' house Saturday night for dinner. In the pic below, Hutch is holding Ruby and Tip. Which one is older? And of course Uncle Paul is always the cool uncle.

Friday Golf Scuttled, So Bowling

We planned to play our annual family golf tournament the day after Thanksgiving, but the rain scuttled those plans fairly quickly. Yes, in Arizona, we were rained out (just like last year in OK). Really disappointing. Instead, we went bowling in Scottsdale. Everyone had a great time. Bowling is more inclusive than golf, since nearly everyone can play.

Thanksgiving Morning Hike, Dinner at Uncle Jack's

We did our annual Thanksgiving morning hike at Dreamy Draw with friends. It was a large crew, of course. Mark and his fam joined us. We took Uncas, which wasn't too bad. Good to hang out with everyone.

Later we had a full dinner at my uncle's in Scottsdale with all of my family. We got a bunch of great photos which Dallas put into a hardcopy album. The food was fantastic (and plentiful). Aunt Susan and Uncle Jack did a presentation on their recent London trip. We played charades. We went for a long walk around the neighborhood. It  drizzled just a little. A wonderful Turkey Day.

Wednesday Night Out

Grampy came over to babysit the kids so we could go out with Katie, Dallas, and Zeus on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. We went to ole Hanratty's on 7th and Indian School. Easy to get a pool table and dart board. The women got snookered by the "mystery special" they had running, which were a couple shots and some lunchmeat. We had a fun time hanging out.

Christ the King Procession

Fr. Connealy and Fr. Cruz led a procession of our Lord around the streets of St. Joan of Arc. Really cool to see our Lord publicly venerated and exposed.

ASU vs. Oregon Football

For this year's ASU football game we had tickets for Oregon, that time top-ranked with only one loss and angling for a berth in the playoff. The Devils were on an unfortunate losing streak but were ready to play. They upset the Ducks on national TV on ESPN.

My buddy at work got us onto the field pre-game again. What a privilege! I sure hope the kids realize how special it is. Katie was down there with us, as was Coach, Featha and Gene-beeps. The energy is electric.

School Fundraiser Breakfast

Held a little later in November this year, but a success in raising money for the kids' independent school. Sorry the video is sideways, but the main point is to hear the whole school (minus kindergarten) sing "Non Nobis Domine."

Replacing the Gutter

Putting the gutter back up on the new addition fell to Bobbins and I. With the YouTube and each other, we got it in place. The lip did not reach all the way into the gutter, however, so we had to put a piece of flashing in to ensure the water flowed down from the roof into the gutter. The below video is before we put the flashing in, when the water flowed down the side of the house.

RV Adventure to Payson

Bobbins' brother Mike lived in an RV for a while but now has a house. He stores the RV at Paul's. It needs to be taken out from time to time, so Bobbins was more than happy to oblige. She renewed the registration, even taking it to emissions testing, and gassed her up for an overnight trip to Payson.

The kids loved it, of course, being able to move around, play games, and lay around during the drive. We got to the RV park after the sun had gone down but managed to get "hooked up" alright. 

We sat outside our space for a while before going to bed. Every kid had a snug place to sleep while Bobbins and I had at the queen bed in back. Tip was on the floor next to Bobbins. The heater worked well and we all got a good sleep. We walked around the campground and played on the playground in the morning before returning home.

De-coupling from the water hook-up and draining the black and gray lines proved a little challenge, but we got it done with some YouTube and help from the campground maintenance guy. Home to Phoenix that afternoon. I did NOT enjoy driving that thing but it was a true adventure.

Painting the New Laundry Palace

Bobbins had very clear ideas of what she wanted her new laundry to be, and one of them was the color of the walls. I think part of her intention was to keep me and the boys out. It worked.

We also got Paul to re-plumb the water softener to the other side of the room.

TF Riding the Dirt Bike

Babysitters

The carpool kids watched our 6 one Friday night so Bobbins and I could go out. They had a hard time getting Tip to go to sleep, so Maks sat in there with him until he conked out and ended up conking out himself.

Look Who's Getting Big

Drainage

Never shy to take up a project, Bobbins painted a drainage pipe brown, then dug a little trench to stick it in underneath the gutters, between the pavers and the house. We had several big rain storms and got a little flooding in the house. We never had that problem before, but don't want to have it again, hence the pipe.