Friends from the Island.
Today Mom had two friends from the Island come and visit. Avril is from South Africa and has been living on the Island for about 15 years. Angela just moved back to Oklahoma from the Island. They let me join in on their lunch and we had a great time. I even found out that Avril might be able to get us the "Maverick" wine from South Africa. We've been trying to get a bottle ever since Maverick was born and have had no luck. We're so excited that she might finally be able to get us one.

Here are a few pics of the Three Musketeers.

Bella - Day 3

Today we played Scottsdale in the morning. It was a bit of a rough morning of golf for most of us. Except Greg, he's always so consitent!

We were planning to go boating this afternoon, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Instead we hung out and watched a movie and then headed to the little Par 3 course. We decided to do a little gambling on the last three holes (7, 8,9). Guess what? I won hole #7.















And, then I won again on hole #8!

Bella Vista Day 2
The view from our deck






























It turns out that the Shockers were doing pretty well in the regional and were still playing today. Phyllis, Greg and Kevan decided that they would go to the game and the rest of us headed to Scottsdale Golf Course.






































































We came back and had a few snacks and a nap while we waited for the baseball crew to get home. Then we all headed to a fabulous dinner at James at the Mill.


















Mav with Mamaw and Papa Day 2
Mav had a big day at the farm today. I talked to him this morning and he had already driven a big tractor and driven the Semi Truck and got it stuck in the mud. He kept telling me over and over "tuck stuck in da mud mommy". They headed back to Wichita and then had an afternoon complete with Shrek 3, popcorn and milk duds. Later that evening they headed out for Chinese Food. I'll tell you...I think he's had a big day!

Day 1 - Bella Vista



We planned to leave at 3:00 today to head to Bella Vista. In our normal fashion we ended up leaving about 3:45. Oh well, it still worked out fine. Donnie, Kevan, Bryce and myself headed down from Wichita, Brent was coming from KC and Phyllis and Greg were coming from the Shocker game in Springfield and we were all trying to meet for an 8:00 dinner reservation. Brent was scheduled to arrive at our vacation house about 2 hours before everyone else. But, it was his first time to Bella Vista and Lola (his GPS) was confused so it took him and extra hour of driving around the winding roads of Bella Vista to find the house. We arrived shortly after changed clothes and headed to River something for dinner (none of us can seem to remember the name, but it was fantastic!). I have to say that this was one of the best meals I have ever had. I had pistachio encrusted Halibut and it was fabulous. I tried a little something from every plate on the table and it was all superb. Several bottle of wine were consumed and we headed home for a little wine and deck time.



Day 1 - Mav with Mamaw and Papa

Mav, Papa and Mamaw headed out to Kingman tonight. Dad played in the men's scramble and Cinda, Mav and Mamaw headed to the park. From what I understand, they had a great time swinging, playing in the sand and going down the big slide. They even treated him to McDonald's and the 1st of many Shrek toys to come! They stayed the night with Cinda and Steve tonight and they have a big morning of Tractor Driving in the morning. Mav is in heaven on the farm.

Retirement
A good friend of ours retired from the Highway Patrol today.
Congratulations Maurey!

Wine and Friends
Tonight was Phyllis and Greg's wine tasting/fundraiser for Rainbows United. Everything went off without a hitch. The house looked great, the food was fabulous and the turnout was fantastic. They had 100 people show up for the tasting. Even Gene Stephenson (WSU Baseball Coach) showed up for the tasting. As soon as I get a few pics from Phyllis I will post them so you can see how beautiful everything looked.

The committee















Phyllis and Gene Stephenson


















Full picture gallery from the tasting below.

2006 Rainbows United Tasting

Yesterday we took Mav out to the farm. Cinda and Steve kept Maverick for us last night so that we could go to Rockin The Roundhouse (We had a great time. We took two of our neighbors and it was great to have some adult time out on the town). The minute we pulled into the farm Maverick started waving his arms and squealing with delight. He was so excited. He got out of the truck and ran around and around in the yard and then he ran around and around in Cinda's house. He didn't even cry when we left. Cinda took him to the park, they ate at McDonald's and they stayed up and watched movies until 10:00pm! Maverick was in heaven. Sunday morning Steve took him in the tractor and they took the truck and checked cows! When we got back to the farm on Sunday morning Maverick was happy to see us, but he definitely wasn't ready to go home. Mav and Bryce went to check out the tractors for awhile and then they took a little ride on the 4-wheeler (a very safe ride). Mav absolutely loved it. He was giggling and say Whhhoooaa! He absolutely had a ball.

Thank you Cinda and Steve!!

Old Friends!

There is something truly wonderful about old friends. You know the kind I'm talking about. Friends that you only see from time to time, but the minute you walk in the door it's just like old times. My girlfiend Jenn has a new baby boy and Amy, Sarah, Jenn and myself decided it was time to get together and meet this new little boy, Dylan, and have a little girl time as well. I had a truly wonderful time catching up with these girls and I hope we do it more often in the future. It was so much fun to hear about Sarah's family. She and Chris now have 2 boys, Gabe and Carter and a precious little girl named Ellie. Amy and Shawn have a daughter Macy and a son Ben and they are growing up so fast.

It was such a nice relaxing evening. We had homemade chicken noodle soup that Amy bought at her church soup dinner. Sarah made fabulous cheesecake and I of course brought bread that I bought at Dillons! But that's the great thing...nobody cares! We've all known each other for so long that we don't have to put on any fronts or try to impress anyone. I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes it just feels good to have those (for lack of a better term) "old friends" around.

I miss you girls and I hope we do this again soon.















Jenn and Dylan



















Sarah and Ellie

Our Weekend.
Friday night we had an impromtu party in our driveway. We had about 5 sets of neighbors over drinking margaritas and eating pizza in the driveway. It was a little chilly, but we had a great time. The kids were worn out by the end of the night.















I didn't even notice that this older boy was sitting on Mav until I saw the pictures! Oh well, It didn't seem to bother Mav too much.















Saturday we worked around the house and played outside almost all day.
Maverick practiced his jumping and then we watched the K-State game.






Sunday was a cruddy rainy day so we were inside all day! We watched Maverick's favorite new movie "bibbles" (The Incredibles)a couple of times. Maverick likes to say "Dash" and then go running around the house! Overall he did pretty well for having to be cooped up all day. Grandma and Grandpa came over for Black Bean Chicken Chili and then we called it a night.