F-Day

Sunday was the dreaded F-Day. Actually I had a fine time that day, it did not bother me, and I instead focused on my dad and our surprise gift for him. I also bought my BIL a bottle of wine from a local vineyard for being the twins' godfather.

My sister and her family flew out from Arizona, they are here for the week. She has 2 kids, Sophia who will be 3 in Sept, and Lauren who will be 1 in Aug. L&L turn 2 next month. So all four kids are close in age and had fun playing together.

Lm wanted to go down the slide while my sister pushed the other kids on the swings.

Here is my BIL, Frank, multitasking.

Lk loves his new orange water shoes. Lm's are red.

Hi, Sophia!

Here's me with my goddaughter, Lauren. She is borrowing Lk's hat to keep the sun out.

She wants my dangly earring.

Rita's on the left. She's 3 inches taller than me, so people have always thought she is older even though I have nearly 3 years on her. Fine by me!

All 4 kids together on the swingset.

Hi, Lauren! She has chubby cheeks like Lm. I've always thought Lk and Sophia look more alike than either do with their siblings.

With all the excitement, Sophia didn't want to take a nap, but she finally succumbed.

Mr. Serious and his cracker.

For my dad, we all pitched in to buy him a deluxe John Deere riding mower. I didn't even know they made mowers this expensive! But it has more features than most cars.

We arranged so that Frank and Mom would just disappear after lunch to get the mower, and then Rita and I would bring Dad outside so he could be surprised when they drove up with it. It's not easy arranging a surprise for my dad, who wants to know where everyone is at all times. He was really shocked, though. Here he's reading the card we all signed explaining his gift.

You would have thought he'd just seen the beatific vision when he beheld this sight in the driveway...

While the guys unloaded the precious cargo from the truck, my own precious cargo (L&L) found a mud puddle that they just HAD to sit in, despite our trying not to let them do that. Funny how my neices had no desire to roll around in the mud, but my boys did. I had to extricate them, and got all muddy myself, so later I filled the bathtub and all 3 of us got in.

But, before that, we watched Dad bask in the glory of his new toy. This thing even has 3 cupholders on the right side. If my dad were a beer drinker, he could drink beer while mowing.

At any rate, my dad really loves the mower. He stayed outside with it through the evening hours, and probably dreamt about it at night. He watched the DVD that came with it and read the manual cover to cover. He's learned all the new features on it. So last night when I came home from work and saw the freshly cut lawn, I asked him how it went. But here's the kicker: he said he used his old mower and is afraid yet to use the new one! I guess he wants to admire it for awhile yet first.