A very special birthday

From Budapest

We celebrated Michelle's birthday today in Budapest, Hungary. What a beautiful day. The sun was shining and we had a great day touring the countryside and exploring Budapest. We had a nice Italian dinner by the Danube to cap off a magical day.

We sure miss the kids, and are so grateful to Mimi for being there to take care of them!

A beautiful day...

Today I played in the 5th Annual "Friends of George Graziadio" . Wow...what a day. The tournament was held at the Trump National Course in LA. Although I've never seen "The Apprentice", I hear they shoot the opening credits with a shot of Trump standing in front of one of the holes on this course. It was amazingly beautiful. We played a "Texas Scramble" which was a fun format, but it favors the strongest total team rather than a traditional scramble. I shot a 91, and lost nearly as many balls! I'm already looking forward to next year.

Finally...another tooth

My precious daughter is a late-bloomer. She's nearly 9-years old and just lost her third tooth yesterday! Here's a quick snapshot of the new formation of her smile. She'll be losing teeth well into her teens at this rate! :-)

Marcus' First At Bat

Marcus is playing Little League Tee-Ball this year! Today he had his first game. He's on the Cubs. His first at-bat went pretty well. He swung at a couple of strikes, got nailed by a wild pitch, then got a nice hit to the pitcher. He was thrown out at first, but did it perfectly. Yesterday in practice he wasn't sure what to do after his hit. So, he just ran to the pitcher with the bat in his hand. We're so proud our our little Tater Tot!

Our first air popped popcorn

My awesome brother got me an air-pop popper for my birthday. The kids had never seen one of these. So when we started it up today they were amazed. We all had a blast! And the popcorn was delicious!

M&C Day Three at the Beach

We spent Saturday at the beach with M&C. What fun...

Madi's first ice cream since lent...

I'm so proud of my kids...
A few weeks ago I had breakfast with them on Ash Wednesday and talked with them about Ash Wednesday and the Lent Season. As CoC'ers, we have not traditionally discussed this. They were very curious, responsive, and interested. I told them I was going to give up alcohol, and without any prompting Madison offered to give up ice cream and Matt offered to give up dessert all together. Madison eats ice cream every day. It's the most reliable staple in her diet.

I wasn't sure if they would even remember our discussion when they came home from school. But over the next 40-days they continually amazed me with their level of commitment. Several times I forgot about their pledges and offered them ice cream or desserts and they reminded me, "Dad! I gave that up for Lent!". I was so impressed.

Well, Easter Sunday immediately after church we headed to Baskin Robbins where Madison gladly celebrated the resurrection over a "Love Potion #31" on a sugar cone. YUM!