windy mini-golf

we still had day left so we went to play a little miniature golf. it was such a slow (and crazy windy) day that they let us play both courses for the price of one. i think this was the first time we had ever golfed as a family.

it was funny to see the "real" golfers play. they had their street cred to maintain.

the wind really was crazy, it was even blowing the balls!

and we couldn't leave without taking a turn on the driving range.

matt and i were competitive as always. he beat me on the first course, but i beat him on the second. (although he pointed out that the totals for both courses gave him the overall win.) so much fun. love.

all sport saturday - stop 2, the bridgestone invitational pga golf tournament

i know that when you think of a fun place for four, young, tired kids to spend the afternoon, a "professional golf tournament" is your first choice, right? but that is just what we did!

we stopped home after the grande parade to have lunch, get hats and sunglasses and slather on the sunscreen before heading over to the bridgestone invitational. matt had been given tickets through work and kids are free (because, again, who would want to bring a pack of children to a golf tournament).

oh, and snacks, drinks, activities are out of the question because no bags larger than 6" cube are allowed. so i only carried my cell phone.

the kids were really excited to ride the school buses the tournament used to get us from the public parking to the tournament. the two big boys had come with daddy last year, but it was a first time for the rest of us.

we had explained to the kids that they would have to whisper the whole time and when the officials' hands were raised they would have to freeze like a statue. and they did great! by the third hour, manning was getting a little over it and had to be kept farther from the action so that he could run around a little, but honestly, he couldn't have been expected to have even lasted a quarter of that time just watching people golf in silence.

madelyn and manning were enjoying laying in the cool, soft grass.

and we took lots and lots of silly pictures to fill the waiting.

photography is prohibited so i really couldn't take pictures of how close we got to some of the shots. we were next to one player who was in the rough - like two feet from his ball - and the kids were awesome! they were quiet and still for about 20 minutes while the rules official was called over to inspect the ground because the ball was sunk down so deep - they even questioned if anyone had stepped on it (it really was a horrible lay).

the blimp overhead.

as the kids got restless in hour four, we offered that they could have sweet frog on the way home. but only if they could keep from complaining until we were done (we followed matt kuchar through the back nine - matt played with/against him in high school). manning was penalized two toppings and maddux one before it was time to go. to my amazement, there were no complaints when we got to sweet frog and the losses were enforced.

all in all, a huge success! now to shower and head off to our last stop of the day... love.

last golf lesson of the summer

and i got to enjoy the company of this cute boy.

missing out...

poor maddux. he really, really wants to play golf too. next year, buddy. next year... love.

girl golf

it is so relaxing to sit and watch madelyn golf for an hour and a half. the boys keep themselves busy and we have been really spoiled with gorgeous, cool evenings. we have just been thrilled with how much madelyn has been enjoying "The First Tee" program. love.

hitting the course

the first tee girls' class

madelyn's class was a little more advanced than mason's. and complete with  loaner pink golf bags. she was extra excited to be given a golf glove on her first night! madelyn is a sucker for a freebie (although the lessons are pretty expensive so it wasn't really 'free'). throw in a snack and popsicle and madelyn thought golf was the greatest thing ever! even when it rained every 15 minutes.

tonight the girls split into two groups and took turns driving and putting.

did you notice that madelyn slipped off the putting green and got a muddy bottom? all in all, it was a success. they can't wait for next week! love.

the first tee pee-wee golf

a super exciting day - mason's first golf lesson! we had no idea what to expect. the kids warmed up a little with jumping jacks and push-ups. (mason's in the middle wearing a red shirt.)

maddux and manning wished that they were golfing too, so they gave the jumping jacks a try.

then we took some pictures to pass the time...

here is a quick video of mason on the driving range:

mason had a great time! and madelyn is super excited for her all girl class tomorrow. love.

first pga tournament

late last week, matt was offered a single ticket to the bridgestone pga tournament. of course, he had no problem accepting it! (although he did call first to make sure we didn't have plans for the weekend - it is always nice to know that i still edge out golf as a priority :)). when he was taking a look at their website, he saw that children were able to attend for free with a ticketed adult. he was actually a little excited about being able to share the experience with the boys. so after church, mason and maddux both got to go with daddy.

it sounds like they had a great day! they ate lunch at chipotle, got to ride a school bus for the first time (as the shuttle from the parking lot), were given golf balls by a caddy and stopped by sweet frog on the way home! and matt got to walk the course too, which was his highlight (well, except that he was carrying a boy on his shoulders the entire time - they were taking turns).

we do seem to luck into unique and free experiences, don't we? so happy that matt was able to share this experience with a the boys. love.

boys in the basement

i have been fairly busy this week so i made an intentional decision to spend some time just being with the boys. i was first putting a few things away in storage when i noticed that manning had picked up a club and started golfing. he doesn't 'say' anything in the video but you can see the delight on his face when he hits the ball.

mason is obsessed with his imaginext toys! and he can talk about them ENDLESSLY. he was flying around one of his airplanes for me but could not be bothered with looking at the camera.

manning was most interested in playing dress-up he picked out the hardhat and i dug out the matching vest. he would have me put on the vest, then he would trot over to the other side of the basement and push the lawn mower for a bit. and then he would remove the vest, carry it back to me and have me put it on him again to start back to the mowing. he did this at least 15 times!

maddux was playing dress-up too, but he preferred to just wear the 'fit' ring out of the inside of the fire hat. silly, silly boy.

look at this sweet face.

so fun to have a quiet afternoon at home with our boys. love.

daddy's new toy

we may never see matt again.  for christmas, from papa and nana, he got an indoor driving range.  he still has a little work to do with getting the net set up properly, but he is very, very pleased with his new set up! now he (and the kids) can play year round.

madelyn and i will probably give it a whirl too. if the boys ever let us have a turn!

mason and daddy golfing

mason drew this picture of he and daddy hitting their golf balls into the holes (complete with flags) and then nana helped him with spelling daddy.  he gets most of the letters out of order for his name, but you can see "mason" at the top left and "daddy" down the right side. love.