GOma and GOpa

Greetings friends and family,

I'm not sure about the proper greeting for this somber 9/11 memorial day, but all I can say is that we must never forget what happened, how it happened, and who did it. I try to stay away from politics on the blog, but this has nothing to do with politics. It's just good ole' fashioned patriotism for the USA.

Yesterday we welcomed Neill and Jenny into our home for a week of both excitement and relaxation. They are known as GOma and GOpa, which stands for "GREAT Old Ma" and Pa. Kendra's parents are Oma and Opa so we added the G onto the names because they are like great grandparents to the twins. Also, the name has GO in it because the two of them go, go, go without ever tiring. It's becoming a race every day to see if the twins wear them out or vice versa. We spent the day playing with the twins and the evening talking their ear off until very late.

We celebrated the first day of fall by opening every window and door in the house this morning. We know it is the first day of fall because the temperature dipped below 80 degrees for the first time in 4 months. That's right... The night time low was 77 and that means as soon as I rolled out of bed it was time to pop the cork and swap out the 4-month-old air. I plagiarized part of that line from The Chronicles of Riddick.

Anyway, the second part of our fall celebration led us to the duck park immediately after breakfast. All we needed was a blanket in the shade.


and bread for the ducks! The hungry fowl practically mobbed them on the ground and almost took a piece of bread sitting right on Goma's toe.


Easton and Layla also took advantage of the local playground equipment to get some climbing exercise. Layla's hair is extra cute with a single pony tail on top like Bam-Bam.


I tried to get a normal picture of Easton standing close by, but he charged me like a raging bull and I snapped this one just before he ran me over.


The best news of the day is that Easton's fever broke yesterday morning so we didn't have to take him back to the doctors for all the testing. I guess it was just a nasty virus hanging on for a few days... Whatever it was, we are relieved to have our healthy boy back on his game and feeling well again.


The two of them ran their hearts out across the expansive park lawn. Unfortunately they have yet to learn the meaning of "stop!" even though Layla can spell it and knows the sign language motions. Kendra yelled it as they headed towards the fence separating them for the street, but neither of them stopped. I just shook my head because it is hard for me to reconcile the fact that an 8 month old dog can be taught to obey the command, stop, but our 2 and a half year olds don't even pause their stride. At least Kendra's back is healed enough for her to chase them down.

Such is life. They'll get it eventually!

One of my hopes for next week is for Easton, Neill, and I to visit the airplane meuseum in Tucson. All three of us are very interested in planes so it could be an interesting day trip. :)

See you soon!