The Mandate

O.K. so the title is a little play on words.....Michael has been talking a long time about wanting to hang out with his brother and our brother in-laws to do some "manly bonding." The day has finally arrived - we drove up on Friday to Logan so they could go on what they affectionately, called their "man date." Unfortunately, we could only coordinate with Michael's brother David and just one brother in-law Hank, who is married to Michael's sister Julie. Its hard to coordinate with everyone in the area - but it seems fun was had by all who could go. We left a little after 3:00 and didn't make it there until around 5:30! It took forever! Traffic was horrible, and we still can't figure out why.

As soon as we got in, Michael and Hank took off to get David and they were off to a fun Indian Restaurant where they have gourmet water and excellent servers...??.. (that was the report, anyway). Then they went over to the local hang-out; the "Celebration Center," where they ...celebrated??? (had to say it because of the funny name) They got to play a mean round of mini-golf (Hank won) and race go-karts (I'm sure the brothers were neck-in-neck).

I stayed home with Julie and we got pizza for the kids. Scott was all wound up and whiney (and altogether unlpeasant), but we pulled through and he went to bed early! Jared and Gavin had a great time playing with their cousins. They have lots of fun dress up stuff. Jared dressed up as a cowboy and Maya as Little Red Riding Hood (although Gavin is completely convinced she makes a great Wonder Red, for those of you familiar with the show "Super Why")! Little Elise wanted to be in on every single photo! She's so cute. We got a couple pictures taken before it was bedtime. Lauren is a great help. She was reading books and telling stories to the kids. She's pictured above, with book in hand (she avoided my pictures, so this is the best I could get). She's going to make a great babysitter soon - too bad they don't live closer! It was fun to visit with them. Unfortunately we weren't able to hang with our other cousins and David's wife, Marie. They had a sick one at their house, but hopefully we can spend some time with them soon.

We stayed overnight and took off Saturday morning so we could make it back in time to get a few things done around the house before the day was over. Michael put our mantle on the fireplace. He still has to anchor it in and we have to figure out what to do with the little gaps between where the stone ends and the drywall meets the mantle. It looks really nice. I'll post a picture of it when I have the motivation to walk my lazy self downstairs and take one.

Bythe way, this picture is for Grandpa & Grandma Brown - the kids are saying "Hi!"