Quick Update

I realize that we will not see Sammy until tomorrow, so I will update this with pictures after we get together on Monday and Tuesday. Darla and I spent part of the weekend getting our house decorated for the Holidays and doing some shopping for Samantha's birthday.
Darla and I met Thursday night at Clark's Ski Shop in Roseville and bought Samantha a ski bib, boots, goggles, sunglasses, gloves, boots, and a hat. Jennifer asked for some snow play clothes as they go up to Mt. Charleston in Vegas regularly and Sam is usually in jeans and gets soaked and cold. We were trying to decide between the goggles and sunglasses and the owner of the shop through in the sunglasses when we bought the goggles. That is definitely my style of shopping. We met at 6:30 and had checked out by 7:10 and were at the restaurant ordering dinner by 7:30. We went out to dinner at a new restaurant in Roseville, Granito's Italian Fusion, which was excellent. We then stopped at another store and picked up a few odds and ends (birthday wrap, a toy for our nephew, Lucas, and DVD for Samantha). I also stopped at the Blockbuster store and rented Toy Story 3 for her visit and also bought her the "Night Before Christmas" book for Jennifer to read her the Santa story.
Darla and I will take the kids out to Dave and Buster's in Roseville. It is a big adult play restaurant, sort of a Chuck E. Cheese for adults. They still ave a kid's area, so we will have dinner there and then let Samantha play some games. It will be a short visit for us as their flight is at 5 PM on Tuesday. I am taking the day off and taking everyone out to breakfast. As I said, I'll update this mid week and have pictures and stories from their visit. The kids have been here since Thursday, but were brought into town by Diane and spent the weekend with her. Diane leaves for Texas sometime this month.
I played in the final event of the 2010 golf year for RGC today, The Eclectic Final. I was in first place with a net 53 and played my closest challenger, who had a 54. he shot a 94 today and never challenged my lead. I shot (what else?) a 40+42=82 and did not improve my score any at all. There is another player that dropped his score down to a 53 today, but he has a gross 57 and is the gross leader, so he'll take 1st gross and I'll have first net. I also came oh so close today to my first hole in one. I hit a 9 iron on the 130 yard 12th hole that landed six feet past the hole and drew back to the pin, lipping out and leaving me a two foot putt for birdie. The guys on the 13th tee box were yelling thinking it was going in and then groaned when they realized that their hope of free beer was dashed. I did take closest to the pin on that hole. Also, Neil sent me an e-mail this afternoon and told me I won some "serious money" in skins. The pool was $110 and I split it with one other player. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but assume we will each take $55.
Darla and I attended Bob's sister's funeral on Saturday up in Auburn. She died last week of complications of Cancer. The funeral was at a Catholic church and the mass was long and full of chanting and recitations. It reminds me how happy I am to not be a Catholic. The priest was splashing the coffin with Holy water and waving a canister of incense that reminded me of the smell of Jennifer's room when she was a teenager and in to incense.
Bob did a great job with the eulogy and told a story of he and his older sister growing up together. They shared a room until she was 11 and he was seven. She was concerned with his hygiene as he shared her room and was always on him about taking baths and washing his hair more than once a week, etc. One day she asked him if he was cleaning his belly button. He asked her how to do that and she went and got him an old toothbrush and told him to take soap and scrub his belly button. After a week, his belly button was red and raw. He showed it to his Mom who heard the story and promptly disciplined Bev. When his Dad got home and heard the story, he came in a disciplined Bob for being so gullible. Funny stuff.
I will add more this week, with pictures of young Miss Samantha. In the meantime, I leave you with a Golfer's Love story. It sort of brought a tear to my eyes. Ciao.
" A couple were talking together and the older man said to his wife, "Honey, soon we will celebrate 50 years of marriage. I have to ask you, during our years together, have you always been faithful to me?"
The wife, held his hand and said, "My dear, I have always loved you and you are my world, but in our life I have been unfaithful 3 times, but always for a good reason and to make our lives better."
The husband was taken aback, but asked his wife, "What was the first time?"
The wife said, "Do you remember when we were in our twenties and almost lost the house because we were behind on our mortgage payments after the kids were born? I met with the banker one night and the next day our loan was renegotiated?"
The husband said, "I can forgive you that, you were only looking out for our welfare. What about the second time?"
The wife said "And do you remember when you were scheduled for heart surgery and we couldn't afford to pay the doctor? I met with him and the next day your surgery was done for free?"
The husband said, "Honey, you did that to save my life. I completely understand. Now what about the third time?"
The wife said, "Do you remember when you ran for President of the Golf Club and were 44 votes short of the election?"