Brendon's Birthday Party

         Any day that begins at Brawley's, is going to be a good day...Here's Breanna, Lexy, Autumn, Tonio, Bryson, Angie and Janene, happy and well fed, after a rousing birthday breakfast, for Janene's son, Brandon, who turned 13 today.  We had a total of 19, nearly filling this restaurant, which was definitely Kimmy's favorite hole in the wall place to eat.
         From there, we all headed to Golf 'N Stuff, for an afternoon of bumer boats, race cars, laser tag, batting cages, golf and video games.  It was 100 degrees, but that did not slow these kids down!! 

                            Breanna takes extra precaution to sun exposure by liberally applying sunscreen!

                                         Cody, David and Andres come back to port soaking wet on the bumper boats, which have a high pressured nozzle attached to the front to soak other riders - a good thing on a day like today!

                         Breanna and Tonio were like a death machine, wielding their water weapon with unbiased fury.  No one came back dry.  No one.

                              Lexy and Autumn did a nice job soaking other riders, too!

                      Cody takes Autumn on the go kart races - Brendon's friend, Cole was nice enough to take Tonio as a passenger in the car behind Cody's and Brendon's in the car to the right, ready to go.  The ride operator turned off the regular timer and these guys raced for what seemed like an eternity...

                                      A fun afternoon, here's the crew ready to get some cool drinks!

                      Once their thirst had been slaked, we headed over to Janene's to swim and eat pizza.  I don't know where these guys get the energy, but they swam non-stop for several hours, before woofing down pizza and birthday cake...and then, most of them had baseball, basketball and dance (Lexy and Breanna) to go to.  Cody went off to ride scooter with Brendon, who got a new one for his birthday and didn't come home until 9:30...I need some of that energy!!
                    Kim and I used to go to Golf 'N Stuff before we had kids, and enjoyed playing a liesurely game, at our own pace...sometimes finishing the course, sometimes not...
                   Golf 'N Stuff was always a place we'd take the bambini for a treat.  Especially following a visit to their dentist, Dr. Alexander.  We've been going to Dr. Alexander for 18 years - he's a great guy and is fantastic with kids.  Kim always said he reminds her of a cross between an older brother of mine and my Dad.  After each visit, Dr. Alexander's wife, Jane (who works as office manager/receptionist/hostess/etc), always presents the kids with Golf 'N Stuff passes...Kim would always take a photo of the kids playing and send it to them - and sure enough, next time we'd go in, there would be the latest picture of them hanging in the office.
                We had a lot of fun afternoons there, Kim liked the water falls and fountains that they have, and the large, shady trees.  She taught the kids a lot of patience there, whether putting, or waiting for the folks in front of us to finish their hole.  Also, sportsmanship...she would gently encourage them to root for each other, and to keep accurate score, and to be sure to take their turn, when it really was their turn and to have courtesy for whoever was trying to putt. And, of course, whenever someone made a good shot, Kim would excitedly cheer and applaud for them!
         When we were done golfing, she liked to go across the street to Tino's pizza for a slice and to let the kids play video games, so we could talk...They have great pizza there - and good sandwhiches, too.  The bambini would always want a pitcher of rootbeer to wash it down.  Occaisonally, we'd get a Peroni to wash ours down...

                 It was good to be there today, remembering the times we shared there - Kim and I, and later, with the bambini...and today, we made some new great memories of Golf 'N Stuff - it was fun watching all of the kids having such a great time together - what a great place to celebrate a birthday, and we were honored to be a part of that!

                    Love,
                           Dave