Don't be surprised

When you have six kids at your house for the weekend

(#6 is behind Heidi's golf club/sword)

and you take all of them miniature golfing

in 100 degree weather,

don't be surprised if this is the best photo you can get.

Oh, and don't be surprised when at least one kid gets stuck in a hole.

Up!

We spent Friday and Saturday in the biggest little city in the world, not to be show-offs or to try to double our yearly income but for . . .

the annual hot air balloon race!

It was amazing and even though we got up at 4:30 (yes, am, and yes, on a vacation) We could stand in the balloon area and watch the balloons fill up and launch.

I was so surprised the organizers let us just walk around. I hate to say this, but this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I'm just glad we were there before the lawsuits started.

Oh, also, the girls are wearing the pajamas on purpose. The local Reno paper sponsored something they called the world's largest pajama party. Um, not really. To attend you sign up and they give you a bag filled with low-grade swag and advertisements. Oh well. It's always fun to wear jams in public with your mom's permission.

Haven't you always wanted to see inside a hot air balloon?

This one was called "Heated Passion."

The girls were pretty tired on the drive home.

Just like they were the weekend before when we hit the Scottish festival.

Any ideas for next weekend's car nap?

Problem Solved

Two girls earned a movie after school today.

Two girls were excited to watch Barbie Nutcracker.

One girl wanted to jump on and pull the hair of the girls who had earned a movie today and who were excited to watch Barbie Nutcracker.

One girl is now watching Barbie Nutcracker from her car seat.

Problem solved.

When is Oprah giving me my own talk show?

Great Scott!

We always knew that Scott's family was Scottish. I was surprised to discover that we had relatives living in the same county in Scotland in the 1600s. I hadn't even realized I had Scottish relatives, so I was very excited. I also wondered if this was why we look so much alike.

I guess it's OK if you marry a relative if there's a 400 year gap.

This weekend we decided to show our girls (well, and us) our heritage at one of the biggest Scottish festivals in the US. (FYI, and yes, I am showing off here, we didn't bring a diaper bag or even a stroller! YEEEES!)

We weren't quite sure to expect.

Would we see people all dress up like this?

Not quite. They were mostly like this.

Notice the guys on the right and left in their Utilikilts. They're "modern" kilts with cargo pockets. I tried to talk Scott into one but he denied his heritage. Don't you think they'd be pretty handy for church? Pens in one pocket, scriptures in another, coloring books and crayons on the front . . .

Unfortunately we did see some of this.

Again, notice the Utilikilt. All the cool guys have them.

Big mistake Scott.

The girls thought the boys in skirts were funny and enjoyed walking around looking for the most interesting outfits.

When not looking for the men's "purses",

Heidi enjoyed tossing the haggis into the pot.

Molly exacted some revenge and even boasted about it.

Emily found this really cool hideout under the soccer bleachers.

When Scott does decide to start wearing his kilt to church, we found some tartan options for him.

This one is his family's tartan. It's a little Christmassy for my taste.

And this one's mine! I'll let him borrow this one.