Driving with Ma Ma

Garrett loves driving. He was super excited to drive Ma Ma's car down the street. He kept saying "drive Ma Ma drive." I sure don't know what this kiddo is destined to do but I wouldn't be surprised if it involved a vehicle of some sort.

Cruisin' with Nana

Garrett has really been wanting to ride in his Nana's car with the top down so on this particular day, Nana picked up the kids and took them to Western night at cousin Kiersten's school. Then for a special treat afterwards, Nana took them to dairy queen for a shake. They were both all smiles.

Garrett's 2nd Birthday

On Garrett's actual birthday, we took the plunge and decided to take him to ChuckE Cheese. He really liked playing the games. He really enjoyed his pizza too. It really was fun to watch him just be a kid. They put a Happy Birthday sticker on him so people kept telling him Happy Birthday. He just smiled the whole time.

Daddy got in on some of the action too.

When we got home, we had a cake for his birthday. He got really shy while we sang Happy Birthday to him. It was so cute.

Then, he go to open a present from Mommy, Daddy and Zayda for his birthday. He got a chain saw! Pretend of course but it makes almost as much noise as the real thing. I don't know what we were thinking when we bought it?!

Garrett loves tractors right now so for the family birthday party, we decided to have a John Deere Tractor themed party. He thought it was pretty neat to see all of the tractor stuff. Instead of typical party hats they had John Deere Tractor hats. Too cute. He wore his hat almost the entire party. My little boy is definately ALL boy. In addition to his tractor addiction, he also loves tools and anything that has wheels. Here he is checking out his new tool bench.

He also got a Harley Davidson bike. His legs are just a little short for the pedals but that hasn't stopped him one bit. He rides...and rides...and rides...and rides.

Don and Susie's Surprise 40th

After many months of planning and should we say breaking and entering, we (Gandolf siblings) were able to pull off the biggest surprise we have ever pulled on our parents. Our parents have been an amazing example of a good marriage. This year they celebrated their 40th anniversary and we wanted to do something special for them for we planned a surprise 40th anniversary party. We held their get together in my neighborhood park shelter. We had all of their closest family and friends involved and no one let the cat out of the bag. Our ploy was that we were going to have a family picture taken at the park (this is why we are all dressed similarly). I told them that there was a birthday party going on down at the shelter so they wouldn't be suspicious of the cars. They bought every bit of it. They were truly surprised. My mom cried for about the first 20 minutes she was so surprised. I think they are a little worried about how much we did without them knowing. I was able to sneak out the parafin wedding hands that have been on every wedding and anniversary cake since the Gandolfs were in existance. (okay I don't know how long for sure but there are a lot of names on that list and now they can add their 40th to it.) I was also able to sneak their actual wedding cake knife out of their house. We took tables and chairs from their basement too. HAHA! We replicated my mom's bouquet and their wedding cake. We were able to borrow a 57 chevy from a friend and we decorated it for them to take downtown for dinner and a stay at the Marriot.

This is them as they were walking down and realizing that this was a surprise party for them. We had our pastor from church Chris Philbeck attend and they go to renew their vows. He gave an amazing ceremony and my parents were truly touched by his words.

My sister and I have been planning this for about 6 months and it was so much fun to finally see all of our hard work come together on such an incredible day.

Garrett and Zayda enjoying the music with some dancing.

My mom's sister Carolyn was her maid of honor 40 years ago and she gave a toast in honor of my parents. (she even wore a sweater that was the same color that she wore in their wedding.)

The best man 40 years ago was Dan Pavey. He was also in attendance and gave a toast as well.

Zayda doesn't miss a beat and she really wasn't going to miss out on a toast from a fancy glass. However, carrying it was a little tricky.

The happy couple!

Cutting the cake.

The whole gang. Thanks to everyone for keeping this day and secret and making it so special. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

Finally, the ploy! The family picture that they originally thought they were coming to have taken. We had to atleast get one family picture!

Keith's 40th Birthday

Most of you that know us well, know that Keith celebrated a major milestone in his life this year. Keith turned 40 and he didn't want to do anything to celebrate it. I finally talked him into having some of his closest friends over for dinner. I think he was happy that I talked him into it. He seemed to really enjoy it. I had it at Nancy's house since I was also getting ready for a surprise 40th anniversary party for my parents.

Yes, that is actually a picture of Keith on that cake. Wasn't he cute!!!

Bob Smith - used to work with Keith on the Sheriff's dept.

Rick and his daughter Brittany - fellow sheriff's dept. buddy and now fellow boater.

Bob's wife Kristi and Rick's wife cindy.

Dave, Keith's childhood best friend and our best man, his daughter Maisy, and his wife Katte. Another one of Keith's childhood friends Rich Millar was there and this is his wife Amy.

Aunt Laurie was giving horsey rides to the kiddos and they obviously enjoyed it at poor Laurie's body's expense.

Outside Finally

This summer has been terrible for outside activities. It has either been rainy or cold or both. We were finally able to get outside and soak up some sun. Garrett wasn't too sure what to think of the crazy sprinkler but he sure enjoyed watching Zayda run through it. It was so nice to just be outside and enjoy some nice weather.

Sorry that it has taken me so long to put up a new post. I have been very busy lately as I am sure most of you have too. We took a 2 week vacation to Florida that was amazing. The first week we spent with my parents (Don and Vicki) in Disney World and the second week we spent in St. Augustine with all of Keith's Family. I am having trouble getting my C.D. with the pics from the second week loaded onto my computer so I will just be able to post pics from Disney and the when I am able to pull up the other pics, I will post them. The whole trip was so much fun and kids loved each part of it. Here are a few pictures from Disney.

Grandpa and Zayda rode a Indy Car ride and right after the green flag came down there was a massive downpour and they got soaked!!!!!!!

Over to St. Augustine for the day before Grandma and Grandpa have to head home.

SOOO HUNGRY!! Can life get any better than this?!