Austin

It's been several years since we have gathered at my dad's in Austin for some family togetherness. Bill drove over from Houston, Grant and I drove down from Dallas (Christine and Garrett both stayed behind because of band commitments), Jim and Brandon flew in from San Diego and Lauren flew from Philadelphia. Not everyone came, but those of us who did, had a great time! We talked and ate and saw Star Trek...loved it!...and played Rock Band. I was certain that the entire town could hear us all belting out "Livin' On A Prayer"! It was a blast! Nothing like having Grandpa on bass guitar, Bill on vocals, Grant at the drums and Brandon on lead guitar! Reid and Clay were crazy good on the guitars! We even indoctrinated Uncle Jim into the fun of Rock Band...He was great on vocals and bass guitar! We also played a game that Reid and Clay invented called "Palm-Palm". It was played with a small rubber ball in teams of two. The object was to hit your opponents in the legs to get them out. It's a bit more complicated than that...but you get the general idea. It got quite physical at times...we were all sweating our guts out and looked forward to resting under the game room fan...too much fun! Uncle Jim and Clay were the victors! I was thrilled whenever I got either Lauren or Brandon "out"...they are true athletes and had serious skills! Bill was insane...tossing Lauren into the wall and removing the skin from the top of one of his toes...he was competitive in a fun way. We laughed and played...great times! My dad is a great sport and had no problem with us playing that in his house! I have considered playing it here...but am certain that the casualties (picture frames, etc.) would be substantial! We are hoping to get together again in the near future. We certainly had allowed too much time to pass since our last get-together.



The Gang after the Rock Band Competition...Reid and Clay's team won!


Sisters...Becky and Lauren


Reid...Clay...Grant