A Big Weekend

This was a busy weekend of special events.

Fun & Games at the Driving Range - On Friday morning I went to the driving range with my good friend Greg. Greg actually has a job, but he spends lots of time on the road and occasionally takes some time off between his out-of-town assignments. We are both excellent golfers, except for me. I usually play golf about twice a year, almost exclusively at work-related functions, which have become somewhat rare given that the term "work-related" no longer applies to me. Greg gave me a few pointers at the range and I actually hit a few balls in a respectable manner. The only problem we had was that the women's gold team from Houston Baptist University was also using the driving range, which was quite humbling. Greg and I agreed that we will actually try to play golf at some point in the semi-near future.

Parker's Machine Pitch Game - As if the driving range wasn't enough excitement for one day, on Friday evening Vicki and I went to our good friend Parker's machine pitch game. Parker is in kindergarten, so I think he's five years old. This game was a hoot. Watching the Pirates (Parker's team) "battle" the Astros reminded me of the good old days about twenty years ago when our girls played dad's pitch softball. The highlights included the Astros' shortstop and third basemen having a wrestling match in the infield, and the Pirates' center fielder laying down in the outfield. Parker got a couple of hits and everyone went home happy.

Josiah's 1st Birthday Party - On Saturday afternoon we drove out to The Woodlands to attend the first birthday party of Josiah, Vicki's great-nephew. Usually I think that these parties are quite lame, given that the one-year-old has no clue what's going on. However, this party was different. Josiah was his usual smiley self, and although he certainly didn't really know it was his birthday, he was the star of his own show. The other nieces and nephews were a lot of fun, and the M&M's (my favorite) were in good supply and flowing abundantly. There was a "chug the diet Coke" contest and lots of fun presents. I made myself useful by installing batteries in the new toys, so I felt good about myself. I'm already looking forward to next year's bash.

Benjamin Baptism - This morning we went to church and bible class at FCCC and then headed out to River Point Church to witness the baptism of Vicki's other great-nephew, Benjamin. There were about twenty members of the family present for the event. If you've never seen a River Point baptism you're missing out on quite an experience. As best as I can tell, they only baptize people once each month, so there were at least fifteen people waiting to be baptized. They baptize in a small pool/fountain behind their church building. After the big event we went over to Benjamin's house for lunch. There were no M&M's but it was still good.

I forgot to mention that Bethany came home for a short visit on Friday night (she went back to Round Rock this afternoon), so this was a really fine weekend.