October-Smocktober

Bird is the Word
Sunday, October 6th, we had our annual early Thanksgiving dinner at Great Grandma and Grandpa Young’s house. I can’t speak for my two men, but anytime eating a turkey is involved, count me in. It was good to see everyone we hadn’t seen in so long. The kids (cousins) all had a great time playing in the backyard in Hank’s fort we built. The kids did not have a great time sharing the Spiderman sing-a-long toy, however.

Skee-Ball Assault
Friday the 12th Jeremy, Henry and I headed to Fat Cats in Ogden to burn off some nervous energy in the arcade. It was nearly empty except for a few other smaller kids like Henry and some larger kids in their mid 30’s (why aren't you at work?)

Of course Henry remembered the arcade the minute we stepped inside. Who could forget blacklights, blaring whistles and bells and the faint smell of sweaty kids? Henry ran around hypnotized by all the lights and held out his had asking for “More money, Dad.”

At his age now, Henry isn’t motivated to actually win the games for more tickets, he’s more interested in crashing the car or motorcycle and watch the explosions. He is, however, motivated about Skee-ball. When Henry spied the row of Skee-ball machines, we warned those playing around him that he was prone to hurl the heavy balls in every direction – and so it began. I can only describe the 15 frantic minutes we played Skee-ball as a blur. Jeremy and I took our usual positions as clean up for any stray balls that may be thrown to the sides of Henry’s alley. Henry took several positions. First, he tried rolling the ball up the alley from the ground, next he tried over-handing the balls. When that didn’t work, he was convinced his was broken and he tried machines, even if someone else was using them. After that was useless, he got up and stood on his machine’s alley. And finally, when all else failed, he walked right up to the top of the alley and tossed the balls in. The results of our winnings are posted below.

Dino-mite!
Later that night the three of us went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden for their Night Out With The Dinosaurs. Grandma JoAnn and Grandpa Brent met us there. Henners was so excited to see the park at night, all lit up with lights and scary Halloween decorations. He scored some candy, a scull straw and a “long neck” dinosaur courtesy of one soft-hearted (or sucker) Grandpa. Henry ended up going home with Grandpa and Grandma and left us by saying, “You go away now, Momum and Dad. You go away.” We love you too, Henners!