Golf at Butler Park

Butler Park has been an Austin institution for 50 years. Tucked into a couple acres downtown a stone's throw from Town Lake, many a father and child have hacked a round of 9-holes. Brian and I joined our friends Pablo and Ken recently. It was the first time I'd swung a club since Brian was about 16 months. We had a real good time and I can't wait to go back. I think Brian feels the same way.

Fireup 5v5 Tournament

Before the soccer season started this Fall, most of the Cheetahs and a couple of other buddies played in the Fireup 5v5 Tournament at Slaughter Creek. They played four games, didn't win any but they did have a lot of fun. For the last game, against the best team, we broke out the boom box and jammed to "Who Let the Dogs Out." That really got the boys excited.

Birth of the Volcanos

OK ... the first couple of photos in this set aren't really about building the volcano. It looked to me like they were making the papier mache used for the bubbly beasts, but instead it's good ol' garden variety slime.

But eventually, Brian and Sean did make a prehistoric, double-barrel volcano, complete with dinosaurs and foaming lava.

Lance, pirates, Battleship and more

Some times there just aren't enough photos on a particular subject to make their own gallery. So here, we have a potpourri of photos.

The family went to watch Lance Armstrong ride up Congress Avenue after he won an incredible 6th Tour de France. But, unfortunately, we waited an hour to watch him start half a block farther up than our vantage point, so we don't have photos of him or the event. But man, what an awsome feat of sport. Next, we have Sean and Dad building a pirate ship we bought during our summer vacation at the Outer Banks.

And do you remember the game Battleship? Ah ... I thought so. The boys liked it the first time they heard about it, so we found the set and they really enjoy it.

And lastly, Sean makes a book in the spirit of Ricky Riccota and Flip-o-Rama.

The Cubmobile Derby

Each year the Pack holds a Cubmobile Derby with soapbox cars at the Seton Southwest medical center parking lot. (Don't want to have to go far if we wreck.) Each den builds a car and they take turns racing it down the hill for time. Needless to say, it's lots of fun. I would say the boys enjoy building the cars, but they ahve to have one as Tigers (1st grade) so it usually ends up being the dads that build them. This year, one of the Webelo patrols -- the Bats -- built a new car ... a Batmobile, naturally. One of our Den 7 buddies, Sayeed Anam, also took photos of the event.

Cooking, eating and growing

We all know the boys love to cook and they love to eat. As a Wolf requirement for Cub Scouts, Brian had to cook a meal outside, so he whipped up a surf 'n' turf kabob with steak, chicken and shrimp. Yum! We also took a foray into desert fondue, which insipired us to buy a real fondue set. We look forward to that ... we'll try it out this weekend. Sean also helped Mom start some seeds ... Our fall garden is awsome, as usual. We'll try to get some photos of that as well.

YMCA Basketball, Fall 2004

While Brian did the swim team this summer, Sean played basketball at the YMCA. Our illustrious sports editor was the coach and his son Jake played on the team, as did Sean's friend Cole. Sean had lots of fun.