Visit with Grandpa and Grandma!

After surprising Grammie and Papa real good as we rolled into Phoenix on Wednesday night,

we headed to a nearby hotel for the night.

Then, first thing in the morning,

we went straight over to see Grandpa and Grandma!

 

At Grandpa and Grandma's house,

there are lots of very interesting things to look at,

and learn about.

 Here, Grandpa is demonstrating how a little steam engine works.

 Grandpa is always taking us on "field trips" as he tells us all about how things work.

Uh . . . I don't think he was demonstrating this . . . 

Oh boy!  There are lots of really fun things to look at in Grandpa's special corner!

 We then went over to a McDonald's play place so the boys could get some energy out!

Around noon, Grandpa went to help his friend Al set things up for a special performance they were going to treat us to.  In the hour or so that we had before the performance,

we went over to Papa Bob's tire and auto store to surprise him!

(He knew we were going to be at his house soon,

but didn't expect us to drop in on him at work!)

Here is Grandpa and his friend Al. 

They did such a fantastic job at finding a place to treat us to a special show,

with both singing and playing their wonderful guitars.

They played and sang about 12 songs,
and everything sounded so good!
We hope to have a video to post soon,
so you all can hear them! 

Then, after this special time, we went out for a delicious Mexican food dinner,

and had another really nice visit!  

And here's the epic surprise on video!

 

See the post below for more info on this awesome surprise! :0D

Big surprise!~By Kyle (well, not the surprise, per se, but the post!)

Our mission this week: surprise the grandparents in AZ! Papa and Grammie (Ted's parents) have a way with surprises. They have taken a couple of surprise trips to WA when we least expected . . . so, we decided to get them back! ;0)  And then, more fun visits with Grandpa and Grandma,
and Papa Bob and Meemom!

 

Benny was very excited! (he started packing his clothes a week before we left)

 



Of course, he was not the only one excited!

 

This is how we communicate between our truck and camper

 

 

And speaking of our truck and camper . . .

 

 

We quads played some hilarious games of Slamwich during the 24 hour (between two days) ;0) drive to AZ. I think all of us arrived in AZ with our hands looking like we had tried to pick a tomcat up by the tail! ;0)

 

 

Playing in the pool after a long day of travel!

 

 

We pulled into Phoenix at 7PM on Thursday underneath a beautiful sunset! And it was still 90 degrees!!!! (which makes a certain few of us very happy [smiles broadly]. As for the rest of the family, well . . .) ;0)

 

 

We drove straight to the scene of the surprise! 
Here we are descending under cover of darkness to extract revenge on one of their own . . .

 



We found their vehicle . . . (Muhahaha!)

 



 

We found the church building they were meeting in . . .

 

And Voila! A perfect surprise was carried out (as you can see by Grammie's face) ;0) Papa (in the blue t-shirt) continued to walk a little ways, until . . .

 



 

 . . . Grammie dropped her things and let out a slightly bloodcurdling scream! We were surprised when no one called the police . . .

 



 

It's okay, Grammie; we're not ghosts!

 

And then Papa caught on . . . (do men cry?)

 



 

I think Grammie hugged us all to make sure we were real . . . .

 



 Opinion poll: after studying their faces, who do you think was more surprised: Grammie or Papa?

Look! Two generations of Bowes clan leaders!

 

Grammie finally coming to the conclusion that we were really here . . . and that awkward moment where you are the only one smiling for the camera. ;0)

 



 

A big thank you to our co-conspirator, Aunt Debbie, on the far left! We couldn't have done it without her! And also, Daniel (cousin) and Sabra (cousin-in-law) wanted in on the surprise too . . .

 



 

Be watching for the video of this epic surprise soon!

 



 

No, we did not go completely loony after the epic surprise (though you might get that impression by looking closely at our faces in this pic)



 



 

Three generations of Bowes clan leaders! (okay, so one leader still in training) ;0)

(cue the awhhhh's) ;0)

 

Papa with a couple of the girls and a Snuck (Joe-Joe's nickname)! ;0)

 

 

Be looking for more pics of our AZ trip soon!  We have some great ones of our day yesterday with Grandpa and Grandma and today with Meemom! 
(gotta run to play mini-golf!!!) Life is good! :0P



Things to Dwell On

"Finally, brethren,

whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute,

if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,

dwell on these things."

Phil. 4:8

 

First Week of April!

More goat kids have arrived this week!

This momma of triplets completely surprised Victoria and Caroline on Tuesday!

Victoria went out at 6:30am to check on the mom, knowing she was due to kid at any time.  

"Ace" didn't look like she was in labor quite yet, so Victoria came back in for family devotions.

Then, at 8am when she and Caroline went out for their routine morning feeding,

they found these cuties already on the ground! 

(2 bucks and a doe!)

 Then, just today, 2 more bucks were born to "Paintball."

She is a first time mom, so Victoria  assisted in the delivery.

On Friday, the boys requested that Lydia come over

to keep their now annual tradition of coloring eggs together! ;-)

She was happy to oblige, as she does love spending time with her bros!

 

 Benjamin enjoyed painting on the eggs with this little brush.

It all went fairly well for a while.

Then, he decided to dab the brush into every color before painting his egg.

It turned the egg a lovely greenish-brown color.

He said it was his "dirty frog" egg. : -)

 The end result is below!

Our daily-dose-of-cuteness,

was off the charts this week,

when all five of us girls went shopping on Thursday 

and just HAD to buy Brielle this adorable swimsuit and hat.

Not sure that she'll be needing it anytime soon,

but now is the time to buy such things. . . right?

And it makes for some very adorable pictures! : -)

Brielle also had another physical therapy appointment on Thursday morning,

and worked hard at showing her all she could do!  : -)

 ~ ~ ~ ~
Timmy had his second ballgame of the season on Wednesday night,
and his team won!!
I think the odds were stacked a little more in their favor this time on their home field . . .
with a score of 17-0!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Ted and Kyle will be returning home soon from our church's men's retreat,

and the girls are getting ready for helping lead worship at  church tomorrow.  Our pastor and a very dear brother-in-the-Lord recently requested a new song by the Getty's,

so the girls have been practicing it and think it will be ready for tomorrow!
It is such a beautiful song,
with very meaningful lyrics!
Click on the link below to enjoy it!

 

 Good Shepherd of My Soul ~ Keith and Kristyn Getty