Boydee in the castle Santa sent

The kids love this castle. They're having so much fun coloring it and playing in it!

Celebrating a lost tooth

At Applebee's celebrating the loss of a tooth that was dangling for too long...

Best little girl ever

A few hours later!

Finally, the tooth is gone!

At Royal Crest Lanes.

Bloody tooth... A precursor

Today's outfit

Santa visits Eudora

We had a Santa sighting in Eudora last weekend!

He was at the city rec center, and he didn't even have a line! Evey was nervous going in, and told us she wasn't going to sit on Santa's lap. But then she saw that this wasn't a creepy Santa (like the one she met at the Abraham Lincoln museum a month ago) so she didn't mind getting close while he held Boydee.

Boydee? Heck, he didn't care. Red suit, big beard, weird hat? Ain't no thing for Boydee. Sat right down and smiled.


***

Sharp-eyed readers (four of you) have spotted the new poll on the side of the page. So... don't forget to vote!

Evey's birthday party pics

More photos from Indiana

Nice photo of Boydee and Bea on Thanksgiving.

Boyd and Keith Whitaker. Keith is Larry and Mary's son. When I was a kid, Keith was about the coolest person on the earth. Mainly because he'd take me fishing. But Keith didn't fish with normal gear, he fished with a compound bow and arrow. Yeah, he clearly wasn't into catch and release! Boyd thought Keith was pretty cool too, he liked hanging out with him. This photo is one of the first photos where I'd tell Boydee to "smile!" and he'd open his mouth wide like this. We'd all start laughing, so it just encouraged him to do it more.

Mom holding Boydee, as he "smiles" for the camera. That's Mary in the background.

Bubba ready for Christmas!

He loves the tree, especially the lights. We have the tree surrounded with furniture so he can't attack it. Evey is so happy we put up the tree... She just loves it.

Putting up the tree has always been a pain in the ass, in my opinion. I have thought this since I was about 13. But it is fun to see the kids react to the tree. And it looks festive in the living room, too.

Boydee with Bea and Junior

Here's my favorite photo from our trip to Wheatfield. On the left is Bea, in the foreground on the right is Junior. Adro's smile can be seen in there. And there's Boydee, hamming it up for everyone.

Boydee liked giving all these new people in Indiana kisses. That's what he's doing there in this pic, he's getting ready to lunge at Junior for a big smooch. And yes, Boydee prefers to kiss with his mouth open.

***

I just got back from a week in Orlando, where I hosted the second annual Golfdom Summit. What an event! I was the MC, a presenter, and even a member of a panel discussion (you can assign yourself all these responsibilities when you're the one writing the agenda!)

I think this may have been one of the most successful things I've ever done professionally. It just couldn't have gone any better. I'm so pumped! Not only was it a home run for your pal Jonesy, but I also cleared the bases.

Last year I hosted the event as well, but it wasn't the same. A year of experience helped in many ways.

Looking forward to next year's event, and to this event growing each year.

***

Evey's birthday is this week. She turns 6 on Friday. Six! Wow. Time is flying.

She's so tall... today she was wearing a sweater and pants, and she looked like such a big girl. She can stretch out and reach the mantle above the fireplace now. She a stringbean.

***

Evey was really excited to get the Christmas tree up. It was a big deal to her.

We thought about not putting up the tree, because we worried that Bubba would get in there and hurt himself. But Adro reorganized the living room furniture so it's blocked off from him.

He thinks it's pretty cool too, though.

***

How about this weather? Did it get to 70 degrees today? Our tree out front has buds on it!

It's not beginning to look a lot like Christmas, yet.

Evey at the Abe Lincoln museum

Wish we would have had more time... This was on our way from Wheatfield, Ind. -- but we did have some fun there in Springfield, Ill. OK, honestly, I was stressing because I was worried Evey wasn't the right age to learn about Lincoln, plus we still had a long ways to go.

But we were all smiles in the kids' area! Isn't she beautiful???

Jones and Jones

Me and my pal Rees Jones, the Open Doctor. Rees is awesome, he takes care of me. I do think he's the greatest living golf architect.

Spidey!

Perhaps the best gift I've ever found for the kids following a biz trip!

Back to the grind

Well, Thanksgiving went fast... now back to the real world. I've got one day in the office, then I'm off to Orlando for the 2nd annual Golfdom Summit. So much to do before I leave, though.

Our trip to Wheatfield was great. Saw everyone, from my Uncle Allen to Dave Birch, Larry and Mary and Mike and Marilyn, and of course Bea and Junior.

Boydee was a hit with everyone. He was in full-on charmer mode all weekend. We heard on more than one occasion that "Boyd is a great name" and we agree. All those folks in Wheatfield knew my dad since he was a little kid, so they enjoyed meeting his namesake, I could tell.

Evey's favorite thing about the trip was that she got to spend so much time with her cousins, including the 12-hour drive coming and going. They watched lots of movies, including disc three of the "Dungeons & Dragons" cartoon series from the '80s that I introduced her to (now all three kids are hooked!)

It's good to be home, though. We rode up in two cars, 10 people strong. It was correctly stated at one point that "you can't ever make 10 people happy." That was maybe even the motto after day two.

Maybe the best part of the trip was also one of the simplest: me and my family, Jessica and her family, and a mini-football. We walked about six blocks of Wheatfield, pointing out to the kids where Grandma Iris used to live, where Jessica and mom and dad used to live before I was born, where the haunted house was. The weather was nice, maybe 60 degrees. Me, Mark and Jett kept throwing the ball around while we walked.

Another great moment: Lary and Mary, Dave and Ginger, Mom, Keith, Mike and Marilyn, all sitting at a table together, chatting. I told Adro that that group probably hasn't all sat together at once in over 15 years. It was nice of everyone to come out and visit with us, and it was definitely nice of Mike and Marilyn to let us do it all at their house.

I've got photos of all of this, but I'll have to post them later, as the camera is currently more than 10 steps away, and it's late. Included here is a photo of me and Bubba taken a few weeks ago, moments after we gave him a haircut on the back deck.