October

                               

The boys had their fall concert for jazz band at Northgate High.  Scott and Tyler were on piano; Tyler did some percussion too.  It was good.   

Hanna and Parker didn't sit through the concert and played outside on the lawn.

Sending off the boys to homie coming.  Nancy is our neighbor.  

Tyler went with Katelyn to the dance

Scott and his tuff friends, members of the jazz band.

I told Scott that we used to pose in front of the car doing Atlas man so he's in front of IS300. 

The boys had a fun time.  

 

September 2021

Hanna at Dave Brubeck Park in Concord, where Tyler had his battle of the bands thing.

Northgate high school's 34 member band

Ran into Ollie Chavez, my parents' friend from the 1970s

 

Parker dissecting a bovine eye

Blake not too happy about getting some dental work done

Blake, Heidi and Parker doing the dissection

Mr. T throwing a cheeser for the camera

Tyler on his 14th birthday.  He was happy about air pods pro, clothes, candy.

Kira lounging on the double tubes on labor day

Mister doing his acrobat stuff

Blake dissecting the bovine eye

Hanna and Parker after a visit to the dentist.  Parker was not happy about the work he got but he was all smiles once it was over.  

labor day get-together

 

Hanna turns four!

Hanna turned four today.  She got lots of presents.  She wanted to wear her princess dress to church.  I thought it was not appropriate but said, "Even princesses need to go to church."  She wore it to church.  

Hanna loves to pet peoples' dogs.  She'll call out, "HEY!  Can I pet your dog?"  Most people are eager to introduce their dogs.  She asks me, "Daddy, how was work?"  

Hanna loves to say hi to everyone.  She loves apples and oranges.  She loves jumping on the tramp, then picking tomatoes and pears.  She loves her dresses and pop-its.  She knows most of her letters, even more than Parker.  She has quite a fan base at the Woodlands swim team.  We love you, Hanna!  

 

Lake Powell 2021

This year for the McMillan family reunion we went to Lake Powell.  It was us, my parents, and Boy's family.  Scott and Tyler had been at EFY the week prior and my parents drove them down to Wahweap, where we met them.  We left on Sunday morning and spent the night in St. George, UT.

Rest stop along 5 south

  

Mister enjoying his new tube at the hotel pool.  The breakfast was real nice:  waffles, bacon, eggs, potatoes, and OJ.  Nice setup!

We stopped at the St. George temple, which seemed to be under construction.  It looks like they're closing down the cross street the same way they did at the Salt Lake temple.  

Scott got some pretty sweet shots with his drone.  We got some footage of his RC boat for the instagram channel too.  

Mister got up on two skis.  I didn't get a photo because I was pulling him.  My dad was like, "Is he really gonna be able to do this?"  

I said, "He's determined to do so.  I'm surprised he didn't get up his first try."  After he got up and went for about ten seconds, he fell down and was done.  He still felt good about his run and I was pleased.  

I pulled five of the kids on the tube behind Afterburner.  They had a great time.  

Blake caught a pretty big striper

A storm materialized and dumped about an inch of rain while blowing severely.  We tried to depitch the tent and cover it with the rain fly but everything got soaked.  Here is our pitiful attempt at drying out the stuff.  

Blake had a pretty good trip.  He enjoyed the kneeboard and wake surfing

Even the old man learned to wake surf.  Scott filmed me because he was sure I was gonna fail.  I don't know if he was disappointed or impressed.  

Tyler finally got the hang of wake surfing.  He had a rotten attitude about it towards the beginning of the trip.  Finally he decided that he was going to just do it and had some pretty good runs.  

Heidi picked up wake surfing pretty easily

Kira did not really master wake surfing.  She kept a good attitude though.  

I taught Scott and Tyler how to drive so they could pull me.  Scott thought it was stressful.  My parents' Mastercraft does not handle well at idle.  

We visited the Grand Canyon on the way back.  Somehow when I was a kid it seemed more impressive.  It is an amazing place though.  

 

 

It was a fun trip.  A lot of driving, a normal amount of fighting, no major mechanical problems and no health scares.  I'm glad to be home.