November 2011
This was the month Karen's triplets turned five. Can you believe it? Karen arranged a great Army Party at a local park. There was camouflage face painting, an obstacle course, and a really funny tug-of-war that you had to be there to appreciate. Then we had a mostly quiet Thanksgiving followed by a trip to the beach for the next two days. Robert and Natalie bought a house and a car, and Robert began employment with Charter Bank. Whew!! Nothing like a few small purchases to help you sleep at night.

October 2011
Welcome Everett Dean Braden; Robert and Natalie's newest family addition. Everett was born on Wednesday, October 12 at 12:20 p.m. He weighed 7lb 5oz and was 20.5" long. Everyone was well, and Natalie and Everett were discharged from the hospital on Friday. Benjamin likes his new brother!

September 2011
September began with a few family days at the Bon-Aire Resort on St. Pete beach. This was our second visit to a place that Ellen led us to. A family-run, modest but nice place with renovated rooms.

August 2011
August was our trip aboard the Carnival Inspiration for a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Good times! Then Ellen and Tom came in town and we all got together to help Nanny move from her River Hills home. She'll now live in Indianapolis and hopefully come visit lots of times. August was also "go back to school" month so there were all the activities associated with getting all the grandkids ready - plus getting Sandra ready for her new third grade teaching position at Walden Lakes Elementary, a very good school.

July 2011
July was busy. We had Upwards Soccer, a great program, played indoors on a basketball court. Steve and Jay together coached two teams: The Rangers that included Savanah and the Blue Jays that included Seth. We also had the triplets over for swimming and other summer fun, including some trips to Busch Gardens. In mid-month we joined Robert, Natalie, and Benjamin for a visit to Paul and Dorothy Dunn on the Outer Banks and later in the month we had Robert, Natalie, Benjamin, and Nanny in for a nice visit.

June 2011
We don't usually post the monthly blog until after the month is over, but we'll make an exception for this month. You see, Natalie had her doctor's appointment on June 2nd. All is well. Plus: Guess what we all learned ...

May 2011
May was fun and included a two-day visit to the Hyatt over Memorial Day. During the month we also got to do a number of things with the grandkids: Seth ending his Little League spring season' Savanah ending her spring soccer season, Sydney singing with her class in a school pagent, the triplets enjoyng the pool and staying happy and active with their school. In England Robert and Natalie are wrapping up the highly successful Canvas campus ministry and are preparing to turn it over to new leadership; and they are also beginning to think of things to do upon their return to the U.S. Of course, Robert is in the job market, and he has his feelers out.

April 2011
For April we were happy to have Nanny come in from Indianapolis so we could share the joy of her 90th Birthday. We also got away to a place that Ellen had recommended: the Bon-Aire Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach. It was very nice and we'll certainly go back.

March 2011
We did lots of fun stuff in March, but the highlights of the month had to be visiting the Hunley's in Tennessee and the MacIvers in Colorado where we spent five great days again skiing at Copper Mountain.

February 2011
February was the end of basketball season for Seth and Savanah. The triplets continued with their YMCA sports programs. And Jay finally decided that it was time to get those lumps cut off his back. The surgery went well - but he complained that the doctor didn't roll him over and also take care of his stomach at the same time.

January 2011
We celebrated some birthdays at Universal Studios and visited Natalie, Robert, and Benjamin in England. This trip also included taking a car ferry overnight into France and seeing lots of things in the Normandy area. We had a fantastic time and made some wonderful memories.

December 2010
Continued youth sports. Lots of Bonnie humming Christmas songs. Another year of hauling 42 boxes of Christmas "stuff" out of the attic. Another "Girls Gone Wild" trip to New York that included, Bonnie, Sandra, Anne, and Savanah . . . and Junior's Cheese Cake. And, yes, the annual family trip to Perry's at Daytona Beach.

November 2010
November continued youth sports. The triplets continued with YMCA Bitty Sports and Seth continued with Little League Fall Ball. For Seth, this was his first experience against pitching from the other team (previously it was coach pitch) and he did well. He played a number of fielding positions and also pitched. November was also the month that Braden, Skyler, and Daylin turned four, and Nanny flew in from Indianapolis to help celebrate the occasion. Also Dad, Mom, and Anne celebrated Thanksgiving with a cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel. November ended with Seth and Savanah getting ready to play Upwards Basketball, where Steve will be their coach. Robert and Natalie again distributed Welcome Packets and continued reaching out to a new group of students. They had a fantastic Thanksgiving Dinner with 115 students attending. And did we mention that Robert is now helping to coach the Birmingham Lions (US-style) college football team?

October 2010
This was switch schools month for Sandra, Seth, and Savanah as they moved to Valrico Elementary School, where Sandra acepted a position teaching First Grade there. Yet another chance for Bonnie and Anne to excel in helping set up a new classroom; and they're getting to be pretty good at it. The tripletts got enrolled in the YMCA's Bitty Sports program: Three weeks of soccer, three weeks of flag football, and three weeks of T-Ball. We also took in the Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival down in the Bradenton area. Robert and natalie and their group signed the lease for a new Canvas House in Birmingham and found a temporay spot to hold their meetings and dinners while getting the facility ready.

September 2010
We enjoyed the last bit of summer with our annual trip to the Hyatt in Orlando. The facility is great: pools with slides, hot tubs, rock climbing tower, pitch and putt, canoes and kayaks, bicycling, volleyball, and - of course - s'mores by the campfire. Steve Roberts gets the pirate award for ramming his paddleboat into the canoe that Jay and Ethan (8) were paddling, knocking them both in the water. In England Robert and Natalie continued with finding a new home for Canvas and getting set up to reach the students at the University of Birmingham for its fall term.

August 2010
Thanks to Nanny we had another BradenClan Family Cruise - 17 of us on a ship for seven days visiting Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. Wonderful - but those unending buffet lines can really hurt you. This is also back-to-school month for all the grandkids, for Anne, and for Sandra. The triplets will be attending the Limona Village Pre-School, Sydney will be at the First Baptist Pre-School, and Seth & Savanah will be attending Valrico Academy (Charter) School where Sandra will be a new First Grade teacher there. Anne returns to her two Hillsborough County schools again as a Reading Coach, and she was very helpful in getting Sandra ready to go in terms of lesson plans and classroom materials. Of course Bonnie was in the thick of it helping get Sandra's classroom ready.

July 2010
We enjoyed our summer. Braden continued his Tae Kwon Do lessons; Savanah and Seth attended a one-week church basketball camp; we made some trips to the Adventure Island water park; and we went to Holmes Beach in the Bradenton area.

June 2010
One of the big events this month was the recital in Lakeland for Skyler and Daylin; the culmination of their Saturday morning ballet lessons. It was an excellent program. When Skyler and Daylin's class performed, the routine began with all the students on their marks and it included a part when the "butterflies" flew in a circle. Okay so far except that Skyler returned to Daylin's mark, a grevious error that Daylin pointed out to Skyler and to the 600 people in attendance, much to their delight. Karen's mortification was only overcome by the thought that a video of the scene would be a sure fire $100,000 winner on Funniest Home Videos. and she's looking hard for a copy.

May 2010
This month Anne travelled to England to visit Robert, Natalie, and Benjamin. Anne was there for Benjamin's first birthday celebration.

April 2010
We had a nice surprise for Spring Break: Robert and Natalie and Benjamin visited the U.S. and got to spend some time here in Tampa. Benjamin is walking!!!

March 2010
Savanah has now enrolled in the church's Tae Kwon Do program and Seth is playing coach-pitch baseball. Both are doing well. Braden, Daylin, and Skyler continue to do well in their activities. Not to be outdoner, jay and Bonnie - often joined by Sandra - are still playing Monday night volleyball.

February 2010
Hey, this is Florida so why is it so cold? Global warming has killed all the plants along the side of our house and in three other locations.

January 2010
Seth and Savanah are enrolled in our church's youth basketball program called Upwards. Braden is enrolled in Tae Kwon Do. Daylin and Skyler are enrolled in ballet. Yes, our free times are filled watching grandchildren and their activities, but it's fun.

December 2009
Robert, Natalie, and Benjamin got home for the holidays and we all had a nice Christmas. Then most of the family made our annual trip to Perry's at Daytona Beach.

November 2009
This month the triplets turned three! Can you believe it? They are wonderful kids. Another of the monthly highlights was bruises - from going to a Paintball Park. Lots of fun and we have the marks to show it!

October 2009
Bonnie and I celebrated her birthday for the second straight year with a cruise. This time it was a full seven days at the buffet table.

September 2009
Ah, football season. Great hopes for the 'Noles but Saturdays are becoming discouraging.

August 2009
This was our trip to Club Med Sandpiper at Port St. Lucie, mostly thanks to Nanny. There were more activities than we could find time to do and the food was great. We swam, tried archery, played the pitch and putt course, swung on a trapese, played kickball and water volleyball, competed in sand volleyball and water polo, and did many other things. The staff was friendly and the week went by too fast.

July 2009
We had a relatively quiet July. The Brandon Independence Day Parade is always fun. Bonnie and I set up early and we had a location for the kids to grab beads and candy. We also had another Steppin Stone Volleyball session on the 11th and made it to Holmes Beach in Bradenton for some good times.

June 2009
June was the month for our much anticipated trip to England to visit baby Benjamin. And Robert and Natalie, of course. We had a great time, getting to experience some of the activities of Canvas Hourse, visiting with Robert and Natalie, and getting to see some nearby sights. The week went by before we knew it. Some of our trips included the Chadbury Chocolate Factory, the sites and canals of downtown Birmingham, Warwick Castle, and Shakespeare's home at Stratford upon Avon. And, oh yes, holding Benjamin was the best part of all.

May 2009
May 27 at 7:17 p.m. England time. Seven pounds 13 ounces, 20 inches in length. Benjamin William Braden born to Robert and Natalie. Oh what joy! The trip to the hospital and the hours of hard labor were, as we understand in looking back, not all that stressful. We are all glad that everything went well.

April 2009
Trying to get serious about QL 20. Spent a number of hours writing the synopsis of the book as I hear some agents might want to see it. A synopsis is about one page in length for every 25 in the book. In writing the synopsis I realized that there were two places where I needed to tighten the book, and did so. Soon comes the hunt for an agent.

February 2009
Of course the highlight of the month was our Colorado vacation with the MacIvers. We also enjoyed watching Seth play soccer, Savanah and Seth playing basketball, the the triplets playing on their trampoline at their house.

January 2009
January was a time for setting New Year's resolutions. Unfortunately, it was also a time to review how well I did on last year's resolutions. Failed miserably, except that I did convert the screenplay, QL 20 to the first draft of a book. Now in the process of bribing family members to read and comment upon it. For those of you who are desperate publishers or have masochistic tendencies, here is Chapter 1.