Grand Prize.......Sea Monkeys!

My husband is a golf enthusiast. He has raised our son on the Golf Channel and Golf Digest magazine. This year, our son's Christmas included: a swing trainer, a golf hat, a golf shirt, a driving range pass and a Tiger Woods golf game for his gameboy. It is not unusual to walk in my living room and see two or three golf bags standing in a corner and two or three people swinging with reckless abandon. Two of my daughters have their own clubs and like to practice as well. One of my husband's brothers is a golf pro - this has no doubt added to the golf fever in our house.

I have banned hitting balls in the house. All of the golfers pleaded that they were only using foam balls - but I stand by my decision. Our back lawn is somewhat of a fairway with a green at the end. It is not a big back yard, but big enough for them to cut the grass at different heights and stick a flag in the end to practice. One of their favorite games is to "chip" their plastic balls at the different windows on the back of the house. I have been wanting to build a swimming pool for a couple of years now but I am fairly sure that the main reason that hasn't happened is that a pool would eat up too much of their golfing space.

In my husbands position at his company, and because of his love of all things golf - he is invited to play in several golf tournaments every year. He gets real excited about these events - he practices more, he reads up about the fancy golf course that they are playing and he tells me how unlikely it is that he will win anything. He usually comes home with some pens, maybe a golf towel or some other consolation prize emblazoned with the sponsoring companies logo. He also comes home with tales of the fabulous prizes that went to the winners: trips, flat screen TVs, thousands of dollars in gift cards to great stores or new golf clubs. But, sadly, he never wins.

Last month he played in the Arizona Concrete Contractors Association golf tournament with some people that he does business with in the building industry. His team won! He was so excited! They won! They waited until all of the players made it back to the club house, they had some dinner and then the awards were handed out. The prize for the winning team? Sea monkeys - brine shrimp. I am not kidding. The four members of the winning team were given a self sustaining mini aquarium of brine shrimp. Yahoo! He really hit the big time with that! Granted, the building industry has taken a fall this year - but come on!

I just keep telling Devon - keep practicing! Maybe someday when you grown up you can win yourself some sea monkeys just like Dad!