Final Post of 2021

 It is hard to believe another year has come and gone.  As with all years, there were ups and downs, but we are forever grateful to have each other.  Somehow, we didn't get school pictures this year.  I think Bode failed to give us an important take-home document, but we'll let that slide.  The little man does love his big girl and she loves him right back.

The weather was great today, so much so that I played pickleball for two hours.  Afterwards, Ashley, Bode, and I played Goofy Golf and went to the Waffle House.  The New Year can't get here soon enough, as I plan to return to my healthy-eating ways and attempt to shed a couple of pounds :-)  Happy 2022 to all!

Christmas Peas

 The weather has been wonderful here these past two months.  I planted some peas in November just to see if they would grow.  To my surprise, the peas did better than they did in the summer. I am starting to realize that unlike Colorado, the middle of summer isn't really the best time to grow certain things.  I grew peas earlier this year.  They grew great for awhile, but in early June, they all died for some reason (maybe the heat?)  I picked these and we had some at dinner--they were fantastic!

I haven't been shaving for a couple weeks (gotta love being retired from the military.)  I've perfected my evil villain look.

There is a lot of grey in the beard, so I shaved it off; Ashley hates it when I look like this.

And hate is not the correct word; she won't even talk to me when I have a mustache; thus, I had to shave for the sake of domestic harmony.

We are not doing much this week--Bode will do swim practice, Ashley will go to the gym, and I will play a lot of pickleball...and I think we'll probably clean the house before we ring in the new year!

A Merry Christmas

 We had a wonderful Christmas.  On Christmas Eve, we had our tree all lit up awaiting the arrival of the fat man.

Thankfully Santa cleared the COVID protocols and was able to make his deliveries to our house.  Barkley was pleased to have a number of new toys in her stocking.

She also received a new blanket from our neighbor.

Bode also got a new blanket to keep warm under during the cold Florida winters.  His blanket is musically themed.

We got wonderful presents from all of our family and extended family members.  Bode was thrilled when he received a new Xbox; he told us he was surprised because he heard they were difficult to get.  I told him Santa can get lots of things, to which he replied, "Well he isn't real," and then proceeded to thank Ashley and me and give us each a hug :-)  

We had a lovely dinner at JoAnne and Frank's.  Olivia, Jason, and Jay were there as well, so we had a nice family gathering.

Bode even posed for a picture with his grandparents.  Looks like he's taller than Papa.

We lounged around the house the rest of the day.  Bode played a new game on his Oculus.  What you see on the computer screen is what he sees inside his headset.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, although Ashley and I discussed that there are only four more Christmases until Bode graduates from high school.  This is both exciting and a little sad, but we figured he'd grow up when we had him fourteen years ago :-)  Merry Christmas +1 to all!

Auburn Basketball

 We took a fun trip up to Auburn to watch the men's basketball team (ranked #12 in the nation) play the Murray St Racers.  We drove up and checked into our hotel before the game.  Bode was grateful the room had Wifi as he had gone the entire 3-hour trip without seeing a Youtube video.

Once we refreshed ourselves after the drive, we headed over to campus.  We stopped for some pictures, first in front of Samford Hall and the Auburn Christmas tree.

We then headed to Toomer's Corner for a lemonade and stopped for another picture at the campus entrance.

We then headed over to the arena and watched the teams warm up.  We were excited when Bruce Pearl entered the arena.

I took a lot of videos in hopes of getting some good plays.  It seemed that every time I recorded, Auburn turned the ball over.  Still, I did get this dunk.

I tried to get a selfie during the game; Bode wasn't cooperating, and apparently I couldn't get my big head into the frame.

I did get (sort of) a pretty cool movie.  In this next clip, Auburn had the ball, but they had the ball deflected way into the backcourt.  The shot-clock was winding down (you can hear me saying, "Shoot it! Shoot it!")  The shot is taken out of the camera view, but it was from beyond half court.  I remember feeling disgusted because I thought it was going to be another Auburn turnover; instead, the shot swished in.

Fortunately despite all the turnovers, Auburn won rather easily.

Bode was amazed at how tall the players are--he said TV doesn't do justice to their actual heights.  In the photo below, #10 is 6'10" while #13 is over seven feet tall.

We had a wonderful trip up north.  We returned home to beautiful weather.  Ashley and Bode took the waverunners out today; it is crazy that Bode can now legally drive them on his own--he even has a license to prove it :-)

The jolly fat man should visit our house tonight (no, I'm not talking about myself).  Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

Meigs Band Concert

 The Meigs Middle School bands performed their winter concert on Tuesday night.  Bode plays in both the Symphonic Band as well as the Jazz Band.  They did six performances in all, but we didn't record everything.  We did record three of the Jazz Band songs.  First up was their version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Next, they played A Jazzy Merry Christmas.

Finally, here they are playing White Christmas.

The Symphonic Band performed versions of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, Silent Night, and Sleigh Ride.  It was a wonderful night of music.  I did get a couple pictures.  First, here is Bode having a jolly time between numbers.

And of course, we had to get a picture of Bode with his mother.

This marks the end of the winter music season; we look forward to some much needed rest :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Winter Orchestra Concert

 The Youth Symphony had their Holiday Magic concert last night.  It was a wonderful night of Christmas music.  We arrived early and got a good seat.  Here is Bode relaxing before the start.

After some quick introductions, the symphony played their first piece called A Festive Fanfare.   I apologize for the focus on this first video--damn camera from circa 2006.

The next piece was entitled There's Christmas in the Air.  The focus on this is much better and has a jazzy flavor.

Between pieces, Aaron (the conductor) recognized some of the musicians in the orchestra.  You can tell how thrilled Bode is when he stands up :-)

The final prepared piece the orchestra played was A Christmas Festival. 

They even did an encore--they did part of the 1812 Overture.

After the concert, we took some pictures.

We are very proud of how hard Bode works at his violin.  We are looking forward to the spring already :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Christmas Lights

We have completed the exterior illumination for the season.  We are still working on the interior and hope to get our tree up this week.  Our neighbors have all told us how much they like our lights, which is sort of sad--we do have lights up, but we don't think we are extreme in any way; just festive :-)  Below are some pictures working from left to right.

I also took a movie.  I was going to sing some holiday tunes while filming, but I don't think that would have helped.

The Meigs band is marching in the Fort Walton Christmas parade tomorrow; the weather forecast is nice--should be in the 60s and calm; gotta love Florida in December :-)

14 Years

Bode turned 14 today; he can now legally operate a personal watercraft (e.g. a waverunner) on his own.  He took the online course and passed the boating safety test, so I guess that means he's water-legal :-)  To celebrate, we would have taken the toys out, but it is just a tad too cold for the water activities (at least that is what we are telling Bode :-)   

We started the day by opening presents and playing ring with Barkley.

Bode got some cool t-shirts and apple earbuds plus some hard currency from very generous relatives and friends.

We didn't do anything exciting during the day; I wish I could say we had huge plans, but we are sort of lame; plus, his birthday being right after Thanksgiving makes it hard to want to go out for a big dinner :-)  Still, we did get a wonderful cake--chocolate decadence, and Ashley and I sang the tune without paying any licensing fees to Warner/Chappell music; don't tell anyone.

Bode is quite the strapping young man.  

He's just a hair shorter than me, and at the last weigh-in, he topped the scales at 163 pounds.  He's also lifting quite a bit in gym class, which means I better start hitting the weights or he'll quickly surpass his old man.  It is hard to believe in one year, I could be taking him out for his first driving lesson.  Yikes.  Pleasant week to all.

Thanksgiving and a Birthday

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week.  Grammy was down for a visit, and Bode enjoyed having his other grandmother in town for the week.

I didn't take many pictures, and I should have done a better job planning a family photo.  I did get this weird one of Ashley--she's probably giving her critique of the peach cobbler she made (it was not good, but definitely not her fault--the recipe needs to be thrown out and burned.

JoAnne and Frank brought Ashley's and Bode's combined birthday gift.  Here are the two of them trying to figure out how to get the box open.

Nana and Papa got them a cool dart board for our new game room.  I think we just need to get a piece of cork-board to mount behind it--I'm not saying we're bad at darts, but I imagine we'll have a few throws where we completely miss the board :-)

Grammy left on Friday, and then on Saturday, we celebrated Ashley's birthday with a trip to the Goofy Golf and the Waffle House (she's an easy date).  We then hoped like hell for an Auburn win in the Iron Bowl, but they lost in 4 OTs... :-(  Still, Ashley managed to put on a happy face when she blew out the candles on her birthday cake.

And for those of you who are blog aficionados, yes, that is the same shirt Bode had on in his band pictures.  Bode and I even sang (badly) to Ashley.

Ashley's is now the big LI (in Roman Numerals).  She doesn't look a day over XXXIV.  Pleasant day to all :-)

First Chair

We received some great news last week.  Bode tried out for the All-County band.  Amazingly, Bode was selected as the first-chair for trumpet, which (I think) means he was deemed the best of the 15 or so other trumpeters that auditioned--well done young man!  Ms Tordi posted the achievement to the band's Facebook page:

What's actually kind of embarrassing is Bode also made the All-State band; this announcement was done a few weeks ago, and Ms Tordi also posted to the band's Facebook page. 

Why do I say this is embarrassing?  Because Bode is wearing the SAME SHIRT in both pictures even though these pictures were taken weeks apart (note the big change to Grace's hair...)  I guess we should get him some shirts for Christmas :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Joey

 We had to say goodbye to Joey today.  It was almost eleven months since he was diagnosed with cancer and we were told he had "weeks to months" left.  We are so grateful for our time with him.  He was the absolute best, sweetest dog, and we can't believe he is gone.

Barkley is really going to miss Joey.  She has only been away from him for less than a week since she's lived with us.  I wish I could explain things to her; the best I could do was to play this song for her because I think it describes how she (all of us) are feeling.

So long, Joey.  You were our best friend, and we love you so much.

Jun 2013 - 20 Nov 2021.

All-State

 We received some wonderful news last week.  In September, Bode auditioned for the Florida All-State Middle School band.  He had to play scales, do some sight-reading, and perform two pieces for a group of judges.  Kids from all across the state did this.  The results were published last week, and Bode was selected!  Pretty cool for him.  He gets a trip to Tampa Bay in January for four days where he will rehearse with the other members of the All-State band, and then they will perform for the Florida Music Educator's Conference.  One of us (or both) will go with him, so it should be a fun time.

The Meigs band did a tribute to veterans this week.  We asked Bode if there was anything special planned for the concert; of course, he told us no, but when we opened the program, we saw this:

At the very top, you can see Bode was scheduled to play Taps with two other trumpet players.  I think they played very well--Bode called it a Taps Echo.

They played a number of nice selections.  Here is America the Beautiful.

Nana and Papa came to the concert.  I tried to get some pictures, but Bode is definitely a teenager when it comes to taking pictures, so this was the best I could do.

To celebrate Bode's All-State selection, we took him to his favorite restaurant, Magnolia Grill.  I got a picture of Bode as we were going inside--I don't think he was thrilled with having his picture taken :-)

I tried to get some shots inside the restaurant, but the lighting was too low; below is the best I could do.

Bode got the filet mignon and loved it.  

The weather is getting cold here--it was below 50 when I woke up this morning!  Brrr...

Happy Halloween!

 Apparently, Bode is now "too old" to go trick-or-treating.  I figured he wouldn't want to dress up, but I think Ashley was hopeful the big man would have a change of heart.  Sadly, he did not :-(  I think he also told Ashley that "8th-graders don't have birthday parties."  He did, however, say that 8th graders will still expect presents.

To help cheer Ashley up on one of her favorite holidays, I put on a costume and walked around the neighborhood with her.  Here we are all dressed up--I'm the one in the Squid Games guard outfit.

Friday was middle school night at Choctawhatchee High School.  The 8th-graders in the Choctaw feeder middle schools were invited to the football game to hang out with the band and get a taste for big-time band performances.  Bode said he really liked it and had fun, although he did say it was tiring standing most of the game.  Below is a video of the band's halftime performance.  We have four years of this to look forward to, so we are very excited :-)

November starts tomorrow, which means only a few more days until some of the local radio stations go to 24-hours a day of Christmas music.  I am very excited!!!  Pleasant week to all.

Halloween Performance

 The youth symphony had their Halloween performance last night.  The weather was nice and warm...but extremely windy as the flags can attest.

Despite the wind, the show must go on, and it did.  I took a few shots of Bode during the sound-check.

They started just before 7 pm and opened with The Pink Panther.

I think the kids sounded great even if the wind is a bit overbearing on my camera microphone.  Next, the kids played Peer Gynt.  There are some soft parts of this song which are hard to hear on the recording, so I won't post it; needless to say, it was great.  After this classic, they played a Halloween Medley, and I am sure you will recognize some of the melodies.

When the performance started, the symphony director stated they wouldn't be doing their Danse Macbre piece due to the wind--it's a rather long piece which would require a number of page turns.  However, at this point, the wind actually died down, so they gave it the old college try.  I didn't record (I think Ashley did), but I did take some pictures.

The last piece of the evening was Michael Jackson's Thriller.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse (e.g. rain :-)  I think the symphony starts learning their holiday repertoire on Sunday.  Let's hope the wind stays away for that concert in December!

Swim Meet Part 2

 Day 2 of the latest swim meet was on Sunday, which means we didn't get much of a weekend in terms of sleeping in.  However, with Monday being a holiday...that neither Ashley nor I get off...at least Bode could catch up on his sleep.

His first event Sunday morning was the 100-back.  Here he is pre-race; note the laser focus.

Next, we have Bode at the start.

Bode swam a personal best in the 100-back by finishing in 1:08; shaving eight seconds off his previous best (to be fair, he hadn't swum the 100-back in awhile...)

Three races, three PRs...and at this point, Bode said he was tired, which isn't good when you have to do a 100-fly.  Bode did great, finishing, but his time of 1:06 matched his previous best.

I think he was ticked because Madsen (swimming in the lane next to him) beat Bode, and previously, Bode has beaten Madsen; always good to have someone pushing you :-)  Bode also swam the 100-free, finishing in right at 1:00, matching his previous best time, but I could tell he was dragging.

Auburn lost this past weekend, so Ashley has been in a foul mood; it is not looking good for her team, so it looks like six more weeks of winter for us :-)  Pleasant week to all!