Another year has come and gone. Ashley and I spent the last two days in Auburn. We went early on Saturday morning so we could watch the Auburn football game in an Auburn bar...big mistake, as the team was just destroyed by Maryland. But we are happy to say the Auburn basketball team had a "rebounding" win against Tennessee Chattanooga, easily beating the Mocs 101-66. I took a number of pictures. First, here is Ashley in the parking lot with glorious Jordan Hare stadium in the background.
During the game, I tried to get a shot of Bruce Pearl, but none of my pictures came out very well.
After the game, we took a selfie with the court in the background.
We also took a shot of the scoreboard.
You might be asking, "Where was Bode?" Well, he had swim practices that he didn't want to miss, so we took the big risk and let him stay home all by himself. Yikes! Fortunately, the house was still standing and both dogs were still alive when we got home.
I don't really have any new pictures of Bode. However, I do have a funny one. A friend sent me this picture--she was taking pictures of her kids, and Bode decided to photobomb them.
We had a wonderful 2023 and are looking forward a fun-filled 2024. Happy New Year to all
We had a wonderful Christmas weekend. Bode had a couple days off from swim practice, so we got to hang out with him at the house much more than usual. He even went to church with us on Christmas Eve :-) We went to bed fairly early on the night before Christmas, as we wanted to give Santa plenty of time to bring in the mother load of gifts. I took this picture of our tree all lit up with the presents beneath.
We slept in until eight or so Christmas morning; even Bode was up early, but I guess when you have been getting up at 0600, an extra two hours of sleep isn't really early. We did pose for some obligatory photos. First, we have Bode, Ashley, and Barkley, while Rowdy is busy with a bone.
Next, a good photo of Bode and me.
We received some great presents--books, clothes, gadgets, some coin to spend on ourselves, and other odds and ends. We couldn't rest once the presents were opened because Ashley's family was coming over. We ordered a honey-baked ham, and Ashley also made a prime rib, which turned out great. JoAnne was nice enough to send me some pictures she took while over here. First, we have Rowdy and Jay.
Next, we have Bode with his cousin as well as Rowdy.
Here is a nice one of the Rankins.
Finally, a nice one of us before we feasted.
After we ate, I impressed JoAnne with some of my card tricks :-)
Ashley and I ran a 5k today--the Egg Nog Jog. Bode did not run because he is in the middle of two-a-day swim practices, and he didn't want to miss a training session. The race started early (9 am) on a bitterly cold morning (55 degrees). A number of our friends ran with us. Tim Tobik and his son, Carter, who is home from his freshman year at UCF, pried themselves out of bed after a late night last night; I would have stayed in bed, but they are more dedicated than me. It is always great to run with Tim--reminds me of a long time ago when we were both much faster and less greyer :-) Here is a nice shot of Tim, Carter, and me after the race.
The best part of the race is the free Buffalo Wild Wings that you eat AFTER racing (not before--that would be foolish). We all had a nice meal and some cake (and I think Tim and Ashley both had a few beers) while we waited for the awards to be announced. Ashley's friend, Jenna, was the overall female grandmaster winner (50+) while Ashley was first in the 50-54 female age group. She amazed herself by running a sub-28; last year, she was in the 29's so she, like a fine wine, is getting better with age :-)
Jenna is the gal in the middle; I don't know the girl on the right, but I think Ashley told me she works with Jenna and also took home some hardware in her age group.
Tim's niece, Kim, won the 35-39 age group, Tim got second in the 55-59 age group, and I also got second in the 50-54 age group. We then had to get a picture with all our medals; we did give Carter a hard time for not getting one, but to be fair, he wasn't a runner in high school, and there were some cross country kids that ran and swept up the medals in his age group.
This next picture is one I took a few weeks ago. It is almost impossible to recognize Bode when he's wearing a hat--it doesn't look anything like him.
The big fat man comes tomorrow night--we can hardly wait!!!
It is with a heavy heart that we post the final concert of Bode's musical career. Bode is retiring from the trumpet...I guess he just doesn't like it anymore; perhaps it's just not that cool to a 16-year old. We are sad that Bode wants to stop doing something that he is so good at, but forcing him to play the trumpet would create too much tension :-) Thus, Bode's final Sinfonia Youth Orchestra concert was Sunday night, and we were on hand to record all pieces. There are six total. We realize you are pressed for time, so if you want to watch only one, watch My Bonny Boy (the third movie below). The trumpet solo at the beginning is just Bode playing, and we think he sounds amazing, although we are a bit biased.
Sadly, you can't really see Bode in any of the movies; he is in the middle-back, and the conductor blocks him. Oh well--you just really need to hear a concert, right? :-) So without further adieu, on with the show. The first piece was Heatherwood Portrait by James Barnes.
The second piece was Seventeen Come Sunday.
The third piece was My Bonny Boy (Bode's solo is right at the beginning--the trumpet is him and him alone playing).
The fourth piece was Folk Songs from Somerset.
The fifth piece was Christmas Bells and Brass.
The final piece was The Polar Express.
I assume we'll have to pack up the trumpet and store it away. Hopefully Bode will start to miss it and want to play again. Until then, we will have to be content with watching the old videos :-)
Our neighborhood does an annual contest and judges who has the best Christmas decorations. I'm happy to say that the months of planning paid off and that we won! We came home today and found this sign in our yard.
If you can't make it out, it says "Best Overall." To commemorate this historic event, I figured out how to take better night-time pictures on my phone. The below pictures do a good job of showing what our house looks like when it is all lit up.
We can't rest on our laurels. We'll enjoy this while we can, but come December 26th, we'll be scheming about how to improve on our design and go back-to-back :-)
I've become quite the magician :-) Well, not really. I can do a couple tricks. I recorded them and sent to the family; my brother doesn't believe it and thinks I'm doing something tricky. I'll never tell :-)
I wish I could figure out how to rotate this next movie, but you can figure it out; if not, just watch it on your phone and turn off the auto-rotate feature.
The Auburn Tigers men's basketball team was playing Indiana in Atlanta this past weekend, so we took the opportunity to visit David and Cathy Bledsoe while also attending the big game. We headed up on Friday and arrived after seven. Bode and I woke up early Saturday morning and found him a pool so he could do a workout (heaven forbid he miss a swim). The game was in the early afternoon, so we left around lunch time. It started off poorly for the mighty Auburn machine, as they were down 20 - 10 early in the first half. However, they quickly turned things around and dominated from that point on. We did take some time to get some pictures. First, here is Bode and me.
Next we have Ashley and David celebrating the win.
Here is a goofy one of Ashley and me.
Finally a shot of the winning scoreboard :-)
We got back on Sunday and have realized we need to do some Christmas shopping, but before we did that, we had to watch the hilarious card that Ashley got Bode for his birthday.Happy shopping to everyone!
We had a couple birthdays this week. First, Ashley turned the big 5-3. Wow--she's old! But she still looks like a lithe 20-something :-)
Bode and I even sang Happy Birthday. We are grossly out of tune. An even scarier video is up next. We sang for Bode on his 16th birthday, but that video is on Ashley's phone, and it has proven to be very difficult to get files from it (even Bode couldn't figure it out). This video is the first time Bode drove without a parent in the car; here he is leaving for swim practice. Bode drove himself to school today, and is currently out in Destin at swim practice. It seems quiet in the house without him, but I'm sure he'll be wanting to talk to us when he gets home :-) Rowdy had a bad morning a few days ago...not sure what he was thinking.
Fortunately we were able to get the stuffing back into the pillows, so the overall damage was minimal. Still, maybe we need a new sofa...or perhaps a new car?
We have had a wonderful last two weeks (minus the Iron Bowl ending, but we won't discuss that). Bode had a big swim meet two weekends ago. He swam the best he's ever swum including an amazing 4:57 in the 500-free along with a 1:49.65 in the 200-free. Below is the video of this race (and I will post the video as soon as I get it off Ashley's phone).
He got sixth overall and was quite pleased with his time, although he did say he was dead afterwards.
We also had the end-of-year Choctaw swim banquet. Bode was the high-point swimmer for the boys (the swimmer that scored the most points at all the meets over the course of the season). Here he is with Coach Jasson and Coach Tifany.
The team also posed for a large group photo; the theme for the evening was pajamas, which is why everyone is so underdressed.
On Thanksgiving morning, Bode and Ashley ran a 5k (I played pickleball); I think Ashley won her age group, but we won't mention what that is exactly :-)
Ashley cooked a great turkey, and JoAnne and Frank came over and feasted with us (sadly, no pictures were taken). I did manage to find the time to put up some Christmas lights, and I think our house looks great. We are now sitting around watching some television and waiting for the work-week to start (boo). The dogs, for some reason, are wiped out.
This week will be a special one as two members of our family have birthdays! Stay tuned :-)
After the morning session, some of the adults went and bought a tray of sandwiches for the boys, as they needed fuel before the night session. Here's a shot of the boys shoveling food into their mouths before Coach Jasson told them to go to their hotel rooms and lie down.
Before we knew it, we were back at the pool. Here's a cute shot of Bode after doing a warm up.
Here's another picture of him working on his start.
The boys' first event of the night session was the B-final for the 200 Medley relay. As in the morning, Bode swam the butterfly leg, and he swam a best time of 24.38.It was a tight finish, but the boys managed to finish 15th with a best time of 1:44.20. Bode had about an hour break before the B-final of the 100-fly. He was hoping to break the 53-second barrier, but he said he was a bit tired after the long day. Ultimately, he finished 13th with a time of 53.38 (he said he was not happy with his start :-( Below is the video, and we could not be prouder of how Bode did this season. Here is a link to the overall results. Afterwards, we had time for a few more photos. First, the boys and their coach.
Next, we have a shot of Ashley, me, Bode, and Grandpa (Janet took the picture). Grandpa and Janet were nice enough to drive down from South Carolina for the big meet, and it was great seeing them and having them there although we do feel bad in that we didn't really do anything other than watch swimming and get ready for swimming. Nana and Papa also made the trip down, but I couldn't find any pictures :-(
We then headed back to the hotel for more food.
We had a great time at state, and we sure hope we can go back next year. We made it home safely to a couple dogs that were happy to see us.
It is hard to believe that Bode turns sixteen in a couple weeks :-)
Everyone safely made it to Ocala. The boys stayed at their hotel with the coach--we didn't plan ahead enough to book rooms at the same hotel, so I don't have any pictures from breakfast. We all made it to the venue, and Bode was nice enough to snap a picture with me after his warmup.
Our other coaches were not able to attend the meet, so I was lucky enough to get deck-access while Ashley was up in the stands. I tried to get some pictures of the boys, but I'm not a good photog. Here's a decent one of the boys and Coach Jasson before their first event.
The first event was the preliminaries for the 200 Medley Relay. The boys came in seeded 19th, and the top 16 make the finals, so they had some work to do. Bode swims the third leg (the butterfly), and he swam a very fast 50 (24.89 seconds).The results are usually posted quickly so teams know if they made the finals. However, these results took forever; evidently TWO teams DQ'd, and both teams were faster than our boys, so we ended up making the B-final by finishing 16th :-)
Bode had a bit of a rest before his first event (the 100-fly). He swam the fastest he had ever swum a week ago at Regionals with a time of 53.74. Here's his race. I was standing next to Coach Jasson, and we originally though Bode was going slow because the boy in lane 1 was beating him. However the boy in lane 2 had a much faster qualifying time than Bode, and he was keeping pace with him.
Ashley also got a good picture of Bode mid-swim.
Bode finished in a best-ever time of 53.14; he was 12th after the preliminaries and made the B-final! His next event was the 100-back. He swam a personal best of 57.03, but he ended up 19th (of 24) after the prelims, so he didn't make the B-final for this event.
The last event of the morning session was the 4x100 freestyle relay. Here are the boys staying loose before the race.
The boys came in seeded 19th, so we knew it was a long-shot for them to make the finals. Below is the video--Bode swam the lead-off leg, and he swam a personal best of 50.44.
All the boys swam the fastest they had ever swum, but the team finished 17th, 0.91 seconds behind the 16th place team. This ended the morning sessions. We were fortunate in that both Bode and Zach qualified for the B-final in their events (Zach swims the 50-free) as well as the medley relay. Thus, we had to figure out what to do for three hours before we had to be back at the pool. Stay tuned.
The big state swim meet was last weekend. It has taken me awhile to gather all the pictures and videos from our separate phones, but I think I now have everything I need in order to properly document the meet. The day before the meet, the team met at the high-school for a big send off and some obligatory pictures.
The athletic director does a great job of getting the other students to come out and support all the sports teams (I guess missing class is a nice motivation :-) The school had made a nice sign, and there were lots of kids out supporting the team.
Here is a shot of the boys with Coach Thigpen, the AD.
Finally, it was time for the drive-out. Bode is in the back-right seat of the van.
