Round the Bay Relay

A group of us participated in the 36.8 mile Round the Bay relay on Saturday. This is a run that circles Choctawhatchee Bay. A friend of mine had a team that needed a runner, and since I have been running, they graciously allowed me to be on their team. Even though the weather was not ideal (ok, it was sh*t), but we still had fun. We all met at the Elks Lodge on Okaloosa Island at 6:00 am on Saturday morning.

Obviously that is me. Nick (the guy in the beard) is a painter and has done a lot of work on our house over the past few years. The other three are siblings: Diana, Katie, and Andrew. I know Katie because our boys swam together on the Choctaw swim team. I met her siblings for the first time on Saturday, and everyone was a blast to be around. Andrew and Katie ran the first two legs in a driving rain and into the wind. I ran the third leg across mid-bay bridge, and then we all decided to have some mimosas (and this became somewhat of a theme).

After another leg, we had more.

We had to stop for some donuts at one point.

But eventually, we found our way back to where we started.

We were the 5th place relay team (we were the Pacemakers). Note the people with a U next to their names are the psychos that ran the even by themselves. And yes, it is sad that a team of seven lost to three individuals, but oh well :-)

Afterwards, there was a nice party, but around one, I was ready for a nice nap :-) Here's hoping I get invited back for next year!

Christmas 2024

 Another Christmas has come and gone, and like many previous Christmases, we were very blessed this year. The weather was beautiful on Christmas Eve, so Ashley and I headed out to Okaloosa Island and checked out the beach. There were some yahoos swimming; obviously from out of town. We opted to stay dry, but we had a nice moment.

We didn't do much on Christmas Eve. We went to church and enjoyed the music, and then we watched Christmas Vacation. But we watched the version on HBO so we could enjoy all the cussing and swearing that is fitting for this time of year :-) Our tree was festooned with lights, and we all went to bed eagerly awaiting the arrival of the fat man.

We woke up Christmas morning and opened a sh*tload of presents (sorry about the language--I blame it on that vulgar movie). Bode was nice enough to pose for a picture with his mother.

The dogs got some toys that they really liked as you can see by these pictures.

Nana and Papa also came over for a wonderful dinner. I should have taken pictures of the feast, but I did not (bad Jeffy). Bode and Ashley made a prime rib, and it was amazing. We ate of that for a few days, and it seemed to just get better and better as the days wore on.

We had a wonderful Christmas (even though the Steelers lost to the dreaded Chiefs). Ashley and I spent the rest of the week goofing off, while Bode spent an inordinate amount of time swimming as they have been having two practices a day. Merry Christmas to all!

Social Activities

In the lead up to Christmas, Ashley and I have been to a few social activities. The first was a Beer and Cookie night at a local brewery. We went with Derrick, Katie, Matt, and Sarah, all wonderful people we met from the Choctaw swim team. The brewery was giving four beers and coupled with a local cookie maker to also provide four awesome cookies. 

We also got invited to a pig roast by some of my pickleball friends at Ivy and Ale. The food was awesome, as was spending time with Randy, Dee, and a host of others.

We will definitely be going back to Ivy and Ale for a dinner--the food and atmosphere is great, and always good to know the owner :-)

Grand Master

As many of you know, I play chess and the highest rating one can achieve in chess is that of a grand master. Of course, this post has nothing to do with chess, as I am not a good player. However, I am a good runner, and Ashley and I along with some friends ran the Egg Nog Jog 5k this past weekend. We all did great with everyone collecting some type of hardware. Ashley managed to snag third in her age group. And yes, she is wearing a hat--it was cold out there!

Our friend, Katie, also ran the race. She snagged second in her age group.

Tim Tobik and his son, Carter, also ran the race. Tim is an old friend (and by old I mean he is old), while Carter is a young freshman home on Christmas break from the Air Force Academy. Tim took first in his age group, while Carter did the same in his.

I managed to come in first place amongst all men over the age of 50. Thus, I won the grandmaster title for this race, the first time I have ever won such a prestigious award. But note that Carter beat me--must be nice to be 19 and have all those extra red blood cells due to just returning from altitude :-)

We, of course, did a group photo.

You might be asking where Bode was. He had swim practice, and the boy-fish will always choose water over running :-) The fat man comes tonight. We are very excited!!!

National Honor Society

Despite Bode's best efforts to avoid studying, he somehow managed to get inducted into the National Honor Society. This big event was held on December 3rd. Most of the other kids got dressed up. Bode came straight from swim practice, so he is in sweats. But despite the less-that-optimal attire, we are very proud of Bode.

Bode just finished his last final exam for the year and will be out of school until January 8th. He has a lot of swim practices to fill the time. Perhaps he might even read a book, but maybe that is expecting too much :-)

Christmas Lights

In keeping with our tradition, Ashley and I went a little overboard with our holiday lights. We didn't get everything illuminated until December 1st, but rest assured, if you drive by our house from now until New Year's, you are in for a treat :-)

I did move a couple things around after I took the pictures to ensure everything could be seen from the street, and I think we currently have one set of lights that is out! I probably should get out there and do some trouble-shooting!

Bode Turns 17

Bode's birthday occurred on Thanksgiving. Uncle Dave, Teddy, and Charlie all came to down. We all did the Recycle Race, a 5k here in Fort Walton Beach. I was bummed because Uncle Dave beat me in the race and took first place in the over 50 category. We'll see if we invite him back :-) We also had a number of friends that ran the race, and we all took a nice picture during the post-race festivities.

Ashley made a great turkey and lots of awesome side dishes. The whole family came over, and we tried to get a few pictures. We also sang, but I think I failed to record this rendition.

The day after we all went to Goofy Golf and tried out our skills. I don't remember who won, but I know it wasn't me.

We also found some time for air hockey.

And we also had to get some family photos

We had an awesome Thanksgiving break; it was so great to see the Colorado Rankins.

Ashley Turns 54

We celebrated Ashley's 54th birthday. Here is a great picture of her with her cake.

We also sang (badly) to her.

Happy (belated) Birthday to our best girl :-)

Gravy Bowl

 Bode swam in the Gravy Bowl, a swim meet over in Pensacola a couple weeks after the end of the high school season. This is a great meet to swim fast in a lot of events. In high school meets, swimmers are limited to two individual events, so they can only get best times in a small amount of events. Right after the high school season, the swimmers are in great shape, and there really is no limit to the number of events a swimmer can swim. Bode swam seven events, and in six of the seven, he swam not only best times but also qualifying times for the Southeastern Swimming Championships in February. He swam the 500 free on Friday night and swam it in 4:52.40, a PR by over five seconds. He then swam the 200 fly, 200 free, and 100 back on Saturday. His times were 2:00.66 in 200 fly, 1:48.16 in the 200 free, and 55.16 in the 100 back, all fast enough to qualify for Southeasterns. On Sunday, he swam the 50 free, 100 free, and the 100 fly. The 50 free is the only even he did not swim a best time, but he wasn't far off from it, swimming in 22.79. His 100-free time also wasn't a PR, but he had already qualified for Southeasterns in this event. The highlight had to have been his 100-fly. He has been trying to get under 53 seconds for almost a year, and he finally did it at this meet. Below is the video.

His time was 52.85, and I could tell he was pretty happy with that. I don't have any good pictures from the meet; Ashley might on her phone, but I've given up trying to get files from there :-)

Swim Banquet and Accolades

So I guess I am still way behind in posting. I will try to do better and be like I used to do when I would post every week or so. Bode's high school swim team had their end-of-season swim banquet. The medley relay team was given a plaque to commemorate breaking the county record.

They were also recognized as the athletes of the week at their high school and all got nice certificates. Sadly, Bode didn't even tell us about this; we found out by Ashley seeing a Facebook post about it by one of the other mom's :-)

This marked the end of the high school season. The three other boys in the picture are all seniors, so we don't think they will be as successful next year, but this year sure was a ton of fun! The local paper even carried an article about the swim team on the front page of the sports section.

Bode swam in a big meet the weekend before Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for those pictures :-)

Third Book

I did finished my third book in September. The Cycle Trilogy is now complete, and if anyone wants some
holiday reading, you may find them here.

It is neat having THREE books on my shelf, although it is not like I have been so prolific that we are running out of room...

Perhaps I will write another one at some point...

Summer Fun

As always, we had a lot of summer fun on the water. We took the wave runners out a few times.

Bode is quite the daredevil.

Here is a good one of Bode and Ashley.

The dogs always like the time on the beach.

Here is a close up of the big girl.

We also had the threat of weather a couple times. We did put our storm shutters up for one of the hurricanes--better safe than sorry.

The water rose a little, but nothing that caused any real damage.

I wish I had more exciting things from the summer; Ashley has a bunch more photos on her phone, but I have gotten to the point where I just write those off--it's like they are in a black hole :-)

25th Anniversary

In September, Ashley and I celebrated ONE QUARTER OF A CENTURY of marriage. It is hard to believe we have been married for that long. I guess time flies when you are having fun. To celebrate, we went to an Auburn football game, and we also left Bode at home (he couldn't miss swim practice, and he is not a huge football fan, which makes Ashley wonder if he really is her child).

We spared no expense for our special trip. We stayed at a nice hotel, which happened to be the same hotel the Auburn football team was staying at, so we got to see some players wandering around the hotel. We had a nice room with a lovely view.

On game day, we went on a tour of the Auburn football facility. Ashely was in heaven and asked if she could move it. They have their hardware on display...

and have a pretty nice indoor practice facility.

They also have some graphic artist that does some type of imagery of the upcoming opponent. Auburn was playing the Bulldogs, so they had this imagery all through the building.

Before the game, we found the radio crew and got a picture. In the background are Ronnie Brown and Jason Campbell, stars from Auburn's 2004 undefeated team.

Because it was our anniversary, we paid for an on-field experience before the game. It was very cool to be on the field so close to the players. I felt like a dwarf.

I took some quick videos.

When the fans are screaming, it is very noisy.

We managed to get this picture. We like it because it looks like we are the only ones on the field and everyone is cheering for us.

We had a great time at the game. Auburn won, and you can't say that about a whole lot of Auburn's games this year :-( But we will still cheer them on the rest of the year, although we are excited about basketball season--Auburn is ranked in the Top 5!!!