Frosty 5k

Ashley and I did a 5k yesterday morning--the Frosty 5k, and with all the snow we got on Tuesday, it actually felt a little Frosty. Ashely and I both took home some hardware. She won first in the 50 - 54 women's division, and I even got a picture of her.

Amazingly, I won the over 40 division for males, so that was pretty cool. Here was a picture of me from the race website.

That was about 100 meters from the finish, so I was pretty tired at that point. Ashley and I did take a selfie.

Here are the official race results.

Sadly, we both got a little ill this weekend. I think I got the worst of it with a fever of 102 or so. We both have a little head cold, but I think after a lot of sleep yesterday, we are both feeling a little better. Pleasant week to all.

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Winter Storm

In all of my time in Fort Walton Beach, I had never really seen snow down here. I think we had flurries once, but nothing that stuck to the ground. This all changed last Tuesday when we received between two and four inches of snow. It was quite crazy, and the whole city shut down for the week. Classes were canceled Tuesday - Friday--a bit overkill I think, but there really is no way to clear the roads here. We, of course, took some pictures. First, this is Tuesday afternoon. The snow was starting to pile up and the road was covered.

I also took a movie of it snowing; not sure how well it shows up, but it felt like we were in Colorado.

I also took a picture of the table on our patio. Looks like quite a lot of snow has piled up.

I was also bold enough to try to make a snow angel.

The next morning, we took some more pictures, and we were all amazed how much snow we received.

We probably should have done the polar plunge, but none of us was brave enough to do that. Even Ashley came outside, but only briefly.

Temps are forecast to be up in the 70's this week, so thankfully it appears that winter is over :-)

New Sea Wall

For Christmas, Ashley and I decided to treat ourselves to a new sea wall :-( It is sort of like a new roof: it's expensive, you need it, but it certainly isn't something that is fun and exciting for the family. However, we bit the bullet and had it done, and I must say we are very pleased with the results. First, here is a picture of the work in progress. Note how much higher up the new wall is compared to the current level of the sand (about 18 inches).

Here is a picture of the big backhoe with the new wall already in place. You can see the original wall in front of it.

At some point, they started bringing in truckloads of sand.

Eventually that had enough sand and levelled it off.

They also built a nice set of stairs to get down to the water.

Barkley seemed to enjoy rolling around on the new beach.

Because we put this new sea wall in, we are bound to get a huge hurricane come through here this year :-( Here's hoping for a nice tame season!

Polar Plunge 2025

Bode and I did the polar plunge this year (after not doing it last year). Ashley was the filmographer and took some movies and pics. It was a balmy 60 degrees, so certainly not cold, but the water was a bit chilly.

Ashley then took videos of each of us jumping into the water. I wussed out and sort of eased into the water, and I found it to be quite cold!

Bode looked far better entering the water and didn't have the weak reaction that I did.

Here's to a great start to 2025! Now if only the Steelers can win this weekend :-)

Ringing in 2025

We hosted a New Year's Eve party at our house. We had a large crew--the Kings, Radkas, Smiths, and the Williams all came to enjoy some festivities. On our way back from Alabama, Ashley and I bought some fireworks. Bode and I (with an assist from Sarah) lit them off on our dock. I think this was our big finale.

There were also some goofy pictures.

As well as some nice ones.

And a good one of the girls...

And one with the guys.

And I don't think I was supposed to be in this one.

We managed to ring in the new year, although we did do it on eastern time :-) Happy 2025 to everyone!

Auburn Basketball

Ashley and I went to Auburn for the Auburn vs Monmouth basketball game. In case you don't know, Auburn is currently ranked #2 in the nation, and they have a wonderful team. The Monmouth game figured to be a blowout, so we were able to score some great seats. We left Bode at home to take care of the dogs, and we left Monday morning. We arrived early to Neville Arena and we happy the weather was pleasant.

We were right by the player's entrance, and as we were standing in line, a lot of the players showed up. Some have fancy cars. We were able to see player of the year candidate Johni Broome, Auburn's 6'10" stud. Here he is walking to the arena.

Our tickets included access to the scholarship club, so we got a nice pregame meal. Everything but alcohol was included. Ashley and I bought beers, but that was $20, so we then resigned ourselves to the free sodas :-)

The game was close for the first fifteen minutes. Then, Auburn scored eighteen straight points and we up by as many as forty points in the second half. There were some amazing dunks, so we had a great time.

We stuck around after the game and watched the coach do his interview as well as some of the players. We were probably the last people in the arena.

As always, we had a wonderful trip to Auburn. SEC play starts on Saturday. Auburn is 12-1 and have played a very difficult non-conference schedule. Hopefully they continue to play well!