Some PRs

Bode had a swim meet this past weekend.  These are early starts--it's about a 30-minute drive to Destin, and the warmup begins at 0700.  Here's Ashley at the pool deck after we have set up our little tent.  Note she's wearing a UWF top.

Once he completed his warmup, Bode rests and stays focused by staring at his phone--he was very excited because Verizon gave unlimited data to gulf-coast users due to the hurricane.  He was thrilled that he could "watch youtube videos at the park."

He made us retake the photo because his hair wasn't done...

Here's a movie of Bode starting the 100-individual medley.  He's the third swimmer from the left.

Here's the finish of the 100-IM--he finished strong, and he had a best ever time of 1:30--coming in, his best time was 1:40.

Next is Bode doing the 50-free.  He is third from the bottom.  Note he is in third place at the turn.  If you watch to the very end, you will see that Bode caught and beat both boys that were ahead of him--he really turned it on at the end.

He had a PR of :35 seconds (coming in,his best time was 38 seconds).

He also swam on the relay team--I think he's the fastest swimmer on the B-relay team.  Bode is probably one of the faster "middle" swimmers--there are some boys that are just incredibly fast.  Bode is not with them, but I think as he ages, he'll improve.  I've noticed Bode still has some "baby fat" in his belly, while these are boys are somewhat lean.  Once he his puberty and starts growing, I think this fat will quickly turn into muscle...then again, he could simply watch youtube videos and put on a hundred pounds of chunk :-)

Today, Bode swam the 100-freestyle, the 50-back, and the 50-butterfly.   He had best times in all--1:21 in the 100-free (a 9-second improvement), :46 seconds in the back stroke (a very small improvement, but improvement nonetheless), and he swam the 50-fly in 0:45 seconds (an 11-second improvement).  Here's Bode doing the 50-fly--it's hard to believe there is a 200-yard fly race (but not until they are a little older).  Bode is the third swimmer from the left.

Bode and Ashley also took a goofy picture.

After the meet, Bode (I) was exhausted, so we came home and took a nap (well, I did).  Bode is off tomorrow from school, so I think Ashley is taking him to get his haircut.  All is back to normal after Hurricane Michael (for us--Panama City is still a mess from what we hear).  Pleasant week to all.

Hurricane Michael

We had our first hurricane scare since we came to Florida.  On Monday, the computer predictions showed Fort Walton to be in the path, so we decided to so some preparations.  Bode's school was cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday (and today as well).  We woke up early Tuesday morning and put up the storm shutters.  After a couple of false-starts (we put them in wrong), we figured everything out and were done in about an hour.  We also took everything off the dock, because even though the storm was still more than a day away, the water was rising.

This is a shot of our neighbor's lot--she's a little lower than us.

Note the wave-runners are gone--we originally had them tied down, but with some of the predictions, we thought it best to get them out of the water.  We spent the rest of the day getting stuff into the house and doing final preparations.  It was still a very beautiful Tuesday night.

The dogs were oblivious and continued to fight in the backyard.

At the end of the day, Bode declared that we were ready.

The house was a little eerie with no windows open to the back yard.

We woke up to calm conditions on Wednesday morning.  It was only after Uncle Dave called did we realize the storm had been upgraded to a Category 4 storm.  Fortunately, all the predictions showed it hitting well east of us.  I went outside a number of times in the morning, and everything seemed fine--a little stormy, but nothing awful.

I also took a movie.

We did get some rain, and the wind picked up for a couple hours in the afternoon.  However, by the evening, things were back to normal.  Bode even ventured out on the dock.

Ashley and I took the shutters off the house, and enjoyed the sunset--the sky was an amazing color of orange and yellow.

We spent the morning cleaning up the yard--a lot of twigs and small branches.  We were very fortunate that the storm was east of us.  Bode's school is in session tomorrow, and Ashley and I will be back at work.  It's a beautiful day here--we both went for a jog, but we'll probably have to do some work for our jobs this afternoon (bah).  Pleasant day to all.

October

We have entered October--officially fiscal year 2019 if you are in government service or anything like that.  Hopefully you had a great fiscal new year's eve and made some fiscal new year's resolutions :-)

We have been in Florida for over four months, and we are into our routines.  We seem busy with our work and Bode's school and his activities, so the weeks seem to fly by.  However, it is important to stop every now and then and take in some of the nice scenery.  No, not Ashley in a bikini (we don't want to break the internet), but something almost as pretty...

It was a beautiful night tonight--temperatures are still above 90 during the day, which is just awesome.  Ashley and I even swam in the bay after work to unwind. 

The dogs are doing fantastic--Joey seems to enjoy being on the dock...

while Barkley prefers more pugilistic activities.

I did take a moving of the dogs play-fighting.  They look rather ferocious, but sometimes they need to be separated before things go too far.

Ashley and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary last week.  To celebrate, the three of us and Nana and Papa went to Japanese.

Bode is doing well--he spends his free time resting and relaxing after the rigors of 5th grade.

Ashley has her 30-year high school reunion this year.  Amazingly, she graduated high school when she was 9 years old, so she's still sub 40 (in our minds at least :-)  Funny how fast time passes...

Pleasant week to all.

More Water Fun

We (Bode and Ashley) took another water skiing / wake boarding lesson.  I am amazed at the progress of both.  We took a picture before we started.  The little dude keeps getting taller and taller.

Bode really has progressed.  He got right up on every try, and he even went outside the wake on both sides (no jumps though :-)  First, some action photos.

 

Next, let's check out Ashley--she's looking like a real pro out there.

Towards the end, Ashley wanted to try to flip her feet while in motion.  Here are some of her tries.  She didn't quite get it on her first attempt.

On this one, she did it the first time, but when trying to flip back, she lost it.

Next, some photos where Bode really looks like a professional skier.

Finally, a movie of Bode.  I had one of Bode skiing, but it was almost five minutes long and it was too big to load to this website.  This movie is of Bode's first run of the day.

We are resting (sort of) this weekend.  Ashley is doing some painting, while I did some yard work.  Perhaps I'll take a dip in the pool (bay) and cool off.  Pleasant weekend to all.

Orchestra

Bode joined a youth orchestra.  He gets up early during the week and practices for 30 minutes, and then the who ensemble meets on Sundays for a 90-minute practice.  I'm very impressed with how hard he works.  I don't think I was waking up early to do anything when I was 10.  Here are some actions photos.  Note Bode just got a haircut yesterday, so he's looking sharp.

Here's a different view.

Finally a closeup--note the intense concentration.

We also took a movie; this is the group's second practice together, so they still have work to do.  Their winter concert isn't until December, so I'm sure they'll be sounding amazing by then.

The conductor (Ms Liz) is very good with the kids--very strict, but she really knows what she's doing.  Bode has a lesson once a week with her, and she'll let him know if he's not up to snuff (no false platitudes from her :-)

All is well here.  We've settled into the school year, and things aren't that much different than in Colorado, with the exception that I raked the yard last night from ~6 - 7 pm and was covered in sweat when I came inside.  I think the high today was 90+, and we also swam in the pool (bay) this morning, which we probably wouldn't be able to do in Colorado.  But come December, we probably won't be snow-skiing either ;-)  Pleasant week to all.

5th Grader

Bode started at Longwood elementary a couple weeks ago--he is now officially a Longwood Leopard.  He showed no signs of worry about starting a new school.

He likes his new teacher, and seems to be getting along with his classmates.  He rides his bike to school every day and seems to like it.  We have an open house on Thursday night, so we'll get a better chance to see how he's doing.

The dogs are getting along just fine--here's a little movie of the two of them playing.

Bode and Ashley took another water-skiing/wake-boarding lesson.  Bode was very excited to go.

Here's a picture of Bode getting his skies ready.

Bode did amazing--he started off on the poll, and then moved to the back of the boat.  By the end of the lesson, he was able to get up without any problems on his own--he's quite the little skier!  Here are some action photos.

Ashley did awesome on the wakeboard.  Here's a movie of her showing off her skills.

Finally here's a movie of Bode going around the lake.

We hope to go back for a few more lessons, and then perhaps we'll get a set of skies for Bode and see how he does behind the waverunner.

UWF starts back to school on Monday; I guess the summer is really coming to an end :-(  Pleasant week to all.

Skiing Bode

When we lived in Colorado, a "Skiing Bode" post would have referred to a trip to the mountains.  Today, this last day of summer before Bode heads back to school, Ashley brought Bode out to this water-ski school in Walton county.  Apparently, the instructors are world-class--the guy that drove the boat holds several world-records in ski-tricks.  He also was a fantastic instructor and quickly got Bode up on some skis.  First, here's a picture of Bode in his vest.

Next, here he is getting on the boat.  The other kids were phenomenal skiers--they came down for a week of lessons from Pennsylvania.  One of them was doing flips and all sorts of things.

Bode used a tow-bar to get up.  He first used the bar, and then he used the rope attached to the bar.  Next time we bring him out for a lesson, he'll use a rope behind the boat.  Here are some good movies.

Next, here's one of Bode starting from in the water.

He then switched over to the tow rope.  On this first one, he had some problems.

Finally, here's a good one of Bode popping right up.

As I said before, today is the last day of summer vacation.  We met Bode's teacher on Friday--Mr Welch, and he seems like a very nice man.  I started back to work last Wednesday at the University of West Florida--I don't think my picture is up on the faculty profile page, but at some point, my info should be able to be seen here.

What an incredible summer--we are very grateful to have made the transition to Florida without any major mishaps.  We said before we moved that as long as the three of us, and the two dogs made it, we could adapt to anything else.  Bode also wanted his fish (Barry) to make, which he did.  For about three weeks, we thought Cisco (the snail) was no more, but just recently, he reappeared in the tank (we've no idea where he was hiding).  Here's hoping for a great start to the school year.