Nearing Completion

The carriage house is almost done...sort of.  We estimate it's about 85% complete--all the major construction pieces (other than the pouring of the driveway) are done.  Most of the interior has been painted, as have the trim around the windows and baseboards (although there will be some touch-up required).  We still have to have the outside painted (the color will be very similar to the color that's on siding), the bathroom tile needs to be installed, the kitchen cabinets need to be installed, the switches and lights need to be wired in, and then flooring needs to go in.  While this sounds like a lot, it's not too labor intensive; it's more of a waiting game for the supplies to arrive.  But before we have any pictures of the carriage house, I thought I'd show a nice picture of Joey who's been surviving in the heat.

 The outside hasn't changed much, but the brick is all done, and the crew cleaned up the grounds around the exterior.

 This is the garage; the walls and ceiling are painted, and the trim around these windows is done.

 The door going up the stairs was installed and it looks great.

 This is the view just on the other side of the door in the previous picture looking up.  Note the trim is installed around the various items.

 Note the trim around the windows, the floor, and you can see the shelves in the closet.  The doors were installed, but the painter removed them to do some painting.

 Here's a look from the far side just next to the front windows.

 The bathroom is painted, and just needs the tile to be installed.  The vanity and commode have been delivered, and I think we are just waiting on the shower hardware.

 This is where the kitchenette will be; the door is to a large pantry and storage room, which will also house the furnace/air conditioner and the water heater.

 This is the front side of the structure that faces the street.

 This is the back; the door leads to the stairs that either go up to the apartment or down to the garage.

 This gives you a better view of the back-side stairs; the railing still needs to be installed.

 Below is what we see from the front-door of our house; it's not a bad looking place.

Here's hoping the next update shows a little more of a finished product :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Baywatch Bode

Bode was at the Okaloosa County Junior Lifeguard camp all of last week.  He got to spend seven hours a day on the beach--he probably doesn't realize how good he has it, as Ashley and I told him we'd love to do this all summer.  But it's not all fun and games; these kids are working.  The county does a good job posting pictures to their Facebook page, which is where I got the pictures below.  These aren't in sequential order by any means, so I'll just try to relate to you what Bode told me about the pictures.  They do make the kids workout--push-ups, swimming, and a lot of running back and forth on the beach.  I think they might even have to run four miles tomorrow!

In the below picture, Bode is the boy closest to the front (his form is far from perfect...)

In the running picture, Bode is NOT the boy leading the pack; he's back towards the middle--no need to show off, as he says.

 

The kids also learn some actual life-saving stuff--they don't get certified in CPR, but they are shown the basics with some of the CPR dummies and know how to use the boards; Bode looks less than enthralled. 

 The beach time has to be the best part of the day, and they gets lots of it.  They need to drink a lot of water and use a lot of sun screen because it was so hot last week, and just as hot this week (it's a two-week camp). 

I wish I could embed the Baywatch theme song for this next picture, as it's Bode running out with his life-saving buoy.  He'll be starring in his own TV show in no time.

I don't know if Bode is in this picture, but I included it because Bode has said the kids and the lifeguards swim out past the end of the pier; this picture does a good job of showing how far out that is.

 Here's one final shot of the kids lying in the sand.  I think Bode is the fourth kid from the front.

You can see all the pictures if you use the google and search for Okaloosa county junior lifeguard program and go to their Facebook page; I got all the ones of Bode, but these pictures show you more of what the kids having been doing.

Swim Test

Bode is scheduled for a junior lifeguard camp starting on 13 July.  We are hopeful it will go as scheduled, but who knows with how things are currently going.  In preparation for the camp, Bode had to do a 200-meter swim test in the ocean.  I'm sure it's a little different swimming out in the waves, but the little man did great.  Here's Bode getting ready to go; the guy on the board out in the ocean is where he had to swim.

Here he is in mid-swim.

And here he is coming out.  The beach doesn't look too crowded, but I assure, to the left, the beach was packed.

The carriage house is really taking shape.  The brick is just about done, with all that remains is the final brick layer that borders between the siding and the brick. 

The interior is almost ready for paint; I believe Ashley has all the colors picked, and there are only a couple more days of finishing work before the color can go on the walls.

Joey and I were out on the dock this afternoon.  Every now and then some ducks swim by, and we think Joey might jump in one day and try to get one.

While we were out there, this boat drive by.  It's pretty slick looking, and I told Ashley we'd go out and get her one :-)

The boat was load--sounded like a NASCAR engine and looked like something from Miami Vice.  We aren't up to much, as things are packed here down in Florida pre-fourth of July.  We'll see how the week goes and whether or not we get locked down again.  Pleasant week to all.

South Carolina

We decided to break out from the quarantine and take a road trip up to South Carolina to see my father and his wife, Janet.  We made the trip in just over seven hours, which would have been much less had Bode not drunk so much gatorade in the car.  The golf was rained out the first day--it rained the night before, so the day was actually quite beautiful, but the course was water-logged, which forced us to spend some quality time at the pool.  Fortunately, we were able to golf the remaining days, and Bode even went with us.  Here's a picture of Bode and Mom; he's getting so big.  He didn't have any collared shirts that fit him, so he had to wear some of mine.

We aren't sure if Bode likes the golfing part of golf or the cart-riding part of the golf...but either way, at least he's outside.

He's actually hitting the ball quite well for never having taken a lesson or having someone that knows what they are doing teach him.

On one of our outings, we had some extra time to take some pictures, which all turned out real nice.

One of our golf-days was Father's day, so it was nice to get out and play with the old man.

You do have to be careful around the water hazards on these courses, as each pond has a gator or two swimming around.  Some are tiny, but some could probably cause you some worry.  We saw this one crossing the road and gave it a wide birth.

We spent a lot of time at the pool when we weren't golfing, but, as Ashley says, no one wants to see pictures of that :-)  We also went out to dinner a few times, and took more photos.  Bode was nice enough to ask, "Why do we need so many pictures?"  He's so difficult.

We had a very nice time in South Carolina.  We returned home today to a lot of wet and rain, so once I get the grocery shopping done, we'll probably hole up inside and watch a movie.  Pleasant week to all.

Bode's Band Achievement

There would have been an end-of-year band concert; at the concert there would have been a number of awards presented.  Unfortunately, all of these were cancelled due to the virus.  However, all band families received an email today with the annual award winners.  We're proud to say Bode was named an outstanding beginning band member.  The teacher determines the winner based on "classroom achievement, responsibility, initiative, and leadership."  We're very proud of our little trumpet boy.

There's a chance Meigs Middle School will have some type of band program this summer, but we aren't yet sure.  We did hear the Northwest Florida Symphony is going to have a week-long violin camp, so hopefully Bode can attend.  Otherwise, we are hanging out here in Florida expecting a lot of rain this weekend.

Summer

Bode successfully completed the 6th grade.  We're very proud that he earned all A's for the 4th quarter.  He worked really hard on the online learning modules, and some were quite challenging.  On one of the science tests, Ashley and I took it three times, and the best we could get as an 84 (I do think there were some shaky questions).  Now that he's a soon-to-be 7th grader, you might wonder how is he spending his time?  He's doing swimming and his music lessons, but he does spend a lot of time logged into the Oasis (reference Ready Player One)...

The carriage house is coming along amazingly well.  The roof was shingled this week, and all of the outer siding is done.

Internally, we have all the skeleton electrical work and plumbing, and all the insulation is installed.

Dry-wall is supposed to start tomorrow and go through the rest of this week; hopefully we don't have a hurricane hit us this weekend :-)

Bode has hit last meeting for the spring youth sinfonietta.  Their movie which shows all the individual students playing their pieices stitched together was debuted.  I don't have a copy of the movie, but it is posted on youtube.

https://youtu.be/h8gUv8tSfno

I had a wonderful birthday on Monday and did my own birthday workout--47 pull-ups, 47 thrusters, and then I ran 4.7 miles.  Ashley and Bode made me a wonderful birthday cake, and then on Tuesday, Bode and I went miniature golfing.  Bode and I played two rounds, and during each round, I got a hole-in-one on the last hole--into the snake's mouth--and earned a free game.  I probably should have purchased a lottery ticket.  Pleasant week to all.