7th Grade

 After almost six months, Bode returned to Meigs Middle School today as a 7th grader.  There are a number of safety protocols in place, and we will just hope things go well.  Bode wasn't thrilled about going back to school, but he didn't seem like he hated it.  He even got up at 0545 without anyone prompting him.  Before heading out, Bode took a picture with Ashley, who had just returned from the gym.

It's only a matter of time before Bode is taller than Ashley.  He definitely outweighs her, tipping the scales at just under 130 pounds.  He's pretty solid for a 12-year old.  

Here's to a great school year--we'll hope for the best and prepare for some hiccups along the way.  Pleasant week to all!

Inanimate Objects

 This will be a rather dull post, as there are no pictures of people or dogs.  A week ago, Ashley and Bode were involved in a minor fender bender.  She was in her little rocket sled and got dinged by a dump truck loaded with sand.  I don't think anything happened to the truck.  Thankfully, Ashley and Bode were fine, but Ashley's little car took some damage.  Here are some pictures.

The red truck behind the fence in the picture below is what hit her.  Note it is full of sand.

Ashley's car was taken to the hospital, err, body shop on Monday.  They've been very responsive and hope to have everything finished by this Thursday.  Ashley has been in a deep funk, as she's been stuck driving the 2002 Xterra as opposed to her little rocket machine.

We've been trying to make the best of the COVID situation.  We've done a lot of goofy-golfing.  Yesterday was Bode's first total victory over Ashley and me.  Below is a picture of the score card.

UWF starts classes tomorrow.  I'm doing mostly online lectures, but I do have some labs that are face-to-face.  We will see how long those last, as many think it's only a matter of time before the university has to shut down and resort to everything being online.  Here's hoping.

Bode Photog

 Bode is a published photographer!  Each day, our newspaper will publish a photograph of the "Pet of the Day."  Bode takes a lot of pictures of the dogs, so Ashley decided to send one it.  Ashley was notified yesterday that Bode's picture would be in today's paper.  We didn't tell him about it, so we filmed his response of seeing the picture in the paper.

We then took a nice picture of Bode and the paper.

Finally, here is a picture of the picture and Bode's tagline.

The Big 10 and the PAC-12 both cancelled their fall sports.  We are hopeful that the SEC will still play games.  Here's hoping!

Swim Meet

Bode's swim team had a swim meet today.  It was not a typical swim meet with swimmers from other teams.  Rather, Bode's team swam in Destin, and a team from Panama City swam the same events.  We didn't want to hold a large gathering of people, but we did want to give the swimmers a chance to compete, so this was a good compromise.

Here's a picture of Bode relaxing before his first event.

Next are some pictures of Bode doing the 100 individual medley.  His best time coming into the race was 1:25; he clocked a 1:19, and looked great.  Here he is getting ready--note the timers had to wear masks.

 Here's Bode doing the back stroke.

 Here's Bode doing the breast stroke.  We were very impressed with how much he improved with this stroke.  His coach had noticed his kick wasn't quite right; now, he's not the fastest breast-stroker, but he certainly didn't lag behind like he used to do :-)

Bode swam the 50-freestyle in 32 seconds, matching his previous best.  He was a little disappointed because he said he had swum 31's in practice, but the race did happen less than ten minutes after the 100-IM, so he was probably tired.  He finished with the 50-butterfly, and, amazingly, he won in a time just under 36 seconds, almost two seconds faster than his previous PR.

We aren't doing much today--it's now raining, and Ashley has been doing a lot of cleaning.  I guess I should go help her... then again, maybe I'll go play Mario Kart with Bode :-)

Bode Off the Pier

As part of junior life-guard camp, the kids get to jump off the Okaloosa County Pier.  It was a beautiful day, so Ashley and I went out to watch.

 The pier is about thirty feet up, so it's a bit of a jump to the bottom.

 Before coming over to the pier, the crew was finishing up a run on the beach.

After the run, the kids came out to the pier.

The head life-guard gave the kids the instructions.  They were to have their arms over their heads so they'd enter the water nice and straight, and once they surfaced, they were to give the all-clear sign, which is a pat on their head.  After some nerves, Bode got up the gumption and decided to jump.

After the jump, the kids swam out and hung in the water while everyone else jumped.  A few kids weren't able to do the jump, so we are very proud that Bode was able to do this.

A few more days of camp; not sure if they'll be able to do much because there is a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico which might make the surf unmanageable.  Here's hoping.

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.