Joey

 We had to say goodbye to Joey today.  It was almost eleven months since he was diagnosed with cancer and we were told he had "weeks to months" left.  We are so grateful for our time with him.  He was the absolute best, sweetest dog, and we can't believe he is gone.

Barkley is really going to miss Joey.  She has only been away from him for less than a week since she's lived with us.  I wish I could explain things to her; the best I could do was to play this song for her because I think it describes how she (all of us) are feeling.

So long, Joey.  You were our best friend, and we love you so much.

Jun 2013 - 20 Nov 2021.

All-State

 We received some wonderful news last week.  In September, Bode auditioned for the Florida All-State Middle School band.  He had to play scales, do some sight-reading, and perform two pieces for a group of judges.  Kids from all across the state did this.  The results were published last week, and Bode was selected!  Pretty cool for him.  He gets a trip to Tampa Bay in January for four days where he will rehearse with the other members of the All-State band, and then they will perform for the Florida Music Educator's Conference.  One of us (or both) will go with him, so it should be a fun time.

The Meigs band did a tribute to veterans this week.  We asked Bode if there was anything special planned for the concert; of course, he told us no, but when we opened the program, we saw this:

At the very top, you can see Bode was scheduled to play Taps with two other trumpet players.  I think they played very well--Bode called it a Taps Echo.

They played a number of nice selections.  Here is America the Beautiful.

Nana and Papa came to the concert.  I tried to get some pictures, but Bode is definitely a teenager when it comes to taking pictures, so this was the best I could do.

To celebrate Bode's All-State selection, we took him to his favorite restaurant, Magnolia Grill.  I got a picture of Bode as we were going inside--I don't think he was thrilled with having his picture taken :-)

I tried to get some shots inside the restaurant, but the lighting was too low; below is the best I could do.

Bode got the filet mignon and loved it.  

The weather is getting cold here--it was below 50 when I woke up this morning!  Brrr...

Happy Halloween!

 Apparently, Bode is now "too old" to go trick-or-treating.  I figured he wouldn't want to dress up, but I think Ashley was hopeful the big man would have a change of heart.  Sadly, he did not :-(  I think he also told Ashley that "8th-graders don't have birthday parties."  He did, however, say that 8th graders will still expect presents.

To help cheer Ashley up on one of her favorite holidays, I put on a costume and walked around the neighborhood with her.  Here we are all dressed up--I'm the one in the Squid Games guard outfit.

Friday was middle school night at Choctawhatchee High School.  The 8th-graders in the Choctaw feeder middle schools were invited to the football game to hang out with the band and get a taste for big-time band performances.  Bode said he really liked it and had fun, although he did say it was tiring standing most of the game.  Below is a video of the band's halftime performance.  We have four years of this to look forward to, so we are very excited :-)

November starts tomorrow, which means only a few more days until some of the local radio stations go to 24-hours a day of Christmas music.  I am very excited!!!  Pleasant week to all.

Halloween Performance

 The youth symphony had their Halloween performance last night.  The weather was nice and warm...but extremely windy as the flags can attest.

Despite the wind, the show must go on, and it did.  I took a few shots of Bode during the sound-check.

They started just before 7 pm and opened with The Pink Panther.

I think the kids sounded great even if the wind is a bit overbearing on my camera microphone.  Next, the kids played Peer Gynt.  There are some soft parts of this song which are hard to hear on the recording, so I won't post it; needless to say, it was great.  After this classic, they played a Halloween Medley, and I am sure you will recognize some of the melodies.

When the performance started, the symphony director stated they wouldn't be doing their Danse Macbre piece due to the wind--it's a rather long piece which would require a number of page turns.  However, at this point, the wind actually died down, so they gave it the old college try.  I didn't record (I think Ashley did), but I did take some pictures.

The last piece of the evening was Michael Jackson's Thriller.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse (e.g. rain :-)  I think the symphony starts learning their holiday repertoire on Sunday.  Let's hope the wind stays away for that concert in December!

Swim Meet Part 2

 Day 2 of the latest swim meet was on Sunday, which means we didn't get much of a weekend in terms of sleeping in.  However, with Monday being a holiday...that neither Ashley nor I get off...at least Bode could catch up on his sleep.

His first event Sunday morning was the 100-back.  Here he is pre-race; note the laser focus.

Next, we have Bode at the start.

Bode swam a personal best in the 100-back by finishing in 1:08; shaving eight seconds off his previous best (to be fair, he hadn't swum the 100-back in awhile...)

Three races, three PRs...and at this point, Bode said he was tired, which isn't good when you have to do a 100-fly.  Bode did great, finishing, but his time of 1:06 matched his previous best.

I think he was ticked because Madsen (swimming in the lane next to him) beat Bode, and previously, Bode has beaten Madsen; always good to have someone pushing you :-)  Bode also swam the 100-free, finishing in right at 1:00, matching his previous best time, but I could tell he was dragging.

Auburn lost this past weekend, so Ashley has been in a foul mood; it is not looking good for her team, so it looks like six more weeks of winter for us :-)  Pleasant week to all!

Swim Meet Part 1

 Bode had a swim meet today.  He swam two events--the 50-free and the 200-free (he has three events tomorrow).  Warm up started at 7:00 am, which was very early for the weekend.  Still, Bode doesn't complain about swimming, so I guess I shouldn't either ;-)

After the warm up, we took a quick picture of Bode and Ashley.

The first event was the 50-free.  Bode swam awesome, shaving a full second off his best time and finishing in 26:87.  Below is the race; Bode is in Lane 1.  

I think he was 4th or 5th overall , which was great because Bode swims against some fast kids.  And we think Bode is better suited for the longer distances.  Case in point, Bode had an hour of rest before the 200-free.  He won the event in a best time 2:09:99.  He beat his buddies Sawyer, Jai, and Madden, all of whom beat him in the 50-free.  I didn't take a movie; I guess I didn't think Bode would win :-)  But I did take some pictures.  First, we have Bode on the block.

Next, here he is just after the starting gun.

Finally, he's Bode on the 3rd lap; note he's out front and leading.  We thought he might not have enough in the tank, but he surprised us and finished strong and hard.

We are very proud of how hard he has been working.  He has three events tomorrow--100-free, 100-back, and the 100-fly; stay tuned!

Final 8th Grade Football Band

Meigs Middle School had its final football game of the season against crosstown rival Pryor.  It had been raining all week, but luckily, there was a break in the weather.  We took advantage of the sunshine to get some pregame pictures.  Bode looks like a giant standing next to Ashley.

The "little man" is giving me a run for my money...

We got to the game and found some seats.  We sit right next to the band, which is actually right on the 40-yard line.  I snuck a quick picture of Bode with his buddy hanging out before the game.

The game wasn't very competitive.  Meigs played well to start the game, but Bode told us their QB isn't that great; he was right in that the QB threw four or five interceptions, which certainly didn't help.  Still, there were some times we cheered, like when Meigs had a 75-yard TD run.  And it is always fun to listen to the band.  At halftime, the band played on the field; note the band is a little bigger because at the final game, members from the Choctaw High School band come and support the Meigs band.  First, here's a picture of Bode walking out to the field.

The band played three songs, and the final one was the Meigs school song.  The 8th-graders were up front and visible for all to see and cheer.

At the end of the game, the 8th-graders all headed over to the sideline for a final picture at their final football game.  I didn't want to run over and possibly embarrass Bode, so I tried to get something from a distance; this was the best I could do.

It is hard to believe the next football band game we watch will be when Bode is in high school...very scary :-)  Pleasant day to all!