The Headdress

After hours of gluing feathers as well as a lot of other tedious activity, Bode's Choctaw Headdress is just about finished.

There are a couple pieces of velco Ashley is going to sew on the ear flaps to attach some final ornamentation, but I think Bode is ready for band :-) All we have to do now is make sure a dog doesn't chew it up! 

The Rankin Visit

David, Teddy, and Charlie were in town this past weekend. It is always great to see the Denver Rankins in the state of Florida. We had a nice time visiting with them, although I probably ate too much :-) The first night, a large group of us went out for Mexican. I took some pictures, but nothing really staged, so they aren't the best images. First, here is a shot of Bode, Teddy, and Charlie.

I tried to get a picture of the folks around the dinner table. You can see JoAnne, Olivia, Jay, Teddy, Bode, Charlie, Queenie, and Jason.

After dinner, the boys came back to our house and played some air hockey.

I did take a movie of Teddy and Bode playing.

On Sunday, we had some of the family over for a cookout and some time in the water. Here are Bode and Teddy getting wet before they took the waverunners out for a spin.

Bode and Teddy were able to drive the watercraft unaccompanied. Sort of scary, but I guess that is part of kids growing up.

Charlie is just a year too young to drive on his own, so he went out with Uncle David and Ashley...although I do think they let him drive a little when no one was looking :-)

Teddy and Bode spent some time tossing the ball around in the water.

And after we finished in the water, we had a big feast.

While they were here, we also played a spirited round of Goofy Golf, but I didn't bring the camera. Sadly, no one got it in the snake's mouth :-( 

Parent Preview

Bode had band-camp for the past two weeks.  This was his first introduction to high-school band, and I think he likes it. They spent five hours a day for nine days learning the first part of their halftime routine. On Friday, the parents were invited to get a preview of the show. 

Here is a picture of some of the band.  Bode is near the center of the picture just to the left of the big guy.

Here is a close up of Bode; he looks angry :-)

Here is one of Bode actually playing.

They did both a static performance where they just played the music and also one with the marching around. I'll record the marching performances at the football games, which start in less than four weeks. I did take a movie of the band playing one of the Choctaw songs.

We are very excited about the start of high school. Well, maybe not all of us. I don't know if Bode is thrilled about returning to school just yet; in all honesty, neither am I :-)

A New Jeep

We decided to bite the bullet and get a new vehicle. The Xterra is over twenty years old, and even though it is running well (when the wheels stay on), we thought we should get a more reliable bigger vehicle.  Ashley had been searching the web, and this past Saturday, we ended up buying a 2020 Jeep Wrangler. 

We now own four cars. We hope to keep the Xterra for as long as possible.  Bode can get his learner's permit this fall, and we figure the Xterra is the perfect car for him when he starts driving :-)

Odds and Ends

July is quickly approaching its final days.  Summer has gone by too fast, yet we also feel like we have done a lot (of eating...but that is a different story :-)  Bode started high school band camp last week and was recently fitted for his uniform.  He looks so old in these pictures :-)

Part of his uniform is an elaborate head-dress.  We have spent MANY hours gluing feathers.  Fortunately, Ashley is far better at arts and crafts than Bode and me, so she has been the guiding light through this project.  We are just about done--only a couple more rows of feathers to go!

The dogs continue to do well, although neither likes the heat and Rowdy is, well, rowdy.

We had quite the scare a few weeks ago.  The Xterra was making a funny noise, so Ashley was taking it to the shop.  Bode and I were driving right behind her when the front tire came off.  Amazingly no one was hurt, our car suffered minimal damage, and the wheel hit an oncoming truck but did little more than dent its fender.  This could have been much worse, and we are all thankful for this summer miracle.

Pleasant week to all.

End of Summer Meet

Bode had his final swim meet of the summer, and he now has ten days off from swimming before the high school season starts. Bode swam nine events over the past two days, and in all but one, he swam a personal best. I won't go through every race, as I'm sure all the pictures look the same to everyone. He shaved three seconds off his 200 Individual Medley time, and below is a shot of Bode at the start of his 50-freestyle.

Initially, he was very disappointed in his 50-free time--he did it in 27.9 seconds.  He was not in things mentally because he was mad at me most of Saturday for signing him up to swim the 200 butterfly.  He was not looking forward to this swim, which was shortly after the 50-free, but he swam in and did great--2:28 if my memory is correct. He even said he was glad he swam it afterwards, so I told him sometimes Dad does know best :-) He then finished Saturday doing a leg of the 200-relay. His 50-split time was 25.5 seconds; I know relays times don't really count as a personal best, but he proved to himself that he can swim fast as long as his mind is in it.

Today was a great day. Bode started with a 100-free, and swam in 57.6 seconds. He followed this up with a 100-butterfly in 1:02.1. I tried to get some action photos of this event, and these are shown below.

His third event was the 100-back, and he was not thrilled with his time, so we won't dwell on it. He finished with a 200-free in 2:06, shaving another three seconds off his time. 

We are very proud of Bode's dedication this summer.  He never opted out of a practice even though they were at 7:30 every morning out in Destin.  I'm sure he'll sleep in some this week (as will I :-)

FSU Band Camp

Bode spent a week at Florida State University at the end of June. We don't have many pictures--just two really--but I am posting because at some point, we should get a link to the concert they performed. We weren't allowed to do any recordings, so hopefully in August, we will be able to share this with you.

This first picture is of Bode and Grace when we dropped them off at the dorm. 

This next one is a picture of Bode in the dorm room. I don't think he liked me taking pictures, so after this, I put the camera away :-)

I think Bode liked his time in Tallahassee.  He did tell me he didn't want to be a music major in college--he prefers playing and having fun as opposed to the theoretical part of music, which is great.  We'd rather that he figures this out now rather than later :-) He did say he HATED the food, so I don't think FSU will be near the top of his list of colleges.

The concert they played after one week of rehearsals was outstanding. Check back here at the beginning of August for a link!