Happy Birthday Sara!

Friday Jim and I drove to Alpharetta to help Dawn prepare for Sara's first Birthday party. On Friday Dawn and I pulled things together and completed the cakes for Sara's party. The theme was a "Ladybug Picnic" so we made Ladybug cakes. This was the first time we had tried to use "Fondant" to ice cakes and it worked out very well. It was not as hard as I thought it would be to work with the Fondant. Jimmy "bonded" with Sara that day as he kept her busy while we worked on the cakes. She became quite a "Grandpa's girl".

This is the Ladybug cake we made. We fixed one cake for everyone and a separate cake for Sara, as well as some cupcakes.

Big brother, Sean, also wished Sara a Happy Birthday.

Here is Mommy and Sara. No matter who is around Mommy is always Sara's favorite person by far.

Here are Dawn, Sara, Kim and Caleb. What a happy group.

This is Sara playing with her new toys. No need to take them out of the box.

Pictures taken during the Skydive

In the plane before the jump. My "guy" Frank is siting behind me.

Going out the door. Too late to change your mind at this point. Remember that Leslie is hanging onto the outside of the airplane to get this picture.

This is me...free falling @ 120 MPH. Don't judge...nobody looks attractive at that speed. It took over an hour just to get the tangles out of my hair.

Frank has already pulled the chute and it is getting ready to deploy.

Landing on the ground.

Adventure Skydive

I will mark the 16th of June 2010 down as one of the most exciting days of my life. Jim, I, Dawn (my youngest daughter) and David (her husband) made a Tandem Skydive. Yes...we jumped out of a perfectly good airplane... with a professional skydiver strapped to our back. I invited Kim, my other daughter, but she told me...and I quote, "There is not one cell in my body that has longed to jump from an airplane, so, no thank you." Some say she is the smartest one in the family.

In an attempt at full disclosure, I should tell you some of the things that I did not think all the way through until we were airborne. I actually paid an extra $10.00 to be taken up to 14,000 feet instead of "only" 10,000 feet. Well, I had no concept of height. After we were on our way up in the airplane I started to realize that 14,000 feet is very high. It is 2.6 miles straight up and during free fall I would be traveling at 120 miles per hour, straight down. Guess what...I loved it! But I do think about it more after the jump than I did before the jump.

Here are all four of us before the jump. From left to right are me, David, Jim, and Dawn.

This is Frank. Frank is my "guy" who took care of me the whole way down. He was such a nice guy and reassured me all the time. He only had one rule...DON'T GRAB HIS HANDS. Other than that, just relax and he would "fly" me home...and he did.

Frank told me he took his own mother on a skydive, which did make me relax a little.

Here is Frank and his bride-to-be, Leslie. They will be married in October. Leslie was my "videographer" and she was awesome! She actually hung onto the outside of the plane, at 14,000 feet, to get a picture of me and Frank coming out the door. She did everything we did only backwards and with a video camera. Like I said, "Awesome". I was so impressed with both of these young folks, in fact, all the guys and girls at Adventure Skydive.

This is David and Dawn all ready to jump. It was so nice that they came with us on this adventure. It really made it special. Of course the look on Dawn's face says, "Now just how did I get here again?"

This is David and his "guy" getting ready to jump.

Jim is getting instructions from his "guy", Tyler, before the jump.

This is how they pack the chutes. Looks so easy...but must be just right.

OK, this is after the jump...and your hair would not be looking so good either after being blown at 120 MPH! So don't judge.

AIRBORNE!!

Memorial Day in Ocala 2009

Jimmy and I attended the Memorial Day celebrations at the Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala. It was a very moving ceremony. Little Ocala is a very patriotic town. The pictures below are some of the highlights.

All services were represented and honored here, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines. The Marines seen here are from a local Marine ROTC group. They did a great job and all looked like babies to me. I remember when the Lieutenants looked so young but when the Lieutenant Colonels started looking like they just got out of college, I knew it was time to retire.

All wars were commemorated, even the Civil War with representatives from both the Confederate and Union sides. These are the Confederate soldiers...

...and these are the Union soldiers.

The veteran's motorcycle club was a big part of the organization. They were helping with all aspects from parking to helping with the ceremonies.

This is the Monument to the Florida Metal of Honor winners. There are lists of names on all four sides.

They even had a fly over of vintage WWII planes.



For sure anyone associated with the Armed Forces knows that "Freedom is not Free" is a very true statement.

“Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie”

Today we visited the home of the author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. She wrote several books about Florida, the most famous of which is “The Yearling” that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. I love to read but I have not read any of her books, but I plan to do so.

We took a tour of her home in Cross Creek, Florida and it was very interesting. The home was build about 1889 and is still the original house. It was formed from putting together three different homes and connecting them with a porch.

One of the books she wrote was a cook book. Just to give you a sample of her writing and her wit I will give you the recipe for “Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie”

4 eggs
1 ¼ cups Southern cane syrup
1 ½ cups broken pecan meats
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Boil sugar and syrup together two or three minutes. Beat eggs, not too stiff, pour in slowly the hot syrup, and add the butter, vanilla and the pecan meats, broken rather coarsely. Turn into a raw pie shell and bake in a moderate oven about 45 minutes or until set.

The funniest part is the next paragraph,

“I have nibbled at the “Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie” and have served it to those in whose welfare I took no interest, but being inclined to plumpness, and having as well a desire to see out my days on earth, I have never eaten a full portion”

Congradulations to Crystal and Matt

I just had to let everyone know that my beautiful granddaughter, Crystal, is now engaged to a great guy by the name of Matt Herndon. The ring is so beautiful and...yes...HE WENT TO JARED!! Matt is a science teacher at CT Walker Magnet School. They will take their time and plan to marry sometime next summer. We all welcome Matt into the family with open arms.

Braves Baseball in Orlando, Florida

Jimmy and I drove to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Baseball Stadium at Disney World. It is the Spring Training home of the Atlanta Braves. We saw the Braves beat the Houston Astros, the score was 10 to 5, Braves, at the bottom of the eighth inning, when we left. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed the day, especially the ice cream cone that advertised to be only 10 calories per ounce. I believed them so I got one. I would like to share with you a few pictures from today.

An Astro player running to first base...but not fast enough.

All set for a swing and a hit!!

Oh no...Pop fly!!

We enjoyed the day and the sports center at Disney is really nice. They also have Baseball fields, Soccor fields, LaCrosse fields, Basketball courts, etc. all for the use of local teams. It is a real nice place to visit.