I Swear

Lots going on around here lately...one of the biggest is that my oldest son took the Oath of Enlistment to join the Air National Guard...

He is the 4th generation in our family to do so, following my Grandfather, my Dad, and my brother. Here he is with proud Papa after the swearing in...
Afterward, we had lunch on base and then stopped by the Air Guard museum. There are a bunch of monuments and memorials, lots of history. This is a monument to the units that served during the cold war era, my Dad and his Dad together here...
This F106 Delta Dart is what my Dad worked on during a lot of his years on the Flight Line. These were replaced a few years before his retirement by the F16. He was on the team that moved this one here to be put on display, outside the main gate at Camp Blanding. It was brought in by helicopter and mounted on the pedestal. I'm sure that was an interesting day, would liked to have seen it!
So another generation in our family, heading out to Lackland AFB in Texas for basic training. I'm nervous and excited for him, big changes but I know he will do well :)

New Obsession

Our 4 yr old recently started asking for a fishing pole...specifically, a "Lightning McQueen" fishing pole. I have no clue what gave him the idea, but he wouldn't let go of it. We were at Target last Friday and we looked at the poles of the tot-variety. No Lightning McQueen, but they did have Spider Man :) He decided that would do fine. We took him to one of the lakes in our subdivision, where he surprised us by casting like he'd been doing it all his life. We took him out again Sunday, between church services at a lake on our church property. Melinda and cousin Tori came along, and here is RJ checking out the first catch of the day, by Melinda...

He was excited, but also anxious to catch one himself. Much to his dismay, sissy caught one after another...
and then to add to it, Tori caught her very first fish, ever!! :) She likes fishing...the actual fish, not so much, LOL

Well, it was about quitting time and we were PRAYING for that boy to catch a fish. At this point, he would cast his line and then start begging the fish to bite. He would say "Pleeeeaasse!!! Please fishy PLEASE bite the worm!! I KNOW I can DO this!! PLEASE!!!..." and so forth. Very comical, but still, we wanted him to get his first fish. Suddenly, Tori started squealing...she had gotten a bite. Rory ran down to help her, and then RJ just went NUTS... "MOMMY MOMMY!! I GOT ONE I GOT ONE!!!" I didn't hurry, because he had been doing that every time his line caught a bit of drag on the weeds, but when I turned around the boy's pole was bent!! I ran to help him and he finally caught a big one :)He was interested in it, but he wouldn't touch it for anything. Like every other true fisherman, he was ready to get back at it and catch the next one. Yep, he's hooked big time :)
We let all the fish go...I would like to say no fish were injured, but let's face it...hooks hurt!! LOL

Harry

Our local zoo has a new baby jaguar. I took a trip out there with a friend a while ago to check him out. Of course, ANY baby animals are adorable to me, but I could literally watch this little guy all day :) His Mom, Zassie, seems to be his favorite chew-toy...

If you google "Harry the Jaguar", my nephew-in-law's blog comes up pretty much first :) He has some great shots of him when he was smaller, check them out at First Coast Photo

Rebel

Pileated

woodpecker, that is :) Seen at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park.

Beauty is DEFINITELY in the eye of the beholder...

and to MY eye, this ain't beauty!! LOL

I walked by my front windows this morning and caught this out of the corner of my eye. My first thought was "exactly how much garbage did we create this past week??"...Then I did a double-take and saw it wasn't garbage, but a garbage-eater...
Thanks to secure lids, he didn't have any luck getting into ours, but he did get into a neighbor's across the way who left a bag out. It was kind of strange, I walked slowly out the front door to get closer shots of him, and when he flew off, another one swooped over my head from directly above me. He had been perched on the peak of my roof. There turned out to be three of them, and the all perched on the peaks of various roofs on my street. It was odd, I've not seen them trying to get into garbage like this before. There is certainly no shortage of road-kill around here!
I have seen an abundance of these Turkey-buzzards lately though. Maybe competition is getting fierce and they're resorting to scavenging the garbage. Or maybe they just want a change of pace from their usual possum-on-the-half-shell and rancid raccoon :)

Whatever the reason, it was an interesting way to start the day!

Hannah Park

Yesterday we had another photo field trip to Hannah Park. I don't usually miss church for these, but this wasn't any ordinary field trip. It was a bon-voyage of sorts, for our good friend Jay. Jay and his wife and boys are moving back to the UK, from whence he came. We'll miss him, he's a good friend and excellent photographer. You can see his stuff here

This, however, is my stuff :) Cool breezes and warm sun = lots of critters coming out to bask in it.

Motorcycle Ride

More scenes from the back of a bike :) This was a trip through Green Cove Springs, past Camp Blanding and then out to Goldhead Branch State Park.

Milestones

My parents are getting ready to celebrate their 50th anniversary. My siblings and I have been preparing to celebrate with them and honor them, and one of my assignments has been to go through old pics and get them ready to be used. So many memories, so many milestones, an entire lifetime (many, really) on film. It has been interesting to go through them all, remember some of the stories behind them, and hear some of the stories I never knew. This is the very beginning, when they were first together...

They met and never spent a day apart after that until they got married.

Even further back, my Dad as a baby, with his grandfather, my great grandfather. (This is my great-Grandfather who had the orange groves, if any of you remember my mentioning him in other posts)
and to the North, born in the mountains of TN ~ my Mom as a baby, and my Grandmother.
Fast forward about 26 years or so, this is my Dad holding me, while my brother looks on adoringly...

;oP


and fast forward another 15 or 16 years, and this is me with Mom & Dad on Easter.

So many pictures, so little time! You can see more here

RJ turns 4 on the 4th

I'm Back...again...

:) As soon as I determined that I was going to catch up on my blogging ~ my hard drive crashed. Thanks to my brother who is a techno-wizard, I'm back up and running, with more memory. It's been so long I'm not going to go all the way back, but here's some of what we missed...

I'm ashamed...

I've been a very bad blogger, I think this may be the longest I've gone without posting, not sure. Hold on to your hats, I'm catchin' up!!

Photography Field Trip

First to the Scottish Highland Games in GreenCove...

Then back over to Ravine Gardens...
and ending with a gorgeous sunset on the St Johns :)

Ravine Gardens State Park

Palatka, FL. The azaleas were blooming like crazy. A photog group I'm in is going on another field trip tomorrow, this time to the Scottish Highland Games. Should be interesting, and we're planning to go back to Ravine Gardens tomorrow afternoon. Have a great weekend!

A boy can grow a lot in a year

Picked up a couple of extra items at Publix this evening...

Well, technically not from Publix, but while I was out grocery shopping :) Yes, the Howl-iday Inn is back in business. I have the weiners while my brother and sis-in-law go to Daytona for a few days of Bike Week :)

Big Dreams

Happy Birthday

My beautiful girl was 17 on Jan. 8th, but due to her work schedule and other conflicts, we weren't able to have her party until this past weekend. She was able to spend some quality time with her close girlfriends and then PAR-TAY with the rest of her friends and family :) Her friend Jordan insisted that she was going to DANCE at her party...and dance she did. He taught her the "Cupid Shuffle" and the "Cha cha slide". (We all tried it, it was fun, even for the old people)Before the big party, we continued a tradition we started a couple of birthdays ago. She has a few close friends sleepover, and then we spend the afternoon at our favorite park and have a photo shoot.



You can see all the fun Here if you are so inclined :)


Edited to add ~ I've been corrected...Jordan AND Sarah taught her the dances! :)