Thurs. evening at the Lake with Eric

It was a lovely summer evening Thurs. night when we went out about 6:45 to the lake with Eric. Here's Ryan letting go of the rope after a LONG ride on his wakeboard. Isn't this a great picture!

We loaned Eric a pair of our best "spares" from the glove compartment to keep the bugs out of his EYE.

Ryan (with driver Randy's help) was having too much fun scaring the ducks to death!

We just sat on the boat awhile in the Bay and enjoyed the peaceful setting after sunset. Summer has officially begun for us. No more meetings - no more classes to get ready for - no more papers to grade! If only we didn't both have studying/testing to do this summer. Oh well, I'm glad it's both of us at least. It'll keep us out of trouble.

Maybe when we get back from our trip to Mt. Vernon to find housing for Ryan and Michigan I'll add more great pictures from this evening on the boat. We got a ton of great ones!

CA Graduation, then boating with Carrie

Sunday after CA's graduation, it poured down rain. So we came home for our pictures in our regalia instead of doing it outside at the church.

The rain had quit after we had dinner, so we loaded up the boat and headed to the river. Once again, neither Randy or I got so much as our big toe wet. . .

Ryan and Carrie both wakeboarded and said it wasn't really so bad. But I did hear a gasp as they jumped in!

You're looking pretty brave here, Carrie. Just take the plunge - you can do it.

It was fairly smooth water compared to the last time we went when it was really windy and choppy, even in Wolftever Creek where we play.

Here you can see how smooth the water was. Ryan was loving it! But soon the boaters and Sea doos put an end to the smooth stuff to his dismay.

The tubes still work we found out. They seemed to enjoy that for a long pull, till their arms were too tired to hang on any longer.

It was a warmer day than we've enjoyed so far this season, so I didn't need to wear my ski gloves on my toes. I even had shorts on instead of sweats. So summer is coming. We're using the AC a bit now too. Today is such a gorgeous day - not humid, and about 80. Too bad we aren't going out on the boat today.

Scary Skies, Fluffy, & the Squirrel Thief Shots

We had a scary sky one night this week that Randy shot lots of pictures of. It never did produce any real storm, though it looked like it would.

He also visited Fluffy in her "house" for a photo shoot while out and about I see. Anybody want a cat??? Isn't she gorgeous! And she's soooooo sweet. She's neutered and very available!

And then the bluebird on the dogwood tree in our front yard . . .

. . . that dead branch sticking up that Randy won't cut off cause he likes watching the birds that perch there - like this one. It truly had a bird's eye view of the scary skies!

And one Sabbath morning a week before Ryan's graduation, we caught this thief at our bird feeder helping himself. He was actually inside the feeder, and when I first looked out the kitchen window, all I saw was his tail hanging out! Instead of scaring it off as he usually does, I convinced Randy to get the camera and video for some fun shots and footage. I tapped on the window and put him on "alert" mode, as shown here.

Then I tapped louder, and he came right out for a look around from the top of the feeder.

And don't worry, we didn't leave him there long. He was soon frightened right out of the neighborhood. What fun video viewing it made!

Mother's Day

Amy took me to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast last Sunday morning for Mother's Day. I enjoyed her company and the blackberry pancakes lots!

It was only my second breakfast ever at a Cracker Barrel. The first one was with her on a Madrigals trip to Wisconsin her senior year in academy. It's hard to believe it was a year ago now she was graduating from CA.

On our way home, we stopped for a picture in front of the dorm at Southern where she lived this year.

The four of us played tennis at the new SAU courts awhile in the afternoon - it was too cold for boating.

We took Amy to the Chattanooga airport Sun. evening for her flight to Maryland. More details about that later, as they are available. We sure do miss her. It was a sad ending to Mother's Day for us.

Sunset Rock

Last Sabbath afternoon the four of us enjoyed one of our favorite hikes, up to Sunset Rock. It was a perfect day for the hike, not hot at all and breezy at the top. Here are a few of the pictures we took up there and on our way down along the path.

The Ford's trip to England

Here's a picture of the Ford family on our trip to England. It was SO much fun!


For those of you from the Heilman clan who want to hear more about our trip and see more pictures you can check out my blog by clicking on this link:

http://jaclynford.blogspot.com/

Recent Pictures from Ryan's Camera

It's great having Ryan home a few weeks before he's off to camp. He's enjoyed the cooler weather shooting hoops out in the driveway between lifeguarding and packing up for his move later in July. . .

and some leisurely chats on the phone with friends he's missing.

Grandma TJ with Ryan after graduation

This is a great picture of Jaclyn and Stephanie with Ryan.

Carrie waiting downstairs in Memorial before marching in.

Mt. Vernon Academy Campus

This is the MVA gym where Ryan will hang out next year. It's also the building I graduated in!

Here are some pictures from Ryan's visit to Mt. Vernon in April when he went for his interview, which resulted in his job for next year there as Athletic Director and PE & Heaalth teacher. Unfortunately, he's not in any of these pictures, so for some of you who couldn't care less what the campus looks like, you won't be too wowed with these. But for any MVA alumni like me, it'll be fun to see the campus as it looks now. It looks as good or better now than it did way back WHEN!?

This gazebo is between the gym and Hiawatha Hall. Too bad it wasn't there when I was.

This is Hiawatha Hall that was new my freshman year. The cafeteria is on the main level and some classrooms are in the lower level.

This is part of the Ad building and the guys' dorm in the distance. The planter is where the water tower used to be that I climbed once when all the faculty were gone for a social function!

This is the Ad Building where the chapel is and most classes meet.

Cold day on the Boat

It was sunny yesterday but breezy and maybe 70 degrees when we went out on the boat. Ryan was the only "brave" one to venture into the very choppy water. He wakeboarded for a solid 10 or 15 minutes anyhow - his first time out this season.

The river has cleared out of all the debris that was there the last time we were out - about 2 1/2 weeks ago. That was nice to see. Maybe in another month it will be warm enough for me to want to get in - ya think? I love this cool May weather, but it's not good on bare feet on the boat. My toes nearly froze yesterday - I resorted to putting them into my skiing gloves for warmth and wrapped my heels in a rag from the glove compartment. I'd only taken one towel, and Amy claimed that to wrap her bare legs in. Ryan needed his when he got out of the water. I was wishing for a blanket from the van!
We didn't stay out long. It was just toooooo cold and choppy. Better luck next time, but we had to get out since Amy is leaving Sunday and it's to be even colder tomorrow - high in the 60's! It's better weather for tennis than boating - we played one night last week and maybe can again tomorrow. They beat up on me on the courts too. Oh well. Maybe they'll have mercy on Mother's Day.

Amy is taking me out for breakfast to Cracker Barrel for Mother's Day - how nice. Maybe they'll have a fire in the fireplace!

Ryan's Graduation

The weekend he'd had circled in his mind and on his calendar for "some time" arrived - Ryan's graduation from SAU, May 7, 2006. It was nice to have our parents here for the event and Jaclyn and Stephanie stayed by too. Others we'd hoped would be here ended up not able to make it and we missed you, maybe when he gets his Masters. . . ? ? ? He's already wondering where he'll do that and the principal at MVA told him they'd pay for him to get it. What a blessing!

(If you notice the scab above Ryan's lip, it's not from a fist fight. . . he got hit in the mouth Tues, before graduation with a baseball - what timing. I made a trip to ER for stitches that afternoon. Of course, the scab came off the day after graduation and the stitches are still bothering him. )





After Baccalaureate, we had a photo shoot before dinner at home together.




Mom brought fresh asparagus from their garden in Pennsylvania that we added to the menu, to Randy's delight. He doesn't get much of that around here. Amy was having a hard time eating much since she had her four impacted wisdom teeth dug out Wednesday right after her last exam. You can't see the chipmunk cheeks she sported from this distance, but they were there.

Afterwards we went to the church for the dedication of the education and psychology majors. Unfortunately, none of our pictures turned out worth posting here of that event.

Graduation day started out with heavy rain in the morning, but miraculously the rain stopped for graduation and the "aftermath" outside Memorial Auditorium - congratulating and taking pictures.






The proud parents with their graduate.


The happy graduates - off soon to work at Nosoca Pines Ranch for 6 weeks before the "real world" hits them.


Good-bye's are hard - this pictures says it all. We're sure glad you're not going too far away from us, Carrie. We look forward to lots of your visits here, right Jaclyn? You have to keep us surrounded by youth and "family." You are both like family to us - that's why you get the "same ole, same ole" for dinner every Sabbath! There are drawbacks ya' know. . .











We went to one of Ryan's favorite restaurants (Souper Salad) for dinner together before Jaclyn and Stephanie split for the long trip home. Mom and Coleman, Lois and Phil, and Jason joined us too.











Caught in the act, Stephanie! Who did you learn that from I wonder. I still think Cici's quit using paper wrapped straws because of the mess Randy created there. The plastic wrappers just don't fly.




Sunday evening we invited friends over to celebrate Ryan's accomplishments. We served fresh pineapple that was the yummiest, canteloupe, red grapes, snack mix, dry roasted peanuts, lemonade, Sam's marble cake, and ice cream. Randy thought we needed a full sheet cake, so we took the left over cake to CA Monday to the faculty workroom where it quickly vanished.










Several of our neighbors and a few of his teachers from CA and SAU came, as well as some of Ryan's friends. Some had left already on their long journeys home through the rain that night.