Class Basketball Games Tonight

We finished off the day by attending our class basketball tournament. Randy's two readers and one of mine were on the girls' Sophomore team that played against the Juniors in the championship game. They must be pooped tonight - they sure played hard and well!

I didn't even try to corral the winning senior guys' team for a nice group shot since they were on the move, but I at least captured a couple candids.

The freshmen guys put up a good fight against them in the first game, losing by only about 10 points! But the Juniors lost big time to the seniors in the championship game.

DOWN by the Bay

No, we didn't see any watermelons growing there, but we sure saw a lot of red clay where we wish there was WATER. DOWN is the operative word out there today - the water level is WAY DOWN! This is shooting out at the islands across from Island Cove Marina. The water level looks lower than usual - maybe because we're behind in rain this year so far.

Many boaters were out nonetheless on this hot and humid Sunday, but we'll wait till they bring it up to its regular summer level before we set sail.

One boater we talked to said he'd bottomed out in a low spot, and said the water level is a good 6 ft. lower than usual. It was fun to drive by and realize before too much longer we'll be enjoying our boat again too. If we had a pancake style fishing or speed boat or Sea Doo, we might be willing to put it in. Ryan's is safely in his garage in Mt. Vernon unfortunately. Maybe he'll bring it home on spring break and enjoy it. The weather is surely warm enough! These pictures tell the story. Just had to WET your appetites, my boating friends! (notice how this boat ramp is WAY longer and they haven't added any cement!)

Kristi & Dusty Jordan Tie the Knot

Today we enjoyed the beautiful wedding ceremony of two former students and long-time family friends of the bride - Kristi Moore and Dusty Jordan.

Kristi's view of Dusty must have been blurry with all those tears in her eyes as she walked down the aisle on Bob's arm. (It wasn't too long ago that I coordinated Bob and Lois's wedding reception our first year out of college at Fletcher!)

The wedding was held at UTC's Patten Chapel downtown. This view from the back shows what a beautiful place it was for a wedding, and just the right size for the guests.

We knew several of the bridesmaids and groomsmen as former CA students. The girls we knew were Crystal (Johnson) on the far left, Meghan (Murray) 3rd from left, Kayla Jordan a CA senior who is 4th from left, and the maid of honor, Marcy Moore. Their sage green tea length satin dresses were cool for the hot day that it was. When I talked to Kristi after the wedding she said she was about to melt down! In the picture at the top the groomsmen we taught were Aaron Farley (the best man), Blake DeFoor, Robby Moore, and Jason Wofford.

Bob and Lois moved away to Andrews last summer. He'd taught here at SAU for many years, and was honored at Ryan's graduation in May. We miss them around here but hope he's happy at Andrews. It was nice to see them again today, though we didn't have much chance to visit.

More Maryland Memories with Amy

A shot out the window as we flew back to Nashville Thursday night with Carrie. Once again, we enjoyed a visit with Connie where we stayed overnight. Theirs is definitely over the top - way more than a 5 star Bed 'n Breakfast! It was a great visit.

Down by the Bay

at Turkey Point

Friday morning we journed on, by road this time, 14 hours to Elkton, Maryland. Sabbath afternoon we enjoyed a hike by the Chesapeake Bay at Elk Neck State Park with Amy & Jeremy. You'd never guess it's a favorite spot of mine out there .

Amy decided she liked some of the driftwood so drug some back to Coxes.
Jeremy couldn't talk her out of it - so she got to carry it!

Caught ya! Ya' never know where the Papparazzi will crop up!

Sunday we went with Amy to the Cracker Barrel for brunch, and then were off to the Farmers' Market, misc. stores along the way, and Fair Hill for a hike where once again we had to PUSH IT to keep up with her. We picnicked at the North East Park for supper - (woops, forgot the camera today). She's feeling so much better these days and is regaining her strength and endurance. She's now taking a product called Limu to enhance her immune system, along with lots of carrot juice still, and many herbal teas and clay treatments for cleansing. We're looking forward to having her home Easter weekend for her first visit since August.

Last of the Slippery Slope Shots - I Promise!

The view on our approach each morning

Ta Dahhh! Guess who??

It's Ryan, incognito, the way we all look out there!

What a smooth ride - it looks so easy, eh? "Sail Away"

Just another way down the mountain - one that continues to draw a LOT of gawkers!

The sport has served me well since Snow Trails days in Mansfield, Ohio,
where I learned it in academy. I still LOVE it!

Giddieyup

C'mon we're going for a sleigh ride with John, our wrangler/sleigh driver/narrator!

After our last day of skiing, we drove up to this spot at the Continental Divide -
a real Rocky Mountain high and gorgeous ending to a great 5-day visit.

John Denver. . . NO, John NEAR Denver's place

ohn has done some serious remodeling in his condo since a year ago on our last visit - new carpet, new very comfy leather couch and recliner, new "mud" and paint on the walls in the living room, bathroom and bedroom, new bathroom tile floor (with heat under it!) and walls around the tub/shower repainted combo, new vanity and lights, and more that I'm not mentioning no doubt!

Faith has her corner under the heater to stay safe away from the intruders. She's a great dog - like John's roommate said - you'd never know she was there! The saw to the right is evidence that John is still doing more remodeling - he wants to replace a door which means replacing a wall he'll have to cut into.

(This picture shows the nice new paint job on John's condo, Aspen Shadows, done this year.) John took Ryan back to the airport Tuesday morning before going to work at the Keystone stables at 1. That left us with no place to go but back to the slopes for two more days of skiing - what a hardship. . . though we did miss Ryan. We spent some time with Carrie on Wed. morning - her last day too. They went to Keystone to ski on Tuesday.



Being able to see (and usually ski with) John when we make these trips is a big part of why we keep going back. He's settled right in there and knows how to make us feel right welcome. It's hard to imagine what it would be like, though, living at that elevation all the time. We sure got winded climbing up to his 3rd floor condo every day. But we noticed this year that we didn't suffer other ill effects of the elevation and had better endurance on the slopes, thanks to our hour-a-day walking since September. We really should add to our exercise regimen a monthly long weekend to ski out there probably. We'll let you know when we're coming, John ;)

Rocky Mountain High - COLORADO!

This is the picnic area at the top where we had lunch on Wed. last week. It's hard to beat that "lunch room." The solitude, beauty, and peace & quiet make it worth the trip!

Ryan, Carrie & MJ headed down Wheeler Creek, one of the longest runs from the top off the Rendezvous lift. You can spend about 15 minutes going down, if you keep moving!

About to tackle the left side of the mountain last Wed. morning (our last day) from the Super Bee lift. Rosie's Run (the name is not representative of the run, a black one!) comes down under the lift, a favorite of Amy.

You'll have to ask Randy where this was taken - I can't remember . . . somewhere in CO!

Notice the bare hands - evidence of the spring skiing conditions we enjoyed.

The snow scooter - he could sell a boatload of them I do believe out there.

These were taken from the AutoBahn after we got off Rendezvous, on the back side of Copper where you can take the snowcat up to see and ski more mountain vistas. Maybe next year we'll do that. You can see the clump of people waiting for the snowcat that just left. Ryan & Amy were going to take it a couple years ago, but the long wait scared them off.

On the Black Jack lift that took us back up to the "top" after skiing the blue AutoBahn (for the "faint of heart.") What was that black run you took, Ryan? Was it Rattler? The names alone keep me off them!

Fun in the Sun in Colorado

Spring Break at last - March 3 - 12. We were off to ski/scoot at Copper Mtn. for the first part of our break. We stayed Friday night in Nashville with Hunts. We flew on Southwest for a steal (just $60 base price one way) from Nashville. We rented this Chrysler mini-van in Denver and drove on up to Silverthorn where we joined Ryan and John. Ryan had been there snowboarding two days already before we arrived - blustery, cold days unfortunately, but the conditions were fabulous at Keystone for them Thursday and Friday.

Sunday was sunny and warm, as were the rest of our 3 days on the slopes. Here they are at the top of the Super Bee lift about to buzz on down Andy's Encore.

This scenery is hard to beat! Mary Jane gets ready to go down Andy's Encore too.

Part way down, time for a picture break

Carrie & Ryan wait in a long, HOT line at the American Flyer - warm enough, Ryan? Carrie was there as a sponsor with a group from Highland Academy. Check out her pictures at http://carrieiverson.blogspot.com/

Another great shot at the top of the Rendezvous lift with the Mesquito Mtns. behind Ryan, Randy and Carrie.

John took us once again on a lovely dinner sleigh ride at Keystone. These are a couple new Percheron horses the stable acquired this year.

The vegetarian cuisine was very tasty

and the musical entertainment/sing along that Randall provided was well received.

Back on the slopes Monday, Carrie took to the trees again, whenever possible! Unfortunately, Randy had the camera deeper back in the trees so I couldn't get a picture of one of her "graceful" moves down into a tree well, head first! It was one of those memorable moments.

Break time back out on the main run. Those trees can tucker you out I guess, eh Ryan & Carrie?

More pictures later - it takes awhile when you have over 1,000 to choose from! It's late and my bedtime now.