25 Years and some change later

Today Daddy completed the last task he needed to do as far as the military. Since he retired on 1 May 2014, he wanted to get his Medal Display case done. Having done them for his Grandfather's and one Great Grandfather, he figured he would same me the trouble of doing it many years later. Guess experience counts for something after all. It was a process and in the end, he is satisfied with the final product. He even told me, it will be mine and I can trash it once he is gone.

 

It was a process and he consulted with Mommy on ideas. Thank goodness she was there, because, he would not let me play with his medals or add my own ideas.

 

Early concept, before he found all his unit patches.

Here is the early concept, but was missing something.

The black square represents Mommy's idea to put his name and dates on it. That way I will not have to explain to everyone whose it is.

The final product. Hard to get a great picture. If you want to see it up close, visit us. To explain it a little, the unit on the left side are the one Daddy went to war with and the units on the right are ones he just served in. Everything in the middle are (From top to bottom) his combat skill identifiers, ribbons and branch insignia, school badges, rank and medals. This covers both his enlisted and commissioned time.

If  you wonder just how big it is. Compare it to me. Of course, if you have not seen me in awhile, I am bigger, but you get the idea.

 

Daddy reorganized the wall in his office and put his display with the other items from his time as an Officer. Now it is complete. So that chapter of his life is closed.

 

Mommy came home and helped Daddy reorganize his wall. So he is happy, I can not touch it, at least not for a few years. So who knows, if you come to visit it might be here for you to see.

Daddy finished his project and a garden update

Even though we rent, Daddy has done his best to keep up the yard. It is no small task in Florida. To cut down on weeds and small oak trees, Daddy started digging the mulch beds, weeding them and replacing the mulch. He is done with the front yard and no one can see the back yard. That and he also fixed the sprinkler system, it is rather Hill Billie so he knew how to work on it. And, we also put out our tomato cages and put up string for the peas and beans. And, very late in the season, we planted carrots and scallions. The broccoli and honey dew did not come in, so we used the space for something else.

 

A side view of the yard. And you can see the green grass in the neighbors yard. It is now green! The owner put down sod, so it is not a desert anymore. Daddy and the neighbor put in the sprinkler system too.

The other side of the yard.

More front yard

 

The side, leading to the back yard. The mulch bed under the bush was some work, Daddy took 6 hours to dig out the roots, small oak trees to get this one done.

 

Our only pumpkin plant. Last year, we buried all our pumpkin seeds. Out of the thousand or so we had and we got one plant so far. Who knows, we might get a pumpkin.

The garden! It is getting bigger.

 

As far as a late garden, it will be warm enough for growing into late November, so I figure everything will show up. If not, next year we will plant earlier and hope we do not get another ice storm.

The trip to the Rocky Bayou sand bar

The day after the 4th of July, we headed over to Rocky Bayou State Park with some friends from church. We rented canoes and headed out into the Bayou. All the way across on the other side we found the huge sand bar. The water is cool and shallow.... and you can have some fun. You can get out run and splash and keep cool on a hot summer day.

 

Our friends!

My crew (Mommy & Daddy)

I am responsible for providing water to the engines.

On the bar!

Now what did Mommy and Daddy say, something about do not get your clothes wet? Or was it get soaked and have fun?

Here I am dancing in the water.

I am not that wet. I am dry under the life vest.

Running in the water helps you keep dry.

I give up, who cares if I have to ride home in my underwear.

Just another fun filled day!

The sand is so nice and the water is so wet!

I guess you figured out I had some fun! Because, I did. Thanks, Mommy and Daddy....

 

It really was a fun day and the fun continued. Our friends came over for dinner and Daddy grilled and cooked. It was a really nice day and we look forward to our next adventure.

We spent the 4th of July on the beach!

Today is the 4th of July and since we are free, we chose to go to the beach.  It was a warm day, but not too hot and we had a great time. We built a sand city, which contained a large number of sand castles and had a level system in order to protect our city from rising tide. It was a good day with just the three of us, since no one wanted to visit us.

 

Here I am inspecting my tools before work began.

Me and my day laborer.

You have to dig and dig in order to build.

We started small and worked our way up.

With a large population influx from the south we had to expand.

And expand

And expand!!!!

During the break, I buried Daddy.

Then he buried me and Mommy.

Can you see it? Mommy was swallowed by a sand shark.

Our city is finished. Now we just have to keep up the wall.

 

We all had a great day on the beach. I think we all got a lot of sun. Thank goodness for our tent. It gave us some place to take our breaks and cool off.  The water was great and we hope someone visits us before we move.

Big Kahuna's on a hot summer day!

As you can imagine, it is very hot in Florida. In the 90s with the real feel in the 100s. So what better way to beat the heat than playing in the water. I was at the Ponce De Leon two weeks ago, the beach last week and this week Big Kahuna's!  It was another great day with Daddy! 

Swimming up stream or was I floating away while Daddy took a picture.

Splash.... a great way to cool off.

On the lazy river....

I make riding a donut cool....

Even cooler.....

Going down the not so lazy river with Daddy.

Now this is a splash pad.

I saw someone trying this....

Too much fun!

On the big slide!

 

Almost at the bottom, weeeee!

Just waiting on the waves.

We actually got a picture together!

Man this is awesome!

Manning the cannon on the pirate ship.

Escaping the pirates.... The red hat and green foot is me.

Ok... I did one kiddie slide.

 

The batteries died in the camera, next time we will charge it. It was a wet and wild day! What a thrill.... and I need a nap and so does Daddy. Five hours in the sun to have cool wet fun! As if you did not need a reason to visit, now you can go to Big Kahuna's with me!