New Planes at NAS Whiting Field

Last week we had the opportunity to take Greg Davis, a photojournalist, flying in the T-6B at NAS Whiting Field. Greg was in town to get photos of the T-6B, T-6A and the T-34C for an upcoming magazine article. The T-6B will be replacing the T-34C as the Navy's primary trainer. This transition will take about 3 years at Training Wing FIVE to complete. I have been lucky enough to have flown all three aircraft during my time in the Navy as a flight instructor. You can see the entire photo gallery at Focal Plane Imagery. As you can see from the below photos, the weather weather was absolutely perfect. I am flying the T-6B 166010 in the photos.

HAPPY BIRHTDAY GRANDPA JOHN!

Happy Birthday Dad! For someone who is pushing 70, you look pretty good. At this rate, you'll be shooting your age in golf in another...... 15 years?

We are all wishing you a great Birthday and thought it would be neat to look back 69 years ago and see what was happening in the world in 1940. That's a long time ago for some of us. Why don't we take a look at some of the technology when Grandpa John was born.

Thank goodness for the evolution of television. That's a long way from today's flat screens! And how about the computers of the 40's?

How about a quick peek at the automobiles of the day.

Here is the blockbuster hit of 1940:

We all are wishing you many more birthdays and want you to know how much we love you.

Jakes First Spring Soccer Game

A brief update on Jake's spring sports schedule.  Currently Jake is playing soccer at the Local YMCA here in Northeast Pensacola.  Jake enjoyed soccer so much this fall that he wanted to play this spring also.  Spring soccer at the YMCA is 8 players a side with real goalies for the first time.  Jake's first game was today, with the Cougars winning a lopsided battle 7-0.  Jake had 2 goals to start off the season.  Looks like he is picking up right where he left off from the fall season, a scoring machine.  

Jake is also playing baseball.  Right now he is just practicing with game to start in a bout two weeks.  Bailey will be playing soccer as well with his season starting in about 2 weeks.  He has his final golf tournament of the winter schedule this Saturday in Auburn, Al.  Next year we should have Owen in the mix of the sporting schedule.  The YMCA has a league for 3 and 4 year olds.  Owen is already practicing!

Home Schooling for Bailey & Jake

Next week will be the beginning of home schooling for Bailey and Jacob.  We have decided to withdraw the boys from Trinitas Christian due to the current economic situation (and our personal financial situation) in order to cut expenses.  While we are sad to be leaving the excellent academic curriculum that Trinitas provided, we are also excited to be able to take a more active role in our children's education.  This is a tremendous challenge for Cindy personally, since she will be responsible

 for the majority of their teaching.  She has been doing an awesome job with Jake for the past 3 months, assisting him in the transition to Trinitas, (where he was doing excellent.)  Cindy will be incorporating the same general curriculum that the boys were exposed to at Trinitas.  Math, science, bible, history, art, grammar, spelling and reading.  I will be helping with the math portion for Bailey and Jake as needed.  Please keep Cindy and the kids in your prayers as they tackle this huge ende

avor.  

Some of you are probably wondering, "Why not send the kids to public school?" We allowed Bailey to shadow our neighbor for one day at the local middle school.  We all were not very impressed with the entire ordeal.  You have probably noticed recently that the government is not that adept at running anything, i.e. Social Security, Welfare, VA, etc.  The top of that list is our failing public education system.  People keep wondering how to fix it.  There is no fixing it at this point.  The entire system has no foundation to fall back on and needs to be scrapped and start over.  No chance of that for the next 4 years.  So homeschooling it is.  the artwork I posted is from Bailey and Jake while they were at Trinitas.  Pretty impressive.  Enjoy.

Pinewood Derby Champion - Jake Pritchard!

The Boy Scouts of America Gulf Coast Council had their District Pinewood Derby competition today at the National Museum of Naval Aviation.  Jacob placed second in his division two weeks ago for his pack, earning him a spot in the district races.  For the past two weeks Jake and I have been making "modifications" to our car in an attempt to make it faster.  Believe it or not, there are all kinds of secrets, from polishing the wheels and axles, using graphite to lubricate the hubs to weight placement and wheel placement.  

The district races had over 70 cars registered in Jakes division.    Cars were raced 2 at a time in a double elimination format.  Well,  Jake's car won 8 races in a row and took home the first place trophy.  Awesome job Jake!   I believe Jake may continue on and be racing in Tallahassee in a few weeks.  We will keep you updated.   

                                          

Owen's Birthday

  I have to apologize for not posting anything for Owen's 2nd birthday.  January has been a busy month for birthday's.  So while we are on that topic, we would like to also wish a Happy Birthday to Uncle Shawn (23rd of Jan.) and Aunt Julie (26th of Jan.)  It has only taken me 39 years to finally keep those straight.  

We had a combined dinner for Jake and Owen with Grandma and Grandpa Bell to celebrate Jake turning 8 and Owen turning 2.  Owen also had a little party at his school with all of his friends to celebrate his big day.  As you can see from the pictures, cookies are a big hit with Little O.  

While we are on the topic of Owen, a little update on all the things that he has been doing.  The biggest change has been his transition from the crib to the "big bed" (and no, not Mommy & Daddy's)  Owen has his own mattress on the floor in his room.  He has been sleeping great in his new surroundings.  Fortunately, he has not figured out how to open doors yet, so even if he does get up he usually gets tired of trying to get out and just climbs back in his bed.  

Owen has discovered a new snack.  Cindy recently purchased a large box of Ding Dongs for the boy's school lunches.  (Healthy snacks, we know)  Owen has grown extremely fond of these little morsels.  He lovingly refers to them as "cake".  (pronounced "take" in 2 year old talk).  If you ask him if he wants cake, the response goes something like this, "Yeah, take!"  

                                                     

Bailey's First Golf Tourney

           As most of you know, Bailey has been relentlessly pursuing the sport of golf for the past 8 months. We learned at an early age that Bailey will find something he likes and focus on it to the point of being compulsive. In his early years it was dinosaurs. He would walk around the house roaring like a dinosaur and played with his dinosaur toys non-stop. Next it was trains and his Thomas the train tracks. I probably have at least a thousand dollars in wooden train tracks and trains. Bailey would build track designs for hours on end that would cover the entire living room floor.

          With sports he has been just as focused. From shooting basketballs into the night to playing soccer everyday after school. Golf has now become his new focus. Between the Golf Channel, Golf Digest and Internet sites, he has become immersed in all things golf. We just  

recently signed him up for the U.S. Kids Golf and their Auburn, Alabama Winter Tour. Last weekend was his first tournament at Auburn University Club at Yarborough Farms.

           

           For his first tournament Bailey played awesome. From tee to green he played great. Putting was his weak link this round. He shot a 113 for the round that easily could have been under 100. He is practicing feverishly for his next tournament on 24 January at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Grand National Links course in Opelika, Ala. Bailey is really excited about these tournaments and playing great.