Busy but good week

This week was made up of a full week of appointments with clients, preparing and executing the relocation of my office, several bike rides, a 2 day ladies conference for Bernice, and a nice motorcycle ride with friends to finish the week.

We had the chance to have David at our house for a few hours and it was fun. He loves to be read to and he and Pepper become fast friends. We miss David's adoptive parents Cullie and Sandy who left Ocala to be Missionaries in Haiti several years back.





Derek had a graduation this week from a very selective program called Leadership of Marion Youth. Both of our boys have now graduated from this program which after application, interviews, etc selects a few kids from each of the 6 high schools in the county and then exposes them to various sectors of the community relating to leadership.


Both Derek and his best friend Michael Armstrong qualified and it is appropriate that they each got the rewards on the plaques shown here. (click the photo to enlarge)



My buddy Jim was considering getting rid of his Harley in favor of this more tame ride. Unfortunately the four riders of this mighty steed would have none of that. Yes you read right 4 people were going to ride this thing all at one time




I was not sure if they are members of a circus or friends of Cullie...but all 4 of these people boarded the scooter. They then rode out of the parking lot with smiles on their faces.



We then entered the restaurant called Margaritaville in Homosassa FL for a nice meal that started off with a flaming cheese appetizer. When this was served it was met with a rousing cheer of Ooompah!!! Got to love a good Greek restaurant.


As it was nearly time to climb back on the Harley and head home they have a nightly celebration of remembrance of the 9/11 tragedy and tribute to the troops. It was accompanied with Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American and flag waving.

He is risen..... He is risen indeed

Happy Resurrection Day !!!!

This week was a busy one an it included a trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
My soon to be new business partner and I traveled north to attend the "Dream it..Do it" conference. It was some excellent training, great renewing of old friendships and an opportunity for Michael to meet some of our companies leaders. We had a great trip and both learned a lot. This coming week looks to be a busy one as we prepare to move to our new location on Friday the 28th.

This picture was taken today and is a preview into my practice. It is my hope and the boys desire to join me in my practice with the long term plan being to have them run a joint practice together.


This is the family photo an obligatory event for Easter. We had Cayce take this and it came out nice. The boys are growing up; Michael is a young man entering independent adulthood. He will make 3 important events a reality this year: College Graduation, starting his career, and Marriage... all within 3 months. We are very pleased with all three. Derek is finishing up his Junior year of high school and is maturing as well -- making big strides in: continuing excellent grades, building on a very good work ethic, and boldness in his Faith.

This is Michael and Cayce. Their big date is July 12th. She is a sweet girl and we look forward to her joining our family formally...in our minds she is already. Saturday they went apartment hunting... life is busy here.

We took a nice ride this afternoon on the Harley. It was to see our friend Dean in ICU at Shands up in Gainesville. He fell from a ladder about a story up onto concrete. He is in very serious condition with a fractured scull, bleeding on the brain, and several other broken bones. Please pray for his recovery.

We stopped at Cross Creek on the way home. This is a small community south of Gainesville that seems untouched by time. It sits on a creek that connects Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake. Very tranquil.

This was the home of author Marjorie Rawlings. She wrote the famous book The Yearling.



A good week all in all.....

HE IS RISEN ....HE IS RISEN INDEED

Family pics and a good week

Well I have no pics from this week because of a long story -which I will spare you the details--- I was without my camera until Thursday night. SO I will put up some pics from last weeks trip.

This was a good week all in all. Work went well and many details are falling in place for moving my office on the 28th of this month. I had two good bicycle rides in the woods and two on the road. Also 2 nice motorcycle rides one on the Yamaha and the after church today Bernice and I went on the Harley.

This week Michael and I will head to Minneapolis for some training. We fly up on Wed and back Friday Evening.

This is my nephew Colby. Hi is just under 3 years old and he is a cute little guy. He is the one I put animal pictures in my blog for.

This is my niece Cristen. She is in eighth grade, plays several sports (quite well) and is a very good student. She does not talk to much, as she is your typical teenager with the Ipod in her ears most of the time.


This is my Dad and his girlfriend Ann. Dad just turned 84 on the 14th -- Happy Birthday DAD!!!!






Derek was spared hearing all the same stories again as Ann brought her granddaughter Emily to dinner. The two of them got along well and enjoyed some pool and shuffleboard at the local Moose club after dinner.

On Saturday night we got together at Nancy's house and ordered in some Chinese food. This is a shot of myself, my Dad, and two of my sisters -Nancy on the left and Jeanne on the right.








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Skiing Days 2 & 3

The sky was blue, the temperatures were just right and the ice on the trees was simply beautiful. The quietness of the woods was only disrupted by the ice as it warmed and slowly broke off the trees.

Everywhere we looked we were treated to a crystally sight. Though you hate to see the trees break it is God's way to prune and keep the forest with room for new growth.




Derek was really fortunate as both his boots and skis from the rental shop were brand new.

Derek crossed a major milestone this trip on Friday. He skied the double black diamond trail- "LIES" for the first time. He actually went down it 3 times. This pic does not truly depict the pitch of this trail. It is quite steep.






We spent our first day with friends Ed & Margaret. Ed will turn 70 this year and skis very well. It was reported he was seen catching air off a small jump. Margaret is a smooth skier carving symmetrical turns the whole way down. They are both poster children for the active retirement.

This is the old gondola from Gore..it ran from the bottom to the summit - a long peaceful ride.

We had two more days of skiing and overall 2 GREAT days and one that was marginal. On Friday the weather was awesome and the snow was fabulous. We skied the steep stuff and well as the cruisers and had a blast. On Saturday the weather was foggy, then sleet then rain so we cut it short.

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skiing in NY Day 1

This is Derek, (mikes son) and today I'm writing the blog. We had a great day of skiing at Gore Mountain. We were skeptical about how the conditions were going to be but our skepticism was soon taken away by great snow and great people to ski with.



The scenery was breathtaking. and it was clear with barely a cloud in the sky the temperature was amazing, slightly warm but not warm enough to melt the snow to bad.



Recently there was an ice storm at Gore and the birch trees were covered in over half an inch of ice. The snow banks were huge on the streets near both of my grandpas houses.

Spring time is fun

We got in Four nice bike rides this week which is what we shoot for and usually do unless the weather does not cooperate. Our Friday ride took us through the bike path at the start and then wound south of Ocala.



This shot is taken at Lake Joy in the Silver Springs Shores area. Notice Jackets and vests it was 30 degrees in the early AM but by 9:30 it was in the 50's

Saturday AM it was warm enough to ride at 8:30 and we headed west of town. This was a big set of horns on this cow and is included for my nephew Colby who loves animals.






The next two pics are taken at clients homes in Top of the World... both Ruth and Mary were out gallivanting and thus unable to have a brief visit... our ride went through their sub division and we stopped to say "Hi" -- sorry we missed you guys.

The azaleas and knock out roses were in full springtime bloom and we enjoyed the sites that we were provided with. I am glad that God is creative.



We got some free tickets to go and watch the Gator Basketball game against Mississippi State late Saturday afternoon. We picked up Michael and Cayce and went to the game and enjoyed a bite to eat afterward before heading back to Ocala.

It is always nice to walk around campus and enjoy the energy and of course nice to see Mike & Cayce. Most of you know but they are getting married on July 12th.



Sunday after church we met Bernice's nephew John, his girlfriend, his Mom and her boyfriend, and Bern's Mom for lunch. They were down for Bike Week.

After lunch I showed them a bit more scenic route back to Daytona and played tour guide most of the way. We headed down route 42 through Deland. It was nice both to see them and ride with them as well.