Looking Back 2008

Happy New Year to everyone!!! I hope that 2009 brings everyone as much joy and happiness as 2008 has brought us.

Thought I would wrap up this year's blog with a review of the year in pictures. I'm sure I have missed several things. I am in the process of transferring my pics from one computer to another. (Yes, I got a new 'puter for Christmas!!!) So, this is what I have until that endeavor is completed.

Enjoy!! And have a safe and Happy New Year!!

Hayden joins the city baseball league.

The Style Marchers are invited to be in the 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Hayden graduates from Elementary School.

A little home improvement - re-mulching the yard.

A great summer with all of the boys!

The famous Mike Chesser came for a visit (happy Mike :-)

He and Adam had a great time charter fishing.

Hayden took clarinet lessons before starting band in the fall.

Christian hung out with some old friends before the DCI (Drum Corps International) competition.

Aunt Casey and the girls came for a visit.

Dad and Karla came up for a couple of days too.

Adam goes to Korea. Here he is with his friend Mike.

A fun motorcycle ride down 30A.

Adam goes to Vermont to help build a new garage.

Christian joins the Tribal News team at Choctaw High School.

Christian celebrates Homecoming with friends.

We met a lot of great people and found a great Sunday School class.

Hayden starts Middle School.

Adam, Hayden and I go to St. Petersburg for the State Band Competition.

The Style Marchers win the State Championship again.

Adam gets some new pistols. Lots of target practice for everyone.

The Raimondo's share Thanksgiving with us.

We start part 1 of the Band Room cleanup project.

Lots of Christmas fun and activities with all of our boys.

Christmas 2008

Another Christmas has come and gone. I hope you and yours had a wonderful day. We had a great Christmas!! It started with an early morning wake up call - of course. We spent the morning opening presents and enjoying a breakfast of Breakfast Pie and cinnamon rolls.

Adam and I got a real kick out of messing with the boys this Christmas. We decided to give them money and a few little things. Let's face it everything kids want these days is too danged expensive. So, it usually works out best to let them combine their gift cards and money and buy what they want themselves. So, we did give them money, but they had to work for it >;-)

First, they opened a really lame gift that came with a clue. Then, they had to go find the actual present. Then, they had to figure out how to get to the money. A picture is worth a couple hundred words at least. So, here you go.

Christian:

Lame Gift - Hangers

Actual Gift - Money folded up like T-shirts

Blain:

Lame Gift - Golf Tees

Actual Gift - Money hidden inside a golf magazine.

Literally inside the magazines. We bought two copies of the same mag and cut out pictures. Then placed the money on top of a picture and seamlessly double stick taped the exact same picture on top. It was great! He had to go through the magazine two or three times and get hints to find all the bills.

Parker:

Lame Gift - a Hammer

Actual Gift - Money hidden inside walnuts.

We cracked 8 walnuts, gutted them, stuffed them with a bill and super glued them shut. Then we put them back into a full bag of nuts and sealed it shut. He had to crack all but 1 of an entire bag of nuts to find all of the bills.

Hayden:

Lame Gift - a toilet seat

Actual Gift - Money hidden inside a roll of toilet paper. I think the picture speaks for itself :-)

After all of that craziness, it was off to Nana's. It was great to see everyone and eat all of the tasty holiday goodies!!

Parker, Nana, Christian, Blain and Hayden

Hayden, Julie, Christian, Blain, Parker and Adam

Robby, Martha Jane, Sarah and Jessica

Becky, Josie, Robby, Jennifer and Shana

Sarah, Joseph, Jessica, Hayden, Christian, Josie, Robby, Parker, Shana and Blain

A Santa that my sister made when she was in Kindergarten. She's 37 now, Nana saves everything :-)

The kids had a ball playing electronic LIFE. It sure is different than when I was a kid. No money, just debit cards. I plan on playing tomorrow. It looks way cool!

Sarah and the latest addition to the family - Joseph. He is such a good baby!!

Our Christmas Letter - 2008

Christmas came quick this year. So, the Christmas cards will sit unsent and the Babcock/Fletcher "news" will be mailed electronically this year. Lots of info in the letter, but be sure to click on the links at the bottom for even more pictures. Parker, Adam, Julie and Lexxie, Christian, Blain and Hayden

Happy holidays again! Christmas really snuck up fast this year for us – there was so much going on in the Fall, and now it’s time for 2009! We’ve enjoyed getting the cards and e-mails already sent out, but ours will be a bit late this year due to several “time crunches”. Julie and I had a nice weekend planned to finish shopping and send out the letter, and then I went and had to go to the hospital for the weekend instead. It turns out that my gallbladder probably isn’t good any more and will be out at the end of the year or soon after, so we are just now getting to all those things we want to share with you and pass along as wishes.

The biggest part of our family’s time this year went to the marching band again. Julie and I are both involved in the Band Boosters and supporting the Style Marchers as they get ready to march in the 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! It takes a lot of practice, and it takes a lot of money too – but we will be there in November with the 200+ strong band and all those floats and balloons. This past summer we had a great family vacation driving to NY and VT, with “paintball wars” on Maple Hill (VT) and even a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame on the way back down the east coast. One of the great troopers of the trip was our dog Lexxie – we’ve had her for almost 2 years now and she is lots of fun. She’s a Rat Terrier named for Lexington Virginia (for those “in the know” about my alma mater VMI…her birthday is the same date that I became a “Rat” at VMI, and the Rat Terrier was one of Teddy Roosevelt’s favorites – a hero of mine – so it was practically FATE that she would end up with us!). She’s got pep but she also likes to lie down and nap, so she’s perfect for us.

Life in Florida continues to be good, and we enjoy having all 4 boys at home whenever it’s possible. This year we’ve had lots of fulfillment attending Ft Walton Beach First Baptist. Julie and I are part of a great Sunday School class, Christian plays bass guitar in the praise band during service, and both Hayden and Christian enjoy the youth activities. It’s definitely been a good addition to our lives. I continue as the deputy contractor lead for about 85 instructors, at the Air Force Air Operations Center “schoolhouse”, and still get to make a few trips to Vegas and Korea each year, so my travel “wanderlust” is fulfilled. This September I also flew to VT and helped my brother-in-law Jeff (and Bob the Builder) start the ball rolling toward an eventual retirement home in VT. Mostly out of fear for the winter we had the 2 old barns torn down and then built a new garage in about 3 days! Jeff really knows what he’s doing. We’ll finish the outside and continue with the land management plan until it’s time to think about replacing the old house – but that will be quite a few more years so don’t worry. Just keep watching! The rest of my time is spent (still) enjoying my cigars, a new chance to enjoy 2 new pistols (Walther P-22 & a Ruger .357), and spending time with Julie. Julie continues to substitute teach and has kicked up her “craftastic” devotion a pretty big notch at home. In addition to the really great scrapbooking she’s done, she is moving ahead rapidly with paper crafting. You can see some great pictures of the things she’s made on her blog site! She is also still enjoys singing karaoke and acting at the local community theatre. This year she was in Jekyll and Hyde – the musical.

Christian (16) is progressing through his sophomore year at Choctawhatchee HS and was part of the percussion “pit” for marching season – he made the “airplane and rocket sounds” as well as other percussion sound effects for the show “The Air Up There”. We are very proud of him and the band as they defended their Florida class 5A (large) band championship…by four-hundredths of a point! Who says there can’t be stress in a marching competition? Now he’s on to Winter Percussion and hoping for another great season with that great group. He continues to drive (fairly safely!) and has been working hard as part of the school’s “film crew” – creating videos and taping news/interviews for the daily school broadcasts…very creative!

Blain and Parker (12) are also doing great in SC with Paige. Both boys spent almost all summer with us this past year and will be here for Christmas this year. They are doing well in school and activities, which include sports and music. Both played football this fall, although Parker injured his hand during the season. Then Parker injured his finger on the playground…he is certainly active but we hope the injury cycle is over. Blain has been playing the cello and really enjoys it – including a trip they got to take to a theme park. They also got to attend a Clemson football game and have been very busy with the family in SC. This spring they will move across town as Paige remarries, but I expect we will still see them as much as busy schedules allow.

Hayden (12) is in his first year of middle school and also doing well. He keeps good grades and is very interested in science and math…we had a good time building the “Nile Delta” out of salt dough this year, and running through the scientific process to see “the effect of different liquids on Insta-snow” for his science fair project! He’s enjoyed learning and playing in the Chess Club, continues to read daily, and also started on the clarinet in the band…a very good (and fairly quiet) choice as far as Julie and I are concerned – trumpet was one of the second choices!

Julie and I wish you all happiness and thanks for the things that are good in your lives while there is so much turmoil and change in our world. We hope you all have a great holiday season and new year! You can also keep up with our activities and “surf all you want” with the on-line links below:

http://www.juliemichellesblog.blogspot.com/ (blog)
http://www.juliemichelle.smugmug.com/ (pictures)
www.myspace.com/karaokejulie

The Week in Photos

A quick wrap up of the week (that has taken me two hours to post :-) Parker and Blain are here for Christmas and we have been having a lot of fun! See for yourself. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Adam's Squadron Christmas Party at Anglers

We played Christmas Jeopardy. It was a lot of fun!! Our table won first prize - $200. In the spirit of Christmas, we donated it back to the "Angel Tree"
(a fund that helps to buy Christmas presents for families in need).

The Live Nativity sponsored by our church.
We had our picture taken inside the manger, I will post it when we get a copy.

Blain feeding the animals outside of the manger.

Lexxie would not make a good reindeer.
She absolutely hated wearing these antlers.

Our little elves delivered Christmas goodies to our neighbors.

Yesterday, we went to the shooting range. Everyone had a good time! We have some pretty good shots in this family. The boys, Nicole, and Adam all did a good job of putting several holes in their targets. I, on the other hand, didn't hit the target once :-). That's okay though, I was just happy to be getting a little more comfortable handling a gun. I am starting to get used to the .22. The .357 still scares the crap out of me. Just before we left the guys next to us let Adam and the boys shoot their rifle. They got a big kick out of that (no pun intended).