gatorcast from paul smith

Today our Evie boy is 8 years old.  I remember the exact minute he was born.  Time flies by so fast.  

He is such a sweet boy.   We will be having our annual pool party on Saturday to celebrate.

I hurt.  I know I may be worse tomorrow.  But, I had great fun today gettting this way.   

Today Lisa & I took 7 12 year olds to play paintball. Yep, with guns, masks and paint.  Lots of blue paint.   We bought 500 shots per kid plus I think they bought 500 more at the end.   

We went west of Newberry to First Strike PaintBall.

It was very fun and at times a little painful.  I got hit with an “expert” gun in the left ribs.  It actully hurt.  Experienced gamers wear padded clothing for protection. 

It was not really what I imagined.  It was basically boys (and a couple of girls) playing war in the woods with various forts, bunkers and sand hills.    Just like when we were kids in the neigborhood, but this was with C02 & paintballs!!Beautiful North Florida landscape.  It reminded me when I was a kid visiting Gaineville and playing in the woods behind the trailer where Fred Bear Archery currenty is.

The boys loved it.  We played from 11am to 4pm.  We played serveral types of games but mostly the object was to shoot other players.  All of the games were supervised by “refs” and we played with several other “teams” who appeared to be much more experienced.  For one thing, they had semi-automatic guns with larger air tanks with curly hoses running to a secure belt that also contained extra tubes of paintballs.  With a tap of the finger these babies fire dozens in seconds.  It sounded like jihad practice.  :> We had only 1 builtin tank (mine failed during one of my last games and hence the shots to the ribs.  I was a sitting duck.) and 1 hopper for paint. 

 Here I am (back right in black) with Cameron’s friends..

Cameron, Kevin, Chris, Michael, Matt S, Matt M and Keegan

Me & Cameron

Today Cameron is 12 years old.  12.  Wow!  

I remember the exact minute he came into this world.   Time moves so fast.   He has grown into a wonderful, smart, clever, funny and thoughtful young boy.  Soon to be a teenager.  I am so proud of him.   He is kind to his parents and brother.  He never forgets anything and he has this incredible abilty to resite commercials, movie scenes and song lyrics.   His most favorite thing to do right now is play the on-line game WOW.  He recently has shown a great interest in being a Gator fan in that he puts on all of his gator gear (including the orange rubber hair) and sings and dances to all of the cheers at the Gator basketball games.  He actually knows the order and timeouts that specific cheers are done.  As we were walking into a recent game, he anncounced to me that he was “going to the University of Florida”.  While I want this to be his choice, I love the conviction that he has.

The moment he was born was both the scariest and happiest moment of my life.  Scary not because of what the future would bring, but for the safety of both him and his mom at that very moment.    It happen so fast and within several moments he was here. 

I remember the feeling I had that day.  I wish I could savor those thoughts and use them to help remind me each day of the blessing that God gave me.   As we drove over the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, SC leaving the hospital, I turned to Lisa and said, “Ok, we got him, now what do we do?”.  I thought it was very sureal that the hospital just let us go with him and put him in the car…  He was so small we had to put extra baby blankets around his head and body in the car seat.  Now he is 8o+ pounds and comes up to my shoulders.

I am a very proud father of a beautiful 12 year old boy and I love him very much.

Here we are this past weekend at Daytona.  These are memories that I will add the many of the last 12 years.

Here Cameron signs his name and draws “Bob” on the Start/Finish line at Daytona International Speedway.

Today is a very special day.   This is my grandmother with her 1st grandchild & her last grandchild (as of this post ).  She just loved taking this photo. 

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My Grandmother, Me & Lilly

She is absolutely proud of ALL her children and grandchildren.  She has been the best grandmother ever. She has never missed my birthday, ever.

Other than my mother, she was the only one who wrote me ‘real’ letters while I was in college.  And she still writes.

Growing up I would spend the night at her house often and I remember her making me breakfast; eggs over easy, toast, bacon and coffee.  She was the one who gave me my first cup.  She tought me how to dip my toast into my coffee. 

I remember eating ice cream with her in her bed watching Johnny Carson in my special ice cream bowl. (I think all her grandchildren had the same bowl). 

I remember being with her while she groomed her favorite kittys.  She has always had several cats and a dog or two.  I remember helping her feed them by putting food in their bowls on the window shelves in the florida room.   She tought me how to be loving and caring towards animals by how she loved her animals.  We name our pets after famous jazz musicians because she does. Ella, Basie, Billy, Benny, Domino…[add too many more to list] 

I become a Knight of Columbus because of things she has said to me or passed on.  She gave me her father’s 4th degree sword and was very eager to learn ‘all’ the secrets. :>

My grandmother worked most of her life and took care of her husband, her 7 kids and all of her grandchildren (and more) and in a very special way touched all of us.  One of my earliest memories is visiting her at Dr. Beckwith’s office on Brickell Ave. in Miami.

I wish I could need to go to Miami more to see her.  

Here she is with ALL her grandchildren (except my Bill & Brian, who I know shared similar memories growing up).

Happy 7 years old to my youngest son. We had a wonderful day and plan to have a pool party for all his class mates on Sunday. Tonight his granny came over and we had his favorite, FETTUCCINE ALFREDO , then had cake.