Late Afternoon Boat Ride

Yesterday, my uncle called me to ask if I could help him install a GPS and radio in his boat. I gladly said "Yes" and planned to leave early today to help out. Unfortunately, Susan wasn't feeling good and changed the plans on me. By early afternoon, she was feeling better, so again, the plans got another update. She packed some snacks and drinks in the cooler and we hit the road to Sanford.

When we arrived, Uncle Dave showed me his new gear. He had a new Garmin GPSMap 420 and a high-power Coast Guard approved radio. I was ready to climb in the boat, which was on the trailer in the driveway, and start looking for the perfect mounting location, but Susan was hungry and started making sandwiches. Within minutes, the thought of going out in the heat completely slipped my mind.

After lunch, Dave mentioned that it was getting late. If we wanted to go for boat ride, we'd need to leave soon. That caught me completely off guard. I thought we were going to work on the boat, not go play in it.

We jumped in the Honda and followed the boat to the marina. Shortly after leaving the subdivision, I could see something swirling around inside the boat. A second later, a white thing the size of a large grapefruit rose from the boat and started flying towards us. I slowed down, then pulled off the road to see what it was. Susan jumped out and ran back to grab it. It turned out to be a Styrofoam ball. I cannot imagine its purpose for existence.

Back on the road, we quickly caught up. A few minutes later, we arrived at the marina. After some quick maneuvering, the boat was in the water, we were on-board, and we were idling our way out into the lake. We turned to the west and headed for the I-4 bridge. We slowed for the no wake zone, passed under the bridges, passed by the power plant, and continued up river. On our way, we passed many others, enjoying the afternoon on the water. The one thing I didn't see - still - was an alligator. When we reached Marker 99, we turned around and headed back to the marina.

Back at the C&D B&B, we enjoyed a nice salad, some breaded shrimp, and baked potatoes. Andrew, Cathy, and Dave took turns drawing pictures on the tiny chef's chalkboard and trying to figure out what each were drawing. Gin stopped by to give something to Susan. We finally got on the road around 9:00.

Local Flight With The Family

For the first time in Vero Beach, I took the family for a short flight around the area. I rented a Piper Warrior from a local FBO to maintain proficiency and invited them along for the ride.

The weather looked a little questionable in the morning, but in Florida, it usually changes rapidly and, unless there's a thunderstorm, it's really not all that bad. By 12:45, it looked dark and uninviting to the west, but nice to the east.

We arrived at the airport at 1:00 and met Ken and Dennis. Ken started me on the required paperwork while Dennis, my instructor, copied my certificate, license, and medical. About fifteen minutes later, we were loading our stuff into the Warrior.

The flight was a basic checkout and included some slow flight, a power-off stall, and some steep turns. We ended up heading northwest because the clouds had moved quite a bit in the short time we were preparing for the flight. After the maneuvers, we headed east towards Sebastian, but there were skydivers in the air, so we diverted north to Valkaria. After a quick touch-and-go, we turned south back to Vero Beach. I mentioned to Dennis that I wanted to get three landings to be current, so we did another quick touch-and-go at Sebastian. Then it was back to Vero Beach.

As soon as the propeller stopped turning, Andrew stepped forward into the gap between the front seats and said, "I want to go flying again." We unloaded the plane while Andrew played with the controls and asked me the purpose of each instrument. It was nice to get out, and up, with the family again.

End Of Summer? Not Quite

With Labor Day past, summer is officially over in most parts of the country, but not Florida. Andrew has not forgotten the deal we made early this summer. After our first visit to the North County Aquatic Center, we told him that we could go once a month. Every month since, he's reminded us of this deal on the first day of the new month.

This weekend, we decided we'd go back to the pool one last time. After tomorrow, the activity pool will be closed for the season. We thought about going Saturday, but the forecast included afternoon thunderstorms, so we decided to try Sunday instead.

This morning, we packed a lunch and our swimming clothes, then headed for church. As soon as church finished, Andrew and I were ready to go, but first we had to stop at the snack table and grab some cheese puffs. They had cookies, too, but they looked like they might have nuts in them, so we passed on them. Susan was chatting, as usual, so we went outside to start the car and crank up the air conditioner. A few minutes later, we were on our way.

We arrived at the pool right around noon. Surprisingly, there wasn't much of a crowd and we easily found a table with an umbrella and chairs; not that we'd actually use them. We quickly changed out of the church clothes and into swimming suits and headed for the activity pool.

Right away, I could tell something was bothering Andrew. He wasn't his normal, excited self. Then I realized what was bothering him. The day before, he skinned his ankle pretty badly while running in floppy sandals. It was so large that it took two bandages to cover the wound. He was very concerned that the bandages would come off in the pool and get stuck in the filter. Susan and I offered to pull them off, but he was afraid it would hurt too much. So instead, we tentatively went from the one area to another, trying to find something he could do without worry. Eventually, I started to get frustrated with the situation. We spent money to be there and this was the final day for the activity pool.

By now, we'd worked our way over to the the big pool and I was trying to get Andrew to have some fun in the water. I would stand on the edge and pretend to be blown over by a big gust of wind, or fall off a ladder into the pool. Susan joined me and soon Andrew was starting to have some fun. Each time he jumped in the pool, the bandages worked their way closer to falling off.

Susan and I figured that a few jumps from the diving board would surely take the bandages off. Sure enough, after two or three jumps, they were gone. Andrew came to me as quickly as he could go, without running, and showed me his naked ankle. And then he asked something completely unexpected. He asked if he could jump off the high dive.

The previous times we've been to the pool, the high dive was closed, but not today. Lots of people were jumping from it, including some small kids. Needless to say, we were pretty surprised and a little concerned with possible outcomes, but we said yes. Susan went first and waited in the water below the board. Andrew walked to the end, looked down, thought about it for a few seconds, then changed his mind and went back down the ladder. We congratulated him on his courage to try. I wasn't sure if he'd try again, but in the past, he's always had to build up to new challenges, and I thought that was a great first step. Sure enough, five minutes later, he was ready to try again.

This time, I could tell he was ready. He boldly walked to the edge, made sure Susan was ready down below, and leaped off. Susan helped him swim to the side of the pool. A small group of parents near by congratulated him and Susan got a high thirty, then a high thirty five from Andrew. I'm so impressed with how he pressed through his initial fear and overcame the challenge.

By 2:00, the sky darkened dramatically to the west. It was pretty obvious that our day at the pool would be ending soon. We decided to try to get as many runs down the slide we could before the pool closed. After three runs, the storm was right over top of us, yet we hadn't seen any lightning yet. Regardless, we headed for shelter and decided to call it a day. Within ten minutes, the horn sounded and the pool was officially closed. Since it was not yet 2:30, everyone got a pass to come back; good for about six weeks. Too bad the activity pool will be closed, but then again, I don't think Andrew will mind at all.