Bill Hall's 91st Birthday at New Smyrna Beach

Make a Smilebox photobook

This year, we took Daddy to New Smyrna Beach for his 91st birthday celebration. New Smyrna Beach holds so many memories for the Halls. Daddy was born and raised in Orlando, FL...long before Disney. His father would take the kids (7 of them) to New Smyrna for the day, and get in some good swimming, while the kids played. As the "boys" (6 of them) got older, they would swim the inlet between New Smyrna and Daytona for a challenging swim...Funny, there were sharks back then,as well, but that did not seem to deter the Hall boys.

Later, when Daddy had a family of his own, living in Eustis, FL, it just seemed natural to take his girls to New Smyrna during the summer. We stayed in a motel run by a Greek family, and got to stay for free, as Mama and Daddy would run the units while the family took their own vacation....We also stayed longer as Daddy would "hustle" golf to keep us there...While he commuted to Eustis for the week to work the nursery, Mama and us girls would stay at the beach. That motel became, and is still, the main lifeguard station on the beach.

As Mama also loved the beach, we continued to travel as a family to New Smyrna, even into my college years and afterwards, when we were all married with kids of our own. The family met, as a whole in 1980, and we introduced our kids to body surfing, riding the floats, dreamcicles, snow cones, Norwoods, the inlet, shells, and all the other activities associated with the quieter beach...New Smyrna.

So, it was so natural to take him back for a trip for his birthday. Adam and Lori came over for the weekend with his great grandkids. Though the waves were mild, we still got in some boogie boarding and crab hunting. The kids, old and young, loved all the sand and surf.

Margaret, Miriam and Ted, Mim's friend, Sherry, and David and Dianna came over on Sunday armed with 91 Orange slices and a variety of sweet treats. We ate at Norwoods, one of the only restaurants Daddy wanted to eat at....he used to know the owner, and even helped him clean green turtles, before they became endangered. Norwoods used to make a mean "green"turtle soup! They also had the coolest tables with glass tops and a variety of shells and sea "stuff" on display beneath. Though the old restaurant sign is the last remaining reminder...the new Norwoods has the same excellent seafood.

Margaret spent the night, and began searching for the old White Sands Motel...we think it is the new massive condo, The Pelican, . We all had lunch at JB's Fish Camp...great food and still has the charm of "old" New Smyrna. JB's Marina was where Mama and Daddy outfished Dean and I when we all took off one stormy afternoon to fish the Halifax River! Margaret returned to Monticello.

We met up with a couple, Jack and Joanne Yelvington, who were good friends with Mama and Daddy. Had a nice lunch on Wednesday, visited, laughed, and Dean and I took Daddy to the New Smyrna Golf Course...many memories for him.

On Thursday, Mim came back and we all headed for that main lifeguard stand to search out those cool hydra-wheelchairs. I don't know who was more excited, when we wheeled him down to the surf, where he could smell the salt air, hear the surf, and even put his feet into the sand and surf. Talk about full circle...the first motel now housed the wheelchairs that provided him with the access to the beach, that would not have been possible without them. I know Mama was smiling down on that scene!!

Mim stayed until Friday, and in came Mike and Adie Price to celebrate a little more before they went to visit David and Heather and Emily for the 4th. We ate at a restaurant on the river...The same location that we would pick up fresh shrimp brought in by the shrimp boats the night before, so many years ago.

All in all, Daddy had a most exciting time....ate well, slept hard, remembered so much. He and I dropped Dean off in Daytona, to meet up with Adam, who had tickets for the Coke Zero 400. Daddy still remembers when part of the race was run on the beach.... Happy Birthday, Bill Hall...We all love you so much!
LOVE,
YOUR FRIENDS..... YOUR FAMILY

Friends, Retirement,Memories

What a grand time...good friends Elaine and Janet enjoyed a joint retirement party. These two, along with all the other Bardmoor folks, have taken another step in our journey together. You see, Bardmoor, back in the 1970's was a brand new school, filled mainly with brand new teachers, with only a year or two of experience under our belts.

You would not think this young group of women could handle the likes of a chauvinistic, basically mean principal; an open space school of kids forced into a wall-less, overcrowded environment; AND raising new families in a not so friendly world. But, TOGETHER, we accomplished it all.

Along with the VFMB, we handled that principal; we constructed walls and used very loud voices to maintain discipline and actually TEACH; AND with parties for the "Couch Kids", softball ,bowling and volleyball teams(we were the jocks, weren't we??), and babysitting each other's kids we helped each other wade our way through the maze of the do's and dont's for raising the most perfect children!

Ladies, I thank you for those times.... and KNOW that you will enjoy these times as much as I do. And Matt, I thank you for that wonderful CD of memories that you shared. Though I so miss you "little" guys and gals...I love you big guys and gals even more!

Our Newest Addition

The Lazy J welcomes a new addition...Isn't he the cutest thing??? OK Grandkids..put your heads together for a new name!! He is about a year old and still a little nervous, but I am sure will be at home in no time! Until he receives his formal name from the grandkids, WB will have to do...We already love you, Booger!!

St. Anthony's Triathlon

On April 26, the most prestigious St. Anthony's Triathlon was held in St. Petersburg. Men and women from all over the country come to participate in this, as individuals, and teams. Adam, had , in the past, been a part of a team, where he had swum the first leg, .9 of a mile in the Gulf off Spa Beach and the Vinoy Basin. One of his teammates would then ride the 25 mile bike portion, and another teammate would run the 7.5mi portion. This year, Adam trained to do the individual triathlon.

For the first time in the history of the St. Anthony's, we awoke to the news that the "rescue" kayaks could not handle the rough waters, and the swimming portion was cancelled to all participants except the pro athletes. Of course, for the triathlete who excels on the bike and running portion, this was great news! But to those, like Adam, who excels in the swimming portion...not too great.

I met up with Adam and Lori around 6:30 and watched, in awe, as these wonderful athletes, including, my son, proceeded to bike and run around the Northeast section of St. Pete. Kudos to all who participated... I used to think basketball players were the athletes who had to be in the best shape, what with all the running, jumping, etc. for a long period of time.....No Longer...The triathlete cannot be surpassed in physical conditioning and mental toughness. I was truly IMPRESSED!!


CONGRATULATIONS #510...YOU 'DE BOMB!!!

Easter Sunday

Wow! What an exciting Easter morning! At sunrise, our granddaughter, Ruthie was baptized in the Gulf, with our son, Adam assisting, and the youth of our church were leading a sunrise service here on our property, down by the lake. Dean and I had to split up for the morning...he remained here and I packed up all his grandfather's love to take down with me to St. Pete.
My Daddy, loves Sunrise services, so he had to choose which one to attend. He went with me to Ruthie's baptism. At almost 91, he chose to head for the beach with. I know God was taking care of us, as before we trekked all the way across the sand to the water, a bench, appeared, where he could sit and enjoy the service. Most of you know that macular degeneration has robbed him of most of his sight, but so many memories abide for him at the beach.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

As a child in the 20's, his father took the family often...it was a short distance from Orlando, where he was raised. Later, he attended the Daytona 500, which originally was raced on that same beach. As a husband and father, he took his own beach loving family....he would go back and forth from Eustis to New Smyrna...while we would spend weeks, sometimes, depending on his golf game( He could really "hustle" our local undertaker!), and vacations for the owners of the motel. (Mama and Daddy would run the units, while they vacationed, in exchange for a week.) Our mother truly loved the beach, as do I....

Dean reports that the Sunrise Service in Monticello was also spectacular, as nearly 70 worshippers enjoyed songs by our youth, the beautiful pink sky behind the pecan trees, and sausage biscuits for breakfast.

Thank you God, for your Son and your beautiful world filled with beautiful people.

Springtime

I have a couple of things to update...the ACC basketball tourney and the Las Vegas trip......BUT Baxter insists that I welcome springtime with this picture of him enjoying the beauty of all the spring blossoms!! So I will update later..

Disney's Princess Run

This past weekend, I ended up in Orlando, with my "bud" Elaine, to watch the Disney Half- marathon....the Princess Run! Janet Lynn was going to be there, but ended up making a "Grandma Run" to South Carolina, to watch grandson Jackson, while his parents got over the "flu"! So, Janet, Thanks for letting me take your place!

First of all, let me say...I am in awe of all the young and older ladies who participated....over 7500, with almost 200 "Princesses". Yes, over 200 of the runners were dressed in some type of "Princess" running garb!! As you can see, Elaine and I just HAD to get Tiaras, as well....Those got turned over to Granddaughter, Ellie at lunchtime!

We were part of the chEARing squad for Elaine's daughter, Erica...my daughter-in-law, Lori, and Becky Stoutamire's daughter, Casey. I think we did a great job...although we missed getting any GREAT pictures, because of their blinding speed...and our inability to pick them out of the BIG crowd...Alltel kept us informed with text messages as they passed the various waypoints in the race!

They all had a "Royal" Race and finished strong and proudly, the 13.1 miles that wound through the Magic Kingdom known as Disney!

I was thoroughly impressed with the entire experience... We spoke to folks in the chEARing squads...husbands from Michigan and West Palm Beach, mothers from Canada, Texas and Florida so on and so on. Heard stories about their runners, who like ours, were students, professionals, moms, wives....all wonderful ladies, who had the courage to begin the journey which led them to this race!

Elaine and I met up with Adam, Lori, Rusty and Ellie for lunch at Arby's on their way back to St. Pete, and mine back to Monticello....You see, during this spring forward time, the race began at 7AM, and we were all safely back home by the same afternoon!!

Again....I salute Lori, Erica, Casey and all the wonderful ladies who had the courage to begin this journey.... and the Disney crew, who always puts on a great event....and the Fairy Godmother, who with a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, sprinkled Fairy Dust...and to all the vendors in the Expo who showed me more running apparel than I even KNEW existed !! My favorite shirt????? the one that said, "Does this shirt make my butt look FAST?"