Swimming is a Year Round Sport

Swimming is now a year round sport in our family. Both James and Madison have decided to work on their swimming for the entire year instead of just during the summer.

You would think that 4 basics strokes would be relatively easy to master, but there’s a lot more to it than that. They have to learn the special kicks associated with each stroke. They have to learn when they are supposed to breath. They have to practice how to turn at the end of the pool and come back, within the guidelines for that particular stroke.

There definitely is a lot more to it than what I learned taking basic swimming lessons, 30 or so years ago. It takes a lot of hard work, but you can see the improvement that comes with repetition and practice.

Swimming is not only a competitive sport, it is a life long activity that can be enjoyed, and it is a skill that can potentially save your life.

Yesterday we spent 5 hours at a swim meet. They are not all that long, but none of them are short. The meets are where the kids can show off what they have learned and try to improve on their personal bests for times. Michelle and I can definitely see the improvement in both of the kids. Both swam three different strokes during the meet: Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle.

I am attaching pictures to this posting and also on the Life In JT’s World website you can watch YouTube video clips of the kids in their races. I was able to capture each of the kids individual (3 each) races on video . You will be amazed at how well they can swim if you haven’t been able to see them swim in person.

Surrounded By the Colors of Fall

Amidst the splendor of Fall colors, James and I spent our weekend backpacking with the Boy Scouts. This month’s campout was at Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina.

The theme for this camping trip was Backpacking. This was to be James' first backpacking experience, and my first in over 25 years. We had spent the previous two weeks preparing for this trip. We had older scouts present proper gear to bring and how to pack our packs. We took a practice 5 mile hike with weights in our small packs to simulate what we would be going through. We even had to bring our packed packs in to a meeting to be reviewed to make sure that we weren’t bringing unnecessary gear along for the trip.

Despite all of the preparation, the only way to know for sure if you are ready is to just do it! We had 16 boys and 10 adults go on what was supposed to be a 5.5 mile backpacking hike. We left early Saturday morning and drove to the park. We dropped off our packs and gear at the beginning of the trail and then spent the next 30 minutes shuttling the cars to the campsite at the end of the trail.

Once everything was ready, we started our hike. The temperature was in the 50’s at the start of the hike and moved into the 60’s during the day. The weather was perfect. We were surrounded by the color filled forest as we hiked along. About the halfway point, we stopped and had our lunch by the trail. At this point, everyone had been keeping up and doing pretty well.

After lunch things got a little tougher. The packs seemed to get heavier and each successive hill was a little more difficult to climb. The group started to get further spread apart. It was also becoming evident that the trail was longer than advertised.

James, like many of the other boys was struggling during the second half of the hike. I moved his tent from his pack to mine to lighten his load by about 6 pounds. This helped a little, but not enough.

Finally, I took his whole pack, as well as mine (50 lbs total), and allowed him just to hike. We probably did this arrangement for about 2 miles or so of the hike.

Our 5.5 mile hike, end up being our 7.5 – 8.0 miles in length, but everyone made it to the campsite!

One we reached the campsite everyone set up their tents and relaxed a little before it was time to prepare dinner.

The boys had to chop up the vegetables for their dinner, while I lit the charcoal for them to cook over. Once the charcoal was hot and ready, the boys prepared their individual foil packs with a sirloin burger and their choice of: potatoes, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, and spices. They placed them on the coals, flipped them after 10 minutes and let them cook for 10 more minutes.

They turned out great and the hungry boys really enjoyed them.

Now it was time for desert. They boys had peeled and cut up some apples into small chunks. They then took a ½ of a pre-made pie crust, added apples, cinnamon, white sugar, and brown sugar to it. Folded the crust in half and sealed the edges to make a sealed pie. They wrapped it in foil and put it on the coals for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

The apple pies turned out great! It was a recipe that I had invented earlier in the week and had tried it out on the family at home to make sure that the boys would like it.

As night fell, we spent some time looking at the numerous stars in the sky and enjoying the peacefulness. Then we moved to the campfire for warmth before retiring to our tents for the night.

The temperature dropped below freezing overnight and a frost developed by morning. The boys hurried to get a fire going to get warm as soon as they woke up.

After breakfast, we packed up our gear and patrolled the campsite to make sure it was as nice as we had found it. Then we held a short church service there in the wilderness.

Finally, it was time to head home after another wonderful camping experience.

Halloween Pumpkin Artists at Work

You can tell that the kids have come of age, when they are designing and cutting their pumpkins on their own at Halloween.

Without any input, I believe that they both have come up with some pretty creative looking pumpkins.

Madison has taken a traditional Jack-O-Lantern face and dressed it up with a natural hair that really gives her pumpkin a unique look.

James really got creative with his pumpkin. He decided that he wanted to add some extra depth to his creation, so he utilized toothpicks to attach the ears and give the top a floating effect.

I think you will agree with the comments from the neighborhood children that the end result on both pumpkins is pretty cool.

On Halloween night the kids got dressed up for a night of trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Madison dressed up as Asoka - from the Stars Wars ~ The Clone Wars movie and James is dressed as a menacing, sword wielding, cloaked creature.

We had about 100 trick-or-treaters visit our house and the kids made out well while they canvassed the neighborhood for candy.

All in all it was a very nice Halloween.

James goes Horseback Riding with the Scouts

This past Saturday, James went with 6 other Boy Scouts to the Camp Keyauwee, Circle C Ranch to work on their Horsemanship merit badge.

This was his first horseback riding experience and he certainly looked a bit nervous at first.

To his credit, he followed the instructions and after they groomed their horses, it was time to learn how to ride.

James was paired up with Penny. She was the largest horse of the group, but she also appeared to be the most gentle. This made the day go much smoother for James.

He learned how to make Penny walk, stop, and turn where he wanted to go. They got plenty of opportunity to practice, riding around the very nice indoor area on this cold rainy Saturday.

Near the end of the practice they each had to make their horses trot to a designated location, slow down to a walk, turn a complete circle, walk again, then stop and have the horse back up a couple of steps, and then proceed on forward. All of the boys were able to successfully complete the sequence (It helps to have good horses).

The boys then dismounted and removed the saddle and reins and then walked their horses out of the arena and back to the stable area.

They learned quite a bit and had a great time in the process.

Camp Keyauwee is the local Girl Scout camp, but they have an excellent year ruond horse program. We found out that we were the first Boy Scout troop to come there to learn and ride. Once word gets out about the great time that we had, I' quite sure there will be more wanting to visit.

What a Difference a Week Makes

“It’s amazing the difference that a week can make.” That is the thought that went through my head this past Friday night as I was laying in a tent listening to the rain as the temperatures dropped into the 40s.

Let’s go back in time one week and see how this whole story unfolded….

Exactly one week earlier from that reflective moment I was at Disney World in my warm and cozy resort room with a view of Downtown Disney, after having spent the evening with Michelle at Epcot.

Michelle and I had travelled to Disney World earlier that day to spend a quick mini-vacation during her Fall break from college. My mom had come to North Carolina to visit and spend the weekend with the kids while we were gone.

It was a very nice break from work for me and from homework for Michelle, and the kids were spoiled by their Grandmother while we were away.

I left a day by day trip report of our Disney visit on my Disney World Blog, so I won’t rehash it here, but if you are interested just click here: Trip report.

Once Michelle and I returned home on Tuesday, it was time to get our house ready for the twice a year High Point Furniture Market. We scurried about and got the house in order and moved out on Thursday morning. We moved in with Ed and Judy, who graciously allow us to invade their home during this time.

This brings me to Friday October 17th. I had previously signed up for Boy Scout Leadership Outdoor Skills Training and this was the weekend for it. This was a weekend long, camping/training adventure that I shared with 50 other Scout leaders like myself.

I arrived at Camp Cherokee, about an hour’s drive from home, around 6:00 pm and the all day rain continued. I was placed into a Patrol with 6 other leaders that I would be getting to know and working with all weekend. About 8:00 pm we set out in the rain to hike to our campsite and set up our tents. After the tents were set up we went back to the dining hall for team building activities and information about what our weekend would entail. At about 11:00 pm we returned to our tents to get ready for bed.

This brings us back to the beginning of my story. As I laid there in my sleeping bag, I reflected on all that had gone on during my busy week and the extreme difference going from Disney resort to tiny tent in the rainy forest. It was all good. It just represented the varied paths that my life includes. This week had it all: Vacation, Work, Family, & Volunteering. It was a great week and I am very lucky.

Fall Is A Blur As It Rushes By

Hello again!

As everyone in my family has gone back to school and settled into their new routines, I've have decided that Fall is the season of the BLUR months. You know - Septem-blur, Octo-blur, Novem-blur, and Decem-blur.

I call them that because every Fall all of the activities start back up and the Fall just flies by. Here we are in October and I can't believe that the new school year had started back in August.

As I mentioned my family has gone back to school this Fall, the whole family. Michelle is now a full time college student working towards her elementary education degree. The kids are in their new classes and like their new teachers. It's amazing how fast they are growing up!

This Fall both kids are part of the YMCA Dolphins swim team. They practice 3 times a week and have meets about once a month. They are also both in Scouting, James in Boy Scouts and Madison now a Jr. Girl Scout. James' Boy Scout Troop also goes camping every month year round.

I can't forget the dance practice, which now covers ballet, tap, and jazz. There is also the church youth groups that both kids participate in every week.

Since I didn't want to be left out, I have taken some Boy Scout Leader training and have another all weekend training session coming up in October.

You may have noticed that the blogging frequency has slowed down a little, but that isn't quite true. I am actually writing articles pretty much every day now. I started a 2nd blog that is dedicated to all topics concerning Disney World. It has been a lot of fun and it is officially my new hobby.

I will continue to update this site about 1-2 times per week to keep everyone updated on the activities of our family and to keep in touch. I continue to learn about blogging technology and I am playing with new ways to get more pictures available on the sites as well as some video clips of the family.

Feel free to share this site with anyone in our extended family and be all means please tell anyone you know about my Disney World site: www.onlywdworld.com .

It's time to head off to Ohio again for the weekend! There is know such thing as sit down and relax for a weekend. We wouldn't know what to do, we would get bored!

Camping on Bear Island

This past Friday, 32 Scouts and Scout Leaders from Troop 42 boarded the Troop Bus and headed for the Coast.

We arrived in Cedar Point, NC at around midnight and started to set up camp. After about an hour we had everything set up and it was time to get some sleep because we needed to get up at 7:00 am in order to meet our planned schedule for Saturday.

Well 7:00 AM rolled around pretty early, but everyone got up to start the day. The first order of business was to make breakfast.

The Cobra patrol, with James acting as head cook for the trip, was making scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Everyone ate well with a busy day ahead of them.


















After the breakfast was cleaned up we boarded the bus for the short trip to Hammocks Beach State Park. Once we got there we broke up into two groups. The 20 individuals who would kayak the 2 ½ miles to the island and the 12 of us who would take the food and supplies on the ferry to the island.

Those of us who rode the ferry got to the island first. Then we had about a half mile hike across the island to the beach. Bear Island is very pretty and isolated. It is owned by the park service and no one lives there. It’s original name was “BARE” Island, but it was arbitrarily changed years ago by a map maker to Bear Island.

While the scouts played on the beach and in the surf, another leader and I created a mile long orienteering course for the scouts to practice their compass skills. It took the boys about one hour to complete the course, but they had a lot of fun doing it.

Everyone had a picnic lunch at the beach and enjoyed the mild overcast day, which was warm, but not too hot.

At about 3:00 pm it was time to head back, but several of the boys who originally kayaked wanted to trade for seats on the ferry. James stepped up and volunteered to kayak back and was able to stay up with the lead group for the whole trip back!


















We drove back to our campsite and cooked a big meal for dinner. James’ Patrol made Spaghetti with meat sauce and everyone had plenty to eat.

That night, everyone was tired and had no problem sleeping. The next morning we got up, at breakfast and then started to break down the campsite and pack up. After all of the gear was packed, we held a short outdoor church service.

Finally, we boarded the bus for our return trip home. The weather cooperated for the entire trip and we all had a great weekend.