The Wards of Palm Bay

Happy end of school, everyone! C.J. has had quite the year--he is now officially in junior high school--wow! He finished up the year with a new experience--being in the school talent show on the last day of school! 6th grade is the first year the kids can do the show, and CJ was ready with a song from Phil Joel, that God wonderfully made us! He did great! We had an awards breakfast yesterday for the 6th grade, and the character trait they gave him this year was prayerful! CJ has grown so much this year, and we are so proud to be his parents!

CJ gets his "diploma" with Mrs. Bowen & Miss Hebert (his teachers this year) and Ms. Heckler; Elementary Principal.

CJ gets his awards.

CJ receives his award for being a prayer warrior.

Singing in the talent show.

CJ sings "A Plan" by Phil Joel.

In February, CJ had a few days off school. One of those days I took off work and wanted to do something nice with CJ. We ended up taking a friend of his for the day, and we went up to Daytona Beach. I thought it would be nice to take the boys to the speedway and see the car that won the Daytona 500 just a few days before. We went to the track several years ago, and took the tram tour, where you get out and walk on the track, Victory Lane, and some other cool places. Well, the same tour that cost $8 the last time we went, now costs $15-$22--ugh! So I decided I didn't want to spend the money right now, and we looked around the gift shop, which is the only thing up there now that they closed the simulators and movie stuff they used to have. I asked where the winning car was--go figure, they said it was at the END OF THE TRACK TOUR!!! Well, they have to get back the $20 million dollars they paid to repave the track, I guess, but they're not going to get it from me--ha, ha! So we were a bit disappointed, but we moved on to lunch at Red Robin--yum! CJ's friend said it was the best hamburger he'd ever eaten! :) :)

After lunch, we went to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and got some good exercise--203 steps! I always enjoy a good lighthouse climb! All in all, a good day!

CJ and Trey at the Dale Earnhardt statue.

#43 Petty Blue!

Messing around as their favorite drivers.

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, Florida

Just under the lens--cool look!

Before the climb...

CJ at the bottom of the lens--the boys took a break after
climbing all the way to the top.

Trey at the lens.

Not the best picture--it was REALLY windy! But proof
that both boys made it to the top successfully!

The boys pose after the climb and descent.

Wow, people are going to think we've abandoned the blog! Sorry, folks! Well actually, we've been very busy; just not doing anything noteworthy that anyone else cares about! :)

We are still trying to settle in to a routine with the church in Orlando; we're out there most of the day on Sunday. It's hard work but we are enjoying it, and we love the people.

Christmas came and went, but Eric got to take time and enjoy it for the first time in many, many years. We looked at lights, got to go to Christmas parties, and actually spent some time together during the season, instead of Eric working 6 days a week, sometimes 12 hours a day!

At the end of January, Eric took CJ for his "last Christmas present", tickets to Monster Jam in Orlando. CJ has really gotten into monster trucks recently, so this was a real treat. CJ made a poster to take with him, with several of his favorite trucks and drivers that he had drawn. He got quite a lot of comments about it!

The Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida

Maximum Destruction is CJ's favorite!

I think Grave Digger's been around since my brothers
were watching monster trucks! :)

This guy's night didn't turn out quite the way he wanted.

Backdraft is getting some air.

Well, another year of NASCAR has come and gone...alas, all you Jimmie haters--he's done it again! Yea! :)
CJ and I were again treated to the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. Eric stayed behind because he didn't think the pastor should play hookey, too. :) Thank you, once again, to our NASCAR/Ford "benefactors"--we had a great time!
If you think NASCAR'S boring, wow--what a finish to the season! This race had everything...a 3-way nail-biter race for the championship that came down to the very last race, separated only by about 50 points, old rivalries rearing ugly heads in spin-outs, trash talk designed to psych out opponents--and--oh, yeah--a fiery wreck that took out the guy most likely to wreck you if it got him ahead! :)

Jimmie Johnson makes it an unprecedented FIVE championships in a row!

Carl Edwards does his burnouts and spins after winning two races in a row.

Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards "face off"--after one wins a championship, the other the final race.

Lowe's 48 car--awesome! (Can you tell who mom roots for here?)

New 2011 Ford Explorer pace car leads the way to a green flag.

CJ's favorite sight will soon be a thing of the past--Dupont will only be a partial sponsor in 2011, and will drop out in 2012. CJ wants them to keep the flames, though. :)

Look, ma, not a scratch on it!

Carl Edwards in the front all day long--cool!

Matt Kenseth got tired of Kyle Busch's antics and drove through him when Kyle came up the track right in front of Kenseth. Kyle went sailing into the wall and went halfway around the track in a fiery scene. Too bad--his day is done. Of course, it wasn't his fault... :)

Matt Kenseth was too fast entering pit road once, and the penalty really ruined his championship chances.

Juan Pablo Montoya--the sport's most popular driver--not!

Denny Hamlin--poor guy got psyched out by Johnson's tough talk, and couldn't catch a break after spinning into the grass early on.

Well, we've had an exciting week in the Ward house! CJ came home the other day and said he won a poster contest for the fire department. I thought it was just a cute drawing thing the class did for art, and didn't think anything more about it. Then Thursday, when I went to pick him up, everyone was congratulating us, saying, "He won a bike!" I said, "What?" :)
Anyway, it was a citywide contest for Fire Safety week--from ALL the schools in the city! CJ won the 6th grade division, and won a new bike! Each school chose a winner from 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, then sent those 3 winners to the Fire Department, who chose one winner overall from each grade. So this morning, we went down to Walmart, where an engine company was waiting for their photo-op with the 3 winners. They took the kids' pictures, then gave each of them $100 gift cards and told them to go pick out their new bikes!
So CJ had a new incentive to finally learn to ride his bike--he and his Pop-Pop went out on Thursday night, and within an hour, he finally got the hang of it! Now he can ride his new bike with pride-- :)
The captions on the poster are "I'm sure glad I got this stuff and that you guys got out", and then, "I'm sure glad we got out of there quick!" And for all you nostalgia fans out there, yes, the engine's number is, of course, 51. :)

Endings and new beginnings...

Eric's been in the School of Ministry at our church for 2 years. It's been a wild ride, but it's been great. The wives met once a month, and I've learned a lot, too. Eric graduated on September 1st...and on the same day, began his new career as the campus pastor of our East Orlando campus! :) We are so excited, and Eric is having fun twice--totally enjoying his new role, and also basking in the fact that he will actually have most holidays off from now on! CJ is really being a servant at the new campus; he pitches in wherever necessary. God has been really good to us and we pray we can serve Him well by taking care of His people!

Taken on our first Sunday at East Orlando.

Here is the entire School of Ministry class, with Pastor Mark and Pastor Dave.

After graduation, they held a reception at church for all the graduates and families. Here's a cake with all the guys' names on it.

Well, another year has gone by, and we say "Happy Birthday" to CJ once again! He's 11 years old now, and we're so proud of him--aww! We had his party a little later this year, but we had one more pool party. It didn't rain--yippee!

Can't go anywhere without the Jeff Gordon hat! :)

Everyone gathers around...

To watch CJ open presents!

Parents and grandparents sit in shade and relax...

as CJ gives a thumbs-up for another great year.

Hi, mom!

Happy Independence Day, everyone! We got a special treat this weekend--we were treated to tickets to the Coke Zero 400 (the old-time Firecracker 400) at Daytona! It was very exciting, and Eric is on vacation this week, so he got to experience his first race! After over an hour rain delay (well, it IS summer in Florida), we got underway and saw a lot of action from our seats between turn 4 and the start/finish line--including a huge wreck that took out half the field! Unfortunately, we lost some of our favorites, including Jimmie Johnson, and a fiery exit by Mark Martin, but Montoya was out, and Kyle Busch got taken out earlier by another wreck, so I guess we all have to take our lumps, right? Ha, ha! Here's some shots Eric took during the day. We didn't get to enjoy the displays so much before the race because of the rain, but we enjoyed seeing the new cars and all the cool giveaways. Thanks again, Ron and Jessica!