Happy Halloween! Last OPE Costume Book Parade

This was AA's last year at elementary school so many "last times" coming this year. The school holds a book character parade on Halloween day then has early dismissal. AA was a gray wolf and even though she liked the costume, once a few kids asked her what she was, some said she looked more like a horse or aardvark! Need to add a sign to her costume in the future even though she was carrying a book that clearly showed the wolf (below: standing by one of the Collins' twins, he was dressed as Harry Potter I think).

These are in reverse order: the band reaching the final spot, the outdoor Eagle stage:

I did not attend, instead went to work. You can see the Edilyn/Garrett family to the right with 7th grader Courtney:

Next two photos are of the OPHS drum group, every year they lead the parade, a nice tradition.

After school, Noah Witt came home with AA. Ford took them to lunch at Talons, then onto the golf range to see how Noah liked hitting a few golf balls (driving range, then putting). They had ice cream, shopped at the Dollar Store to buy glow sticks and played video games at home.

AA went trick-or-treating with Connor Williams and family in the Orange Park Country Club neighborhood. They scored with really good candy, 90% was a chocolate type! Yum!

We went to the River House for a drink with our usual group. Very quiet for us as the Williams drove AA home about 9:00 p.m. School and work the next day!

Halloween DIY Wolf Hoodie Costume - 6th Grade

I found this easy and quite good costume for AA and she actually liked it. She reads many books with animal characters and one has a wolf theme. She also selected the book White Fang (classic, 1905).
After we agreed to make the costume, I found out it was a pay/membership site, so coughed up the $9.99 to Lia Griffith to get the pattern. Plus the $10 hoodie from Walmart and a few felt squares. It was easy to make, so all good!
Photo from Lia's web site:

AA wanted green eyes:

All done! She just arrived home from her King and Bear golf tournament, I tried to take pictures outside, not so good, so went inside:

Inside the house to take a better photo, hiding her face:

Laughing:

She's tired!!

She will wear all gray clothes with the hoodie, so she is ready for the OPE storybook character school parade on the 31st. Last one as next year Junior High School doesn't do these cute things nor have as many early dismissal days! She's growing up!

NFJG King and Bear Two-Day Tournament

AA is playing in the Girls 13 - 18 age group. Sometimes there is enough girls to break into two groups, the "rising" and the elite". So far, these first two tournaments, they have been combined.
Day one, AA had a few mishaps including hitting some tree branches and not being able to find her ball! So that's two strokes and she double bogeyed the first hole! Overall, a good score for the 18 holes.
This tournament had an extra reward - a $500 scholarship - Description of Scholarship Challenge:
"This year’s event also has added value, as our players will vie for two future scholarship opportunities.  All boys and girls ages 13-18 will be giving a shot at a $500 NFJG TOUR Web.com Top Honor scholarship. One scholarship will be presented at the King and Bear Open and the other will be presented at the Hall of Fame Invitational. Specific details will be provided at registration and on the first tee. Good Luck!"

From Facebook: Guess what? AA qualified by being closest to the selected pin (five closest went onto the 18th Hole for a shootout). She won the shoot out! "She did it! Under pressure, last one to hit!" (quoted by Lynne K).
So Exciting! This is her first college scholarship!! Thank you to NFJG!! The participants giving AA some high fives!!

Scholarship winner - Group photo with NFJG Staff:

Winner of Rising Girls - she ended up being the only one! :)

 Overall, AA came in last of five girls (age 17, 16, 15, 14 and AA at 12). Her last two holes on Sunday put her behind! Considering she birdied the last hole on round one, very surprising what happened on Sunday. Oh well, it happens.
Her score Saturday:
Scores for Today's Round (view full scorecard): 

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	OUT
Par	4	4	3	4	5	3	5	4	4	36
Score	6	5	4	6	5	3	6	5	5	45

Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	IN
Par	4	3	4	5	3	4	4	4	5	36
Score	5	3	5	6	3	4	5	5	4	40

Eagle      Birdie      Bogey      Dbl Bogey

Her Sunday score, the back nine was not as good:
Scores for Today's Round (view full scorecard): 

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	OUT
Par	4	4	3	4	5	3	5	4	4	36
Score	5	5	4	4	6	4	5	4	5	42

Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	IN
Par	4	3	4	5	3	4	4	4	5	36
Score	5	3	5	6	4	6	5	6	8	48

Eagle      Birdie      Bogey      Dbl Bogey

She did receive a trophy for the Rising Girls group - she was the only one as three dropped out!!

Director Jack's Newsletter:
With preparations for High School State Championships the Girls would have a small field this week, but none the less the battle of seven would advance smartly.  Yulee’s Anika Richards would be the first round leader with a score of 80 and right behind her was sister Katelin Richards who managed a score of 84. Jacksonville’s Thanya Arusa would have a tough day during round one with a score of 88, but in round two would be the one applying the pressure early with birdies and steady play, while round one leader Anika Richards was stumbling, sister Katelin was also making a move. Three birdies on her back nine would prove to be the difference to capture the title with a nice finishing round of 76. Although a gallant charge by Arusa, Anika Richards would hang on to claim rights to the Runner-up Award. Scholarship recipient Alyzabeth Morgan would be crowned the Rising Tour Girls Champion.
Next up is the Slammer and Squire!

Week of October 22 - 26th

AA continues to do well in school, more A's on her tests. She still has Robotics (Eaglebots), Math Club, Math tutor (Mr. Story), Golf lessons plus nightly homework. Ford continues to make many homemade dinners, a fresh tomato/pasta/bacon dish and his famous winner, winner salmon dinner this week.
Friday, friend Owen Kinder invited many OPE classmates over to play Monopoly and have some general fun running around!
From Mom Jana on Facebook: "So what do you do on the school’s skate night when you don’t really skate? Invite your buddies over for Zelda Monopoly, pool noodle fights, and indoor hide and seek."

While AA was at the Kinder's home, we headed to Whitey's Fish Camp for dinner and a drink, love the water view, and even with the cold front blowing in, we managed to sit outside! Fried fish and shrimp, yummy!

Saturday, AA played in the King and Bear two-day tournament and we went to the River House to watch the end of the Florida-Georgia college football game. Florida lost! I made a new recipe of White Chicken Chili, which was pretty good. Some preparations then into the slow cooker!

Another wonderful week (well, I didn't mention Ford banging his arm and bleeding - hate that he is on the blood pressure medicine; also I went to the doctor as I broke out into red spots all over! No idea what it was, so am on an antibiotic!)!

Eagle Harbor PGA Jr. Team Win! Sunday 10/21/18

AA's Eagle Harbor PGA Jr. team won today against South Hampton. South Hampton is where Coach Bryan came from and he still missed his former "home team". EH did well enough to take the win today. (unlike the Jaguars!!). We missed Ryan H. as he was at a US Kids Golf Local and he's one of the stronger kids  - there are four ranked kids that make this team very strong, plus a few who have played some NFJG tournaments so understand the focus and player standards expected.
I watched AA's match the last two holes (Hole 9 and Hole 1). In this photo, she didn't keep her left foot down, need to work on that!

The group at the Hole 9 green, sun was setting and a wonderfully cool day! About 72 degrees!

AA at last hole, Hole #1, tee box:

Coach Bryan summarizing the match and results. He's good about highlighting good shots, asking the kids what they did well.

The result - WIN!

AA will miss the next PGA match due to her NFJG tournament.

Fun Stuff - OPE Fall Festival and St. Catherine's Festival

Friday, 10/19/18 was AA's Orange Park Elementary School Fall Festival. Ford made a brownie-Oreo-stuffed cake! Including frosting and sprinkles for the cake walk.
I work on Friday's a little later to see all our employees leave at quitting time, then decided to shop with Carolyn at BJ's since I would not make it to the OPE school festival until close to the closing time. AA bought two Minecraft books at the Book Fair (Daddy paid for half, we usually do so as books are a good thing to spend money on!).
OPE Festival, AA and Noah:

The cake walk, AA won! She selected the heart shaped monkey bread, as her Daddy said to pick something homemade:

Yummy for breakfast:

Carolyn and I had a late dinner at 4-Rivers BBQ, always delicious.

Saturday, Alyzabeth went to the church fair (St. Catherine's) with the Williams' (Connor, Courtney) family. They rode on many rides, Edilyn (Mom) sent this one of their favorite ride - bumper cars:

Afterward, the family all got frozen shakes (AA's usual "mango"), and home by 3:00 p.m. 
Being Saturday (our pre-planned/usual happy hour), we headed to the River House with sausage appetizer, boiled peanuts and popcorn; Maureen brought curry chicken salad and crackers, Penny brought a delicious Brie cheese slice with fresh strawberry slice, both on top of a English biscuit (like shortbread, but not sweet). All yummy!
Once back home, I called cousin Hilary as she had quite the health scare two weeks ago with some type of virus/bacterial that put her in the hospital with fluid on her heart (which was drained), kidneys shutting down - just awful! This was the first time I called her as she is now in rehab. Hoping for a full recovery! Now we must plan a trip together, life is too short!!

Our Straight A Student - Proud of Alyzabeth

AA does her homework, studies for tests and goes the extra mile working on the computer and get this - every school day morning, she reviews her work for 30 minutes too! She gets up at 6:00 a.m. and never complains (she does like to sleep in on the weekends!).
Perfect attendance:

All "A" Honor Roll!!! Again!

So glad that Ford attended, this is one of only a few I have missed! Love that AA excels at school!

Dog Food Donations Final Count - Over 300 lbs!

AA received 304.15 pounds in donated pet food and treats in lieu of her 12th birthday gifts. She purchased a donation as well we did too. It took two pictures to show all that was collected. So many family, friends, neighbors to thank!

The Clay County Animal Shelter (the place we "adopted" Salty Dog from) specifically requested more treats, as they have a budget for dog food, but none for treats. AA received over 40 lbs. of the 304 lbs. total in treats.

We are happy that AA continues to donate to her favorite pet animal, the dogs!

NFJG Rising Winner - All Girls 2nd Place!

AA placed 2nd for all Girls, first place for the Rising Girls, but due to only five girls total, they combined them for the medals.
I asked AA about the course: She like the 17th hole, a par 3, she said it was a challenge, had to drive over the water. Her Daddy said that the putts we not falling. She had the distance but the flags were slanted, had a break, so she needs to learn to play that situation. She did par all four Par 3's.
This tournament, Director Jack did a random pairing to have a low, best ball situation if you did not bring a friend, name a partner. AA was paired with the 10 - 12 boy winner Bryson and they won a prize - nice ball cap and golf balls.

Overall scores:

Apryl and AA:

Computer Scores:

Jack's newsletter: https://nfjg.org/
In the Girls Division Apryl Parker finishing sixth in the overall would finish first in the Girls 13-18 Division and would play well all day, but she would triple bogey the 9th and the 18th holes along the way to lead the field of girls with a solid round of 82. Alyzabeth Morgan, last season’s Player of the Year would follow Parker for the Silver Medal with a score of 87. Georgia’s Lily Varnes would finish in third with a score of 89.
From the web site:

American Beauty Bush - Jelly Recipe

Marsha Cruce posted about making jelly from these berries. We thought they were not edible! 
Beauty berries from our side yard:

FLORIDA BEAUTYBERRY JELLY
Jelly from “weeds” you say? Yes. Fall is the time to pick Florida’s native BEAUTYBERRY (Callicarpa Americana) that grow on shrubs in clusters on long woody stems. The Beautybberry grows along roadsides, in pine land and hammock forests, or in parks. Many people ask if the beauty berries are poisonous or edible. They are not poisonous and they are edible. But they are not very tasty when fresh from the bush. However they do make a rich and flavorful homemade jelly or as a sauce over ice cream. Although some say it tastes like elderberry or grape It has a unique flavor all its own.
Here is a jelly recipe for you to try. And remember, even if you don’t make jelly, the bush is a lovely addition to your landscape and it attracts the wildlife.
INGREDIENTS for BEAUTYBERRY JELLY
6 cups beauty berries, washed and cleaned of stems and leaves
8 cups water
3 T lemon juice (optional)
1 envelope Sure-Jell pectin (do not use the sugar free kind)
4 cups sugar
DIRECTIONS:
Cover the berries with the water and boil for 20 minutes.
Mash the berries with a potato masher and continue boiling for another 20 minutes.
Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes. Strain and squeeze through a cheesecloth to collect the juice.
Boil the juice down until you have 3 cups. This makes it more concentrated and stronger.
Add the sugar, bring to a boil, and then add the Sure-Jell and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let stand until foam forms. Skim off this form
Pour into clean jars. Refrigerate or process according to “safe canning methods”.

Eagle Harbor PGA Junior Elite Team WIN!

AA's team played at the St. Johns Golf and Country Club, and got the win!
From Facebook: Good win by #EagleHarborGolf Screaming Eagles (against St. Johns Golf and Country Club). AA's #PGAJunior team played strong! Congrats to the team and Coach Bryan M. Kipnis! #juniorgolf #girlsgolf
Waiting their turn:

Coach Bryan checking in on AA's match:

The Match team:

AA played with Dax M. and Dylan F.

Waiting on the final scores:

Score: