Go Gators!

Brandon teaches Natalie how to do the Gator chomp!

Tomorrow night the Gators play UCLA in the second game of the Final Four at 8:47pm on CBS. If they win this game, they will play Monday night for the championship. By the way, if Florida wins Monday night, it will be the first team in basketball history to win back-to-back titles with the same five players as starters.

Living Gallery 2007

We will be heading up to SC next week for Easter and I am looking forward to this year's presentation of the Living Gallery at Bob Jones University in Greenville. The music, drama and "living" gallery is always special and it helps you focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This April, artistic masterpieces will come to life in Living Gallery 2007: Frames. Using live models, makeup, costumes, lighting and special sets, paintings are transformed in a unique medium more than three times larger than the originals. These living works of art are tied together by a drama centering on the life of Christ. Visit the Living Gallery website for a Flash presentation and ticket information.

Tribute to Big John

The big local news here was the ceremony last Friday to Decommission the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy based at Mayport, Florida.

The local newspaper has A Tribute to Big John posted at this link. It may only be available for a couple of weeks on line.

Also at this link you will find lots of photos, videos, stories about the Kennedy's last trip

Happy Birthday, Joel!

Wishing a Happy Birthday to Cindy's nephew Joel Baggett in Texas. He turns 23 today. We hope you enjoy many more birthdays.

Joel with Tyler just horsing around!

Brielle, are you smarter than a first grader??

Who says 6 months is too young to learn to read!

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Our oldest son, Josh, turns 29 today! Wow that means we are getting old! Hope you get your wish for "no more snow" this spring.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We hope you enjoy your 81st birthday today, try not to work too much and use the remote as often as possible! Happy birthday to Dad, Grandpa and Great-Grandpa Franklin!

catching up on the journey...

My son was able to get free tickets to the Barracudas this past Tuesday night. This was only the 2nd or 3rd hockey game that I have been to in my life, so I am not sure I understood all the rules and penalties that were called. I did figure out that the game has three 20 minutes periods with 20 min. intermission between each period. Thanks to Brandon's employer, we were able to enjoy seats in the Wachovia suite, chairs with leather seats no less. We also were able to purchase the "club" buffet for $12.00. Not a bad price for a full course meal when you could easily spend $10.00 for a hamburger and drink.

I guess this was the week for freebies as my wife and I also went to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra concert on Friday night. This concert featured all music of composer John Williams, most famous for the film score for Star Wars as well as the Olympic Fanfare and Theme. Brandon was able to secure free tickets for us from someone at his workplace - seats that were on row J - great seats ten rows from the front! Other selections included music from Jaws, ET, The Cowboys Overture, Jurassic Park, Superman and more. We really enjoyed the concert and even had "valet parking" for the first time ever! We could get used to that! If you do not have any music by John Williams in your CD collection, check out this link to Amazon.com. This CD would be the one to purchase. LISTEN TO CD

Happy Birthday, Jeremiah!

We wish a happy birthday today to Cindy's nephew Jeremiah Baggett. Hope you have a great 26th birthday!

spring fever

desert diary.com

This blog written by Major Robert M. Hart was featured recently in our local newspaper. Major Hart is a U.S. Army Reservist currently serving in Iraq. When he returns home, he will resume his job as a high school teacher and coach right up the road from here. He teaches at West Nassau High School in Callahan, Florida. You can read about him at desertdiary.com.

Read his desert diary at this link and if you scroll down the page, you will find links to Big Al's Excellent Adventure.

"Big Al" began his adventure when he was chosen from a group of his brothers from their nest at the University of Florida's Reitz Union bookstore. He was selected on a game day weekend by two young boys (Maj. Hart's nephews Jacob and Alex). His first stop was to the boy's classrooms at Jacksonville Beach Elementary School. Then he was airlifted along with a package of carefully
packaged chewy cake to Camp Victory, Iraq. The chewy cake was hard as a rock when it arrived but Big Al was just fine.

Happy Birthday, April!

Wishing a happy birthday to April Logan. My niece was born on this date in 1984. Happy 23rd!

Slideshow of Natalie and Meredith

baseball season just around the corner

It's the "ides of March" and the "madness" of basketball is in full swing. In the meantime, here are a few baseball links to "wet your whistles" with, because it will be time to "play ball!" before you know it.

First up, in the news again, the famed "Honus Wagner" baseball card - Please, moms, don't throw away those cards yet!

The "Holy Grail of baseball cards,'' the famous 1909
Honus Wagner tobacco card once owned by hockey great Wayne Gretzky, has sold for a record-setting $2.35 million, the seller of the card said Monday.

On second thought, "who would-a thunk!" that Topps baseball card maker would ever sellout to another company?

The maker of baseball cards and other collectibles
announced Tuesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Tornante Co., an investment firm founded by ex-Walt Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner, and private-equity group Madison Dearborn Partners.

I realize some you think watching baseball is the equivalent to watching ice cubes melt. But if you are a true baseball fanatic, you will enjoy these two sites. Spring Training Yearbook Online is the place to keep up with your favorite team during this time of the year, the pre-season known as "spring training." The other site is called Baseball Think Factory -

The Baseball Primer grew out of a series of phone calls
made between Jim Furtado and Sean Forman during the 1999-2000 winter. We were a little burned out working on the 2000 Big Bad Baseball Annual and were looking for a new direction to go in baseball analysis.

And last, but not least, it is a good time to add this link to "America's favorite team" - the ATLANTA BRAVES. Yes, I will removing the basketball links for Duke shortly and replacing it with the Braves on my blog favorites.

more photos of Meredith

Meredith is a growing baby girl. At just over 3 months old, she weighs about 14 lbs now. These are some recent photos of her.

just a little snow in Wisconsin

What would it be like to live in Wisconsin the past few months? Here are a few pics of the snow in Watertown that Leah emailed recently.

Looks like they are making a big snowman! (that's Natalie in the green coat)

Natalie and Daddy made a snow fort

Natalie enjoys the cold and snow!

the bracket for the Big Dance

Happy Birthday, Leslie!

Birthday greetings to Uncle Les! Born this day in 1949, Leslie Mark Baggett was just 5 years old when Cindy was born. They became best of friends and playmates until Les had to go to first grade. According to her mom, Cindy cried all day that day!

Happy belated birthday, Bradley!

This year I am trying to post a birthday blog for each of our family members. Of course, I do not have all the birthdates and will miss someone from time to time. Please let me know when I miss one, so that I can update our family history book. We wish a happy belated birthday to Bradley Blackstock, born on March 3, 1987. Happy 20th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Allison!

We wish Cindy's cousin Allison (B.) Michau a happy birthday today. She was born in 1977, just 3 months before our wedding. I always wondered why she didn't make it to the wedding! Hope you enjoy the day with your family, Randy and son Gavin, in Arkansas. Take a break from grading those papers this weekend! (a very young Allison in photo above)