Emerson's 3rd Birthday Party

The first photo shows Emerson and mom arriving at the Kid's Party Jump location. Dad was busy getting Carly out of the car so they could all go in for the BIG party. Emerson had invited about 14 friends to the party.

The second photo shows Emerson coming down the big slide. He managed to come down any way you could think of - feet first, head first, on his belly, and even rolling. He even solved how to climb up the slide. He and all his friends had a great time running and jumping on all the inflatable slides and bounce rooms.

Of course no birthday is complete unless there is a birthday cake. Emerson's showed his favorite Superhero friends Spiderman and Wolverine. Emerson really enjoyed his cake and ice cream



Finally Emerson was in the Birthday King chair and opened some of his presents.

Good Time with Old Friends

On Wednesday evening Pierre and Sandi Granger stopped by for a visit. They were our next door neighbors in Virginia Beach. Pierre had been in Millington TN at the Naval Personnel Command for 5 weeks. He was on the selection board for new Chief Petty Officers in the Navy. Sandi had made a visit to Kentucky to visit family members and then went to be with Pierre for a few days til the selection board completed its work. They stopped here on their way back to Virginia Beach. I had a great time visiting with them and catching up on news about the old neighborhood. Barbara is in Las Vegas at the national bridge tournament so she missed the opportunity to visit. Pierre and Sandi showed up just as I was sitting down for dinner with Pat and Jerry, our neighbors across the street. They were kind enough to invite Pierre and Sandi in for dinner so our old friends got to meet our new friends. Many thanks to Pat and Jerry for their hospitality and kindness. After a tour of the house, I took Pierre and Sandi down to see Emerson and Carly. After a short visit their, Pierre and Sandi continued the trip to Viriginia Beach.

Michigan Wins!!

Its offical!!! The Michigan Solar Car Team has won its 5th North American Solar Car Challenge. The team had almost a 10 hour lead over the second place team, Principia College. There were 15 teams in the race from Plano, TX to Calgary, Alberta, Canada including teams from Germany and Canada.

Golf Status

As all retirees seem to do, I took up golf this year. Above is a scorecard for the Country Hills Golf Course. This card should be filled in with 3's, 4's, and 5's if you are a good golfer. Mine typically gets filled in with 8', 9's, and 10's. I stop counting at 10 because it is uncool to take your shoes off while on the course. Besides my playing partners are getting tired standing around waiting for me to finish. I have been taking golf lessons, my dear wife gave them to me as a Christmas present. The lessons are are improving my game. Some of my drives from the tee actually land in the fairway at a reasonable distance from the tee (<>

University of Michigan Solar Car

The University of Michigan (GO BLUE!!) has entered its solar powered car, Continuum, in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge. I have entered the team's blog in the Blog list to the right. The Challenge is a race from Plano, TX to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a distance of 2400 miles. The race starts on 13 July and should end on 23 July. Checkout the blog daily to see how the team is doing. The website for the race is www.americansolarchallenge.org/. The website for the Michigan Solar Team is www.engin.umich.edu/solarcar/.

Photos from the 4th

The Moomy family all gathered for the Fourth of July weekend at our house in Hendersonville. It started on the 27th of June with the arrival of Barbara's sister , Patricia and her husband Roy. They were here to attend the Good-Guys car show at LP Field in Nashville. Roy has restored an old car and does upholstery work on cars being restored. The left on the 28th.

On the 30th, my sister Sue and her husband Bill arrived. They attended the Barbershop Harmony convention in Nashville. They went down each day to attend workshops and listen the Barbershop Chorus and Quartet competition singing. They had a great time at the convention. They stayed until the 7th of July. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to get caught up on the latest family news. I took them out on the boat on afternoon and then we ate at Steamboat Bills. Everyone had the delicious catfish dinner.

On 3 July I made 2 trips to the Nashville airport. The first was to pick-up my Dad who flew in from Erie, PA. The second trip was to pick-up our son Andrew and his wife Kim. Everyone stayed until the 8th when again I made 2 trips to the airport so they could catch their return flights.

The 6th was Andrew's birthday ( he is now old enough to run for the Senate). We had a great party and we were joined by Sara, Adam, Emerson, and Carly. They live in Hendersonville. Of course they all stopped in various times during the week to visit and eat.

Just when we thought the house would get back to normal, I got a call from Peggy Totin. Peggy and I lived in the same dorm at Michigan and met again in Virginia Beach (where we lived for 30 years before the move to TN). We were active in the Michigan Alumni club. She was on here way to her daughter, Cathleen, in Clarksville, TN. Cathleen and her husband Tom had just moved to Clarksville area because Tom is being assigned to the 101st Division. Tom deploys in a few weeks and we all wish him good luck and safety on his tour in Afghanistan. They all came by to visit and then we went out for dinner to (you guessed it) Steamboat Bill's and more catfish.

New Home

The picture above is our new home in Hendersonville TN. We bought it last year and have been there since March 2007. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, living room, dining room, kitchen, etc. We used all the rooms over the 4th of July since because my dad, my sister and her husband, andf my son and wife were all here. Still had room for a few air mattresses if needed.

This is my new 19 foot princecraft pontoon that I will use on Old Hickory Lake. I keep the boat at Drakes Creek Marina. Today I took my Dad (he is 92 years old) and ny son Andrew and his wife Kim for a ride on the lake. We went down to Old Hickory Dam area of the lake and then did a water tour of Anchor High Marina.

Thanks Bill

I started this blog with help from my brother-in-law Bill Halter. he has a great blog and I thought I would try it.