FYF Cookie Bowl!

Joseph S. R. Cook designed the above logo. Here are his comments on it:
On the top center of the Logo the "FFF" stands for the sponsor of the game: Family Funded Filming. Below it, ACB stands for "Annual Cookie Bowl" the name of the game. "Frontyard Champs" is another way of saying ACB Champions. The year and city played in are located below that.



The photo above is of Joseph, Daniel and Nehemiah in action!

On Saturday the Front Yard Football Cookie Bowl Championship was held! This game determined the championship team for the year of 2008! The Tomohawks went up against the Gators in this unprecedented game. Unfortunately Tate and Jake Williams (Our neighbours) were unable to come play. However, Kameron Griffis was able to come and play, making it a very even line up. Mrs. Griffis came and got many good shots of the historical game.

The line up was as follows:

Tomohawks:
Team Captain: Daniel R. H. Cook
Team Member: Kameron Griffis
Team Member: Elijah Cook

Gators:
Team Captain: Joseph S. R. Cook
Team Member: Nehemiah Cook
Team Member: Noah Cook

Game assistants:
Referee: Daniel J. Cook
Referee: Russel L. Cook
Photographer: Melinda Griffis
Refreshment Bringer: Anne Cook

Audience/fans:
Judy Cook
Elizabeth Cook
Anna Cook

The photo above is of the Tomohawks in a huddle.


The game lasted for one hour with a break at half-time for cookies and water. Many fantastic plays were executed. However, the top three are listed below.

Number Three:
Nehemiah catches a ball Joseph passed at a respectable distance after a two attempted to block it. Touchdown for the Gators!

Number Two:
Daniel grabs on to Nehemiah's flag and it refuses too come off. Nehemiah continues running in place as Daniel refuses to let go. The referees called it a fair play with Nehemiah being down.

Number One:
A combination of plays. Three touchdowns, two for the Tomohawks and one for the Gators, are completed within a one minute time period!

The game ended with the Tomohawks winning 51 to 48 and taking the title of 2008 Annual Cookie Bowl Champions.

A video of more photos should follow and possibly even videos of portions of the game.

-Daniel R. H. Cook

Disclaimer:
Tomohawks is spelled correctly as chosen by the team captain.

The Duck is Running!!!!!

After a lot of prayer and hard work the Duck is finally running! Today after adjusting and testing the electronics Papa fired it up and it ran with the O2 light on. After I removed the air filter it ran much better. Papa then went out and bought a new air filter and more gas. We then installed the air filter and put in the gas and it ran very well. After dinner Joseph and I took of the rear passenger tire and Papa took us to the BP where we pumped it up. After arriving home we re-installed the tire. We then called Papa over and I got into the driver's seat and we took of on our first drive ever in the Duck. Papa, Joseph, Anne, and Mama all took turns in the order listed after I drove. We then had a prayer of thanks and a celebratory glass of Coca-Cola.

Overall the Duck runs well but probably needs new tires, alignment, new spark plugs and distributor cap, Dry Bones seat covers (like our other Trooper), pineapple (Or some other agreed on scent) air freshener, a latch on the glove box, carpet cleaned, more armor-all, and various other odds and ends. It definitely needs a license plate, base decals, and insurance before I can take it out on a test drive.

My estimate of its running by Christmas was only of by two days. But we still have much to do and more fun and blog posts ahead.

-Daniel R. H. Cook

Water Garden

Once again, the water Garden has been renovated! We repainted the Fire Hydrant with a shiny red coat, removed the bricks and replaced them with natural rocks, and inserted a stone bench. Daniel, Nehemiah and I, decided it would be a good time to do it, since we have the Smoaks coming tonight, and our Grandparents on the 26th.

This year, like most every year, our family is celebrating Chanukkah, a Jewish holiday, which focuses on God's greatness. I obtained the "story of Chanukkah" from www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm

"The story of Chanukkah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the customs and the dress of the Greeks, in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.

More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidim, the forerunners of the Pharisees (no direct connection to the modern movement known as Chasidism). They joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Seleucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated.

According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory: Jews do not glorify war."

We as a family do not have a "festival" but we do light one candle per day in the menorah, and read the Hanukkah story each night.
NOTE: (The menorah in the picture, is not ours!)
-Joseph Cook

Duck Update

Today after draining out the Duck's fuel tank we installed the new fuel pump. Once the fuel pump was intstalled the fuel tank was put back in place and the hoses (One of which we had to replace.) were all put back into their proper place. After dinner we tested the Duck with fresh gas. Unfortunantly the Duck still does not run. We will be troubleshooting it over the next few weeks.

Remember what Thomas Edison said:
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

We too keep finding ways it won't work. Sometime we will find a way it will work. Please keep us and its repair in your prayers.

-Daniel R. H. Cook

Christmas decoration trouble/fun II

Today the manger scene fell forwards again. It has been put back up and braced with bricks. It is generally agreed that the cat jumps onto and off of it making it fall over. Two portions of our light on the roof went out. I was able to fix the two portions with my Leatherman and some electrical tape.

-Daniel R. H. Cook

Christmas decoration trouble/fun

Thursday night the manger scene that we have (See photo above) fell forwards. Mary and Joseph were knocked forwards and trapped underneath the collapsed structure. Today before a trip to Walmart Joseph and I put the structure back up and I added a little bracing.Tonight after getting back from practice for the church cantata practice I noticed the spotlight was out. It turns out the bulb was blown in the collapse. Thankfully we had a spare bulb in stock. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is putting up decorations and fixing them when they break.

- Daniel R. H. Cook

IT IS A GIRL!!!!

Today Mama went to an ultrasound with Papa and learned it is a girl! THe above picture is a picture of Anna when she was a baby. Now she has a younger sister.

JOSEPH WINS LOCAL SPELLING BEE!!!!

On monday, Joseph and Nehemiah competed in the Bradford Middle School Spelling Bee where Joseph took first place his winning word was SUBSTANTIAL and the word he had to spell before that was MOUSSE (He was really glad Anne uses that in her hair =) Otherwise he would not have known how to spell it. ). Afterwords they went to the Arby's in Starke.

One busy weekend

This weekend was quite busy. Saturday morning Papa, Daniel, and Joseph spent some time working on the duck removing the protective cover of the fuel tank. Mama and Anna went to a tea party at church. After cleaning up those everybody went to church to pick Mama and Anna up and then head to Papa's unit party. Before we went to the party Daniel got a chance to drive everybody in the family around for about ten minutes on the roads of Camp Blanding. The party was quite enjoyable with plenty of food, soda, coffee, Yoohoos, and presents for the children of unit members.

Sunday we went to church. After church we had a Christmas party with plenty of good food such as ham, meatballs, and dessert. After the party Anne and Joseph had choir practice and Daniel had fun helping Mr. Jonathan Coleman and Mr. Hector move furniture for Pastor and Mrs. Coleman. Daniel's friend Daniel also helped until he had to leave.

Monday Papa was off. Mr. Redmond came while Nehemiah and Joseph competed in the Bradford Middle School Spelling Bee (A more detailed post about the Bee is in the works.) where Joseph took first place. The afternoon was spent hauling cans and working on the Duck. The Duck update below has all the information on the work we did. Anne and Mama were able to take a trip to Gainesville to shop. They left around 6:00 P. M. and did not get back until around 11:00 P. M.

In summary we have had one busy weekend to be followed by another one soon.

Duck update

Yesterday we were able to take the fuel tank of the duck. We had removed the protective cover of the fuel tank Saturday and had plenty of cribbing on standby to hold it up. Once all the bolts were loose we drained several gallons of fuel before finally taking the tank off. After removing the fuel pump assembly we are quite sure we need to replace it as it looks terrible. We will post pictures of the old and new fuel pump assemblies once we purchase the new one.

Christmas Is Close

Daniel's Dual-enrollment stalled

Due to their agreement with Bradford County, Sante Fe College will not accept Daniel as a dual enrolled student until he turns sixteen. Therefore, he cannot take any courses but he can still CLEP courses. After July he will be able to take courses as a dual enrolled student.

My first drive!!

Today Papa took Elijah and I to Camp Blanding. After completing a unit-related task with Papa I got the chance to drive! I drove around Camp Blanding for Twenty-seven minutes. During that time I took several turns, stopped at several stop signs, and reached a top speed of thirty-seven miles per hour. It was a lot of fun, especially since I passed some places I went to during my Civil Air Patrol Encampment in 2007.

- Daniel R. H. Cook

Duck Work Held Up

Today work on the Duck was cancelled due to light rain. The goal was to drop the fuel tank and take out the fuel pump. The project will be completed at an unknown date.

Daniel is Dual-enrolled

Today Daniel took the CPT and is oficially dual-enrolled into College Algebra at the local college. Anne and Daniel will take College Algebra this spring semester.

Civil Air Patrol Squadron Awards Banquet

Daniel, Papa, and Capt. Beaukleman.

Me and Gregory Smoak
Thursday night was the Gainesville Composite Squadron Awards Banguet. Papa, Anne, Daniel, Nehemiah and I were able to attend. Daniel was promoted to Cadet First Lieutenant! We all had a fun time, talking and eating with our friends. -Joseph