Cub Scouts Tour of Seminole Sheriff's Hanger

On Martin Luther King Day 2009, I arranged a tour for the Tiger den and the Webelo Kung Fu Coyote Patrol to tour the Seminole Sheriff's Hanger. They have 2 different buildings at Sanford Airport - one houses the Range and Water Division and the other the Law Enforcement Helicopters. In the Range and Water Division, they have several different vehicles used in law enforcement including air boats, flats boats, dirt bikes, 4 wheelers, tanks, - all kinds of cool stuff. Over at the hanger, we had a really cool demo of one of the old Bell Helicopters the department has used for years. They have a new Eurocopter that was in maintenance, and another that was just purchased and hasn't arrived yet. If you want to buy one of the old choppers - bring about 800K and start the negotiations as they are for sale. At the end of the tour, the crew rolled out for a mission and let us watch the start up and take off. Very Cool!

Pinewood Derby

On Saturday, January 17th, 2009, Cub Scouts Pack 529 in Lake Mary, FL held their annual Pinewood Derby. What a fun event! We had some great food, some good competition, and some laughs too! You may notice that Ford was the "unnofficial" sponsor too! The Johnston Boys didn't do too bad. Diego finished 1st in his Den and 8th overall. Antonio, well, it's his first year - he finished 6th in his Den. Better luck next time. Diego qualified for the District finals in March so we will be building another car soon.

BCS Championship Game - Gators VS Sooners

OK - Another "Thank you Blue Oval" event! Thanks to the partnership Ford has with Fox, I got the opportunity to host some dealers and our Advertising Reps at the BCS National Championship Game last Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at Dolphin Stadium. WOW - I have attended some really cool sporting events, but this was probably the most intense and exciting. 3/4 of the crowd were Gator Fans, and we sat right in their section. It was awesome - we didn't sit down for the entire game. Tim Tebow is the best college football player in the country, and one of the best sports team leaders too. I am glad he is coming back for his Senior year - good move on his part in my opinion. Long night - got to the hotel at 1:30AM - had to be back in the office the next morning so I got up around 5:30AM. Long day Friday - oh well, small price to pay!

Family Visit to South Texas

On December 26th, 2008, we loaded up the family truckster (2009 Ford Flex) and headed for South Texas (Brownsville, FL to be exact - southmost tip of Texas). Belinda and I have lots of family there (her side). Her Grandmother Julia, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Her mom Elvira and husband Joe just moved there about a year ago too. Her family is very loving, full of laughter and joy. They seem to be in the best of spirits at all times - which always makes this trip worthwhile. I will say, I was dreading the trip at first. Not because of the visit, but because of the 22 hour car ride. However, we took 2 days to get there, stopping in Scott LA for an overnite at a Hampton. The ride was bearable. The 2 worst parts of the drive are the Florida Panhandle between I-75 and Pensacola, FL. 4 hours of pine trees on both sides of the very straight road. Then, the "King Ranch" area - a 3 hour stretch of nothing but ranch land south of Chorpus Christi Texas. We made the best of it - the kids watched movies and played play station and Belinda and I had plenty of time to ponder life's events up to this point. While in Texas, we ate way too much authentic Mexican food, enjoyed good company, and had a fun day at the beach with her brother David Garcia and his family who were visiting from Ohio. We tried to burn down her Aunt Minnie's house launching fireworks on New Years Eve, lost some coins playing cards, had a few cold beers, and got to catch some fish behind her mom's house - the boy's caught 2 nice catfish - they were excited. The only bad thing of the whole trip was the head cold's that both Belinda and I have been fighting for almost a month now. They are still persisting. Oh well, Claritan D and Nyquil got us through! You can see more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/rjohnst3/SouthTexasTripHolidayS2008?feat=directlink