Week Two at Lake Swan

It was pretty much an uneventful week at camp. The women are still painting, since there is much that needs a fresh coat of paint. We put a primer coat on two newly built lifeguard stands.... Oh my! We had more paint all over ourselves than any other day, trying to get on the insides.

The Mark and Ben have been resizing used doors to fit in smaller door openings to replace doors that were weathered.

Friday, our day off, we visited the College of Missionary Aviation right here in Melrose, Florida. They have an economical and accelerated course to teach students to fly and also learn the mechanics so if overseas and a problem arises, they will be trained to fix the aircraft themselves. We spoke with three of the students of varying ages.

The classrooms and dorm rooms are located at a local church and they have a large hanger at the local airport which includes donated aircraft. It's a wonderful program for those students who don't want to spend years in college with huge debts to payoff afterward. We learned there is a huge shortage of pilots out there in every arena.  You also come out of the college with  a minor in Bible. Great alternative to the conventional plan.  We ended our day with a Valentine's Day lunch at a local restaurant.

Saturday the Wheeles' wanted to take us to see some real, live allegators so we all loaded up and drove to Gainesville where we did see two large ones and three babies.  We observed them at a place called Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.  It was a very beautiful place!

                   The gang heading into park

              And here is what we came to see!

             Look closely... He's lurking in there!

          It was a successful alligator hunt indeed!

Below are some random shots from around the camp. Allie has enjoyed swimming on some of the hot days.