MILAGRO AND ANGEL VISIT

Maria's aunt Milagro and her husband Angel, visited us last week for a few days.  Maria had their day packed with fun filled adventures....................including a trip on an airboat in the everglades, and a flight with Adriana from Dade Collier airport to Fort Lauderdale Executive airport. The highlight of course, was the flight with Adriana at the controls..........................  Not many people get the opportunity to see the everglades from 2000 feet with an aspiring 17 year old pilot at the controls!  Hope you enjoyed your visit Milagro and Angel!  See you soon!

FAMILY PHOTO!

Finally decided it was time for a "family" photo, so here it is!  Adriana on the left, Jimmy, Maria, and last but not least ME!  What a good looking family, eh?  So we have Adriana, the next airline pilot in the family, Jimmy the next USA/WORLD number one tennis player, Maria -- #1 in my heart, and me the lowly photographer.......................  ;-)

CONGRATULATIONS ADRIANA BENDECK!!!!

My stepdaughter took her private pilot check ride yesterday (23 July, 2012), and passed WITH FLYING COLORS!!!!!! What an amazing 17 year old she is! I can only imagine what great heights she will achieve in her lifetime! Congratulations Adriana!!! We're ALL so proud of you and your accomplishments!

ADRI GOES TO PROM!

So my stepdaughter has an invitation to prom.....................and here's her photo!  What a beautiful young lady she is!  Hard to believe just a few short years ago she was 11 years old and practicing handstands with NO luck whatsoever.............and now she's flying airplanes by HERSELF and gorgeous!  

OLD FRIEND FROM JFK!

I recently was contacted by an old friend that I've known since the early 90's. Roger was a controller at the JFK tower in NYC. Over the years we've kept in touch, and he'd been living in St Thomas for the past 15 or so years, so I was really surprised to hear from him the other day that he'd moved to Miami, and was now the manager of the Tamiami control tower! How cool is that? At any rate, we were able to meet up for some breakfast and here's a shot of him and my stepdaughter, Adriana. Hopefully we can get together for dinner soon! Great having you back in the USA Roger!

Adri's SOLO Pictures!

Here's two photos I took of Adriana moments after her first solo (yes, she flew by HERSELF)! Soloing an airplane is one of the most rewarding experiences of a pilots life. I still remember the day I soloed, and that was back on February 19, 1977! What a wonderful day that was............and so totally unexpected. You can see how excited Adri was..............and still is. It looks like her flying career is starting to take off! Nice job Adri!

ADRIANA AND I GO FLYING

I recently started teaching my girlfriend's 16 year old daughter Adriana, how to fly. She has around 14 hours or so and is doing really well. Her goal is to become an airline pilot, so that's the goal we're working towards. Today she did a perfect takeoff, landing and "slip" all by herself. Nice job Adri!!!!!

ADRIANA"S SCHOOL WORK

Adriana, my girlfriend's daughter, spends a LOT of time doing homework. (And I mean a LOT.........usually from 7 PM til 1AM almost every night of the week). Here's a shot of Adriana and Maria while Maria is playing on the computer (and if you click on the photo, you'll see she's checking out my blog....:-) ), while poor Adriana is sitting on the floor and working on a school project. I have to tell you, I certainly don't miss those days of worrying about getting my schoolwork done. Adriana is in an International Baccalaureate program and it is one tough program. She's doing extremely well. Keep up the great work Adri!!

KIDS WITH BRACES

Jimmy and Adriana finally have braces on..........and here's the proof! So now we'll have good looking kids with good looking teeth!!! Guess I was lucky as I've never had to wear braces.