Lake Park (Dickinson County) Freedom Rock®

Wow, OK so this next rock...er rocks I should say, I cannot WAIT to see in person! What an amazing project this county pulled together and completed.
As you can see, Bubba painted not one Freedom Rock® for this county, but six! Everything right down to the brick work is amazing. Here is a shot before Bubba actually began painting:

Photo courtesy of county.

They also commissioned Bubba to hand paint their signage for their Veterans Memorial when visitors come to town:

Photo courtesy of county.

Photo courtesy of county.

And here are pictures of the completed mural(s) along with Bubba's explanation:

Photos courtesy of county.

"The Lake Park Freedom Rock in Dickinson County Iowa is painted. They are still working on landscaping but hope to be done soon. Speaking of the landscaping, that alone is a sight to see. They've artfully placed pavers around each rock...there are 6 (The big one, then one for each branch of the military). The pictures don't do it justice, this is one you'll definitely have to visit to soak it all in. Most of this is self explanatory but to explain the side with the faces and star- they are 2 KIAs, 2POWs, and a Nurse who cared for recovered POWs...all from Dickinson County.

Make sure you check the website: thefreedomrock.com in order to see where each Official Freedom Rock® is located.

Thanks again to all those who've supported us in The Freedom Rock Tour and we'll see you at the next stop."             -Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II

                                                 

Pretty moving, huh? One last thing I wanted to share really quick was how well this county embraced being a part of the official Iowa Freedom Rock® Tour. When you hire artist, Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II, you not only hire a professional, world-renowned artist, but also The Freedom Rock® name and brand. The Freedom Rock® is a registered name and trademark and can only be used with the artist's permission. Which means you're able to use a trusted name that is recognizable world wide. The Freedom Rock® brand represents honoring our service men and women and has proudly for the last 15 years; which is what it's known for.
Below is a wonderful example of how this county used not only The Freedom Rock® name but also Bubba's artwork to the best of their abilities. Our goal with The Freedom Rock® Iowa Tour is to show that Iowa wants to make sure our military men and women, past and present are never forgotten but also to encourage Iowa tourism and all this great state has to offer!

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again. The people we meet via The Freedom Rock project really do become like our family. What an amazing turn out of support we had this weekend. It was so great to see visitors from all over the country come back from last year! But most of all, it's amazing to see the undying support for our Veterans which is what The Freedom Rock project is all about. We get so many people asking how they can help, what they can do, and how they want to help support our service men and women-perfect, this is our goal! To answer those questions...here is our biggest project we have going on right now: The Freedom Rock Tour. I'm happy to say that we feel a bit closer to that goal as we have had several contacts requesting rocks painted in their counties! We're still working out the details and hope to get that big sponsor soon.

Back to this weekend, I'd like to share a few highlights of the event. Ray added four more different Viet Nam Veterans ashes to the North side of the Rock this year, which puts the tally up to around 40. He also added a WWII Veteran's ashes to the Front of the Rock. The way the crowd fell silent and everyone watched as he mixed the ashes with paint and applied them to the Rock gave me goosebumps! It was very emotional watching the widows/friends of these Veterans ashes kiss their little medicine bottle which they brought them in and hand them off to Bubba. Wow-what a way to experience Memorial Day! Before I forget, we'd like to thank Valspar paint for donating all of the paint to The Freedom Rock this year!

Memorial Day 2012

Adding Viet Nam Vet ashes to the green helicopters. 

Another amazing moment I was able to capture was Clarence Pfundheller, a Pearl Harbor survivor, signing autographs in The 2013 Freedom Rock Calendar. Clarence is featured in the month of December. Clarence and other featured Veterans at The Rock that day were asked for autographs and thanked for their service. Again-we're so happy this is taking place and the Rock is doing its job of recognizing these Veterans and their service! These are the real celebrities of our country who should be getting asked for their autograph and honored all the time.

That's Clarence in the top right hand corner of the calendar just 18 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor-what a stud!

On a bit more of a personal note, I have to share pictures of Independence's first year at The Freedom Rock. She made a few appearances but boy was it a hot one-so she wasn't at the Rock too long! I would just like to say thank you to all of you who are a part of our lives through this project. Indie, Bubba and I feel truly blessed to have so many of you who support us and our family. We definitely feel the love and are very appreciative. Miss Indie was diggin' the attention I think! :)

Special thanks to Bubba's family, Mike, Dixie, Heidi, Mandi, Brian, Tucker, Isabelle & Taylor for all that you do every year! Also John & Joni & the rest of the Galanakis family for all of you do as well, including the amazing food you're constantly providing-even past closing time! And to everyone else-you know who you are-THANK YOU!

Daddy & Independence at The Freedom Rock, Memorial Day 2012

Dixie, Bubba, Mike & Indie at The Freedom Rock, Memorial Day 2012

Antigua!

So I finally got around to picking out a few of my favorite photos from our trip to the St. James Club in Antigua from January 5th-11th 2011. Some of them were taken with our professional camera and others just with a handheld digital. (I'm still developing my underwater camera...I'll post those soon!) Sorry it took so long but in my defense it's still technically January so really I'm not that far behind. Plus, you should have seen the stack of mail we had to sort through when we got back people! I couldn't help but to keep hearing that song in my head..."Back to life, back to reality..."

However, our time in Antigua was amazing, it was more than amazing it was...well I'll just let you see. We literally lied out on the beach with a drink in our hands every single day. My tan is fading, but when I look back through these pictures I can still feel the warmth of the beach! We made some great friends, business contacts and we are already talking about saving for our next trip to Antigua (it may take us ten years but hey...we'll go back).

We also wanted to take this time to thank REDBOOK Magazine for the opportunity to win this trip. Thank you to all of our friends, family and even total strangers who voted for us-with out your support I wouldn't have tan lines in January and I wouldn't have been able to actually be warm on my birthday since every year its usually a blizzard out and everyones canceling on my party. But not this year, oh no this year I sang karaoke with the natives of Antigua and had a piña colada. So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!

To view more pictures from our trip, visit www.sorensenstudios.us, click on the "client" tab and put in the password: antigua2011

These little guys had holes all over the beach,
I was just relieved they weren't tarantula holes

Well look at that, Bubba found a rock in Antigua too!

Took these while relaxing one day...and I made friends
with a lot of kittens after giving them food.

Bubba drew this in the sand one day, we called this our private beach
because it was in front of our room and we basically had it to ourselves every day

Rum Punch...one of our favorites
This picture was taken sitting outside our hotel room!

This is us out for my birthday on our way back from
 our favorite restaurant on the resort.

Even our shadows couldn't keep their hands off each other!
This is a great shot of our resort.

Our foot prints in the sand