The Odell Era

Last week, the two youngest Odells joined the million-dollar mouth club, of which their older brother, Andrew, is the President in Perpetuity. So far, there have been no issues beyond very sore teeth for a few days, and the occasional lip snag.

Cameron decided to have his wire attached to his brackets with red and blue fasteners in honor of the Phillies. The rest of his family was horrified that he did not pay homage to the Orioles. When asked about it, he said flatly, "Look, the Orioles are a losing team."

This afternoon, Mom made a chocolate angel food cake for Dad's birthday, and in the oven it appeared it would be a smashing success. Out of the oven too, it appeared to be a smashing success.

See how beautiful it was? But turn the cake around...

And this is how it looks. Mom had followed the recipe, turning the cake pan upside down to help it keep its height. Shannon wasn't convinced the cake wouldn't fall out, but Mom was convinced and assured Shannon it would be just fine. Mom turned her back to the cake, working on the rest of dinner and Shannon continued to work at the counter, with her eye on the cake. A little later, Shannon calmly turned to Mom and said, "Hey, Mom, half your cake fell out." She whirled around to see half of her beautiful cake laying upside down on the counter.

No one really cared, however. It still tasted fantastic.

Cameron Odell received a belated birthday present today. He has been looking forward to receiving this one for a long time: a Shelby GT 500 convertible.

The birthday boy looks exceedingly pleased. He did not, however, get to drive it off the lot. The salesman did it for him, and took him for a long-anticipated ride in the hottest car he could think of.

Weeks ago, Cameron spotted this beauty on the lot of Keller Brothers Ford in Lititz, PA, and asked if he could go in and look at it. His mom said yes and allowed him to inspect the vehicle as long as he did not drool on it. While he was admiring the car, Mr. Marty Rineer approached Cameron and engaged him in conversation about the Shelby. At some point in the conversation, Cameron told him that the Shelby was his favorite car, and the salesman offered to give him a ride in it sometime. That sometime came about today.























Mr. Rineer took Cameron and his dad out on the country roads nearby and hit it. "I was crushed to the back of the seat! I couldn't have moved, even if I had wanted to!" he exclaimed. "This machine went from zero to 60 in 4 seconds! It was incredible! And this car can hug the curves. We went around the traffic circle barely slowing down, then we hit it again." However, a dinky Dodge Caravan was in the way and the speed demons had to slow down.

It appeared that Mr. Rineer was enjoying it, also. He was more than happy to oblige Cameron. When they pulled back into the lot, he gave Cameron a tour of the car under the hood and let him sit in the driver's seat. It will be a few years until he will be tall enough to see over the dashboard.