DI Globals, Part Two

The Global competition is majorly sponsored by large corporations, such as 3M. 3M is the manufacturer of duct tape, and duct tape is a huge part of DI! They had a great interactive experience for the kids. As a team, they had to create a little vehicle that could navigate this difficult course and collect the red items. Each team member took a turn driving the car, while a couple of others stayed below to help navigate and collect the red things. Audrey LOVED this!

Pin trading is a major part of any DI competition, and, when kids from all over the world bring their own pins to trade, you can imagine that the trading is intense. Each state has their own pin or pins, and often, each team will have a pin they have brought to trade. Our team had a set of six pins to give away, and by the second day, kids were already trying to collect all six! We spent hours trading pins, and met kids from just about everywhere!

We rode the buses around the University of Tennessee campus quite a bit. The weather was beautiful, so we did lots of walking, too!

Audrey with some of her team members and Tiffany, another mom and team leader.

Thursday night was the "Duct Tape Ball." Kids created their own costumes (some were fully clothed in duct tape), and partied the night away! Here is Audrey in her bubble tape dress, with her friend Katie, in her "Duct Cape."

Audrey and her roommate, Farah, taking a break from the party!

Audrey and me in front of the pretty Tennessee River.

Another part of any DI competition is the very secret, and often nerve-wracking "Instant Challenge." The kids are given a challenging task to complete as a team, in front of judges, with a very short time constraint (usually under 5 minutes). They earn points for teamwork, creativity, and ability to complete the task. They aren't allowed to talk about the Instant Challenge (until the entire competition is over). Apparently, they did a great job. Here they are after they had emerged, ready to do their "Ta-Da," a sort of team chant or other short cheer in front of the crowd.

Believe it or not, there are still more photos to come!

DI Globals, Part One

Audrey and I have just returned from a week-long trek to Knoxville, Tennessee and back with her Destination Imagination team, The Blue Griffins. The team has been working together weekly, since October, on a solution and creative presentation to a problem they chose to solve. They got first place in our regional division and third place at the state competition, so Globals was next! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, most teams will never make it this far, so we just had to go compete! We drove to Nashville the first day with our friends, and Audrey and her friend, Macie, had fun settling into our hotel.

The next day, we arrived at the University of Tennessee, where the massive competition is held. Over 16,000 people, from over 30 countries (and almost every state) are on campus for the entire week of festivities and competition. As soon as we arrived, we unloaded the kids' props, and they got to work on their final touches. Here, Farah and Audrey are stabilizing one of their backdrop pieces. One of the main rules of any DI competition prohibits any interference from adults. We are allowed to move their props/structures/costumes into vehicles and out again, but no adults can have any part in creating or  repairing any part of their presentation.

When we had a few minutes, that afternoon, we checked Audrey into her dorm room! Some moms started talking about how one day, we'll be doing this more permanently, and the rest of us told them to immediately stop such talk!

The kids ate breakfast and dinner in the dorm cafeteria each day. I stayed in a hotel nearby, and was there to greet Audrey after breakfast and to tuck her in at night.

That night, the Opening Ceremonies were held. (here is a video from the opening ceremonies.) Audrey and John Austin are wearing their Texas shirts, hats and bandanas. There was a parade of nations/states, which was amazing, and some major confidence building. On a very large scale! Each colored section represents a state or country. Texas has a huge delegation at DI Globals each year, as the DI program in our state is one of the most developed and has a huge amount of participation. (It's also big in Indiana and Korea, family!)

It was quickly to bed after the party, because the kids were the second team to perform the next morning. We spent some time backstage, getting ready and being nervous. Here, Audrey is in her griffin costume, which she made entirely by herself! The kids performed their very best; it was flawless! All presentations must be under eight minutes, and points are earned and lost for all sorts of little details of their scientific research, costumes, technical ability, etc.

Afterwards, the Blue Griffins were asked for an interview. The video crew spoke with them for about 25 minutes, and they did a great job, especially considering that they were completely unprepared for this!

More photos to come!

Mayfest

Being a fourth grader has lots of perks around here. They are the oldest kids at the elementary school, and our school is full of traditions. It's one of the oldest schools in the district, and we love it for so many reasons. Well, Audrey completely lucked out and was chosen at random to represent the girls in her class in the Maypole Dance at the annual Spring festival, Mayfest. They rehearsed for a few days beforehand (boys had to dance, and I guess they need lots of practice). It was beautiful!

The finished Maypole (the result of their weaving dance), above. It started raining during the dance (pouring, actually), which was so appropriate, I thought. I mean, if we were doing this in 14th Century Pagan Britain, it would have been raining, too, right?

dudes in suits

Grateful Sunday

the kids with Daddy Jeff, at his birthday dinner tonight

Today has been great, and our week was full of blessings, too. Today, I'm grateful that:

• we could spend the evening with Neal's dad for his birthday. He is such a wonderful man and I'm so glad that we are able to see him often now that they live in Weatherford. It was fun to see Jackson and Caroline, too. It has been too long! :)
• it rained just in time today. Parker's Saturday baseball game was rescheduled for Sunday evening. When we told him he couldn't play in it (the Sabbath always wins), he was so bummed out. He woke up bummed this morning, and we've been trying not to bring it up all day. This was probably going to be their last game, and, though the coach tried to have the game changed for us (thanks, Coach), it just wasn't going to happen. All day, Neal and I had been praying that the afternoon thunderstorms that we had heard about would do more than threaten and that Parker wouldn't miss the game. Well, lo and behold, at 7:15, when all the team was ready, the parents were set to go, I got a text from one of the moms that they had called the game. Lightning and rain were moving in. I told Parker that he would be blessed for choosing not to play on Sunday, and our prayers were answered. The game is tomorrow.
• friends and family who are helping us this week. Audrey and I leave for Knoxville on Tuesday, and obviously this creates a problem since I have two other children. Gail is coming to save the day and stay here at the house Tuesday-Thursday and my friend, Megan, is watching Miles all day on Tuesday. Parker has an after-school play date, and, basically, everyone is wonderful.
• Miles was in the "Purple Class" at his preschool this year. I cried when I dropped him off for his last day on Thursday. His teachers were so incredible, they clicked so well with Miles and he loved every minute that he was with them. I feel so blessed that he was placed in their class! He had a great first year of preschool.
• my wonderful Primary counselors are so on-the-ball. I have been gone often this spring, and summer will be more of the same. I am grateful that they are capable and happy to take over while I'm away!

Play Day

The annual Fourth Grade Play Day was held a couple of weeks ago. Our school's fourth graders competed against some other schools at the high school field.

Audrey had three events: Buddy Walk, 60 M dash, and Tug-of-War. She got second place in all three! Three red ribbons to bring home. She and her friend, Sarah, did the buddy walk together.

Blast Ball

Miles' Blast Ball season ended last week. He had so much fun being on the Angels with some of his buddies. Neal did a great job coaching, I think this might be the beginning of a long teeball career (we'll see, says Neal). We had the team party at a local burger place. Below, Neal is praising Miles' awesome skills.

And then Miles got his first every trophy. So awesome.

There was no shortage of baseball time while Pa was here. The weather was fantastic!

New York Recap

A few months ago, Neal mentioned that he thought he might want to possibly go to "American Frog Day" in New York in May. [Quick description of AFD, just because it's hilarious: an annual event focused on assisting scientific study and captive maintenance of Dendrobatid frogs and other amphibians through the exchange of knowledge, and the promotion of captive breeding and husbandry of these remarkable frogs (and other amphibians)].Of course, I said, "Neal, you totally need to go to that!" and jumped right on the idea. Made a quick call to my mom to see if she could take care of the kids, and soon we had a weekend booked!

We arrived late Thursday night (the best time to arrive, traffic-wise, according to our cabbie), and checked into our cute little hotel (Hotel Elysee) on the east side of Midtown. Friday morning, we walked over to a bike rental place just south of Central Park and hopped on bikes for the next two hours. The morning was beautiful and the park was full of people enjoying the weather.

After lunch, we took a subway downtown to Washington Square Park (one of my favorites) and then walked and walked up Broadway and Fifth Avenue, back to our hotel, where we put our poor feet up for a bit before dinner. Here I am with the Empire State Building, and Neal with the Flatiron Building. That night, we ate at a quaint little Italian place across the street from our hotel and took a short stroll around the neighborhood.

The next day, Neal headed out early to Staten Island to talk frogs with all the frog people. I did a little shopping on Fifth Avenue and then we met up for lunch. We ate in Chelsea, then went to The High Line Park (above). We ended up walking south, through Greenwich Village and Tribeca to get to a furniture store I had wanted to see (Oly Atelier). We took the subway back home and had Indian food that evening.

Sunday morning, we visited the American Folk Art Museum (because we only had an hour or two and I had never been there), and then walked back to our hotel before grabbing our suitcases and heading home. We returned to happy children, a cleaned-out fridge and spotless house (THANKS, MOM!), and our normal life, which resumed bright and early Monday.

It was great to get away, but next time, we're taking the kids to New York. We know they would LOVE it! You can see all of the places we visited, where we ate, etc., on A Room Somewhere.

Grateful Sunday

Neal and me on our bike ride through Central Park on Friday.

Today, I'm grateful for:

• my three little kids and that we are back home to see them. We missed them so much!
• some time away with Neal. It was nice to just walk hand in hand and have no schedule, no plans. We strolled around New York for three days (and realized just how out-of-shape we are). We had such a great time; New York is so awesome.
• my mom and dad for taking care of things here at home. They had school to take people to, baseball games to get to on time, and church to sit through with the kids. Thanks so much Mom and Dad! The kids had a blast.
• the nice people at our hotel, who have to send us our car keys in the mail. Oops, left them in the room.

More photos to come!

Parker's Baptism

Parker's baptism on Saturday was really wonderful. He was baptized with his buddy, Jake, and they had so many family and friends who came to share the day with them. The service was at 9:00, so we had a busy morning getting ready and over to the church on time. After the boys were confirmed, we celebrated with some donuts and juice and everyone signed Parker's guest book. It was a beautiful, sunny morning!

Jeff made sure we took group shots . . . 

We hurried over to Miles' last teeball game and then had lunch at Babe's, in Roanoke: one of our favorite spots! The rest of the day was relaxing. The kids went swimming for the first time this year, and we lounged around.

While Parker and Neal were getting dressed, we showed this little slideshow. I thought I'd share it here, too! Enjoy.

Grateful Sunday

My mom with me and Audrey at Parker's baptism yesterday.

This has been a great week. We had some special moments this weekend as Parker was baptized and we had family and friends come to watch. I'll post more photos tomorrow, but today is Mother's Day, so I thought a mothering picture was perfect.

I am grateful for:

• my own mom, whose wisdom I never question, and whose love I treasure daily. I feel so blessed to have been sent to the Parker family, with my mom and dad at the head. They are both such amazing people, and the way they raised us, loved us, and continue to love us is so beautiful to me. Never in my life have I not felt their palpable love and care for me and now for my own family, too. My mom's example of selflessness, her constant seeking for knowledge and truth, and her tender testimony of the Savior mean the world to me. I love you, Mom!
• Neal's mother, whom we miss always. I often imagine what it would be like if she were still a part of our lives here on earth. I wish so much that she could know my kids, that she could wrap her arms around us and that we could be with her. I know that one day we will see her again, and the time will have seemed so short. We just have to wait it out and endure.
• my grandmothers, whose example and love I cherish. I am so blessed to have such women in my family and such love in my life.
• our friends, who got up early and dressed their kids up on a Saturday to be there for Parker on his big day. His teacher from school even came with her husband, and we were so grateful for that! It meant a lot to Parker to see so many loving, smiling faces at his baptism.

In the Paper!

Audrey's DI Team was featured in the local paper today! She was so excited to herself in print! Here's a link to the article.

Grateful Sunday

Audrey and Parker at Ruby's, Huntington Beach, in 2004. I love this photo.

Today, I'm grateful for:

• rain! Though I am somewhat petrified of tornadoes, especially after the havoc they caused in other states lately, I am thankful for thunderstorms and rain, which we have had plenty of this week. Spring just isn't spring without rain! I'm thankful that Texans' collective prayers were answered and that there has been relief from the drought.
• fun friends who came over for dinner tonight. Turns out we have lots of mutual friends from our Houston years. It's always fun to get to know new people.
• the book I'm reading (Ahab's Wife), which is super good. Thanks to Mom and Steph and Jooj for the recommendation.
• a visit from Toni, speaking of Julianne. I'm excited that we got to spend some time with him and look forward to getting to know him better, now that he's family!
• our car. It's getting up there in miles <125,000. But it has served us well. We need another good summer out of it. Road trips to Tennessee and Nebraska!
• our able bodies. We spent some good hours in the yard this weekend, and I am grateful for a healthy body which allows me to do just about whatever I put my mind to.
• our DVR. It comes in so handy for things like the Oscars, General Conference, and The Royal Wedding! I watched many hours of coverage on Friday, but not a single commercial.