Robotics State Championship

The last half of the kids' robotics season has been exciting.  Olivia's robotics team (team A) ended up making it to the final round in every competition that they attended.  In the last competition of the year, they finished in second place, and this qualified them for the state tournament.  Owen's team (team C) continues to improve, and they ended up getting a wild card spot at the state tournament.  This is really good considering that all but one member of his team are new to the robotics program this year.












The state tournament was this past weekend, and Olivia's robot finished third in the state.  The top two finishers get a bid to go to the world finals, so they only missed it by a hair.  The kids' school also had another robot (robot B) finish in 6th.  We were all so happy with how well our students and robots performed. Also exciting was that the middle school robotics teams were also competing, and both of those finished in the top as well- and one of them qualified for Worlds.  This is the program that Olivia will (hopefully) be a part of next year, so it's great to see how well they are doing.

Arbor Day

Southern Forest World was offering free admission on Arbor Day, so the kids and I decided to pay a visit.  Olivia hadn't been here since she was in Kindergarten, and Owen has never visited- which is a shame because it is so close by.  We had a great time looking at the exhibits and talking to the special presenters who were on hand for the special event.  The highlight of our visit was the chance to see Stuckie the dog.  This poor fellow chased an animal up a hollow tree trunk years ago, got stuck (thus the name "stuckie"), died, and became mummified due to the natural preservatives found in the tree.  Olivia was a little spooked by the dog, but Owen was quite interested in him.  Before we left, we were given three dogwood trees which we planted at Gigi and Papa's house.  It was a fun morning.

Science Fair

Olivia and Owen teamed up to complete a science fair project this year.  For their project, they tested different varieties of water to determine ph.  Since completing the project, they have been very specific about what types of bottled water they will and will not drink.  They took their project to the district competition where they received a second place ribbon. 

Father Daughter Dance

 The annual father-daughter dance continues to be an event that Brian and Olivia both look forward to every year.  Olivia loves getting dressed up and spending this special time with her daddy.  She received a lot of really nice dresses from Nana and Poppy at Christmas, and she wore one of those dresses to the dance. Olivia chose Captain Joe's as the place that they would eat, yet again.  After their meal, the two headed off to dance the night away.

Owen and I continued our tradition of eating Mexican food and watching a movie.  There were no suitable movies at the theater, so we watched Cars 3 on Netflix.  A good time was had by all.

National Elementary Honor Society

Owen was recently inducted into the National Elementary Honor Society.  To be eligible, he has had to maintain an "A" average.  We are so proud of his hard work. 

As a current member of the honor society, Olivia had a part in the induction ceremony.  She lit a candle and read a passage about scholarship.

The kids enjoyed cake and punch following the ceremony.

Basketball

Both kids participated in basketball with the recreation department again this year. Olivia moved up to the 12u division.  There were only enough girls to make up two teams, so two ladies coached all of the girls and would change up who was on which team each game.  Olivia liked it when she and Ava were put on the same team.  She had a fun season, and she played really well in the last game.  She even hit a foul shot and scored a point for her team.

Owen moved up to the 10u age division, and he had an interesting season.  He did a lot of good things on both defense and offense, and we are happy with his effort. 

Basketball has been keeping us busy for a number of weeks, so we welcome a few weeks of rest before we start with our spring sports.