SAM Shortline Railroad

Olivia's WINGS class recently explored southwest Georgia by taking a ride on the SAM Shortline Railroad.  Their trip began in Cordele and traveled to Leslie and Americus before returning to Cordele.  Olivia was excited to have her Papa (who worked on these types of trains for for many years) go with her.  Included in the price of the trip was lunch on the train (hotdogs) and a souvenir train cap for the kids.

In Leslie, the students visited the Georgia Rural Telephone Museum, which is home to one of the largest collections of antique telephones and telephone memorabilia in the world.

In Americus, the students visited the Habitat for Humanity Global Village and learned about the houses that this organization builds around the world.  They even got to visit replicas of the different types of shelters from different countries.  The kids were given "passports" and were able to get stamped at each "country".  From the way my dad described it, this place sounds very interesting.

 When my dad and Olivia got back home, they were both worn out.  It was a full, busy day for sure.

Owen is 8

 My little baby boy turned eight years old last Monday.  He is growing up so fast.  Here are some facts about Owen and age 8:

• His favorite subject in school is Math.
• If it were up to him, he'd just sit around and play video games all day long.
• He is eager to help out when asked (but won't volunteer)
• He loves salsa.
• He likes watching sports with his Daddy.
• He loves his family. 

Owen  had a great birthday this year.  We stopped by Dunkin Donuts on the way to school and let him get a donut and then he got to choose a restaurant to eat at that evening (he picked Loco Burrito).  We also had cake and a small family party for him following lunch on Easter Sunday,  He received lot of nice gifts.  His daddy and I got him a new bicycle, which he really liked.  He also got lots clothes, shoes, and a new baseball bag.  Owen is really into Pokemon and Yo-Kai Watch, so he was happy to get lots of things to go with that game (??).  I usually have someone more talented than myself make the kids a birthday cake, but I wanted to try to do one on my own.  I won't be doing that again.  I think that Hannah got all of the cake-making genes in our family.  Despite the ugly cake, it was a good birthday.  Brian and I are thankful for our sweet baby boy, and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with him.

Easter Activities at the Church

 Easter is upon us and the kids have been busy celebrating our Lord.  They have been learning about the events of Holy Week in their Sunday School classes and have also been participating in Holy Week activities.  On Palm Sunday, the children of the church march in waving palm branches.  Palm Sunday was also the date of the children's Easter production.  Owen and Olivia both had a solo in this year. Owen sang "Glory Glory Hallelujah (Since I Lay My Burden Down)" and Olivia sang "He Reigns".  On Wednesday, the church hosted an Easter egg hunt.  The kids at church always get really excited about that.  We are now looking forward to worshiping on Easter Sunday  He Lives!

Gate River Run

The Gate River Run is one of my favorite annual races, and I couldn't resist running it again this year- even though I am hopelessly out of shape.  It was a hot and humid day, but I gave it all that I had.  I finished with a time of 1:38:02- my worst for this course.  Even though my time wasn't that great, I still had a lot of fun and I look forward to redeeming myself next year.

State Tech Fair

 We traveled to Macon last weekend so that Olivia could compete in the Tech Fair State Competition.  She did not place, but she did get some good feedback.  The whole Tech Fair experience has been a positive one, and we are proud of the work that Olivia put into her project.  We are also happy that she had the courage to go into a room by herself with the judges, give her presentation, respond to their questions, and receive the feedback.  Olivia has stated that she wants to make it back to the state competition next year, so she has some work ahead of her.

An added bonus to our trip was that we had to kill three hours between Olivia's presentation and the awards ceremony, so we went and saw Zootopia- at a NICE theater.

Youth Art Exhibit

The Turner Art Center is hosting a youth art exhibit this month.  As part of this celebration, students from local elementary were given the chance to submit a work of art to be hung in the museum for the month. We received a note last week telling us that a picture Owen had drawn in his art class at school was chosen to be displayed.  Later in the week, his art teacher called the house to tell us that Owen's picture was also chosen to be entered into the competition portion of the exhibit.  Of course, we had to go check this out, so we all loaded up and headed to Valdosta for the opening reception.  The museum was really crowded- tons of parents were there with their children.  After some searching, we found Owen's picture- and his art teacher.  This was such a neat event, and a great way to promote art among the next generation.

The kids were asked to draw a "spring" themed picture.  When I asked Owen what he drew he told me that his picture was of "baby animals being born".  Thankfully, that wasn't exactly correct, although his picture did have lots of animals in it.

Owen's Field Trip

Owen's WINGS class recently took a field trip to Jacksonville.  While they were there, they saw the play "I Have A Dream" (about Martin Luther King Jr.) at the Florida Theater and then they toured the Cummer Museum of Art.  Granny Mel chaperoned the trip and she reported that they both had a wonderful time.  Here is a picture of the happy travelers about to board their charter bus.