Christmas Lights

We attended the Lewis family's light show on the weekend before Christmas.  The lights were as amazing as ever.  I'm always amazed at the obvious effort that the Lewis family puts into their display- and they offer this to the public for free.  This year's trip was special because all of my sisters and their kids went to see the lights together.  The kids loved spending this time together.  We took lots of pics.  Here are some of my favorites.

Holly Jolly Jekyll

There are tons of activities to be found on Jekyll during the Holly Jolly Jekyll season.  We spent last Saturday checking them all out.  We arrived around lunch and ate at the Wharf in the historic district.  Near the restaurant was the "ice skating" rink that has been erected for the season.  The kids had high hopes, but it was a bit disappointing.  Obviously, there was no ice.  We were basically walking around on sheets of plastic.  It did not feel like actual skating.  Still, the kids gave it their best try and spent a good 20 to 30 minutes or so ice skating plastic walking.

 We spent some time walking around the historic district.  We stopped to make a Christmas ornament and to get ice cream.

Once it got dark, it was time for the golf cart parade.  This was really cool.  The participants went all out on those golf carts. The kids' favorite was the gingerbread house golf cart.  They voted for this one to receive the people's choice award.  I liked the golf cart that was decorated to look like the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

 The parade ended on the front lawn of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.  There was a DJ set up and some games and contests were planned.  One of those contests was an ugly sweater contest.  When the DJ announced that this contest would be taking place following the parade, the kids begged to go back to the car so that they could get my beautiful Christmas sweater out to enter in the contest.  So, we ran to the car following the parade, got my sweater, and Owen entered the contest.  He got third place and was really excited about it.

 And, of course, we had to check out the lights in the historic district before we left for the evening  They were beautiful and were the perfect way to close out the day.

'Tis the Season

The last few weeks have been packed with various Christmas activities.  One thing new to us this year is our Christmas tree.  Granny Buie got a new tree, and so we are now using her old one.  Funny enough, our previous tree was also a Granny Buie hand-me-down.  The kids loved adding their new ornaments from Disney, Space Camp, and Texas.

December has also marked the return of our elf, Pickles.  He is way more mischievous this year than he has ever been before.  Funny how that coincides with the fact that Brian is now home with us during the Christmas season and has taken on some new duties.

The kids have also enjoyed attending various Christmas parties at school, church, and with friends.  I think their favorite was the gingerbread house party.  They love spending time with their buddies.

This is Owen's last year to participate in the children's Christmas program at church.  This year's program was about using you unique talents for God's glory.  Owen is good with technology, so he created a scavenger hunt for the class, filmed it, and presented the edited video at the performance. 

Following the church performance, we drove to another local church to see their live nativity.  I thought that it would be something we just drove up and looked at, but it was like a 30 minute play.  They had bleachers and everything.  It was so impressive and well done, and it reminded us all of the true reason for the season.

Christmas Parade

 The Christmas Parade is one of our favorite holiday traditions.  The kids love meeting up at the usual "spot" and watching the parade with our family.  This year was Maren's first parade, so that made it special.  We usually go to Christmas in the Park following the parade, but there was a last minute date change for the parade (due to the football team being in the playoffs), so the two events did not coincide. .

Christmas Band Recital

 The middle school band had their Christmas recital last week.  I must admit, that my expectations were low.  I mean, these kids haven't been playing that long so I thought the songs would sound really bad.  Man, was I wrong.  The kids did a fantastic job.  I was pretty impressed- especially with their band director for getting them to play this well in such a short period of time.  Olivia is certainly enjoying being in the band and learning to play the French horn. 

Robotics Update: One qualified, one to go

The kids attended their second robotics competition of the season in early December.  Olivia's team has worked to improve their robot, and they've fixed some of the issues that they had in the first competition.  They drove well and finished in the middle of the pack.  They plan to make further improvements over the Christmas holiday.  These kids are working their butts off on this robot, and I am proud of their progress.




If you will recall, Owen's robot had some major issues at the first competition and they finished last.  I am pleased to report that the problems have been fixed, and they rocked it at the second competition.  They finished second in skills and also second in alliance.  Better yet, they qualified for state.  Owen was so excited!  

Tech Fair

 The kids each completed a project for their school system's tech fair again this year.  Olivia competed in the category of 3D modeling.  For her project, she designed and built a roller coaster using No Limits2 software.  She worked really hard on her project.  Not only did she work on it for hours at home, but she also did several "run-throughs" of her presentation.  She was noticeably nervous on the day of the competition.  Her efforts paid off, and she was awarded the first place medal. 

Owen and his partner entered in the category of device modification.  They worked on their project at school, so I didn't really know what they were doing until the day of the competition.  I still don't know if I understand it.  Basically, they are using a device called a makey makey to change a computer program.  In this case, they hook some wires up to various fruits and play a piano on the computer using the fruit.  They also did well and finished in second place.  The top two finishers in each category move on to the regional competition, so both kids will be competing again in January.