Black Friday Activities

None of us really like to shop on Black Friday - things get too crazy (and we all prefer to shop online anyway!) We headed south to the Linden Train Museum for a little fun instead.

 It's an old train depot that Gary Vierk has diligently worked to preserve.

 It has a real railroad caboose and other train memorabilia that you can get up close to and touch.

Gary is also interested in circus memorabilia and he had a carousel for kids to ride in one of the rooms. Julie was hesitant, but rode it anyway.

 Emily, Cole, and Kate watch Julie ride.

 He had set up a three ring circus with trains running around it. Gary told me that he had glued 1,000 people in the stands (and each one had been individually painted! What a lot of work!)

 There were trains of all sizes and gauges running on tracks in that room.

 There was also a carnival scene as well.

 And real circus memorabilia such as this circus poster...

 ... and a jobber's uniform from Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey.

 While we were there, a real train passed on the tracks alongside the depot.

 Julie stood and watched as all the cars sped by.

 Visiting the caboose.

 Cole gives Kate a peek inside - unfortunately, the caboose was not open to visitors that day.

It was fun seeing the trains and things, but wouldn't you know, Kate seemed to like the rocks most of all, just as she had when she was at the barn and visiting Abby!

Thanksgiving Day, 2017

Thanksgiving - my  favorite holiday! We cook and bake and roast...

 ... and run out of counter space so that some foods get placed in my spa tub until needed. (Hey, it's handy to the kitchen and safe from little kiddos and dogs there!)

The wait for dinner can be tough whether you are big or small.

 Julie, Mila, Kate, and Ian.

Putting black olives on your fingers while eating appetizers is fun.

And so is prepping your plate with butter and cherry jam. (Ian could not wait to eat Aunt Emily's rolls!)

 Great Aunt Cindie brought gifts for the four grandchildren.

Advent calendars and little stuffed dogs that barked!

 Great-Great Grandma Honeywell's hand crocheted tablecloth was brought out for the big day.

It made a wonderful hiding place...

 ... as Mila discovered!

I did not get any pictures of the table of food but we had fried turkey, ham, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, gravy, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, Christmas Jello, two kinds of stuffing, roasted vegetables, tossed salad, cheese ball, chocolate chip cheeseball, olives, and pickles.

 For dessert there was apple pie, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, sugar cream pie, and pumpkin cheesecake.

 Craig, Steve, Cindie, Jenny, Rick, Eric, and Emily.

 Leslie, Vanessa, Ian Curt.

After dinner (and naps for a few of us, including grown ups), we headed out to Battle Ground to visit Granny Slash's tree at the battlefield.

 Julie and Ian investigated the mulch around the tree.

 Leslie, Curt, Jenny, Cole, Rick, Julie.

 Curt helped me hang the ornament (Eric, Curt, Lisa).

It's a glass basket of apples - appropriate for our Granny Slash!

 Curt, Ian, Leslie, Rick, Lisa, Julie, Cole, Emily, Cindie, Steve, Eric, and Jenny.

 Rick, Leslie, me, Steve, Cindie, and Jenny.

 Eric, Curt, Lisa, Cole, and Emily.

Ian had brought along the Christmas ornament I gave him and had hung it on the tree, too. (We did not leave it there.)

The rest of the day was spent playing games, talking, eating when desired, and just hanging out as a family. I love this holiday!

Seriously, Girls, Rocks??

Well, I thought I was helping Julie and Kate develop their horsey sides while they visit for Thanksgiving. But I may have been wrong.

 We headed out to the barn yesterday afternoon, and the whole herd came up to say hello.

 Abby loves it when I bring children with me - she knows she will get some extra treats!

And Julie obliged her by giving her carrots...

 ...and candy canes.

 Boompa helped Julie get her hand flat so that Abby didn't catch her fingers in her teeth.

After seeing the horses, we went into the new barn to see Tim's collection of horse drawn vehicles.

And it was there that the girls discovered what they considered to be the best part of our barn trip - the pea gravel that covers the aisles of the new barn!

 Emily tried to entice her girls into the family buggy for a photo by climbing in herself.

 But Kate was NOT happy when Boompa lifted her up and onto her mama's lap.

 Tim's super cool 1822 paddy wagon? Forget it - the rocks had greater appeal.

Next we went into the office to show the girls his vintage pony saddle.

 Julie took a look but would not let us lift her onto it for a photo.

 And Kate let it be known that she was not interested, either.

 As we headed back to the cars the girls made a detour down an aisle...

... happy to see the rocks again.

They'll be here until next weekend. I guess I will keep working at home on helping them find their inner love for horses!

Lego Robotics

I know NOTHING about robotics. Not a thing. But I knew enough that, when Caterpillar and The Society of Women Engineers offered me a grant to begin a girls team at Hershey, I jumped at it. Their goal was to introduce girls to STEM careers through FIRST Lego League, and FIRST Lego League turned out to be an excellent vehicle to accomplish that goal.

They mentored us faithfully, coming out every Wednesday after school to help me work with the girls.

We only had seven weeks to prepare, but we participated in Purdue's competition for FIRST Lego Leage grades 4 through 8 yesterday.

 Former student Carl Landskron was one of the Purdue students in charge of the competition.

And Brooke Cederquist was helping out, too. It's always nice to see former students!

There were nine girls competing for the Hershey Legoettes, but the other nine girls participating at Hershey were invited to come and cheer us on. I counted fourteen of our eighteen girls there at one time or another!

 Our robot accomplished the tasks at school, but it was finicky at the competition. The girls tweaked its program repeatedly, trying to get it to work the way it should so that it could accomplish its tasks.

We also had to make a project and a poster about it as well as a poster about the Core Values of FIRST Lego League and how we exemplified those values.

We presented those in the morning as well as did a demonstration of our robot. The girls were on their own - their mentors and I could not go in with them for the presentations.

Lanie S. and Hannah S.  ran the computer in the three competitions during the afternoon. We got three tries to accomplish our tasks. It wasn't until our final chance that our computer worked. That meant that we probably would not move on to the state competition.

Linda Fields, our principal, (seated in the upper right) came and watched us and stayed for the awards ceremony.

The girls and their high school mentors, Molly Page and Hailee Rolofson, waited with the rest of the teams in the bleachers, fingers crossed that they might win an award.

They erupted into cheers when it was announced that they were one of two teams to win the Core values award, which is considered very prestigious as it means that they exemplified everything FIRST Lego League wants the girls to do (kindness, cooperation, team spirit, hard work, etc.) We were thrilled when our counterpart, East Tipp, was the other winner!

It was a long day, and I am still tired, but a good one, too. And even better, Caterpillar and The Society of Women Engineers told me that I was receiving another grant to start a boys team at Hershey next fall.