Saturday, September 29, 2007

Awana Grand Prix 2007

We skipped the Awana Grand Prix last spring and moved the event to the fall of this year. Boy, was it successful! We had a great turnout, with lots of participants, but it started long before the day of the race. Sylvia and Jon sponsored two work days at the church. We had several stations where kids could work on their cars. One station was at the band saw, where the parents or Jon could cut out the shape of the car.
Here you see Jon cutting out Junior's car. He wanted a Lightning McQueen race car. Jon had fun cutting out the cars, and figured that he cut out cars for 10 different kids for the race.
Sylvia helped Junior sand his car at the sanding station.
Rachel McCurry weighed her future Hershey Bar car at the weigh station. You can see the drilling station beyond. Weights could be added to bring the weight of the car up to the maximum.
This is Junior's finished car, a Lightning McQueen style vehicle. We gave it and Syndi's car whitewall tires. Junior helped cut out pictures from online and glue them to the car. Junior had fun spray-painting the car, too. When Daddy ran in to check on something that was cooking, Junior and Stephen wandered off into the garage and started spraying things, including boxes and the driveway. Fun!
Then came Race Day! We had probably 75 to 100 people there to watch. You can count over 50 alone in the picture above.
Here you see some of the cars entered in the race. Junior's is in the forefront. Syndi's is in the upper left. These cars were from the Cubbies (6 closer cars) and Sparks (11 far cars) groups.
A full view of the cars and trophies. T and T cars are the farthest group. Vicky (l) and Trudy (r) were some of the workers running the race.
The kids anticipated each race...
...and were excited at each finish!
Syndi's car was an Awana Airlines airplane design (forefront). Here it prepares to race against a colorful and wavy car.
Syndi and Carson watch at the finish line to see who wins their race.
The Caruvana family was out in full force supporting Syndi and Junior! Junior wasn't too thrilled about getting his picture taken.
The winners showed off their trophies. Neither Syndi nor Junior won any trophies for speed, but Junior won a trophy for design. Syndi won a design trophy last year. Both kids did a great job!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Junior In Soccer

Junior joins his team.
Junior began soccer this past week. This also is through the Rome-Floyd County YMCA. At fiirst he never got a call from his coach, but Syl called and found out there was a meeting to put kids on different teams two Saturdays ago. She showed up and discovered they were having more of a "tryout" where kids had to run and kick the ball. Junior, an "I-need-preparation" man like his father, was not ready for this. So he spent most of the time curled up on the field, especially when they decided to have a "game." Poor guy. Junior on the field to play.
Apparently his coach had dropped out, and they were working on a replacement. A different coach offered to have him come to his Tuesday practice and was ready to take him under his wing. A few hours before Syl and JuneBug were to go to this Tuesday practice, they received a call from his new coach, with instructions to come to a Thursday practice. So the Tuesday practice Junior was prepped for was now a no-go. Poor guy.Junior's team is ready to play.
So he was prepared for a Thursday practice, but on Thursday it rained, and practices were cancelled. So he had a game scheduled for Saturday, and had as of yet had no soccer practice or training. And of course this happened during one of our busiest weeks this summer, so we never got out to practice at home. Poor guy.
The teams are lined up to start the game.
So we showed up for Saturday's game (this past weekend), and here is how things went: Jon talked to Junior to encourage him to be ready to play, but when Junior got 10 feet from the team (lined up to practice before the game), he fell to the ground crying. Jon's attempts to encourage him to play only got Junior off the ground and standing by the other boys. He wouldn't participate. Poor guy. Junior stood while his teammates took off after the ball.
The coach came over and pulled him into the huddle. This is where the pictures show what happened. Junior just stood there and said nothing, not even answering to tell them his name. And as things got under way (pictures 2-5), you'll notice Junior is basically in the same stance, not having moved an inch. He joined in, but wouldn't move. The coach basically put him where he was, and he stood there. Junior kicking the ball on the sideline with the coach's son.
So the coach set him to the side working with some older boys, one of whom was the coach's son. At first Junior wouldn't move. Eventually he kicked the ball, and before long was playing actively with the son on the sideline. He was smiling and having fun.
Junior after he scored one of his "three goals."
At one point we asked if he was ready to play in the game, and he said yes. So we encouraged him to go tell the coach. He looked back timidly halfway across the field, and we told him to keep going, which he did. He told the coach, who then put him in the game! Junior began to run around with the other boys, and chased after the ball. Eventually he even scored some goals.Junior having a blast!
Junior ran, kicked, and had a lot of fun once he joined the game. Notice the tell-tale tongue hanging out of his mouth! He got knocked down (a few times), but got back up and went after the ball. He ran over to tell us after he scored a goal. He did a great job. Hopefully next week will be easier from the get-go. Hopefully we can get in a practice today!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

YMCA Homeschool Swimming Class

Syndi and Junior are again enrolled in the Y's homeschool swim class. Syndi is in the older group (as seen above), comprised of students who can swim on their own. They do their class in the deep end of the pool.
Junior is in the younger class (as seen above), where kids cannot yet swim on their own. Syndi began here two years ago and is now a very good little swimmer. She's not fast yet, but is working on it.
Syndi is the smallest kid in her class. She seems so big to us, but seems so small next to these other kids. Above she is seen swimming with a kickboard, used to help focus on leg and kicking strength.
Junior uses a kickboard also, but because he cannot swim on his own. At first this year he struggled with being willing to swim. I think he's just getting a bad attitude in some areas.
But on the day Jon took the kids, he talked with Junior, who decided to enjoy the class that day. Notice the smiles and "sticking-his-tongue-out" excitement.
JuneBug used this pole to work on going underwater in the deep end.
And back in the shallow end, he worked on floating on his back. He did very well that day, and boy was he proud!
Syndi did well, also. She really enjoys swimming. Here she practices diving form as she dives through a hoop. This has been a great opportunity for homeschooled kids to learn how to swim at the YMCA.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Labor Day Weekend, Part 3: Lookout Mountain & The Incline

While we were in Chattanooga, we made a trip to The Incline, which rides up the side of Lookout Mountain.
It seemed interesting, and it's kinda cool to say you've been on it.
You can see it is a one-car trolley-style train, and it rides up a pretty steep incline to the top. The "breathtaking" 72.7% grade of the track near the top gives the Incline the unique distinction of being the steepest passenger railway in the world.
Well, I never lost my breath. At least not on the ride. We waited in line for an hour-and-a-half to get on the train. That could take your breath away!
The kids enjoyed finding their own seats.
Except Jules...she was kept close to momma.
Jon sat with Junior and tried to enjoy the view.
This view through the front window of the train car shows that encroaching trees were filling most of our view, except down the track, where one could see the extremely steep slope.
The view of Syndi gazing out her window was highlighted by her reflection.
Junior loved hanging out at the poles.
At the top, we learned the wait was even longer to get back on the train. We said no way and opted to stay on the train to return to the bottom. So we never got off at the top.
Junior hid most of the way down. He was scared of the steep slope.
After returning to the bottom, we got in our minivan and drove to the top of Lookout Mountain. It took us so much less time! We should've just done that from the beginning.
It seemed one could see forever from the top of Lookout Mountain. Apparently from Rock City, which we drove into as we headed for the top of the mountain, you can see 7 states from one vantage point (on a clear day, which we didn't have). Pretty cool!
Well, it was a fun afternoon. We could have gone without standing in line for what little we got. We'd recommend just driving to the top, unless you want to buy the T-shirts and be able to honestly say you rode the Incline Railway.



Before the Incline, we had a blast at Chuck E. Chesse. The kids loved that! After the Incline, we headed home. It was a fun weekend, and we enjoyed ourselves.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Labor Day Weekend, Part 2: Creative Discovery Museum 2007

We made our third annual visit to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee right after our field trip to the Ch. 9 Science Theater (see previous post). [Thank you, Rome library...our kids go free every year courtesy of the library's summer reading program!]
The first "zone" is a fun-filled water area, where kids can shoot sprays of water at targets, etc. Obviously Stephen enjoyed that. Junior enjoyed building with blocks. He has a great way of seeing things in 3D and building them.
Syndi enjoyed playing with this device, which balances a ball on a current of air. Of course, for her purposes, the ball was her head!
Stevie...
...Junior...
...Syndi...
...Sylvia...
...and Jon all enjoyed playing with this lightning generator.
Stephen loved playing with the clay.
Junior was an engineer of a different sort-the train engineer.
Syndi and Jon had fun with this set of pipes. Magnets held them to the wall, and you could make a path for a golf ball to travel down. We made a "Y" and figured out how to put the ball in just right to make it go down the tube we chose (at the Y). It was fun.
Stevie chose to use the ball (and not his head) for this device.
Junior peeking from a maze area. Think he was having fun?
This "Rube Goldberg" device is fun each year. It uses a skate to push a basketball up a channel to a kiddie swimming pool. The oars then push it up to the hole at the top. It then rolls across a path, falls through a basketball hoop, drops through the chute, and lands in the laundry basket, all for 2 points!
On the roof are some neat mechanical advantage devices that allow you to use your weight (some of us more than others) to move a ball up a corkscrew... ...lift your own weight to the top...
...and ring a bell when you reach the summit.
We closed our visit back at the water area, which we left early for a special "art studio class" for the boys.
Syndi and Junior dressed up like sailors before we hit the road. All aboard! This ship is leaving port!
Back at the hotel, everybody crashed. The next morning, Syndi was up to work in her leap pad.
But the boys were sound asleep! They needed the extra winks for our trip up Lookout Mountain! Stay tuned....