Park Ninjas - 6/24/2020

We have had really nice weather this past week, so the kids have been spending a lot of time at the park!  Avie misses her Ninja class, so she has been practicing Ninja on her own and creating her own courses at the park.  Check out the two courses that she created on her own!

Lego League District Champions! - Archer

 The team competed at the district competition in Webster City on December 2, 2022.  The competition includes 3 robot runs, where they have 3 minutes to complete as many missions as possible.  All missions are provided by First Lego League at the beginning of the season and the kids work all season to design attachments for their robots and write code to attempt to complete as many missions as possible.  There is a lot of decisions that go into which missions to attempt based on the points available as well as the success rate for each of their programs. The kids split up into teams of 2 or 3 and each group tackled different missions.  The robots don't always perform exactly how the code says they should, so it involves a lot of problem solving to come up with the best way to have the highest success rate.  

Here is a link to the First Lego League playlist including videos of the 3 runs at the district competition:

Run 1:

Run 2:

Run 3: 

The team also prepares a presentation for the competition.  This year the theme was energy, so the kids decided on an idea to help solve the problem of sustainable energy.  Archer's team decided to focus on using vegetables to create energy.  They worked so well together and learned so much!  After the presentation, the kids then answer questions about their project and their robot and its programs and how they worked as a team and made decisions.  The parents are not allowed into the room for the competition, but we were able to watch a live stream from the room next door.  

Here are the links to the presentation and some of the questions that Archer answered:

Archer gained so much confidence in himself to speak up and answer questions and his team really did. a great job in working together during the entire process right down to making sure everyone got to answer a few questions.  

When it was time for the awards, their was a lot of waiting for the final results to come in.  They presented a lot of different awards as Lego League does a great job in recognizing all the work and different strengths that are brought out during the competition and not just whose robot competed the most missions.  

They gave away one award for the Mentor of the Year and to our surprise Jarad won this award!  When they went to announce the winner he said "I hope we don't mispronounce this name," so that also made us think it wasn't Jarad.  Afterwards, we found out that Dagney had recruited a few kids from the team to nominate Jarad for this award.  Congrats to Jarad he was an amazing coach and mentor this year and he had so much fun and this award was well deserved! 

When they finally announced the awards, we found out that they just declare one overall winner and then for the rest they just announce the teams that qualified for the state competition at Iowa State University at the end of January.  As they started to announce the teams that qualified for state, one other Ames Middle School team qualified, but they didn't name Archer's team.  We were surprised as we thought that they had a good chance to make it.  Then, the last thing they announced was the Champions!  The presenter had trouble saying the team name, so at first Archer's team did not realize that they won.  I also think they were a bit in shock!  The kids didn't even stand up and cheer.  They were just like "did we just win?!"  They didn't even have the kids come up to accept the award, which was kind of strange.  But the kids were thrilled and we were so proud of them and all their hard work!! 

Here is a video of the awards ceremony where they announced the state qualifiers and champions.  Archer's team, "Attack of the Energizer Bunnies" is announced as the winner at 1:30.  His team is sitting in the middle in the turquoise blue shirts.  I'm not even sure they realized they had won.  :)

When we went down to congratulate Archer, we asked if he was excited and he said "I don't want to go to state."  We were surprised.  I was excited because this would extend their season and he would get to continue with Lego League, which he loved for another month, for another month and work to make their programs and attachments better and write new programs and decide which ones would be best to run in the amount of time they had to complete the missions. 

Then, we found out that he thought state was the very next day (Sunday) and that it was even farther away and. he was exhausted from the very long day!  Jarad and Archer had woken up at 5:00 am to go to the Middle School and pick up other teammates and then drive about 1 hour to the competition.  And then they competed all day until about 1:30 or 2:00 pm and then waiting around another couple hours for the awards.  Once he found out it was in January and at Iowa State, he was a lot more excited!  

Here is a link to the First Lego League YouTube playlist we created including the videos of the 3 runs at the district competition and the awards ceremony.  You can copy and paste it into a new browser tab to see all the videos (they are the same as the ones posted above.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHF2ByFeYPaymuhWAkGAYvtcgB6A51TI2

Lego League - Archer - 7th grade

 Archer joined Lego League at the beginning of 7th grade at Ames Middle School.  In order to make the team, Archer had to try out, which included a solo interview and coding the robot in pairs.  We asked him last year (at the start of 6th grade) if he wanted to try it as we (Jarad and I) thought he would really enjoy it, but he said no and we didn't want to push it since it involved trying out for the team which would require preparation on his part.  We have pushed him into other activities before but only when we could just sign him up.  

So at the beginning of this year, we really pushed him to try out because you can only participate in Lego League until the end of 8th grade.  At first, he was really reluctant and did not want to try out.  Finally, the weekend before the try outs, we convinced him to just go to the training on Monday after school and then we'd decide about the try out.  I was pushing him to try out on Tuesday evening so it would interfere with cross country practice.  After the training on Monday, Archer came home and said that he wanted to try out, but wanted to wait until Wednesday after school so that he would have more time to prepare!  That made a lot of sense, so we said great!  

Archer did the tryout on Wednesday and he said it went really well.  He was given 5 questions to prepare for the interview and he had to answer 3 of them that were chosen at random.  He was paired up with an 8th grade girl for the robot coding and he said it went well.  Although, he had forgotten that you had to press a certain button to make the robot perform the code, so he was happy that his partner remembered that part.  

Archer made the team!  The team was split into 4 different competition teams and Archer would meet with his team on Tuesdays before school.  I also found out at this time that Jarad had said he was interested in coaching.  Dagney, the Ames Middle School Science Teacher, who is in charge of Lego League reached out to Jarad to see if he could help coach Archer's team.  Jarad would be in charge of coaching the team on the presentation portion of the competition.  Dagney along with two high school mentors, Henry and , coached the kids in programing the robot.  All of the coaches were great in letting the kids lead and make decisions together as a team and helping to guide them as needed.  

As the season got going, Jarad felt the kids needed more time to work on the robot and coding, so he offered optional extra practices at our house, which several kids attended.

Archer loves Lego League!  I think it is probably his most favorite activity that he has participated in!  His team of ten kids worked great together and they learned so much and had a lot of fun!  

Dagney runs a scrimmage the night before the district competition so that they kids can see what it is like to compete and practice their presentation and answering questions. Here are some pics and videos of the scrimmage.  

Archie making animal patterns - October 22, 2013

Archie

Climbing the stairs - February 28, 2011

Archer can officially climb the stairs now, so again we have to re-think how we do things. I can no longer leave Archer downstairs while I run up to get something as he will often come after me. Time again to get out the baby gates. Archer first climbed the stairs all the way to the top on President's day, February 21st, at 9.5 months of age. This was a feat Avalon did not accomplish until she was almost 11 months old. We did not have any stairs at our apartment in North Carolina, which was great! So she didn't learn to climb the stairs until June 2009 when we were at Mummi and Ukki's house in MN.

Archie running after Play Pals - April 3, 2013

We used to play this game all the time after Play Pals last year when Avalon was also with us.  But here is Archie racing against Mommy.  I love how he says "Marks, get set, go."  And that his feet are "so fast!"  Not sure where he learned "I win. You lose." 

Avie tells a story - February 28, 2013

Avalon loves to tell stories.

Water slide - June 2013

This is Avie's first time down the big kid water slide at the water park near our house on June 26, 2013.  She loved it!  It only took a couple of times with Daddy catching her before she was ready to go on her own.  After this she went down the slide again and again for the next several times that we went to the water park.



Another video taken on the same day from the bottom of the slide.



About 1.5 months later on August 11, Archie was ready to try the big kid water slide.  And he love it too!  He still wants Mommy or Daddy to catch him at the bottom, which is good since he can barely touch the bottom.  Downside is that Mommy had to get all wet catching him over and over again.  As with Avie, Archie continued to go down the slide again and again the next several times we went to the water park!

Things the kids say...July 22, 2013

Avalon  "Archie, can I have a turn with the fishing rod."
Archie "Fishing Rod, can Avalon have a turn.  Yes.  The fishing rod said you can have a turn."

Mommy "Archie, which pool do you like best?" 
Archie "I like all the pools." 
Mommy "You haven't even been in the wading pool yet."
Archie "I'll go there in a couple whiles."

Dinner time with Archie - March 2013

Archie
I love how the second time through, he says each item using the next note up on the musical scale!  So cute!

Hotel Swimming pool...flashback - May 2012

Archie swimming



Avie swimming



Archie swimming

Daddy gets a workout - April 17, 2013

The kids are helping Daddy out with his workout!  The video was taken on April 17th, 2013.

Puzzles - Archie - May 2013

Archie loves puzzles!  I think we may have near 40-50 puzzles in our house and Archie has done them all.  And I keep buying more!  On May 8, just a few days before his birthday, he completed his first 100 piece puzzle with a little help from Mom.  As of about March 1, he could do a 63 piece puzzle all on his own.  He still loves doing puzzles of all sizes, but I'd say at the moment he enjoys 48-63 piece puzzles the best.  He could complete a 48 piece puzzle on his own in January of 2013 (age 2.5 years) and could complete 24 piece puzzles on his own around January of 2012 (1.5 years).  Way to go Archie! 

Avie's dream - summer 2013

While in Duluth, shortly after returning from the boundary waters, Avalon had an awesome dream, which she recalls for us here.  I love that her good friend Elodie is with her in this dream.  Too bad Avalon woke up before they got to ride any of the rides!  :)

Minneapolis - March 2021

Avie "Minneapolis is like a hotel, I think."

Santa! - December 2013

Visit

Skiing - April 2016

We leased downhill skis for the kids this year and they had a great time skiing all winter!!  The first time out at Spirit Mountain in Duluth started a little rough.  The kids were a little frustrated and wanted to quit.  So we decided to take a break and let them get a snack, whatever they wanted!  And after a break they did great!  Avalon really got the hang of it and went up and down the bunny hill over and over again!!  Archer gave it a really good effort, but didn't quite get it figured out.  We are so proud of them both for sticking with it and trying again and again!!  Now that they ski season is over, we are just so impressed with how far they both came from that first day!  Although we are looking forward to the summer with lots of swimming and fun trips!  We are also looking forward to next winter and they start of another ski season!


Last day of skiing this year:  Spring skiing!!  And the slopes in Boone, IA were pretty empty!

Things the kids say...October 14 2014

August 2014
Avalon:  "I know what science is like."
Daddy:  "What is science like?"
Avalon:  "Sometimes it doesn't work"
Daddy:  "Where did you learn that?"
Avalon:  "Vacation Bible Camp."

August 2014
Archer:  "I was almost going to run out of walking."

August 26, 2014
Archer: "Remember when we were at Libby and  Chris's house and we went outside at night and lots of things were blinking and it was really cold."

August 27, 2014
Archer:  "Right away when Mummi and; Ukki get here they give us both hugs.  I love their hugs."

October 3, 2014
Archer:  "Since we can go downstairs and upstairs, do you know what this room is called?  It's called middle room."

The creativity juices are really flowing...April 2020

Since we have lots of extra time at home, the creativity juices here are really flowing...

Avie has starting writing 2 books.  She is learning to draw using "Art for Kids Hub" and drawn about 50 pictures and they are really good!  She has an entire sketchbook full of them already!  She has also drawn a few on her own as well.  She has started writing a screen play for "Descendants 4."  She has created all the characters, including names and personalities, and drawn sketches of what their outfits will look like.  And she has written the lyrics 6 songs for the movie as well!  And she has an idea of the music in for the songs in her head!  This girl is on fire!  Love to see all of the amazing creations that she has come up with given this extra time!  Keep it up girl!  I love your ideas, enthusiasm, and you! 

Lots of Snow and Sledding! - Winter 2020

Lots of snow in Coquitlam this week!  The kids have been out on the Coquitlam Crunch sledding everyday after school this week and twice on Wednesday when school was cancelled!  I'm not sure exactly how much snow we got, but it was at least 2 feet with most of it coming on Monday and Wednesday!  And it stayed cold enough for the snow to stick around all week!

The kids had a blast sledding!  And a big thanks to our friends for sharing their sleds with us!  

Avie's first band concert - 5th Grade - Spring 2019

Avie started band this year.  When she went to try out all the instruments, she really wanted to play flute because she liked the way it sounded or trumpet, but then during her try outs she was not recommended for either of these instruments because she couldn't make a noise on them.  So she decided to retry on both of them.  She also got to try the drums and tuba and the retries as well.  But after he retry, she was still recommended for trombone, so she decided to play the trombone, just like her daddy!  After a few months of trombone, she was able to make a noise on the trumpet, so we told her she could still switch to trumpet, but she said no that she wanted to play trombone now.  Of course, Jarad got rid of his trombone from high school about 2 years ago and I still have my trumpet, so we were hoping she'd pick trumpet.  Archer also gave the trumpet a try, once we got it tuned up again and he did a great job with it, so maybe he'll decide to play trumpet! 

Avie played in her first band concert tonight and she did wonderful!  We are so amazed at how well the combined band from Fellows Elementary and Meeker Elementary sounded tonight considering many kids could not even play a note back in the fall.  Amazing!  There was a song called "Along came a Spider," where the kids got to stomp and even scream during the song, which was fun!  And then they finished with the Star Wars song where the band director pulled out a light saber to conduct much to our surprise!  The kids loved it and so did we! 

We are so proud of Avie!  And she said she would like to continue to play trombone next year, so we are excited about that!