Emmerson's Journey

We headed to Gainesville to camp t Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Once we set up we went to the Marjory K. Rawlings Estate. We toured the grounds and enjoyed fresh citrus right off the trees in the old orchard! I learned that I actually really love oranges. This was called a pineapple orange! Back at the campground we hiked around, found a yellow rat snake, hung out with a fried and enjoyed the evening before the 4-H Forest Ecology Contest. Our crazy crew! Kids from all over the state gathered for the contest at Austin Cary Forest. I found out my poem got an honorable mention! Time for awards after a long day! My team got first place! Maleah got 3rd place individual and I got 1st place individual! I have one more year in the juniors so I need to keep at it. I am going to start learning all the material for intermediates starting this year.  After the awards went enjoyed an late lunch at Satchel’s Pizza in Gainesville with all of the team. Later that night we went to the UF Bat houses! It was nice to have a new friend join us. We watched as the bats just flew and flew and flew out of the house!

The old printer finally died and B and I got to dissect it! We grabbed all he tools and set to work. We worked for over 3 hours on disassembling!

We worked so nicely together on the project. We managed to get every single screw, nut, bolt, rod and belt taken apart! We even cleaned up! We sorted through and saved some pieces for enjoying later.

A month or so ago I entered a 4-H contest for 4th graders. You had to make your own cornbread recipe. I worked hard, with Dad’s help. It is called Brown Butter, Bleu Cheese and Honey Cornbread. Well, today int he mail I got an envelope with a letter saying I was a finalist! The contest is held in South Pittsburg, TN. So we are busy making plans to head up for the contest. I am going to go into cornbread baking mode in the weeks before the contest.

Grandma Susie came along on our blueberry picking outing. We found  new place called Starkey Farms up in New Port Richey. It wasn’t too far away. The place was HUGE. They had acres and acres of plants! We were all shocked it was tucked in the back of a neighborhood! The blueberries were gigantic and yummy. We picked and picked! Some were bigger than my eye! What a fun experience. I learned I liked blueberries but only a handful a day!

This weekend was the 4-H County events. I worked really hard on my demonstration “Florida Friendly Butterfly Gardens and Lepidoptera Collecting”. I dressed really handsomely. I got a blue ribbon and advanced to District events in May. I am hoping to do well at Districts and maybe get a scholarship to camp this summer. When we got home we started out Easter Weekend celebrations. We had a Harry Potter themed weekend and watched all the movies and snacked on movie themed snacks! We also got new pocket knives and supplies for whittling.