Month: January 2018

We had archery class on Monday with Dad. We are all getting so much better! Wednesday was our regular club and we invited another club to join us. We had youth doing teaching this week so we had a busy educational part of the meeting. We went out to the docks to fish and the tide was so low that there was really no place to fish. We gave it the 4-H try and then called it quits. Thursday we drove up to Oleno State Park to camp for the weekend archery match. We had a great time exploring the campground and park. There were a lot of great trails. Some had recently been burned (controlled). We were amazed to learn how much the water level on the river has risen during storms in the past! We visited the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo. The gibbons were hilarious. I also met a parrot, she was named Ernie, that was really funny. She would find and make all sorts of funny motions. I said I was feeling tired and made Dad give me piggy back rides.  Time for the archery match. Yet again I am the only person in my bow class. I am hoping that there is a change in that for the state tournament in March! I really would like to have some competition. I took on a leadership roll and taught the other kids in the group about scoring and what to do. The adults aren’t allowed to help! I shot really well the first round beating out all the other kids in my pack, even the different bow classes! The second round I got a bit too social and lost my focus. I still got 1st place. Not bad for beginners. We had a fun time and can’t wait to come back for the next tournament in February!

This was the first year for the official Insectathon. There was a great amount of participation and lots of room for growth going forward. We studied as much as we could and our efforts and lifelong love of insects paid off. We turned in our collections, months and months of hard work collecting, mounting and labeling insects galore!

We rotated through the rooms with ease. Some things were hard since we didn’t know they were on the contest but we did the best we could. Apparently many people had those same questions and got stuck. I examined bugs and answered the questions the best I could. I was frustrated since there were things I didn’t know. But I moved forward and didn’t let it stop me. I got 2nd place for my water bug artwork. B got 1st for his insect shadow box. I got blue for both my collections I turned in. Also I got 1st for the overall insectathon! Our team got 1st place as well. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to come back next year, hopefully with more kids! We all did amazing. The passion for insects is strong in the house and we are hoping to keep growing that in 4-H with new members in the future.
Just a few ribbons came home with us this year! 🙂 We worked so hard!

Mom tucked in this cute little 9 year old for the last time as a nine year old.

Hello birthday! I am not 10! Double digits. I made it to my pre-teen years! Now to just get through them. I am more of an explorer now. I never stop talking. I claim to be shy but am usually the first to speak to new people. I opted for a bounce house and nerf gun party. I didnt really think through how over stimulated everyone would be so I had a few times I had to escape my own party.  Mom made me this nerdy shirt! 🙂 That’s more like it! Goofy little kid! Even the Clearwater Police showed up at the party. This nice officer gave me a bag of candy! I guess that is candy you CAN take from a stranger . We had birthday cake and tons of cotton candy! We were all on sugar highs! The nerf gun battle waged on for hours. Eventually the party came to an end and we had an hour with the bounce house in quiet. We had a lot of fun as a family bouncing and burning off 3 tons of cotton candy!

We have been trying to perfect the pizzas lately in the new pizza oven. It cooks them really fast! Dad is making some great pizza dough too. I got Impolding Kittens for Christmas and insist on wearing the cone of shame for no reason. I just like it! I also won at DOGPILE! Maybe because I am the smallest and wasn’t getting trapped at the bottom. Sumo wrestler turned out with a few bumps but was worth it! Hedgie time and lots of snuggles for our favorite pokey little guy.

We laughed and listened to Harry Potter books for three days straight. We stopped at fun looking rest areas and a few quick campgrounds on the way home. We watched out for the “poisonous” snakes and insects… Maybe the sign should read “Venomous!”We found rocks to scramble on as we tracked east. Finally the Florida border. But hours to go!