Lego Tournament

We had the Lego tournament last Saturday. It was an incredibly hectic weekend, mixing together the tournament, a funeral, a birthday party and a snowstorm.

Anyway, here is Koleman's team with the three coaches.



Koleman missed most of the early part of the tournament, but was able to run the robot in the head to head competition. Here he and Luke get ready.



Koleman wills the robot to knock down the panel of the solar powered satellite!



They won that round, (which was technically the second round, since their first opponent was a team called "Bye" who didn't show up) and advanced to the semifinals. This time Koleman had Maddie with him.



It was a good news / bad news run. They scored the most points that the team had gotten all day, but the other team had a great performance, so they didn't get to the championship round.

On the whole, they did great. For a bunch of fourth grade first timers, they made a very good showing. The top three (out of 15) teams advanced to state, and Koleman's team finished 5th, about a quarter of one percent away from third place.

Yikes!

Parents, teach your children proper foot care, or this might happen to them:



Although, on the bright side, if your child has pins like these in their foot, if they are being naughty you can yank one of them out and teach them a lesson.

Lego Open House

On Saturday we had an open house for three First Lego League teams (two in St. Peter and one in Mankato). The open house was a great success, especially for my team, since they have never felt the pressure of actual competition. Lots was learned. Here is Koleman watching the robot go and retrieve oil barrels from an oil platform.



Now it's time to change the program.



The real tournament is on Saturday, and we're getting very excited! Since people have claimed that I don't tell people anything, I am officially announcing that the tournament will be held at the Benjamin E Mays Magnet school in St. Paul (Yahoo! Yellow pages map). From 9:30 till 5:00. In the gym. Open to the public.

Thanksgiving, Part II

Cousin Greta (bad influence that she is) tought our kids how to use straws to make farting noises. Here Milena demonstrates the wrong way to go about doing this.



Eli, naturally, mastered it quickly.



Now, this is a cute picture, but the angle makes it seem like my nose is crooked. I'm not sure what's up with that.



And this is how Michelle looks at me pretty much all the time.

Thanksgiving!

Did you know it was Thanksgiving last week? No, really, it was! Here is Charlie before he started chucking pickles.



And Greta is cute!



Kids table.



Grandpa gets his hair styled.

What kind of operation is Macy's running?

Last weekend, before viewing the Lion King, we went to look at Macy's to see their animatronic holiday extravaganza - The Nutcracker.

It was pretty g... whoa! What's up with that soldier? Is that necessary?



Oh, c'mon! Everybody knows what it means when a woman tells you that she has "three little puppet friends inside her dress." This is certainly not appropriate!



I don't even want to address this picture. She's just a young girl! It's not right!



In other words, the kids loved it, but I was mortified.