Colten's pinewood derby was Friday night. He was so excited to race his "Haunted Race Truck." It was originally supposed to have flames painted on it, but that turned to a ghost and he thought the drips from the windows were really cool and looked creepy, so we said what the heck, it's his car and left it like that. He ended up in a tie for 3rd place which we were all excited about. They had several heats where three cars raced at a time. The first pic is from the first heat. His truck is in the middle and placed first. However the next two heats he placed 3rd and he wasn't very happy about that. Fortunately he got one more 1st place and a mix of 2nd and 3rds and got enough points to tie for 3rd place. I think he did great for his first year and I'm pretty sure he's ready to build a faster car next year.
We sat out on the porch last night wrapped in a blanket (sure 60 degrees isn't that cold, but at night in your PJ's it's not comfy) and watched the moon turn red. The kids thought it was pretty cool especially when I told them the story about how Columbus was saved by a lunar eclipse. It seemed to take forever to get from where it was half-way covered to fully shaded, but it was worth the wait.
First, thought I'd share this photo. I pass by this lighthouse on Lake Buchanan on my way to/from Austin every week and I've always thought it was pretty, so I decided to stop and take a picture of it. Before all the rain last summer, I don't think you would have been able to see any water in front it and the dock there was completely dry.
Ashlyn had her second basketball game last Saturday and her team lost, but she did much better at guarding her girl this time around. They only had 5 girls show up from her team, so I think they were all pretty worn out by the time the game was over.
After the game, we grabbed a bite to eat in Mason and were able to give the waitress something to laugh about for awhile. She was taking our drink orders and when it was Colten's turn, he pondered, "Hmmm... do you have lemonade?" The waitress said, that yes, they did have lemonade. Colten replied, "OK, well I'll have Big Red." We were all caught off guard by that... what a stinker!
Colten's pinewood derby is this Friday. We're still working on painting his "race-truck", but it's mostly done. Hopefully it does OK. Looking online about these things, it seems people (DADs) go all out for this thing and it gets pretty serious. You can order speed kits and books about making them faster and all sorts of crazy stuff. Never knew it was such a big deal!
Sunday was such a nice day, we hung out outside most of the afternoon. John & Colten worked on the derby car some and the kids played basketball for awhile and then they played "Littlest Pet Shop" all over the yard. Here they are with a dried up sprig of mistletoe playing on top of one of the water-spicket covers:
Ashlyn had her first basketball game Saturday which ended up being an 18-18 tie after one round of overtime. She actually made a basket during the game and had the ball several times throughout the game. She still needs to work on being aggressive and on passing the ball when there are 5 girls in the way, but she's really improved since she started playing two years ago. Here's the clearest pic I got of her... it's really hard to get good pictures at basketball games!
This past weekend the kids went and stayed a night at each Omie's house so John and I could celebrate our 12th anniversary. We didn't plan to do too awful much since we had already bought a new mattress set for our Christmas/Anniversary present to each other. So Friday night we just went home after eating at Catfish Haven with Omie B and played pool and then Saturday morning we got some chores out of the way (unfortunately the laundry wasn't going to do itself) and after lunch we took a long jeep ride around the pasture and basically just enjoyed the nice weather. We cooked a nice "not-kid-friendly" dinner that evening and ate outside under a coleman lantern (the candles wouldn't stay lit.) We had planned to go dancing in London that night, but that plan was changed after one of the heifers decided to go into labor around dinner time. John ended up having to take her in to the vet at 11pm that night to pull the calf and I stayed home and slept. So much for a night out dancing :)
However, I was glad that we were home to see that she was in labor and help her out. Unfortunately, the calf didn't make it. It was fine when John brought it home, but when he went to check on them in the morning, the calf hadn't moved from where he left it. At least the heifer made it.
Not too much else has been going on. Ashlyn started little dribbler's basketball practice, but we're not sure yet when the first game will be. Colten has been going to cub scouts and is looking forward to making his pinewood derby car.
Colten's pinewood derby was Friday night. He was so excited to race his "Haunted Race Truck." It was originally supposed to have flames painted on it, but that turned to a ghost and he thought the drips from the windows were really cool and looked creepy, so we said what the heck, it's his car and left it like that. He ended up in a tie for 3rd place which we were all excited about. They had several heats where three cars raced at a time. The first pic is from the first heat. His truck is in the middle and placed first. However the next two heats he placed 3rd and he wasn't very happy about that. Fortunately he got one more 1st place and a mix of 2nd and 3rds and got enough points to tie for 3rd place. I think he did great for his first year and I'm pretty sure he's ready to build a faster car next year.
