Lego League

On March 21st, our  Lego robotics team was ready for their competition.  We had been working since the beginning of the year building and programming the robots.  I didn't do much, the boys did all of the work, I was just there to supervise!

These are the four boys that did all the building and programming.  We had two teams and each made their own robot.  They had to program them to do certain tasks put out by lego.

I couldn't have done it without Liz's help!  She was there all last year and was a HUGE help this year!! 

We did the competition remotely - AJ and Joseph were up first.  They worked together as a team to get it done!

This is their robot at the start.   

Once the robot is going, they can't touch it at all until it is finished with that part of the mission.   Then they can grab it and set it up for the next one.

Here is was saving a penguin.

After the competition we had a little celebration!!  They did such a great job and their robots did wonderful!!  We were so proud both teams!!!  I was just glad it was before we left for the US.  This was the last of our adventures in Germany.  It was a great run and we had soooo many wonderful adventures throughout our four and a half years!!  It was such a wonderful experience for us all.  We were all a little sad to leave the great country of Germany and all our good friends and memories there.  We knew it had to come to an end, but it was almost too soon.  We flew out on April 1st and said goodbye to Germany.

Scout Court of Honor

On March 19th, AJ had his scout court of honor.

These are some pictures of the group that went down to Klondike in Switzerland.  During this weekend, the boys and leaders worked really hard and went from crossing over from cub scouts to a month  later making two ranks in boy scouts.

AJ was the MC of the court of honor and did a great job!!

AJ getting his patch for going to Klondike.  His nickname was chief red pants because he had red snow pants!  Each scout had their own nickname.

AJ getting his tenderfoot rank!!!  His scout master told him that with a week left in Germany he could earn 2nd class as well if he worked hard.  He decided he wanted to do it.  So he and I worked really hard and in one week he earned his 2nd class.  I was very proud of him!!

His scout troop, it was not a big one, but it was a great one that did lots of things!!!  It was a great start to AJ's boy scout career!!!  He learned a lot in the short time he was there as a boy scout.

Student Council Shut In

On March 17th - my 40th birthday - we had our yearly student council shut in.  My husband wanted to do something very  romantic for my 40th birthday, but I really wanted to be with our student council kids.  

We started out the night with bowling and dinner then came back to the school for some games.  And of course I was in charge of those!

AJ telling them what to do - or so he thought.

Michael ready for his turn in the relay race!!!

AJ and Joseph hamming it up!!!

I am sure you can tell what day it is!!  We had all sorts of green all around!!!

Ms. Mendoza trying to show the kids what to do.  She cracks me up!!!

The kids cheering on their teammates!!!

Michael bouncing his way back to the finish line!

AJ not doing as well staying on the bouncing ball.  LOL

AJ running to find the empty chair - in case you were wondering he was able to get a chair.

Michael walking very cautiously to get a chair when the music stopped.

David is such a wonderful husband who showed up to help me with my glow in the dark scavenger hunt!!  I put together a bunch of clues with 6 different teams and he helped me put all the clues out and in the right order.  :-)  He even humored me and put some glow in his hair!!!

One of the clues of the scavenger hunt - they had  to do things at certain stops as well!!

Having fun after the scavenger hunt - also we had to have the bouncy castle as well!!  The kids made sure we didn't forget that!  :-)

The last thing we did was put a movie on.  I  am not sure how long all the kids stayed up, but I knew I was tired by that point, but we had to stay up until the last kid was asleep.

AJ and his friend Eli playing bumper donuts.  At least that is what I called it.  LOL

Early morning my husband came back and helped us clean up.  I can't ask for a better husband!!!  We all had a blast, kids and adults.  It was a great last hurrah for the boys and I with student council.

Macedonia - Day 2

On March 12th we headed toward the capital of Macedonia, Skopje.  On the way there we stopped for some coffee, hot chocolate and pop at a restaurant on a boat.  It was a great little stop!  Then we stopped in at Babba Donka.  Kathy warned us about her and food and I don't think we really understood it until we met her.  LOL  The moment we stepped into her home, food was set out, it was "snacks" but oh so much food all ready.  We grabbed a few of the relatives and headed down town to Skopje.  It is a city of almost one million people.  

This is a statue of Alexander the Great!!!  The Greeks say he came from Greece because they don't see Macedonia as a country, but he is from Macedonia.  There are so many statues in Skopje that I don't know if anybody knows how many there truly are.  The government decided to spend over 500 mllion euros and put up statues all over the place.  They were meant to be done by 2014, but they are still building them today.

There were statues of him all over the place!!!  Dane and Kathy told us they should rename Skopje to statue town because there are hundreds of statues.  The reason there are so many statues in Skopje goes back to 2008 when the local economy crashed.  Much like many countries around the world, they targeted tourism as a major source of income and revenue, and the Government came up with the Skopje 2014 redevelopment project.  With a budget of estimated to be between 80-500 million euros, they decided to make the capital more "aesthetically pleasing" by building statues. 

This is one of their statues for their soldiers of Macedonia.

This one the older boys got a kick out of because it looks like he is holding up the middle finger.  Every time Greece upset Macedonia they would build another Alexander the Great statue.

They were having some special celebration and had the Macedonian flags all over the place, including on many of the statues in down town.

This is the Porta Macedonia.  It is a triumphal arch located on Pella Square.  It cost about 4.4 million euros to build.

The plaque that was above where Mother Teresa was born.

This is the house where Mother Teresa was born!  You can see that they but the corners of her house.  It was really, really tiny.

This is the biggest statue in Skopje, "The Great Warrior."  It is of Alexander the Great riding atop of his horse Bucephalus.  They can't make reference to Alexander the Great because of current disputes with Greece.

The boys with the lion!!

And you have to have your lion face!!!!

One of the pranks that the kids do in Skopje is paint the lion's private parts red.  I am not sure when it started, but they sure are red.

They treated Michael to a sucker, he loves when his tongue changes color!!

They even had a statue of a young boy shinning shoes.

You have to love when the sucker changes your tongues colors!!!

This is the museum for Mother Teresa.  Unfortunately it was closed when we arrived there.

They had many pictures of her and of all the people that she  helped.  It is truly amazing how much good one person can do!

I am not sure what this is for, but I had a good giggle looking at it.

There were so many statues that even our "tour guides" weren't sure what they all were for.

This is a floating restaurant, one that can't get out anymore with all the bridges.

We love our lions!!!

I think the bridge looked beautiful lit up at night.  There are statues down both sides over a dozen just on this bridge alone.

This was a sad  one showing a mom leaving her husband and children and one not wanting her to go.

We headed over to a mall and Michael found his hat - a chicken hat!!!  We went back and had a FABULOUS Macedonian dinner and they made Michael two types of homemade chicken nuggets and homemade fries.  It was such a wonderful and fantastic experience!!  We really want to go back and see more of the area!!  The people were so nice and friendly as well!!  After a fantastic evening we headed to bed and woke up to a fantastic breakfast!!  They don't do anything small there.  Unfortunately we were only able to stay for a four day weekend.  We are hoping for a longer stay next time!