Texas, Days 4 and 5

Day 4: 

In the morning, we went disc golfing again. This time, Papa was the victor by three points. Knut scared them both by being ahead for the first few holes... he's about to become a serious competitor! 

Leif in his backpack: Isn't this child the cutest thing ever? ;)

We found a picnic table near the disc golf course to have lunch...

Then drove to the river...

Flying kites

Thor blowing up a tube 

Then headed back for dinner. 

At the bakery, getting treats for after dinner

Day 5: 

This morning we went disc golfing yet again! After all, Uncle Noah and Papa had to have a tie-breaker game... ;) (Uncle Noah won by 15 points, partially because of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B__mfYglo1M.)

This was a dangerous course for discs... one disc was lost for good; several others were fished out of streams or ponds with difficulty. 

This evening, we're planning to head back to downtown San Antonio to do the river walk when all the lights are on, then get to bed early in preparation for an early start home tomorrow. 

Texas, Day 3: Disc Golf and Zipline!

The Golfers (and spectators) ready to go!

Uncle Noah practicing 

Papa and Uncle Noah have an ongoing battle going as to who is the better disc golf player, so everyone was eagerly awaiting the announcing of the scores at the end of the game. ;) Today's winner was Uncle Noah, by a margin of seven points! Papa did have one lovely putt, however: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ngOH8ky3ug

This afternoon, we got to do the Canopy Challenge and zipline! It was a blast!

In harnesses and ready to go

Bjorn doing the "little kid" portion

Leify

Cecily on the zipline 

Papa doing the canopy challenge

Sylvia and Cecily

Multiple levels...

So many family photo ops in the past few days... ;) 

Texas- Day 2

Leif with his moustache pacifier, which attracted dozens of comments...

Our destination for this afternoon was the Alamo. Lots of fun!

Knut: "Take one step back, Gloria!" 

Gloria: "What!?" 

Bjorn trying to resist a group photo

Enjoying the river walk

Getting ice cream 

This cute little guy was such a trooper! He actually slept through most of the Alamo in the baby backpack. 

And on a completely different note, Thor and Papa have been having fun... ;D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLjKo9XaNg4&feature=youtu.be

Texas- Day 1

This afternoon we went sightseeing in San Antonio. Cecily greatly enjoyed seeing all the bright colors in the shops and markets... ;) 

Just outside the Governor's Palace

Gloria and Leif

The Girls 

Uncle Noah with his devoted "buddies"

Stubbornness... neither Cecily nor Uncle Noah would let go of Bjorn's hand! 

Eventually Cecily gave in.

Leify with Knut's hat

Random door...

This evening, Uncle Noah had a gig at an outdoor restaurant. We went along for the first couple hours, but he and Aunt Marina will be there until about 10:00. Bjorn was thrilled to hear the song Noah wrote for him: Sunshine and Smiles. 

Texas

We are now in Texas, after 17 hours on the road!  We're visiting our "crazy uncle" Noah and Aunt Marina for a few days.  This was our first "big road trip" in two vehicles: Papa drove his little truck and Mom and I took turns driving the limo.  It worked pretty well!  The trip was mostly uneventful (in other words, the car didn't break down) although we did add an extra half hour to the trip by taking a "short cut." ;) We pulled in at about 12:45, relieved and exhausted... and realized that Rosemary has chicken pox.

Never a dull moment...

FLL World's Competition

(I realize that this post is extremely late, and I apologize for that.)

Knut ready for the day (note all the buttons!)

The first thing to do on Wednesday was set up the pit area... each team had a designated "booth" for display boards, lists of sponsors, pictures, banners, and just as a hangout for the team when they weren't in judging. 

Scott explaining his idea of how to put up the streamers 

The team in front of the newly set up pit area 

Having fun with Cameron's accordion

Picture with members of another team

Robo Raiders in their "competition attire" 

Ready for the practice robot run

Joe and Scott during the run

Justine going over the score with the ref

 

The team talking to Scott Evans, the designer of the robot game. He was very impressed by their robot's design, and he asked them to notify him whenever they had a run so that he could watch every one of them. Quite a big compliment to the team... ;)

About to practice the research presentation...

Cameron played the Chicken Dance on his accordion and got some of the volunteers to dance along.

Robo Raiders with members of Da Ex Bots, another team from the SCCCHE group. 

A Japanese team, the Falcons, that performed during the opening ceremonies 

The "official photos"...

3rd Place Champions Award

Mentor Award