FPEA Day at the Capitol

I finally took the kids to Tallahassee.  The FPEA, Florida Parent Educator Association, had a "Day at the Capitol".  Homeschoolers across the state descended upon the capitol to bring attention to who we are and visit with a support our representatives.  

Honestly, I thought there would be hundred and hundred of families.  There were several dozen, but not hundred.  It's ok though, we had fun!

The kids were overlooking the city, you can see FSU in the distance.

This amazing woman and representative was home schooled.  Representative Jennifer Sullivan was the youngest person elected as a state rep, and gave an incredibly inspiration speech!  She couldn't read until she was 9...which gives great hope and encouragement to many parents there (myself included!)

While waiting for an elevator, this gentle looked at Nathan and said, "Well, hello Trailman!".  I don't think Nate knew what he was talking about at first, but he was sporting is Trail Life USA hat at the time.  This is John Stemberger, the Chairman of Trail Life!  We thought it was cool to "randomly" meet him in the hallway.

This was the original capitol building....much more interesting than the current building.

A memorial to fallen firemen in the state.

We took a tour of the Governor's mansion, which he actually lives in.  This was in the garden while waiting to be let in the gate.

 Hey look!  it's me!  I was there :)

We got to spend some time with friends we don't often see.  Nicole and Jordan had a great time together in the Governor's garden.

The Governor and Lt. Governor weren't there, but we got to peak in his office.

 A friend of mine from college is now a Florida State Representative.  It was so nice of him to take a few minutes of his time to meet the kids and chat with us about what he does.  Representative Mathew Caldwell is serving his area well.

Unfortunately, we only got about 15 minutes in the old capitol building.  We didn't realize it was closing down.  But....it was so quaint and perfect!

This is the old Supreme Court Room.

And, this is kind of hilarious!

The next day there was going to be some sort of special even honoring the National Guard.  So, they were setting up a lot of their trucks, tanks, and even helicopters in the courtyard.  We enjoyed looking at them and speaking with some of the reserves there.

We had a really fantastic trip to the state capitol.  I'm so glad I took the kids.  We got to sit in on a few legislative sessions, visit some representatives, and see a lot of the city.  

War Birds

The WWII Wary Birds came into town again. This was our second time seeing them.  However, I'm not a "been there, done that" type of person.  Generally, I feel like, if something was great once, it may be even better a second time....especially if the kids are older!  Of course, I was right :) haha.  

We do not have a strong military history in our family.  The closest direct family members who served were my grandfather, the kids' Great-Grandfathers.  So, the military is not always at the top of our family discussions.  However, I want the kids to grow up with a respect for those who serve and a better understanding of our country's history. So, I am grateful for events like these.  Events where they can touch, feel, and attempt to imagine what it may have been like.

Fun with great friends!  

Bryson and Ty met up with us...this is their "scared face"

Due- that tire is as big as they are!

The kids found a veteran and came out him with a booket full of questions.  As always, he was hesitant to answer at first.  However, he quickly realized that the kids were sincere in their questions and they chatted for quite a while.  I am so thankful for veterans who are willing to pass their stories on to us.

Imagining take off in these "seats"

A few weeks later, we took an hour to walk through the military museum.  We met this nice man who served in Vietnam and other areas around the world.  He was FULL of stories and information.  I really think it made his day to share his stories with the kids. 

This is a beautiful memorial.  This State of Florida flag has nearly 2,000 miniature USA flags in it, each one representing a Florida resident who died in Vietnam, or was a MIA or a POW.  It's quite a powerful display.

Solar Competition

I randomly saw an ad for a solar competition and decided to look into it.  An FPL solar facility was hosting the competition for their grand opening.  It seemed like an excellent learning opportunity.  So, why not?

Nicole invited a new friend, Cecilia, to participate with her. They decided to compete in the solar cooking competition which judges you on your solar cooker and your food.   Together, they spent one day a week for about a month building solar cookers and testing them out.  Both also worked diligently at home to fine tune their cookers.

Cecilia's family had much better success than we did.  With the help of her mom and dad, they were able to build a beautiful solar cooker that got up to 300 degrees!  We couldn't get ours over 150 degrees :(

It was time of dedication, despite our constant failures.  Nicole (and I) built  8 or so different ovens...none of them worked.  Until...until we tried a funnel design using a windshield cover from walmart.  Unbelievably, it worked!  We got our quinoa to cook in just about 2 hours.  Quinoa never tasted so good!

The girls met at the competition near Bradenton, FL at 8:30am and started their prep work.  The competeted against 20-something other teams in the area.

They cut their veggies, cracked their eggs, and set it all up.

Then, they sat and waited.  While waiting, they were interviewed by judges on the design of one of their cookers.  They checked out the other competitions taking place and the nearby solar fields.

With their veggie frittata done cooking, the moved it into the warmer (otherwise known as Nicole cooker that won't get very hot!), and started making the lemon cupcakes. They quickly put them together and placed them in the heated solar cooker.

About an hour later, 6 beautiful cupcakes were ready to be topped.  The girls began to hustle to plate their food for the taste test.

They prepared three plates for the three judges.  One was a local chef, one was a local news anchor, and the other....well, I can't remember what she did :)

The girls stood in front of the judges, explained their food, and answered their questions.  The judges were quite impressed and said, "This is the best thing we have tasted all day". This was after the high school and middle school teams went!  The girls were so incredibly excited!

We had to wait about an hour for the announcement of the winners.

The girls won 3rd place in the solar cooking design.

And FIRST place in their food taste!  Woohoo!!!

They won a total of $400 to split to be used for STEM classes or supplies for school...and they were invited to participate in the state wide solar competition in May!

This was not an easy project, in fact, it was much more difficult than I anticipated.  We had to persevere through failures, and revamp our ideas over and over again.  It was hard.

But it paid off!  What a great experience.

Oh yeah....AND, the girls had a little article written about them in a local parenting magazine.  That is super fun too!