Author: Mom

We participated in a Marriott Vacation Club preview. We had several nights at a fancy vacation club property near Disney. There were so many things to do that we never left the property! We spent HOURS in the pool, dodging storms. We did all sorts of crafts from jewelry making to candle making and soap making. Our room was HUGE! I had my own private room. E took the living room. Mom and Dad had a bedroom with a hot tub! This place was almost as big as our house! Most of the time it rained. We were fine with it though. The rain cleared out the pools so when it would stop we would head back down to swim. One pool had a GIANT bubble zone. Dad has to run home for work so we enjoyed the last night on our own. We went to an outdoor music performance called “dueling pianos”. We were able to request songs! We sang and laughed along with the silly guys. We entered a fishing derby. After 1.5 hours Emmerson was the only one to catch a fish! There weren’t many other people that entered and we all tied. We each got an icee. We were set for pool scuba class but the rain just kept coming and coming. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. There was a break in the rain right at the end of the window for the day. We spent the afternoon in the pool learning a little about SCUBA. I had a blast and then said I wanted diving lessons for my birthday! I really enjoyed the feeling of being under water so much! All cleaned up and one last trip around the resort for some giant chess. We packed up and headed out saying goodbye to our wonderful adventure. We stopped at the outlet mall to get Dad a few dress shirts. I spotted the BeaverTails food truck! This was a huge hit in Canada and they just opened the day before here! We loved out BeaverTails. Such  great treat to wrap up our fun little get away.

I have been reviewing for the PERT test. I am hoping to take classes at SPC in the fall. Just a few here and there. It is free for homeschool students to take classes as dual enrollment. Well, today I took the test and I passed! I am ready for college level classes! How cool!

We went by to get my student ID as well. I look so grown up in the photo! 

When we were at the cornbread festival we got atlatls. We had fun at the park practicing with them. I am learning to throw further and harder with a good arch. I am not likely to ever be good enough to hunt for dinner with an atlatl. Grandma Susie stopped by for a little ukulele jam session. We are signed up for a ukulele camp later this summer.

We had one last beach outing. Mom didn’t get many photos because she was relaxing and enjoying the calmness. Emmerson caught an olive snail. It was really active and crawled all over him! Over the weekend we had District Events for 4-H. I ran for district historian again. This time I had to give a speech on stage. I think I did very well for my first large audience speech.

I rocked my demonstration on Coleoptera and Ethical Collecting techniques. After my demo I attended the county council meeting and the final officer positions were filled. I got a blue ribbon for my demo and high points so I earned a medallion again. We were inducted as officers for District IX. The Pinellas County kids that participated in District Events! Me being goofy in all my glory! Okay, a nice smile.

We were at the festival early in the morning to explore and settle in. We visited the lodge store and bought some new skillets and other items. When the festival opened we went and saw a cool corn grinding demonstration.

We walked back to the car, which was parked by the Lodge Store, and took the tour again before grabbing all of Emmerson’s stuff for the contest and heading over to where he would cook. E got some really cool swag for being in the contest. We goofed around to try to keep him from stressing out. He was super nervous. E got to get up on the stage and get up his station. The contest got started with some photos and introductions. E makes his heart out. He struggled with oven temperature and the fact that everyone else finished before him but he got through it. He did great! We were all super proud of him.

Emmerson competes tomorrow but today we got to play at the festival. I loved the giant Mayfield cow! South Pittsburg is a small town with all the flare you would expect. The local theater changed their marque to support the festival. All the high schoolers volunteer at the festival. It was quite amazing and well orchestrated. We stopped at the photo booth for some silly photos! We waited in line at Cornbread Alley. For $5 you get a lot of samples of cornbread. Then you vote for your favorite with money. Each participant is a charity and they keep all the money from votes for them! We didn’t really enjoy many of the cornbreads from the alley but some were yummy. We won little prizes at the Lodge Cast Iron booth and the Cracker Barrel booth. We got “Dieters skillets” they are super small for people on a diet! haha There was a kids corner with lots of arts and crafts and other entertainment. We took silly photos and made fun crafts. We were able to take the tour at the Lodge Cast Iron Foundry. It was amazing! The building was HUGE. We followed the assembly line through all the steps in making the cast iron items. We walked through a few times to get the full experience. They recycle all the scraps! Some of the products that they are making this year. It was really spectacular to see the skillets on the line. The line was shut down for the weekend so the tours can come through. This is the only time they do tours!

After our tour we decided to head to Russel Cave NHS to explore the National Park Services site. We learned about ancient hunting using an atlatl. We worked on our junior ranger books and explored the cave. The ranger made us do silly dances to earn our badges! We had to balance on one foot, flap like a bird and then hop around. We all had a blast!