Author: Mom

Back to the Gainesville area for another tournament for 4-H. This is the final state match of the year! We camped at Oleno Springs again. We had a great time in their little nature center looking at the giant collection of randomness. The tournament was PACKED! There were over 150 kids this year! I love that archery is growing. I ended up in 3rd place for intermediates. I was happy again to have people to compete against! BTW, my friend, Maleah, is a funny person! She is always making me laugh! We practiced our demonstrations in from of our 4-H club. County events is this weekend! I am presenting on Coleoptera of Florida and Ethical Collecting Techniques. Done at count events! My stress level just dropped. Blue ribbon! I also received 100/100 from all three judges! I am really proud of all the work paying off for me this year. Last year was a rough year but this year I am in the zone! Easter came and was a quiet weekend by choice. We had Harry Potter themed baskets and enjoyed a weekend of Harry Potter movies and movie themed snacks like acid pops, cockroach clusters and a wonderful roast. We also had a small gulf fritillary hatch from our hatching cage. Oh and I am trying to read Harry Potter in Latin! 🙂 Wish me luck!

We knew it was coming but I still wasn’t ready. I came in early in the morning to talk to Mom. Hedgie was just laying in the middle of his cage. We pulled him out to check him out and he just wobbled side to side and fell over. I knew it was time. I don’t want to see him suffer. He has been my beloved pet for 5 years. He was a huge responsibility but I had some many wonderful memories. Saying goodbye. My heart was broken. We took Hedgie to a vet and had him peacefully put to sleep. They vet brought me a small vial with a few of Hedgie’s quills. I am going to have him cremated as well. It was a rough day! Really rough!

We went out to Plant City to help with a 4-H berry picking service project. We picked over 100 quarts of berries for the local food banks. It was a beautiful day with find cool temperatures in the morning. It warmed up quickly!
There is my happy face with everything we picked and packed! On the way home we went by the Clearwater Main Library for a mini Comic-Con. I enjoyed the foam sword and archery activity. They basically play ninja but with foam stuff! It was a lot of fun!

Dad went to Vegas for a work meeting conference. Mom took E and I to Disney for a few nights to enjoy a hotel and the parks. We spent the morning at EPCOT at the Flower and Garden Festival! I loved all the topiaries!  This is the face that you see when I am in a good mood. This pre-teen thing is rough on my moods so Mom said she likes to see this goofy happy side of me!
We wrapped up at the park and headed to the hotel to play in the giant pool. We had fun on the playground and then headed to swim. It was such a big pool with a super fun slide. I slipped on the steps getting in and bit down hard. I managed to chip my tooth. So I have a dentist appointment later this week. The blue icee makes the tooth all better! Oh, that and the endless poolside S’mores! I entertained the staff for a while as we sucked down a zillion s’mores! I can roast a perfect marshmallow finally! On the way home we stopped at Ikea since the traffic was so bad. I remembered I needed to brush my teeth! Good thing too since I had to go to the dentist in the morning. They fixed up my chipped tooth and also pulled out a fragment of a baby tooth that was left over. I was happy to be rid of that pain too! We also went to Fossil Fest at the fairgrounds when Dad drove down to Venice to help Grandma and Grandpa with something. I searched for a long time to find just the right things to add to my growing rock and mineral collection. We took two trips through the fossil pit! I had quite a good haul! Oh yeah, time changed. Evil evil evil time change. It is dark outside and I am supposed to be up and functional! This is just mean!

We had the state traditional match this weekend for 4-H Archery. I actually shot really well and managed a 2nd place finish. I was super excited to have competition!  Everyone from out county placed in the contest. Our regular club is having fun with shooting as well. I really enjoy this program and am looking forward to it being a full time club next year.

Earth Explorers helped with a coastal dune clean-up at Madeira Beach. We collected nearly 100 lbs of trash! 
We also learned about microplastics through a citizen science program. We sifted thought he sand at the tide line and looked for plastic fragments. That afternoon we went to Grandma’s house to go swimming. We ended up hunting for bugs for a while.

We had some family game time, with Thunder supervising from the middle as usual!

Over the weekend was the district 4-H council meeting. E and I both went down to Manatee County to help with the clean-up. We collected over 300 punts of trash! I found some cool bones fo a raccoon skull! We also enjoyed an educational hike learning about the restoration of the state park.

We bought some inexpensive pots at the thrift store to melt bismuth.

We used the old grill side burner to heat the bismuth and try to make crystals. We got a few nice crystals but not what we really thought we would get. We will try again another time to do this again! Hedgie seems to be perking up but is still loosing weight and having tummy issues. I am still worried for him.

We went to Mocassin Lake Nature Park for our Forest Ecology class and learned about the local flora and fauna. We even saw a white peacock! We have a great group! I am so excited for the contest in April. There was a weird sward on insects on a tree. I need to research these! Hanging with the adults talking trees. Sometimes better than hanging with my friends. I also got to help the other kids study she of the samples that we have.

This is the busiest part of the 4-H year. We are go go go with events and activities through the end of April!

 

Some ideas of reusable containers to avoid more plastics going to the oceans or trash are:

Reusable straws

Reusable tote bags

Reusable water bottles