School Projects

It was time again for the Annual Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby. Last year it didn't go over so well in our house. Neither Curtis nor myself know anything about cutting and making things out of wood. The entire experience was a disaster. This year we bought a pre-cut car. It looked so much better and performed better. Last year Dax's car came in dead last and didn't win a single race. This year he came in 3rd. Last year's appearance was nothing to brag about either. 

 When I took Dax in to weigh his car the night before, some kid walked by and said "you bought that". I wanted to say something smart back to the kid, but I just ignored him. Of course, that kid had a pretty good-looking homemade car. Derek didn't want to be left out, so with the extra car kit that we didn't use because we bought one. Derek made his own "Private Derby" That was what Derek called it. He did a pretty good job, painting that block of wood Black and using the leftover stickers and decals.

 

Dax had a school project where he had to make a Diorama. I had no idea what that was, but it was pretty much a 3D project showing the environment of an animal from Arizona. For some reason, Dax picked the Northern Copperhead snake, which doesn't even live in Arizona, but his teacher was ok with that. We (the parents) had to sign our lives away saying we would help with this project. Examples of what the animal could be made from, are clay, paper mache, wire, or anything making it three-dimensional. This was not something I was very happy about when I read the assignment and I signed my life away by agreeing to help. I was thrilled when I heard Dax was doing a snake. It doesn't get any easier than making a snake out of clay. 

 

As the project progressed I realized it was going to take more than a clay snake to pull off a good grade. We found pictures of this snake living in caves in Ohio, so we tried to create a cave environment. I had never done paper mache before. So we took on that project. It seemed a little bare, and the picture we found had a waterfall. I tried to recreate the waterfall with a hard candy recipe. I thought when it hardened it would look like a waterfall. We tried, but it didn't quite form like I wanted it to. Dax still got an A. YEA! I think I secretly would have loved to do a project like this when I was in 4th grade. It actually ended up being kind of fun (for me at least). Science Projects and Star Student. Dax was the start student and had the Science Fair. He did his science project on metal conductors with his friend Ramon. They did a good job. For the star student, he put up pictures of him and his family, his friend Phuc and his favorite things.

Beck & Call

Curtis has Glen Beck do some of the commercials that he runs during Glen Beck's show on KTAR. Glen Beck came to Phoenix for his show about the constitution. 

 Curtis is in a mastermind group where one of the guys hooks them up with Radio and Television advertising. The group is composed of people from all over the country and they meet in various places depending on what even is going on etc. This time they met in Phoenix for Glen Beck. Most of the group does advertising on his show. They got to meet him and spend some time with him. Curtis really got to know Glen Becks Manager (right) as they hung out for the day on Friday. Then they went the next morning and had breakfast and some more pictures. Of all the celebrities Curtis has met Glen Beck was the most impressive. Very kind, hard worker, smart and genuine all around. He is so polarizing right now and people either love him or hate him for his views. Curtis was very impressed.

Recorder Concert

 

 Dax learned to play the Recorder in music this year. I was happy that the recorder my mom bought 25 years ago finally got put to good use and we didn't have to buy a new one. 

As Dax practiced at home, I was impressed when he learned Ode to Joy and he actually played it well. Still, I didn't think a Recorder concert could be that spectacular. Actually, it wasn't spectacular, but Mr. Landon the Music teacher did a great job and he played background music as they played their Recorders. Considering the instrument and the skill level, it was well done.