Turn Around

Where are you going
My little one, little one
Where are you going
My baby, my own

Turn around and you’re two
Turn around and you’re four
Turn around and you’re a young girl
Going out of the door

This song was going through my head when I saw this picture.



Yep, she is still little! Thank goodness!

ShamWhat?

The LuLu just completed her last and final science fair. This event, dare I say, was not thrilling for any of us. This was our 3rd science fair, and we were already tired after the first one. However, like good pioneers, we endured to the end, realizing that this would not really be the end because the MyMy would begin the process next year.

The LuLu decided to pick a topic that really interests her. She loves commercials, and is amazed with what they sell. She has been fascinated with the "ShamWow!" product for years, and has begged us to purchase one. We have not. So, when the science fair rolled around again, this was her chance to really see if the ShamWow! was as amazing as the commercial portrayed it to be.



The LuLu put the ShamWow! up against other like products such as the Chamosis and The Absorber. She wanted to find out which product would absorb the most water. Chamosis came in first, The Absorber came in second, and the ShamWow! came in third place. The results were heart-wrenching for the LuLu. How could the ShamWow! betray her? It made her wonder about other commercials selling their products. Are they too good to be true also? I guess we will leave those mysteries for the MyMy to decipher. We have 4-years of science fairs ahead of us.



Despite the awful news, the LuLu took first place in "the other" category. Not all that ends bad, is bad I guess! Congratulations go out to the LuLu and Derrick for another job well-done!

Big-Boy Games

Finally, a wise cub-scout master, who is female, I might add, came up with the idea of- if she has the men help set-up and take-down the Pinewood Derby race-car track, they could hold their own racing event afterwards.



This was genius! Men, and Young Men, have been waiting for the opportunity to redeem themselves since the last time they raced. Apparently, they are older, wiser and better skilled. Ideas soon started to permeate the room like the familiar scent of bacon. Why not make them bigger and better? We can add switches, explosives, and electric motors. Minds began to conspire of ways to improve the event.

Along with that, so did the concerns and arguments. Priesthood meetings were filled with discussions about the race instead of Gospel-familiar subjects. This was going to be the event of the season.

I suggested that since my man was going to be heavily involved with the Pinewood Derby exhibition race, that he should also include our girls. One girl, the MyMy, was ever so enthused. The two of them spent evenings looking online at races on YouTube. They also looked over different plans and ideas for cars. Soon, plans were decided upon, and the building began.



The MyMy chose a cute little mouse. Derrick chose the original Batmobile with CO2 cartridges installed for speed. Late nights were many, but the cars were made just in time for race night.






The MyMy raced her car, along with some men and some missionaries, in the "official Pinewood Derby rules" racing event. She was the only female to enter. She came in 2nd place and she won the award for "the goofiest car". Derrick raced his car along with other cars that had CO2 cartridges. Their cars were fast and zipped down the track. Both men and boys were very impressed with the speed. Although there were some great races, there were also some disaster races too- cars losing control because of high speeds and leaving the track.



All that matters, was the event was a huge success. There will probably be a repeat the next time the Pinewood Derby rolls around, which means back to the drawing board to make bigger, faster, and better cars!

The Amazing Race Birthday Party

The Amazing Race came to our small town last weekend. The Green-Ade's and the Orange Elephants were competing for the 100-Grand Fun-Snack Prize.










Routes included abandoned roads, neighbor's houses, parks, Wal-mart, Little Caesars, and our school. There, teams needed to stuff "worms" into 2-liter bottles, find messages in balloons filled with shaving cream, count marshmallows, and buy random items and then use the first letter from each item to solve a code.






For Roadblocks, individual girls needed to accomplish amazing tasks such as, eating baby food (apparently ham-gravy is awful! All I know is that the smell reeks!), find a bean with a black X on it, and put a Sponge-Bob puzzle together.





Detours included choosing between "Flight or Fright", wherein teams had to choose between building and flying an airplane or eating frightening food blindfolded. Other choices were "Croquet or Tray", meaning teams could choose to play a game of croquet, or transport a limited number of eggs and depositing them into a small cup by only using a tray. Another event was "Pack or Stack". Teams had to decide between stacking 100 coins or packing a suitcase with odd-shaped items.



Teams also had to take pictures of themselves at well-known landmarks around the town.






We had a couple of Pit Stops along the way. The first mandatory rest period was eating pizza and opening presents. The final pit stop was by the river making s'mores and having "girl-talk".



When asked what the favorite event of the race was, both teams responded the "Fright or Flight" event as being the favorite. I guess eating Pork Rinds, sauerkraut, smoked oysters and 85% Dark Chocolate wasn't so bad after all!

The Amazing Race really was a fun party idea. It almost became "The Amazing Rain and Race Birthday Party"! But, as luck would have it, thirty minutes before race time, the clouds broke, the rain stopped, and the sun started shining. That, in itself was pretty amazing!

Anyhoo, gotta go! I am still in the "Final Pit Stop" and mandatory rest period.

The Crack

The Voss family set out for an adventure on Martin Luther King Day. We discovered a hiking trail in Lake Havasu, lovingly called "the crack".

It was a beautiful, January day. A typical January day for Arizona that is. The sun was shining, the skies were blue. Perfect!

The trail started like any other trail found in Arizona- sand covered ground, rocks and cacti scattered here and there, a wash full of squishy sand, and maybe a bush or two. Then, the trail leads into a rocky, mountainous area with a slot canyon. Fun!

We had to climb over boulders, balance on logs, over greenish-hued puddles, and even slide down a 7 foot natural slide. (Sounds so Indiana Jones like, except without the music, the bad-guys, really BIG puddles and boulders, and Indie!)

The view was breathtaking, and the hiking was fun. Eventually, the trail leads to the beautiful waters of Lake Havasu. Not a bad way to spend the day.