Metal Free!

Our trip to the orthodontist today ended splendidly with the removal of ALL of Daniel's braces! He's very happy about that but he's not so thrilled with the retainer. Here he is in his first naked teeth photo! He felt such freedom that he spent some some time creating...

Those of you with little kids understand the playdo phase. It's everywhere! Daniel still loves the stuff...but now he actually uses clay. This is a drum set that he's built and has plans for in his next claymation film...still in production...If you look close you'll even see the drum set logo on the bass drum that he clipped out of a magazine! He's too much.

Preacher Boys

Jaret and Ethan were cracking me up. Here they are preaching the Word!

Gandee Birthdays

In January Barisha turned 18...and she's oh, so lovely...

Daniel is 14...shares his day with Abe Lincoln!

Wilderness Survival...

This is one of our small but very powerful 4H groups called Nature Coast Investigators. For the past few weeks we have been learning about skills needed to survive in the wilderness. We are using a very fun curriculum and the boy scout handbook to explore the many different adventures that await you when you venture beyond the borders of your back yard and into unknown territory.

The adventure on this particular day took place at Whispering Pines Park. The guys were equipped with a compass and needed to follow their way around the park using written clues. For example: Go North 25 paces to your next clue...and so on. It was very fun to watch the bunch head out in oppostite directions sometimes. But with a little guidance, they managed to find their Valentine Treasures in the end...

Go South 20 paces to your next clue...

Ok, south is....this way.

March!

...and now...northeast!

...and march!

...a little more...

...and finally!! Ethan discovers the bag of sugar overdose!!

Jaret was extremely excited.

...and he's off and running...

Daniel's first official track practice is tomorrow. He'll be running at Inverness Middle School. They actually started Friday but being the "out of the loop" Homeschoolers that we are, I was late getting in all the paperwork. We ran to the mall and picked up some real running shoes today and he tested them out around our block four times to make 2 miles.

Here he comes...He never lets me take his picture!!
...and there he goes...
Stop the clock!

2 miles in 16:33 !! Not bad for his first run!

Daniel's Victory!

Well, it was a great morning Saturday at Lecanto Middle School where County Events was held. Daniel did a great job and he won 1st place and moves on to Districts! He earned 1st place out of 14 speakers so it was tough competition! We're so proud of him. It's amazing to see what he's capable of when they say "Action". Must get it from his dad!

I've scanned his score sheet from one of the two judges. The two scores were 99 and 98. (scanned the higher score, of course!)

Just one disappointment, though. Daniel had to leave for a soccer game and couldn't stay for the awards ceremony, so I don't have any pictures of that. I'm trying to upload some video that I took during his presentaion but it's not working!

Here's a shot of Daniel's very cool display board.

Have you visited Daniel's Car Blog lately? Daniel's Car Blog He works on his blog nearly every day but it looks like his last post was in July, that's because he keeps editing the same post! But that's how he wants to do it I guess! Gotta be diffferent!

County Events

Well, it's that time of year again...4H County Events! Tomorrow Daniel is going to do his own presentation for the first time. Last year he teamed up with his friend, David, to talk about Cars. Since Daniel eats, sleeps and breathes cars...he'll be talking about cars again this year but the presentation is totally different. Memories from last year...

District Winners: David and Daniel (2007)