Happy Birthday Frank

Still need to post the rest of the Hawaii Pics but had a really fun outing this weekend to Sea World Adventure Camp with our Girl Scout troop, and it just happened to be Frank's birthday so he got to come along and enjoy the fun! Here is our troop getting ready to check in for our sleepover night! Not sure why Emily is hiding in the back?

We got to have a sleep over inside the Shark Exhibit and Frank got up close and personal with the Sharks too! We had a packed evening of fun on Saturday;feeding the bat rays, seeing the Shamu Rocks show, making shark tooth necklaces and learning all about sharks with our fantastic Sea World Camp Counsellor Bryan.

The girls got to sleep in the walk through tunnel in the shark tank so they had sharks swimming around them all night!

The next day after breakfast and feeding breakfast to the sea lions we were on our own to enjoy the park! We started out getting soaked on the Journey to Atlantis ride. Frank wasn't tall enough to ride so he just hung out in the soak zone.

There were more chances to get wet on the Shipwreck Rapids and when we got off there were no dry spots to be found, the good thing was it was a really warm day and we had all afternoon to dry before our flight back to Phoenix.

Later there was time to see the penguins and check out the Wild Arctic before heading home! We spent just about 23 hours inside Sea World and we were all really tired but it was great trip, all those cookie sales were worth it!

Day Two

Our second day on Oahu was a really busy one...we were up early and headed for the USS Arizona Memorial. It was very moving and we both really enjoyed our time there. After that we headed to the North Shore, it's the side of the island were all the great surfing takes place in winter. We had a quick lunch followed by some famous Matsumoto Shave Ice then headed to the beach..first stop, turtle beach..

.and they weren't kidding... this beach was packed with giant sea turtles. You could swim around with them and just watch them being tossed abound in the surf.

After watching the turtles for a bit it was up the road a bit farther to Sunset Beach, a gorgeous beach with the smoothest sand and clear blue water...we stayed here for about 3 hours, swimming, snorkeling and just having fun. Then we started the long drive back to Waikiki, we drove through some beautiful little towns and past some gorgeous mountains and ocean views. We pulled in to the hotel about 6, still in our swim suits, tired, hungry, sunburned and really needing to go to bathroom....our car full FULL of the remnants of our day...and we attempted to throw in in our bags, grab our towels, bags, cooler, Emily's boogie board and head inside.

Up until now our most embarrassing vacation moment came about two years ago in the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel this day also involved luggage and a LONG escalator.

The lobby was full of other hotel guests, most of whom are Japanese, as there was some kind of wine tasting going on. We quickly passed them and rushed to the elevator, I was trying to get in with someone else so i didn't have to find my key to get to our floor...i managed to rush in after two adorable girls speaking Japanese, Emily was across the room at the other elevator and trying to carry all her stuff to get over to me. Then the two girls started giggling....yes I know we are funny...but then i realize what they are laughing at....i look down and my underwear in laying right outside the elevator door!!!! Very classy!! I try to pick it up and not drop everything else all the while hoping Emily is going to make it in before the door closes. She did and we had to ride up 19 floors with these two adorable girls laughing the whole way! The lesson here is either take less stuff at once or perhaps we are more Motel 6 material. We always know how to make a great entrance when we stay nice places!

We managed to clean up and get ourselves presentable enough and head out to dinner at Duke's Canoe Club. It was just about sunset and we grabbed a nice table on the outside bar. Then we sat on the beach for a little while then headed back to bed early, not sure what's in store today.

Waikiki Day 1

Aloha! We arrived in Honolulu about noon local time today and so far everything is perfect! We picked up our car and were able to check in to the hotel early. We packed our beach bags put on our swim suits and headed for Waikiki Beach. But not before a quick stop at the ABC store to get some beach mats, and a boogie board for Emily. It was a wonderful and relaxing afternoon! After swimming and sunning we headed back to the room to re-group and head out exploring....we were looking for Duke's Canoe Club but never quite made it as we were side tracked at the beautiful Royal Hawaiian hotel and ended up sitting at the beach sideMai Tai bar where we had a light dinner and beautiful Mai Tai...legend says this is the bar that invented the delicious drink!

Emily couldn't' stay out of the water and after dinner she played in the water out front of the Royal Hawaiian the we worked our way back up the beach to our hotel. Our room is on the 19th floor and has a beautiful view of the ocean. I am lucky to have found wi-fi access from our lanai so hopefully can make a quick post every night. It's only 8:00 Hawaii time but 11:00 to us and we've been up since before 5 am Phoenix time and are pretty tired...we will call it a night soon. Hope to be up early tomorrow to head to the USS Arizona Memorial and then back to the beach!

TIm Holtz Fun!

I was lucky enough to take a class from Tim Holtz today at Mystic Paper in Mesa. I've been counting the days to Creative Escape 08 when I will take will surely be a great class from him, but couldn't pass up a chance to take this one from him early! I have heard wonderful things about Tim's classes and what a great teacher he is and it's all true! It was a great class! I made two great vintage style pieces of jewelery and I learned lots of great tips I know I will use again! Like who knew regular old packing tape could be used as a fantastic laminate!!!

Look out MARYLAND......

OK it has taken me four days to be able to sit down and write this....mostly because it's taken that long for it all to sink in.

This past weekend was the Arizona Odyssey of the Mind state tournament in Tucson. Emily's team qualified last month at the regional tournament in Tempe to compete with 107 other teams at the state competition. The team has been working hard over the past month to improve the things the felt they could do better on and hopefully raise some of their scores from regionals.

Emily and I drove down to Tucson on Friday night and Saturday morning we met up with the other 5 team members and my coaching partner Christine. First up was Spontaneous...our kids were a little confused by their Spontaneous problem in Tempe and didn't score as well as they would have liked...so they have been practicing on improving their teamwork and quick thinking skills. The kids basically get 3 minutes to think up and present creative answers to verbal or hands on question that they don't know ahead of time. Kind of like the Drew Carey show Who's Line is it Anyway.




Some last minute spontaneous practice to get their creativity flowing..... they look a little tired!










Then it was time to unload all the props from the car and have a quick run through before our long term presentation.






I was so nervous when it was time to go in the room and set up, my stomach was just in knots, and I wasn't sure I would be able to watch them. They performed to a packed room that included their school principals, the Arizona state Odyssey director, lots and lots of parents and several other teams. They gave a solid performance and could breath a sigh of relief that they had done what they came down to do, just making it on to state is a huge accomplishment.

Three of these girls have been on a team together since 4th grade, and three of the kids are brand new to Odyssey and Christine and I, though familiar with the program had lots to learn about coaching a team! So we could not have been more proud of them and all the work they had put in to get to compete here!

The props went back to the car, and it was time to check on the other 3 Benchmark teams competing, and make some plans for lunch. Before leaving for lunch we decided to see if our performance scores were ready.....well they were and this started a chain of events that would last much of the afternoon. When I first asked for our scores the judge looked like he remembered our team and said what a great job they had done in coming up with their solution. However, it turns out we were scored differently on something we did quite well on in Tempe. Needless to say this had Christine and I quite confused and upset. We proceeded to have a...let's just say 'heated'.... discussion with the two problem judges who decided it would be best if they called a 'Tribunal". No....this is not something from the TV show Survivor and there were no tiki torches...but just a way for coaches and teams to dispute the scoring of their problem with the tournament and state directors. I was to come meet with them at 1:30 and it felt like being called to the principals office. They met first with the two head problem judges, and then with me before they made their decision. It was decided that we were scored incorrectly in Tempe and our scores for today would not be adjusted. Something that while unfortunate happens due to the human element of judging and the ambiguous nature of the problems . I knew going in it was very unlikely our score would be changed, but felt I had to go and speak up for my team and tell them how important it was that judging be consistent across the tournaments to avoid this happening. They were very understanding and had so many compliments about the team, their solution and their performance...it was only then that I learned the state director had been in the audience for their performance. So I left the tribunal feeling I had made a good case for our team and happy with the outcome. We could still be so proud of what we had accomplished!

Then it was waiting for everyone to get back to the school and head in to the awards ceremony. The two problem captains found Emily and I outside the gym before the awards and pulled me aside they again said how impressed they had been with our team and what a great job Christine and I had done coaching them. They said that we should not be disappointed with our results or our experience and that we should be sure to stay around for the end of the awards ceremony.


In total Benchmark had 4 teams competing, and two of our third grade teams took 2nd place in their problems. Watching the shock, excitement and thrill of them running up to get their trophy's and realizing they would be going on to world finals was so much fun! At the beginning of the awards ceremony the director explained there would be two special Ranatra Fusca awards given away at the end of the problem awards.



Odyssey of the Mind was founded 25 years ago by college professor Dr. Sam Micklus who was looking for a way to push and inspire creativity in his students. The very first problem he came up with to create a vehicle that would transport a team member across a small pond on campus. All but one of the teams came back a month later with vehicles that resembled a boat of some kind, but one team had created a bug like contraption made out of a ladder with pontoon feet. It failed miserably and the student kept falling in the water and never made it across the pond, but Dr. Sam was thrilled with this team, they had done what he wanted....they looked beyond the ordinary and went outside the box to solve his problem. This team was awarded the very first Ranatra Fusca award in Odyssey of the Mind, named after the water striding scorpion. To this day the Ranatra Fusca award is given out to teams who show outstanding creativity, teamwork and problem solving skills. It is the highest award you can be given as a team and getting one is rare. To be considered your team must be nominated by the judges and selected by the tournament heads. Winning this award automatically qualifies the team to compete at the Odyssey World Finals Competition.

They read the nomination of the first award, and it went to another Phoenix team also competing in the DinoStories problem. Then she began to read the nomination for the next Renatra Fusca, and something about the problem solution sounded so familiar...I was watching our kids sitting on the gym floor and could tell they thought so too, soon it became obvious it was our team they were describing. When they finally announced "Benchmark Team A DinoStories Division II" our kids were up on their feet and running to receive their award, they were crying and high fiving and just in disbelief.....we were all shocked, surprised and thrilled!




The proud team with their Ranatra Fusca pins!!

How could this have happened....we started out in December of last year to write a script and solve a technical problem explaining our theory on the extinction of the dinosaurs....this was not even a thought in our minds. Now five months later after hours and hours of hard work and lots of fun these six ambitious 6th graders and two rookie coaches are headed to College Park Maryland to compete against 800 teams from 30 countries in the WORLD FINALS!!!!!
It is the experience of a lifetime to make it to worlds. We will compete as part of the Arizona delegation and it's 31 teams representing Arizona, the valley and Benchmark. It's an Olympic like event held at the University of Maryland, with an opening and closing ceremony, parade of flags and competitions taking place over a week in early June, and should allow for plenty of sight seeing in Washington D.C.

It has definitely taken a few days for this to sink in, and not sure still that I believe it, but there is lots to do and no time to waste....it will take some serious planning and fundraising to get the 8 of us and a set of Mesozoic props to Maryland but seems there is nothing stopping the ambition and creativity of this team! So LOOK OUT MARYLAND here comes Benchmark!