Third time...

For the third year in a row, we attended the NoCo Mini Maker Faire. For the third year in a row, it was pretty awesome. :)

We only spent the afternoon...but we played with plenty of fun things...

Micah tried riding a Green Machine thing...Asher & Micah had fun with the Discovery Science Museum's take apart area (Micah maybe moreso than Asher...one of the volunteers did need to explain to Micah that it was "take apart," not "smash," lol)...we got these awesome laser engraved keychains...Micah posed with Pokey (the baby fire-breathing dragon)...and Asher posed with R2-D2...and both younger boys enjoyed some sort of sound sculpture, that lit up differently in reaction to the sounds around it...among other things. ;)

But. Our favorite thing this year was the Nerdy Derby. :) It was fabulous! They had this whole area set up with derby car bodies and 3D printed wheels and a gajillion different things you could use to decorate/hone your car. Then you could register your car and race them (there were also some weight and width/height restrictions). Micah made one first, then the other boys and I got in on the action:

...and then, obviously, Noah challenged Nathan and things got competitive:

This shot was actually Nathan's car beating Micah's. (Pretty cool, eh?) In the end, Nathan's car did actually beat all the rest. But, Asher's car and mine won for best looking...

Don't you think? ;)

Asher named his (complete with the canon and tusks) "Bob." (For what it's worth, Asher's ended up being too heavy to race with all the metal pieces in the box but we put it back together after taking pieces off because it looked cool.)

Noah will tell you that mine was highly inefficient and had high drag and all that. But, I don't care. I think it's pretty. :)

Btw, I named it "Purple Nostrils."  

High red

I'm still here. :) I'll work on catching up soon, really.

In the meantime, let me just take a moment to brag on my youngest...who promoted to high red belt last night. 

Here are the kids who were promoting listening to Mr. Yee drill them on integrity, courtesy, perseverance and indomitable spirit...

Throughout the promotion, both Micah and Asher performed with the demo team also...between demonstrations in combinations, grabs, forms and sparring by those promoting. Then, each kid was called forward to receive his/her new belt:

...and high five everyone...

And before all the pizza and soda consumption, I nabbed this picture of Micah with a couple of his friends who happened to also promote to high red belt last night. They were pretty stoked and deservedly proud.

Yay! 

Another step

Sigh. My boys are growing up. I know this. I do. :) I'm working on embracing this and savoring the moments...to that end, I'll record here that Nathan and I took Noah to the CSU Engineering Exploration Day last Saturday. It was a free day to introduce high school students to the departments and careers of engineering. (Hooray for people in our homeschooling group who alerted me to the opportunity!)

We began with an introduction to the school of engineering in general...with discussion about admissions and internships and housing and such...

This was followed by sessions specific to different departments. Noah chose to go to the overview sessions for chemical & biological engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical & computer engineering. Noah decided he's probably more interested in the latter two on that list but continues to keep all options open (yes, including studies that aren't engineering). 

After that, we were invited to a free lunch by the Diversity Programs in Engineering student group and did a mini walking tour of our own...

(Doesn't Noah look thrilled? lol) Then we sat in on a panel of students discussing the Cooperative Education Program, which was pretty exciting with regard to the possibilities and opportunity.

And then we called it a day and decided that we still have plenty of time to decide on things like college and majors. But. When we do get to that point, we'll be a little better prepared. :)