Robinns-nest

Camel Attack!

2008-11-14T09:16:00.004-05:00

Last month, Julia and I attended a tumbling camp in Huntsville, Alabama. In our spare time, we visited Harmony Safari Park about 15 miles outside of town. It's a drive-thru "zoo" with llamas, reindeer, antelope, buffalo, a zebra (Julia's favorite animal), various tiny types of deer, rams with big horns, and a CRAZY camel. The owner tells you before you enter that the animals are not pets, they might bite, don't roll your windows down more than 8 inches, etc., etc. So, we buy a cup of food to give to the animals and head into the park in our rented car and we're really enjoying the cute animals and birds. But, we notice that the camel seems to be stalking us, so we keep the windows up for safety. The camel seems to really like our little car and starts rubbing his nose and mouth on the windows and the mirror and then stands in front of the car so that we can't move. But then, here comes the beautiful zebra! We manage to get away from the camel for a little while so that the zebra can visit. Of course, Julia rolls the window down to pet the sweet zebra, who sticks his head in to grab a bite of food from the cup which is sitting in the console. His neck wasn't quite long enough to reach the food, but he was really sweet and didn't seem to be aggressive, so we let him keep his head in the car. But suddenly--the crazy camel sees that the window is down and takes over! We did manage to finally get away from him, but he continued to keep his eye on us throughout our drive!

October!

2008-10-01T13:44:00.003-04:00

Wow, where has the year gone? I can't believe that October is here already, and my Julia will be 14 in just a few days! We had an incredible summer traveling and visiting with friends. Now, we're all getting excited about going to N. Carolina in a couple of weeks. Many moons ago, after we were first married, Joey took me to the mountains in October. I had never been outside of Florida during the fall and I was in awe of the beauty that God painted in those mountains. Over the years, the month of October has found us in those same mountains many, many times. We had a few years, when the girls were very young, or when we didn't have enough money to buy gas, that we weren't able to make the trip. And, we've taken trips to other places in October that were wonderful, but we always have that "itch" to head to the mountains when September starts winding down. One of our favorite activities while there is hiking the trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We've hiked some of them so many times, that they seem like old friends. We like to stop at a roadside stand and get some mountain apples; visit the Ashe County Cheese Factory in West Jefferson and get some of their wonderful cheese; find some fresh apple cider and maybe some country ham. A perfect day would include a hike and a picnic with those apples and cheese and a chilly mountain breeze blowing. I think I'll go start packing!!

Off We Go (again!)

2008-07-19T08:24:00.002-04:00

I did say that we enjoy traveling! The girls and I are on our way to Georgia for a week. They will be attending a Worldview Academy Leadership camp at Berry College in Rome, Ga. These camps are for young adults, age 13 and up and their focus is helping them think and live according to a Biblical worldview. They will be comparing the Christian view of origins, sociology, human nature, etc. with the views of other religions and cults. Also, they will discuss the Biblical roots of order; law, church and state issues and economics; Christianity and the arts, evangelism, etc......They've been preparing for camp by reading a couple of books: "The Greatest Among You" by Randy Sims, and "The Deadliest Monster" which is on my bookshelf. They are excited and looking forward to the experience.
While the girls are at the camp, I'll be staying at a lovely Bed & Breakfast in a nearby town. I figured that it would probably cost about the same to just stay up there rather than drive back and forth to Georgia and I didn't really want to do all of that driving, anyway!
Then, 12 hours after we get home from Georgia, we leave with my mom for the beach!!

Strings Camp

2008-07-14T21:37:00.004-04:00

This the strings camp 10th-12th grade orchestra with Mr. Theilen conducting.

Here's Emily playing in the chamber group.

Emily just finished her 2nd year at Fla. Southern's Strings Workshop. This is a two week "camp" for orchestral strings players from middle school through high school. Last year was her 1st year there and she loved it and really wanted to go back this year. Even though the schedule conflicted this year with Julia's trip to Kansas City, we were able to work it out so that she was able to attend most of it AND see her sister compete. We try hard to make sure that neither of them miss important events in each other's lives and this year it's been quite a challenge!
The strings camp has a concert each year at the end of the 2 weeks and it is amazing to hear the kids perform. They work on the music for less than 2 weeks and if you had your eyes closed at the concert, you wouldn't have known that it was a group of students! Emily really enjoys playing in an orchestra and now she tells me that she wants to learn to play the cello. Sure, no problem. We have plenty of time and money for more music lessons :-0

Jr. Olympic Nationals

2008-07-07T09:27:00.007-04:00

Here's Julia in her competition leotard that her coach made for her.

Julia and Harley show off their snazzy Regional All-Star leos.

Coach Misha, Julia, Abigail, Alexander and Harley at Nationals.

We're back from Kansas City and Julia did great! She's #6 in the nation for level 10 tumbling! It was exciting to see her do her pass with the double-back tuck. She's only been working on it since the end of May and this was her first time doing it in competition. Her trampoline looked really nice from where we were sitting, but the judges thought otherwise and she got a pretty low score. Oh well, it's not her favorite event, anyway. Unfortunately, she didn't land either of her doubles on double-mini, but she went for the higher difficulty pass anyway! I was proud of her for making that decision and going for it! It's always thrilling to watch the level 10's compete--they are all amazing athletes. It's unbelievable what those kids can do. The training and discipline that is necessary for this level is tough, but what they learn will serve them well throughout their lives.
She also made the Region V All-Star team and was able to compete on July 4th with them. The All-Stars are the #1 finishers at level 10 from each region. The All-Star competition is always a fun time for everyone. It moves fast and the kids that normally compete against one another during the season get to compete as a team against the other regions. Also, each All-Star gets a really nice team leotard and warm-up suit that would normally cost several hundred dollars!
We couldn't find anything to do in Kansas City, but we did get to experience a mid-western storm, complete with hail and 70 mph winds! It wasn't very much fun watching the wind blow and the rain come in through our air conditioner vents and see the hail hitting our 26th story hotel room window, so we headed for the lobby. As soon as we got off of the elevator, the wind blew the revolving door and broke it while a front desk worker was in the door trying to secure it. Thankfully, she was okay, but we made a mad dash to the basement-level lobby!
As soon as I have a few more minutes, I'll be posting some pictures. I hope I got at least one good one!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we were able to watch the final selection for the Olympic trampolinists! Talk about amazing--those people are AMAZING! It was pretty cool to be there with Olympic athletes. I hope they do great in China!!
Here's a video of Julia's Regional All-Star pass.

Kansas City, Here We Come

2008-06-19T20:52:00.005-04:00

We're off to Kansas City for Julia's national competition! She's been working her be-hind off at the gym for the last 2 weeks--30 hours a week! She's only been competing at level 10 since January and it's pretty tough at that level. And, she's only been doing her double back tuck on the floor since April. A few years ago, I thought that I would be scared if she ever started trying double-backs on the floor, but surprisingly, it doesn't really scare me. Mostly, it amazes me! I'm really proud of how hard she's worked and whether she finishes first or last--I think she's AWESOME! Of course, her coach would never admit that finishing last is okay, but I guess that's one of the things that makes him a great coach.
So, hopefully in a couple of weeks, I'll have some pictures to post.

Proud Mama!

2008-06-18T08:35:00.003-04:00

I'm so proud of Emily! Last year I was searching for an opportunity for her to play violin in an orchestra. There are only 2 youth orchestras around here that welcome homeschooled students-one in Tampa and one in Orlando. The only way to play in one of the youth orchestras in our county is to be enrolled in the school system. So, we visited both orchestras and she started preparing for their auditions by learning scales (3 octaves!) and their required excerpts. We had no idea if she would make it into either of them or not. The Orlando auditions we held at the end of April and we were supposed to know something by the 2nd week in May. Well, the director said that they had so many talented musicians that the judges had to have a 2nd meeting. Finally, at the end of May, she got her letter that she had been accepted! She is very happy, especially since, as she said, she didn't get "last chair"!
Her blog has a link to the orchestra's website, so check it out.
Thanks for letting me BRAG!

2008-05-23T08:58:00.001-04:00