Things I don't recommend

I don't recommend driving during a tornado warning.

This was the second semi accident we saw when we got back onto the interstate after the wind and rain had subsided.  I spotted 2 police cars, 2 ambulances, and a fire truck.

Blizzards

Thursday night, we decided we wanted shakes.  But, it seems silly to shell out $6 or so for Dairy Queen blizzards.  So, we took that money, went to the grocery store, and came home with Cookie Dough Ice Cream (the base), along with some Snickers bars (apparently I hadn't bought enough during the after-Halloween sales).  Then, we made our blizzard.

The chopped up Snickers bars, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Kit Kat bar.  (I had bought enough Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat bars during the after-Halloween sales.)  We also added Oreo crumbs and M&Ms.

 Adding the candy.

 Our homemade blizzard defied gravity, too.

It was delicious!  And just the right amount of candy added.  We'll definitely be making this again.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

Back in junior high, on the Science Olympiad team, I competed in an event called "What are you trying to tell me?"  In it, you were given a bunch of visual and written representations of information: graphs, plots, nutrition facts, to name a few.

Then you were asked questions about the information.  I really liked that event, because it was easy for me.  (I think I got 3rd in State one year for that event.)  I could take the information, dissect it, and give back answers about what you would really want to learn from the graphics.  (What is this image telling me, you may ask?  It says that a structure with this cross section, attached to a wall at the left and with a load applied at the right, will fail at the dark red and dark blue points.)

Last week, I went to a conference, and one of the speakers reminded me of this event.  He is an electrical engineering / computer science professor, and his entire research is coming up with new ways to visualize information.  Working with one sponsor, he and his grad students took data that the sponsoring agency already collected, and reorganized it.  Suddenly, the decisions the sponsor tried to make from that data were so much clearer!  It was funny for me to listen to this speaker and just kind of think: come on, anyone can do that.

But you know what?  Not anyone can.  Just look at instruction manuals.  Just read an email with a slew of things you're being asked to do.  It really is a skill to organize information, or to interpret disorganized information.

Wooden Creations

It's not uncommon for me to think about writing a blog post, and then decide against it.  There are even times when I write a post, and never publish it.  (I think I have 4 of those in my post history.)  Sometimes it's because the thing I would write about happened so long ago.  Sometimes it's because my sister already blogged about it, and my brothers posted pictures of it, and so half the people who read my blog already heard about that event.  Sometimes it's because I don't think I'm cool enough to just spout off my own thoughts and have anyone find it worthwhile.  I mean, do you really want to hear my frustrations with the thesis template my university came up with?  Anyway.

Today, as I contemplated what would be worth posting, I decided to pick some pictures from the past year and share them.

This is a really long (300 feet) covered bridge.

It uses a double burr arch for the support system, and if you look at the far end, you can see the second arch.  There are also a lot of triangles used in the design.  It makes me think of my building projects on the Science Olympiad team back in junior high and high school.

This is a wooden snake that we found for sale at a reenactment.  

Each of the slits you see on the sides allows the snake to slither.  But, the slits aren't all in the same direction, so part of the snake's tail moves up and down, while another part moves from side to side.  It was a fascinating design, and if you held the tail and just moved your hand a little, you could see some very realistic slithering.

This snake was my own creation.  David thinks it looks like the Dawn Treader.

I got these blocks for my birthday, and they are awesome.  It's interesting to see how much creativity can come from working with a bunch of identical blocks (especially if I look at pictures of all the things my nephew has built!).  It was fun to build the snake when so little of its body is on the ground.  I felt pretty good about being able to make it stand.  (Disclaimer: the head toppled 30 minutes after this picture was taken.)  There are some other ideas, with bridges, that I'll have to try.

Graham Cracker Creations

Last year, we introduced my family to one of David's family traditions: Graham Cracker Creations.  Here were the results:

This year, there was great anticipation for this event.  Emma (Shelly's 5-year-old) was begging to do them right when David and I arrived.  She did wait, however.

Here I am preparing bags of mortar for the building portion.

Candy ready to go on the table.

Ready and excited participants!  My mom, Nicole, Jeff, and Emma.

Getting started.

 

David pondering what to do next.

Janene still working on frosting.  (We have 2 different types of frosting.  The mortar is so strong that if you use it to attach candy, you won't be able to get the candy off.)

My mom working on her Appalachian Trail shelter.  (There's a fire inside, you just can't see it yet.)  Nicole with her stable.  She made a Nativity scene.

Jeff with his football field.  This is where we determined that we didn't have enough M&Ms.

My dad with his creation.

Shelly working on her tree.

My completed creation.  "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe."

David's completed creation.  I really like his mast.

And of course, the sharks are great, too.

So, another successful year of Graham Cracker Creations.

Jewelry Making

One of our Christmas Break activities was Jewelry Making.  Here I am with Nicole and Emma, showing them what kinds of things they can try.

Nicole displaying her new earrings and necklace.

Brooklyn displaying Emma's new necklace and bracelet.

Brooklyn really likes jewelry.  When the first bracelet Emma made broke (I hadn't attached the clasp well enough), Brooklyn picked up the remaining string and motioned downstairs, where I was.  Apparently she had figured out who could fix it.

Shelly had to go pick out her own beads at the craft store, but here's what she made.

After all the time she spent on it, she's not sure she'll ever want to try making jewelry again.

White Christmas

We had a wonderful white Christmas at my sister's, so we went sledding!

Pulling the sleds toward the hill.  Brooklyn got a ride.

Shelly ready to go down with Nicole and Bradford

Jeff and Brooklyn at the bottom of the hill.

David ready to go down!

The whole crew (except me): David, Jeff, Nicole, Shelly, Emma, my mom, Bradford hidden behind my mom, and Brooklyn.

Emma got a pull up the hill from her favorite uncle.  She's pretty lucky!

Jeff and Nicole sledding down.

We all got a lot of snow in our faces that way.

Brooklyn pulling a sled.

Emma's snow angel.

The twins were done after one trip down--they didn't like all the snow in their faces.  Emma made it down a few more times.

Then Shelly and my mom left with the little kids while Jeff, Nicole, David, and I stayed.  We made a bunch of trains going down the hill, and demonstrated a few physics laws--like how the acceleration increases as each attached sled reaches the slope.  :)  We were reminded to put the heaviest person in front.

Nicole afterward: