From the back seat..

 "Mom, Garry's too big to fit in the van!" Shelby's sober observation of her brother sitting in the middle seat. Not sure why she thinks that? Guess we're gonna have to strap him to the roof to ensure he has enough space:)

Too many hours..

"WHamO is super excited this morning. He loves doing demos!" Observation from Shelby on our way to an elementary school demo. Maybe we are spending too much time with the robot if we know what the robot is "feeling!"

A few more pictures... (2013 St Louis)

Aidan was wooed by the flashing pink ears. I guess he is now 'bunny bacon'?

Einstein matches (finals)

St. Louis had a bus painted in honor of competition. 

City museum was really hard work. Thanks to Phillip for the ride back to hotel.

No stop complete without a stop to the arch

Inside the arch

In front of the convention center. Hopefully we'll make a trip back next year!

St. Louis

It's almost 2am here and I should probably go to bed, but Bert's alarm goes off in about an hr. Which, I might add, I can NEVER sleep thru. Instead I have spent the last hour going back thru this blog. Even though I can be sporadic, I'm so glad I have posted over the years, jotting down silly sayings, posting pictures and such. So, I might as well spend this next hour catching up on all the goings on around here. We'll have to back track a couple of months to get caught up!

I mentioned some posts ago that Garry's Bacon team won at So. Florida regionals and it gave us the opportunity to go to St Louis to compete at World's in April. Somehow we (Bert, kids and I along with several mentors) ended driving out to St Louis pulling robot and paraphernalia behind us. Needless to say, it was a very long trip but we were kept entertained by our mentors. We sang songs, told stories, played games ( we attempted 20 questions, but it was ended being more like 50 questions!) and when all else failed iPads were dug out. 

Reaching our destination, we played non-stop for the next 96 hours. Thankful that Bert was able to accompany us, he and the little little people slept in every morning for some much needed rest, and Garry and I headed over to the dome early each day to be with the team. By lunch time, the well rested crew joined us for an afternoon of cheering. Nights were filled with the City museum, swimming and sight seeing.  Alas, we did not win in our division, but our team played well and we didn't go home empty handed- the team was awarded the Imagery award; which basically means that the image Bacon projects to the public is how FIRST would like to be presented. Ok, I've talked enough...let me get on to the pictures. There were way too many to put in one post, so I've broken it into 2 posts. 

A quick stop to visit Metro City. Although if judging by pajamas it should be early morning, it was really late afternoon. Jammie's are so much better for traveling!

Our fantastic entertainers and college mentors, Bethany and Kelly

Some downtime between matches

Plenty of sleep make for smiling little people

There was a playground right outside our section. Wilbur came to play with us!

Having fun at City Museum (recommended)

Even big kids played (got stuck)!

We met some unique individuals in the pits

Maybe I won't get in trouble if???

Bert: Aidan, did you kick your brother?

Aidan thru tears: Not that hard!