Keli celebrates Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving 2014 Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

For Thanksgiving 2014, I went to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to visit my sister Amanda and her family.

My brother-in-law made the turkey.

My sister had these salt and pepper shakers! How cute! I want to have Thanksgiving plates and  such at some point! 

after dinner we went into town and walked up to Jefferson Rock. Here is Mark and Alex.

teenager Alex is so cool...

Mark, me and Alex.

My brother in law's train set.

Margret and Thomas came. Here is Thomas having fun with the train set.

train set

train set.

Thomas and Mark played ping pong

Happy Thanksgiving from Amanda, Mark, Little Mark, Alex and Keli

Keli travels

CARDBOARD BOAT RACES 

Did you read that above in July 2014, I participated in a cardboard boat race at Aquia Landing State Park in Stafford, VA.

 

I was looking for things to do and I found a park that was on the Potomac with a beach in Stafford called Aquia Landing. On the day I wanted to go in addition I found out that they were hosting cardboard boat races. The internet said that if you wanted to race in a boat it would be $5 extra dollars. I am not going to lie. That sounded very tempting to me. 

 

I went with my friend Margret. When we got there we met my friend Rob, and my friends Jeremy and Cami. They were all out in kayaks or Sunfish boats. 

 

We enjoyed some beach and kayak time and then went over to checkout the cardboard boats. At that point my friend Beth came with her kids, Alex,Chris and Dylan.

 

Everyone but Jeremy and Rob decided to participate. Rob took pictures and video from one side and Jeremy took pictures from the other side. 

 

and now for the pictures...

 

a Lego boat. This thing came apart the moment it hit the water. ( if it even made it TO the water)

The Batman team and boat. This lasted a few rounds before it met it's demise. 

 

 

(that Joker's face though)

Margret and I picked the Cicada boat. For five dollars we were able to race in it.

Me with The Cicada Boat.

Me with the whale boat that Cami and Alex raced in.

The Scooby Doo boat. This thing did not last long either. They did later race on the roof though.

Rainbow Dash boat. This thing barely lasted. The man that was in it paddled so hard that it made it to the finish line before it capsized. Also camo boat, that boat did not last.

Check out all the boats!

One of the races.

Scooby is already capsizing. You can see the shore in this picture. That is how far they got.

random people I do not know racing. There were also regular boats there as spectators.

The man that built most of these boats also built this one. These are the boys from his Sunday School class. It is equipped with water balloons to shoot and throw at people.

another shot of them.

more people racing

there goes one boat...

Getting ready to go out in the cicada. We were told to take off the legs and wings.

WE ARE EXCITED TO RACE THE CICADA!!!!!

and we are OFF!!!!

Margret and I were basically the worst team ever. It is a testament to our friendship that it survived this!  Both of us thought we were in charge. Both of us SUCKED. We were both convinced that we knew what to do, neither of us did. It was a fiasco!!!

oh gosh there we are.. probably going in circles.. Alex and Cami are behind us. They did great!

Two of my favorite things about that day. That dude was one of the dudes in charge. He had a hat made out of cardboard Ikea boxes. Also this Grandma there by herself in this home made ELVIS BOAT. She also had Elvis clothes on. Her boat said Rockin'and Bobbin with Elvis.

Alex and Cami are doing it.

Great picture of Alex and Cami

They made it to the finish line!!!! ...but where are we?

There is Grandma out there rocking and bobbing with Elvis. She almost made it but got tired. She is my hero. She also may be future me.

We are still out there. STILL ....I had NO IDEA if we would EVER MAKE IT BACK..

STILL

OUT

THERE

The announcer kept on announcing that we were still out there.. like shut up!!!! we know!!!

OMGOSH WE MADE IT TO THE FINISH LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

So all is well that ends well. I was so tired but I went out several more times with Beth's kids. Chris was a wonderful Captain. I need him on my team if I am ever in a cardboard boat race again. 

We had a great rest of the day at the park.Swimming, hanging out and kayaking.

One thing I have not mentioned yet is one man made most of these boats ( at least all the ones that did not sink) They have raced several years and can race several times in a row.  

 I kind of want to do this in 2015 and make our own boat! 

Keli works

Did you know that November has an "international drum week"? I was subbing at the Korean preschool and decided to have the kids make drums.

Jimin with her paper bowl drum

all the kids with their tin can drums.

Jimin getting ready to drum

Sandi gave me lots of extra cans, Jiho had fun using them as a drum set

Jimin and her drum

Jiho and Jimin and their drums

the drums we made!!!

our drums we made out of paper bowls

the kids drumming

more of the kids drumming.

Jimin making her drum set. 

 I have to say that the kids really enjoyed this. The first day we made the paper bowl drums. I just stapled two paper bowls together. They did not last long before they were bashed in. 
The next day I made the tin can drums. I want to give a special shout out to my friend Sandi and her roommate. Sandi's roommate had made several batches of chili and they had forgotten to take out the recycling. I am grateful for that because I was able to make use out of the tin cans. I cut off the bottom of balloons that I got at the $ store and I stretched them over the cans and then put a rubber band on them. They also did not last long. I wonder if I had used "better quality balloons" disclaimer: I have never pondered the quality of balloons before. 
We were able to turn the tin cans over and Sandi gave me so many tin cans that they kids were able to make their own little drum sets. 
I used chopsticks for the drum sticks and we spent quite a bit of time banging on the drums loud and quiet fast and slow and saying our names. We also marched around and had a small drum circle. I would say it was a success!