Monday, April 14, 2014

Tae Kwan Do Tournament


Gavin participated in his first Tae Kwan do tournament on Saturday. He was really excited to compete, and wanted a gold medal.

First he showed his "blue belt form," which is a series of coordinated steps, punches, and blocks. He earned a bronze medal for this.





Then he moved on to the "breaking" portion. He had to break four boards - one with a punch and three with different kicks. He took silver in this one!!!!






Wearing both. medals He was so proud, and wants to go again next year and get a gold!






Here's a video of his breaking skills:


Thursday, April 10, 2014

Playdate


Over spring break, Gavin's friend Claire came over for a play date. The afternoon started out warm, and they played outside for a bit. But then the wind picked up and we moved inside.



Hopscotch - their way. They kept counting to 20 and higher.





Monday, April 7, 2014

Lego Engineering



I took Gavin to a Lego engineering class over Spring Break. It was part of the Engineering For Kids program at Airtastic.

This class was in the Mechanical Engineering category and had them build a sailboat (which he and his buddy dubbed a "pirate ship") and they connected wires to make sounds and make it move.






Of course, the kids got to have a break in the middle and run around Airtastic. Gavin loved it!!!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Adler Planetarium



Yesterday we went to the Adler Planetarium. It was Gavin's first visit. He is totally fascinated by planets, stars, and our solar system, so we figured he'd like it.

We found a lot of cool things, like this model of the solar system from back when people thought Earth was at the center, not the sun:






We spent a lot of time in a hall with models of each planet:




It's hard to see, but Gavin is in that window. This was a pretend crater on Mars:





This is like the machines at Brookfield Zoo that flatten a penny and stamp an image on it. Gavin chose a Mars image:



Cleaning dirt off of old sundials. Gavin loved this!




A staff member was demonstrating what happens to objects (like a balloon) when the environment has no air. Gavin loved it!









We had a great time and Gavin can't wait to go back!