Saturday, April 4, 2015

Phoenix Day Three

It was another solid day (8 am- 5 pm) in the stands of cheering for our team.  That was hard work!
The day got off to a very adorable, fun start.  Since tomorrow is Easter, the FIRST officials decided to start off with something fun for the kids, who have been amazing troopers!
An Easter Egg Hunt!
The M.C. approached our team coach yesterday, noticing that we had a lot of little kids with our team and suggested it.  In fact, all but two kids were from our team!  Granted, it was early, so a lot of the kids that came later in the day weren't there yet.
They played loud, crazy music while the kids ran all over, tearing the field of play apart searching for eggs and treats. BEST EASTER EGG HUNT EVER!
Darling little garbage pickers.
My favorite picture of the day.  Maybe the week.
The M.C. in the FIRST shirt was great fun helping them to knock the totes all over.
Quite the thrill for the kids who had been watching the action on the field to get to go play on it themselves.  Also they were showing it on the big jumbo screen as well.
Since all these kids will be on the road tomorrow for a very long drive home, it was nice to get to do an egg hunt FIRST style.
Cannon had a pretty good haul, but in the spirit of gracious professionalism, I think he and Faith shared with George who only found one egg.  Well, that and the eggs were filled with jelly beans that they didn't like very much:)
In these robot games all teams have their ups and downs.  The highs are exhilarating, the lows are heartbreaking.  We had a lot of highs over the course of the regional.  We were solidly the third ranked team since about the fourth of thirteen rounds.  Our low came at a very unfortunate time.  As it worked out with alliances, we made it to semi-finals, but were out for the finals.  I won't sugar coat it.  It was sad and disappointing.  
We were so proud of our team, and they did so well, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes.  Prototype X will not be headed to St. Louis for the World Championships.  
Oh, that was kind of sad to write.  Here... does this picture make it better?
Actually, for me today, this picture doesn't make me feel that much better.  Peter was so cute and cuddly yesterday.  Not so much today.  He was overly tired and wiggly and fussy and not a happy camper.  He really did go into meltdown mode this evening.  My poor nerves are still frayed from it.  Here's praying that the drive home tomorrow will be bearable.
They did win the Industrial Design Award, which, as far as I could tell, meant they built a really solid, reliable, well welded machine, and the judges took note of that.
Farewell, 2015 Season, "Recycle Rush" of totes and garbage cans.  We will anxiously await the kickoff in January to find out what the next challenge is.
Goodbye, Phoenix.  We didn't actually see that much of you, but we will have fond memories of our time together.

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