Art Galleries and Mini-Golf

Here's Madison and just one of her artistic endeavors on display at today's art gallery presentation.  Daddy and the other parents entered the rooms for each grade, and there on display were all the different pieces of art created during the week, hanging up all throughout the room.

As you can see here, the theme seemed to be a little less "art as science," and more "Under the Sea," which is kind of interesting, isn't it?  Of course, "Under the Sea" is technically marine biology, which is a long ways to go when calling a theme "art as science."  But we're not complaining one bit - Madison had a great time with this theme, creating the squid-like things above, aquariums and lots of fish.  Here's her teacher, and her t-shirt, two words that sound pretty similar when you say them fast together.  Go ahead.  Try it.

It was the last day of art camp, and it was a good one.  As for the theme, that seems to be OUR theme lately, doesn't it?  We decided upon this "Under the Sea" theme upcoming and it just so happens that this is the theme for art camp.  Yes, we're watching the rest of "The Little Mermaid" trilogy this weekend, and probably "Finding Nemo" as well.  And as a bonus, Daddy wants us all to get together to watch "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," the Disney version.  That'll be a fun adventure!

Speaking of adventures, tonight we went to The Oaks, a miniature golf place nearby the church.  Amazingly, we haven't been there yet.  But we'll be going again, and probably soon.  It's all in the shade, and the course is designed very well on this sloped area with waterfalls and a running stream.  The "lodge" at the top that overlooks the course is nice, complete with a porch and rocking chairs.  Here's Madison and Mommy on the porch as we wait for others to arrive.

Who are the others?  That would be Ye-Ye, Nana, Hannah and Aunt Shain, of course.  They arrived as well for a nice night on the links.  Speaking of "links," here we are holding some colored fabric together - this is a project for Hannah at church.

I honestly have no idea what that is about right now.  We just did it and moved on.  But it made for a nice picture.  Just don't ask me what's up with the colored fabric pieces, okay?

Moving on, which is what we did:  There was a threat of rain throughout the day - in fact it did rain a lot over in Forsyth County where live.  I am not exaggerating in the slightest here:  lately, Forsyth County's is like Monster Island, or some other place you can't see as you get closer to it.  Coming from Hall County all week long, you cross that bridge over Lake Lanier, and instantly you're in a cloud, and with pouring rain.  Hall County dry.  Forsyth County soaked.  And the cloud is there, seemingly trapped and afraid to cross over the lake to the Hall County side.  I can't explain it, but it's been like that for days now.  The end result is a rather damp week for us at home, and the bright side to Madison is that God is watering the tomato plants for us.  So good news there, right?

So as much as it rained today, we were afraid tonight's festivities would be cancelled.  But... they weren't.   To golf, or not to golf - that was the question.  And the answer was yes!

Madison did remarkably well.  Sure, there are challenging holes.  But the overall concept of hitting the golf ball is right there with her.  Gone are the days where you mix the sport of hockey with golf, sort of scooting it along to the proper destination.  No, now Madison lines up her golf club and taps the ball in - or tries to hit it harder for longer distances.  Which, I might add, is the one weakness of this course.  If a ball goes off course, so to speak, it's going for a little ride down the hill.  Or, in this case below, down a stream.

Actually, this stream is part of the course.  You actually hit the ball into the stream, and it goes across some grating and winds up on another portion of green below.  Ye-Ye didn't do so well on this particular hole, but was stellar for the back eight, frequently hitting the ball in the hole in two or less hits.  Daddy did well too, but it's not all about the final score of course.  Lately, Daddy has been inclined not to keep score as we used to.  It used to be a competitive thing, even mini-golf.  And sure, you want to do your best.  But with keeping up the score, we tend to miss moments like these:

And that's what it's all about - time together, having fun.  Which we did!  And to celebrate the end, we all got ourselves some ice cream from the "lodge" at the top, taking that to the rocking chairs outside, overlooking the course and talking some more about everything that's been going on lately.

It was a fun time, and we did get home later than bedtime for Madison.  So off to bed she went.  Off to bed we went.  Everyone was tired tonight, for some reason, so we hit the sack a little early - ready for another new and exciting day tomorrow.