Bull Shoals Family Vacation 2015 (Day 1 & 2)

Every year we go on vacation. This year we went to Bull Shoals lake. It is a favorite spot of ours (we go almost every year) and it always is a good time. I go a bunch of GoPro footage and have been putting together a few videos of our trip. Typically we stay at the Holiday Shores Resort. It is a nice little resort that has some nice cozy cabins. We had a large group with us and took over 5 cabins, and they were all right next to each other, so spending time together was great. We setup a fire pit during the evenings while the kids were in bed.

In the video below you will see day 1 and day 2. We arrived on day 1 so there was just some minor swimming. Day 2 had much more swimming along with some riding the wet bike. This is just the first post in a several post series about our vacation this year.

If you want to see our trip from last year click here for part one and here for part two.

My Little Gym Superstar

IMG_3898 Abby had her final Little Gym class the other day. This class was a special one in where parents can come in and see all of the amazing things that the little gymnasts have learned. Things didn’t start out smoothly though. We pulled into the parking lot and not even 5 seconds after getting out of the car Abby tripped over her own two little feet and went face first into the curb. She received a nice scrape near her eye and one on her leg. She was in tears and I wasn’t sure if Abby would be up for class after the incident. We got her cleaned up and her teacher was right there encouraging Abby to join the rest of the class and show everyone what she can do.

It was awesome. Abby got a big introduction along with all of the other little gymnasts. Then they started with their performance. Abby is only four years old so it wasn’t anything like the Olympics or very advanced. She showed off her skills on the high bar, dancing, balance beam, flips, and more. Parents rotated around the room so we could follow our own kids around snapping pictures and taking video.

IMG_3896After all was said and done the kids were awarded a medal for their great work. The medal was a great way for Abby to forget all about her injury. She was so excited to get a medal that right after she got it and left the podium she ran over to show me. The smile on her face was priceless and I’m positive she will treasure that medal for years to come.

Watching my little girl receive her medal was a very proud moment for this dad. She had only missed one class because she was sick. So she really committed to going to her gym and has listened to her teacher attentively. It makes me feel like she is another step closer to starting school, which is a thing in of itself. My wife and I haven’t discussed what’s next for Abby in regards to activities such as the Little Gym. We had discussed possibly signing her up for something a little more advanced in regards to gymnastics, but we just are not sure yet. We want to see if there is anything else that Abby might want to try out first. Maybe it’s time for soccer or tee ball… Who knows… I’m sure we will be figuring that out soon.

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MaKey MaKey Project!

IMG_3388 Today I had the chance to play with a MaKey MaKey. What is a MaKey MaKey you ask? Well according to their website… “A MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It’s a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything in between.”

We had gotten a few of these at my work and I asked if I could play around with it to get an idea of what it can do. It is a pretty impressive idea. You take a simple interface such as a keyboard and mouse, strip it down to just a small circuit board. Get some alligator clips and the ideas are endless.

My first thought was to make some sort of game controller. I try to be crafty but sometimes I don’t hit my expectations. This might have been one of those times but still, the results are pretty cool. So I gathered up some extra cardboard from a Frozen toy, Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil, some Play-Doh, and the MaKey MaKey. I planned out how everything would layout on the cardboard. I did however did not account for the fact that whatever layout I do, I need to do it backwards so it appears the correct way on the front of the controller. I forgot that part so my controls are on the reversed sides of where they should be.

IMG_3390Once I had everything planned out I used the aluminum foil and made my pathways. This was pretty simple. I used clear tape to get everything secured. I also poked a small hole through the cardboard where the Play-Doh would attach to the foil.

If you do not have any foil you could use the lead from a pencil. However, I found that using it with the cardboard was not conductive enough for the MaKey MaKey. Paper worked fine, but not the cardboard so much. Which is a shame because I had originally planned to use pencil lead but I had to throw an audible and use some aluminum foil instead.

I also made what I call a “power ring”. For the MaKey MaKey to work properly you have to complete a full circuit. So you have to hold a grounding alligator clip. I found it easier to manipulate everything if I just take a ring of foil and attach the clip to that and then put the ring on my finger, hence “power ring”.

IMG_3392Now that I had my power ring and foil secured to the cardboard I needed to attach my alligator clips to the board and the MaKey MaKey. The MaKey MaKey is labeled so it is best to match that up with your labels on your cardboard leads. Did I mention it’s important to label? If you didn’t label, go ahead and do that now.

With everything labeled and attached it was time to get my controller buttons ready. I used two colors of Play-Doh and molded them into a few different arrows and circles. Then I attached the Play-Doh to the foil sticking out from the holes I poked earlier.

My controller is now complete. I plug in the USB cable to my computer and wait for the basic drivers to load. I fire up an emulator with Tetris running and see if it works. I configure the emulator to use my controller and I try it out. Success! Everything works! So after a few rounds of Tetris I get out the GoPro and record a video of everything you just read. Abby even stopped in to give the new controller a try. Check it out below!

Have you used a MaKey MaKey and made something cool? Tell me about it in the comments below! You can also check out some other really cool projects using things like bananas, humans, stairs, and more! Check them out here in the MaKey MaKey gallery!
makeymakey.com/gallery

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBsE61toW8Q&feature=youtu.be