There is this program called Odyssey of the Mind, if you have never heard of it, you aren't alone. I hadn't either, but Lily's school participates in it every year and when I read a short flyer about the program it sounded like something Lily would love and really excel at. So I signed her up. At her first meeting, they mentioned that they didn't have enough coaches for all the kids who signed up to participate. Now of course, that pulled on my heart strings a bit. I didn't want any kids to get cut from the team. But I also knew, I had 3 other kids. But I volunteered anyways! Odyssey of the mind is all about the use of creativity to problem solve and it was definitely a test in my creativity, problem solving and patience! Wow, it was a hard endeavour, but I wouldn't change it at all. The growth that Lily and I both gained from it was very valuable. The above picture is at a dress rehearsal of my teams.
These pictures are of an odyssey of the mind inspired family night lesson on teamwork planned by Lily. Just one of the benefits of her participation.
The whole year we prepped to perform our solution to a problem called something fishy. We had to have a fisher character, and three different catches, something expected, something unexpected and a new discovery. Then we had to have three different ways to catch our three catches and we couldn't move from the designated pier area and all the catches were a different amount of feet away from the pier area. We also had to work in a catch character who the fisher would try to catch but wouldn't be able too. Also it had to be funny and we had to make all of our costumes and scenery. Oh, and the hardest thing for me of all, there could be no outside assistance... meaning I had to keep my big fat mouth shut! It was all up to the kids. And after all their hard work and preparation, the morning of the competition one of our teammates was vomiting the whole way to the tournament. He showed up because we couldn't have competed without him, but he was so sick! He kept puking! Poor kid! But what a trooper and a team player!
Here's my team, plus Ava, before their spontaneous performance.
Poor sick kid!
Coaches weren't allowed in the spontaneous room... so I had no idea how they did til they sent me the score at the end of the tournament. They did great, all things considered.
Here we are, the moment all that torture was to come together. And with one teammate down, literally laying on the ground behind the scenery, who normally was one of the lead roles, my heart could have burst with pride! I was so proud of my kids pulling together and making it happen.
Oh I forgot to mention the stipulation of a mandatory change of weather in the middle of the performance. So here comes the rainbow tsunami!
I was pretty proud of these kids.
The girls outside of Park City High.
After the performing was done, there was a lot of fun things to do while we waited for our scores and the awards ceremony. The girls, especially Ava, had so much fun with all these props.
They made me participate too.
There were all these different tags to collect... they got all the colours.
There was a dance party at the end that was super fun.
And a parade.
Our team took 3rd place and I couldn't have been more pleased!! It was a fun day to end a somewhat miserable season! ;)
And here's our car all decorated for the tournament.
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