Thanksgiving Week and the Movies

We made our Thanksgiving week full of activities.  We went to the beach, the sand sculpting display, the beach for family pictures (more pictures of those to come later! I'm excited!), the pool, on an air boat ride, the Coral Castle, Ikea (which is 1 1/2 hours away), to the movies, hung out with friends, and ate too much!!!

After we watched Dexter and Daisy (remember here?), Taya gave us a gift card to the movies.  Not just any old movie theater. The Silverspot.  That probably doesn't mean anything to most who read this blog.  It is a fancy place with huge leather chairs.  I can't even call them seats. They have a full restaurant and a bar.  The movies are expensive in Naples, but this one is at the top at $15 per ticket.  Wow!  We miss the dollar movies.  Taya was generous and figured it all out including a bucket of popcorn and two drinks (at $17!).  So we had a treat on Thanksgiving Day.  We saw Arthur Christmas.  It was cute.  The kids loved going to the movies and having popcorn.  (We have only taken them in Florida in the summer when they show old movies that are on DVD for $1.)  Thanks to Taya for treating us to a fun afternoon! (And since it was a matinee we have $15 left to see another movie---one of us.)

The picture was dark because it is from Brent's phone.  I forgot the camera--usually don't take it to the movies.

World Championship Sand Sculpting: Part 2

Like I mentioned in the previous post, Brent found out about this event and really wanted to go.  He had to work from 3 p.m. to 11p.m. but we decided we had just better go that day.  They had parking at a different location with a trolley that took you to the event.  The kids liked the trolley (bus) ride!!! 

 

It was held behind a Holiday Inn.  So we stopped for a picture in front.

We saw all the sculptures and were amazed.  They had other shows, but they didn't start until 12.  We had an hour to wait.  So we decided to go home, have lunch, and the kids and I would go back for the afternoon.  It also helped that Brent could make sure he was home on time and ready to go to clinicals.

We took Macey back with us.  Janiel loves doing things with her and we love having her with us!  Part of the event was "Quick Sand".  They had two sculptors compete against each other.  They had 10 minutes to sculpt something the audience chose.  The first one we saw was a toilet.  One had a cat sitting on the toilet, the other had a dog drinking out of the toilet.  The artists could only use their hotel room card.  I think they did an amazing job with that!

 The second time they had to sculpt a wedding ring.  The lady on the right was the same, but the man was different.  This is what their sand started as:

 The artists at work.  This time they could use whatever tools they wanted.  The lady used a couple of knives and a brush, but the man opted to use his hotel room card.

 The finished products:

We took a break from the competition and cooled off at the beach.  It was very hot and the kids found the water quite refreshing.

 The girls were sculpting sea shells.

 Wes tried his talent at sculpting a toilet.

The last show that we saw was "Flying Colors" by an artist named John Gowdy.  He started with a black paper (this is actually a piece of cloth over the paper).

 Then he threw paint, sand, and used brushes to paint an interesting person!

 He spun it and threw more paint on.  He actually painted the face with a brush while it was upside down.

 The picture is a little blurry, but you can see the yellow paint flying!

 Adding some detail to the hair.

 He was quite the entertainer.  The audience wasn't getting into it as much as he wanted us to.  It was the Monday night crowd not the Friday or Saturday night crowd.  His wife was in the audience and was quite the show in herself.  She almost acted irritated at the audience.  But not everyone likes to sing and rock to the music.

 The final product!  Bob Marley.  He auctioned it off at the end for a children's charity.  The bidding started at $400.  The Monday night crowd didn't go too high.  They kept urging, but no one was buying.  Finally, an older man bid $450.  Sold.

The kids and I loved watching him perform and paint. What a fun event.  I'm sure glad we went.
This man also competed in the sand sculpting.  He did a self-sculpture. Very talented.

World Championship Sand Sculpting: Part One

What are you doing for your Thanksgiving Break?  This year the kids got the entire week off of school.  So what do I do with them now?  Brent found out that the World Championship Sand Sculpting would be held just North of us. We thought that it would be the chance of a life time to see.  We were right. There were 24 different sculptures that were all amazing! The name of the sculpture sometimes explained a lot.  I can't remember all the names.  (I should have taken a picture of the sign.)  

So are you prepared to be amazed?

This one was something about terror.

This was Fantasy Fort Myers

 We read the back of this one:

 I thought that was pretty neat.  

Wes didn't get it until he saw the front:

 Ah-ha!

 This one was kind of weird until I read the title: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  After reading that, it was quite touching and profound. This is how they might feel. Amazing how he got the detail: all out of sand.  It was a small reminder of the sacrifice that many men and women have done for our country.  I can't even imagine what they have seen and how they might feel.  

 The back said a lot too.  I imagine the hands might be those of a friend, a child, an angel, Heavenly Father.  Who knows. This one won second place.  They have bottles on each one for people's choice votes.  Each 25 cents is a vote.  The bottle was almost completely full.  I think it will win People's Choice.

 Some type of synergy--there was a woman on the other side.

 Something about pieces.

 Thinking outside the box and being creative.

 This was the girls' favorite.  I didn't have quarters, but I had pennies.  (I'm sure the judges are going to love me!)  So I gave them 5 pennies each to vote for their favorites.  I think this one got the most from us!

 You give me wings.

 This one had collapsed.

 If you look through the hole, you can see the guy on the front of the guitar.

Tiki Totem

 The guys had drip-sand hair.  Our kids like to make those kind of sand castles.

 Some fantasy town too.  I was amazed at the arches and detail.

 Dragon and girl.  There were two others that I didn't bother taking pictures of. This one kind of bordered on that.  One had a topless fairy and one I wasn't sure if it was vulgar or not.  Better be on the safe side.

  This was done by a company called Sand Lubbers.  It is a whole company of sand art and advertisement.  This one you could pay $5 and take your picture standing by it.

  Something about getting to money (see the dollar sign at the top?).

 Can't remember what this was about.

 Nocturnal creatures.

 The monkey on your back.

 This one was amazing.  He won first place.  The artist is from Canada.  He probably practiced on snow!

 Stretched thin.  This was the third place winner.

 Something about the flow or something.

 The girls also liked this one for the castle.  The man who did this one also did a painting show.  I'll post those pictures on the next post.  So this is a self-sculpture.

 I loved the name of this one: Distracted.

Some welcome signs.  They were amazing themselves.  They also had a humongous sculpture with all the sponsors.  I didn't get a picture of that.

So those are just a few of the pictures of the competition.  I was certainly impressed.  What amazing talent.

I'll post more pictures later about the other things we were able to see and do today.