Well, we went to the superqualifier today and were not triumphant.  It was a loooooooooong day that began at 4:45 AM and ended when we finally arrived home at almost 8:00 PM.  The event was held at Dalton High School and we all met up at a McDonalds off of I75 at 6:30 in the morning to caravan up there.  It was a longish drive (about an hour) in the dark and I thought Rebecca would sleep because she is STILL a bit under the weather.  She was a tad bit jittery, however, and did not catnap at all.

We arrived shortly after sunrise, although it was not spectacular because it was quite overcast.  I was disappointed because what's the point of being up that early if you can't enjoy a good sunrise?  After setting up the display, the children went about checking out the other teams, of which there were forty in all.  There were some VERY impressive displays.  So impressive we kind of wondered how much of it was STUDENT'S work and how much of it was COACH/MENTOR work...

On a side note, I forgot to charge the batteries in my blogging camera, so at first I was quite bummed.  I figured we could use the digital video camera and try out the still photo feature on that.  I LOVED IT!  I can take a bazillion pictures one after another with no lag time!  I can zoom from across the gym AND the battery lasts much longer.  Is this not a most awesome discovery?! 

The only drawback is that you have to be VERY still when taking photos, especially if there is any motion.  I learned this the hard way as most of the photos I shot today are not of the highest quality and so I'll probably stick to my point and shoot for blogging, but it's handy to have a back up. 

Anyway, back to the story--our highest score on the table with the robot was a lowly 75, not even as high as we did in the qualifier!  Rebecca was extremely bummed about this. 

Robo Yellowjackets Team Fireball robot:

Setting up for first run:

Does everything check out?

Signing form at the end of the competition.

One of these days I will post the actually competition...when I get around to uploading it to YouTube.  Don't hold your breath, now.

The team felt the research presentation went well.  Here they are getting dressed:

Waiting for their turn and making a few quick repairs--there was also a LOT of lip movement as they rehearsed lines:

There was one portion of the superqualifier that I hadn't seen before.  They grouped four teams together to collaborate and make a robot run where all teams contributed a portion of its programming.  Each team had to check in on the table and attempt to run their bit. 

Here is the group Fireball collaborated with:

This group received the highest score, so we actually did come away with SOMETHING. 

They also won the Overcome-Adverse-Conditions Award as well...I don't remember the name because it was the first award given and no one was REALLY paying attention yet!