The Homeschool Group's Halloween Party

Blaze's Black Butler costume:



My witch costume:



At the park:

































Festive foods:

Featured Teapot Racer: Swamp Tea

First time teapot racer, Sandy Means, raced this intimidating creation at the SWFL Steampunk and Fantasy Expo on Oct. 14, 2017 in Fort Myers, Florida. With its alligator head, feathers, and shells, it may be the most organic teapot racer in existence, its definitely the most Floridian.



Swamp Tea may look like it's looming above the other racers, but Sandy was very careful to keep it within the specified size limits.







Swamp Tea won the teapot drag race, but you'll have to watch carefully to see it speed past, finishing the race in only 3 seconds.

Featured Teapot Racer: Tea Time With Tardis

This is one of those last minute creation stories.

At Big River Steampunk Festival, we did teapot racing both Saturday and Sunday. Blake Frerick and his friends came to the race on Saturday and felt inspired to go find a teapot at one of the downtown Hannibal antique stores and build a racer out of an RC car they already had.

On Sunday, they showed up ready to race.



The racer lost a few points for exceeding the size restrictions, but there was no doubt that it was the fastest racer competing. I have been told that it is not a World record, but "Tea Time With Tardis" finished the course in only 35 seconds, the fastest I've ever seen.



Watch when it gets to the seesaw. This Tardis makes excellent time, while traveling through space.



 Needless to say, "Tea Time With Tardis" took home the ribbon for "Most Splendid Speed".

Featured Teapot Racer: "Tongue Burner"

This week's featured teapot racer is Aidan Harwood's Viking themed racer, "Tongue Burner".



"Tongue Burner" raced both Saturday and Sunday at the Big River Steampunk Festival, but had very different results for the two days.


Bribing the judges:


Aidan did a fantastic job on the obstacle course on Saturday and walked away with the Grand Champion's ribbon.




The tank has excellent maneuverability, but is not fast. As a result, it had barely left the starting line at the drag race, before the winner was declared.

Sunday's race started out fine, but soon turned into a cautionary tale about being sure that you have  fully charged batteries before trying to race.



"Tongue Burner" barely crawled its way through most of the course and wasn't able to finished, because it had required too much manual assistance.



Aidan did not attempt the drag race on Sunday.
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Featured Teapot Racer: "Dragon My Ass"

Jordan Weltha's teapot racer got a lot of attention for its clever name and won the medal for "Most Splendid Design" at the Saturday Splendid Teapot Races at the Big River Steampunk Festival.



"Dragon My Ass" was a complete redesign of Jordan's drag race winning entry from last year, "Tea U Later". It was less cooperative during this year's drag race, though.



There are so many little details on this beautifully designed racer.

Featured Teapot Racer: "Her Majesty's Silver Service"

This adorable little teapot racer was built and raced by veteran teapot racer, Mary Dieterich.



The judges really liked their bribes!







"Her Majesty's Silver Service" was the clear winner of the drag race, as the only vehicle that went straight for the finish line.

Featured Teapot Racer: "Death Becomes You"

This week's featured teapot racer is "Death Becomes You", which was driven by Maddox Haycrett, our youngest contestant at the Big River Steampunk Festival's Splendid Teapot Races this year.




Somebody dropped a teapot on the Wicked Witch.



We could all learn something about handling frustrating situations by watching 4 year old, Maddox. There were some technical difficulties with his vehicle, but he never lost his cool and just figured out how to keep going.






Watching him with his dad, it is obvious that Maddox is a fast learner. He starts out with Dad's help, but does the second half of the course on his own. I hope he comes back to race again. It will be fun to see the amazing job he does next year.