Pinewood Derby | 2010

Ethan was excited for the pinewood derby this year, but not necessarily for the races. He was just excited to make his final and last car and he wanted it to be cool! Fortunately for him, it did turn out cool because as far as speed goes... not so much.


Ethan's car took last place in every race. (I guess that's what happens when you're throwing it together late at night the night before.) Thank goodness he won two awards that night. One award for best detail and he also won the award for cub scout favorite! That made his night.

Museum of Flight

A few weeks ago we took our scouts on a field trip to visit the Museum of Flight. How is it that I have never been here before? It is a pretty cool place and the whole time I was there I kept thinking of how much David would love it! Can't wait to take him here!



Going aboard Air Force One was pretty cool. This was the 707 jet used by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. As we were standing in line to board Air Force One, the skies opened up on us and completely drenched us. It didn't help that it was freezing and super windy and the rain was pretty much falling sideways. It was so crazy, that it could only be funny!


This is a picture of the Blackbird Marvel. This is one of the fastest aircraft ever built. This Blackbird cruised at speeds of more than Mach 3 and altitudes of over 85,000 feet. It's pretty awesome looking too.


Each of the boys were able to sit in the cockpit of a real SR-71A Blackbird plane. How much would David love this?

Veteran's Day Assembly

Yesterday, Ethan's scout troop was asked to participate in their Veteran's Day Assembly by doing the flag ceremony. The boys did such a great job! You could tell they were a little nervous at first, but the perfomed it with great respect and I was so proud of them. I am so thankful for those who have served our country and have sacrificed so much so that we can enjoy all the wonderful freedoms and opportunities of living in this great country.

Scout Camp ~ It's a Circus!

The theme for our 2009 Cub Day Camp this year was "Come to the Circus!" I was a parent volunteer on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Wednesday I was helping at a station, but on Tuesday I was a walking leader and was able to go around with the boys to each of their stations where they learned how to juggle, walk on stilts, cook hot dogs on a fire, and the boys favorites, archery and bb-gun.

I must admit, I had been dreading going to scout camp this week. It's just plain exhausting, plus my only memory of scout camp was last year when temps were near 90 and the kids were hot and tired. This year it was nice to have it overcast and in the upper 60's! Ethan has had a lot of fun at scout camp this year and comes home pretty excited to tell me about all the things that he's done and the cool stuff that he's made. It makes my two days at scout camp worth it!



This year even I got to try my hand at archery. My first attempt landed on the tarp above, my second attempt landed in the hay stack below, but I was pretty excited that my third attempt at least made it on the target... well, kind of. Ethan has much better aim than I do. He hit it every time and on Wednesday and Thursday he even got three bullseyes! He also got a bullseye on the bbgun range as well. Guess I need to pratice more.

Scout Camp

Ethan has gotten up early all week to go to scout day camp. He left here at 8am and didn't get back until almost 5pm! It has been beautiful warm weather and he has gotten to learn and make a lot of cool stuff. They had archery, gun practice, learned fun new games, how to kill, clean, gut & cook a fish, and have made so many neat things. He's had a busy week! After he gets home from a long day at HOT camp, he then scarfs down a bowl of cereal so he can rush off to football practice, which starts at 6pm!

On Wednesday, I got to be a line leader. Me and another volunteer helped make sure our group got from station to station safely and helped out at each station. I was kind of dreading it because I knew it would be such a long day and I'm not much of a scouter, but it ended up being a lot of fun. There were a few moments of pure chaos, but for the most part I was excited to be there and I know Ethan loved having me there.

The boys thought they were so clever and funny when they made slings out of their bandanas!

Picture of a few of our boys during archery practice! This was one of the favorite stations of the day!

Ethan was pretty stoked he got TWO bullseyes!

Ethan was really good at the target practice with the guns since he has practiced at home so much with his dad.

My kids know me so well... Ethan climbed in this tree and said, "Mom... don't you want to take my picture?"

I snapped this funny pic of Malcolm right after I said... "Hey Malcolm! Give me a great smile for your mom!"

Making a treasure chest. I loved how serious and hard Ethan worked on it. He was so excited to make this and be able to bring it home.

The gutting, cleaning, and cooking of the fish was another crowd favorite. The boys LOVED it! The fish were actually alive when they started. Most of the boys tried some and actually liked it, but I'm sure you can guess that Ethan was not one of those boys... He loved watching the process though.

Thank you Melissa for watching Audrey & David all day! I heard the kids played hard outside all day and I believe it! As soon as I grabbed Davie and brought him home... I set him on the couch to watch a little Caillou and less than 5 minutes later, this is what I found!

Pinewood Derby

Last night was Ethan's first Pinewood Derby! Dad and Ethan worked hard cutting, painting, and designing his car. He had weigh-in an hour before and was very close. We had to add a small weight to the bottom to make it perfect! Unfortunately, he didn't win any races, but he was just thrilled to not come in last! (Well... except for once.) Next year we're thinking about a more sleaker design because we noticed that was the design of most of the winners!

The Newest Member of Troop 787

Now that Ethan has turned eight, he gets to join scouts and tonight was his first night. He has been excited about it all week and even more excited when he saw his new shirt with his new patches. He couldn't wait until it was time to get ready and to put on his uniform... we all know that it's only a matter of time before that's old news! But for now I am happy to see him so enthusiastic about starting scouts. I know nothing about scouts! Nothing! Zip! Zero! And I've liked it that way... I've worked hard at it, but I guess it's time that I figure it out!... Although, I plan to make this more of Jason's territory than mine!

Funny photoshoot outakes: Audrey & Ethan thought it was sooooooooo funny that their eyes were closed in almost every shot because of the flash! I guess they liked seeing mom going crazy!