Dillon's Bear

With how active Dillon is with sports he doesn't actually get to attend scouts much.  So he and I worked really hard, especially during the summer, to get all of the requirements met.  He had a pretty good attitude about it.  I'd give him a list of things he needed to do and he'd pick the one he wanted to work on that day.  He was really excited to earn this badge.  He was a little flustered, he was asked to share what he'd learned but he did many of them months ago so he wasn't sure what to say!

Dillon's scout camp

Right after getting home from our trip to Lake Chelan Dillon started scout camp.  I went with him for his first day to volunteer.  I ended up running a station for the older kids but I got some good time in with Dillon at lunch and during the opening/closing ceremonies.

Friday was the family day again.  It ran much smoother than last year.  There were still problems but for the most part they had something for the siblings at each station.

Boat races!  Carson and Kayda made theirs out of foam lunch trays.  Part of it was cut from the back and attached by rubber bands, you twisted it up and it worked like a little motor for their boats.  Dillon's little raft was made from twigs and had a sail. Unfortunately, in the chaos , I missed his race.

Obstacle course!

Dillon's group was practicing the script for their skit.  Kayda and Carson were content to sit and listen.

These were some pretty cool little "sling shots".  They were made from Gatorade bottles and rubber bands.  The kids got to shoot several ping pong balls and actually launched them farther than I would've expected.  Dillon's group did sling shots and shot beans at a Target.  The had the boys tucked way back so I wasn't able to get pictures.

Dillon did a skit, they made it a Pokemon theme (amazing what a comeback that game has made).  I think their leaders made it a little too complicated but the boys got a kick out of it anyway.

Dillon's Wolf Awards!

Dillon worked extremely hard over winter break to get his Wolf completed for scouts.  Grandma Peggy, Daddy and I were right alongside him figuring out what exactly he needed to do and how to make it happen.  All his hard work paid off and he got it done!

 The end of January he received all of his belt loop awards but they had forgotten the paint for his "Ceremony" to complete the rank so they had us wait to do the official wolf badge until the next month.

This is in February now, they got to perform a skit, Dillon had a great time throwing popcorn at the audience! He giggled about it up front for quite a while!

Moving on up!  He was awarded his actual wolf badge at the Blue and Gold Banquet.  They do a whole ceremony where the parent paints on their face.  Each color and symbol means something different.

Blue is happiness from his days as a bobcat.

Red is for bravery when he becomes a bear.

Yellow is for sunlight along the wolf trail.

Purple is for pride in his accomplishments.

He made the decision to work hard to get his wolf done at the very end.  He did it without complaint (mostly) and reaped the rewards.  He was so excited and is well on his way to completing his bear requirements!

It's not all butterflies and rainbows

So this isn't one of those posts I'm not particularly happy about writing but I want the you to see both sides.  Most days we have are good.  I've been blessed with wonderful children who, most of the time, love each other and love life.  However, sometimes things just don't work out the way we had planned.  

Lets start with Independence Day:  

We all got up, we had breakfast, they played.  By noon they were already anxious to do anything at all that was fireworks related.  Kayda especially was looking forward to "tank wars" which is something that Daddy did with his brothers.  Daddy was still in bed.  It was his day off I was going to let him sleep.  Next thing I know I'm getting a text "Bring me a bowl".  He had the stomach flu. 

We go out front, let the kids ride bikes and play while I build.  Everything is great, they're having a lot of fun with the neighbor kids, we launch their parachutes... Then Kayda decides she wants to go inside.  A few minutes later I notice I can't hear the boys.  I figure they're down the street and will be riding by again in a minute (they have a defined boundary for playing out front). A few minutes later I still haven't seen or heard them so I'm getting anxious.  Finally I get in the car to find my boys (I can cover more ground that way).  I had an inkling of where they might be but I didn't know for sure.  Turns out I was right, they were just around the corner out front of a friend's house but they hadn't told me their plans so they ended up in their rooms. 

Next, we try to make homemade ice cream.  It was something Grandma G did on Fourth of July so I wanted to do it for my kids.  I had been given an ice cream maker so I cleaned it, mixed the ingredients, dumped all the ice around it... just to find out I was missing a vital part and that it absolutely would not work without it.  

It's time for "tank wars".  Kayda has been so excited about "modifying" the tanks and so desperately wants to do it.  I have no idea what to have her do so I tell her to ask Daddy to show her.  Thinking he could have her bring the stuff and show her.  That didn't happen. He told her what to do.  She didn't understand.  Next thing I know we're lighting off tanks and she's telling me there is another type of firework in two of them.  She didn't know which two and the extra fireworks hadn't gone off... and ALL the tanks were in a flaming heap on the ground.  

After deciding not to do the grilling we had planned (since Daddy was sick) we had a quick meal.  Then set up for fireworks.  My kids are pretty responsible, we have been very diligent to teach them how to be safe and smart with fireworks.  Despite that, having three children wanting to do fireworks and having neighbors on both sides of us doing fireworks (for the first time since we moved here) it was incredibly stressful.  I have absolutely no pictures. Not a single one. Between having the day we were having, lighting fireworks myself or making sure they were being careful with fireworks I simply didn't have the chance to take pictures. 

Did they have fun?  Yes.  Was it the best day it could've been?  Absolutely not.

Moving on to Dillon's scout camp.

Dillon's scout camp went Tuesday to Friday.  Tuesday Daddy had the opportunity to go help.  He got to spend the day going from station to station with Dillon and the rest of his troop. Dillon was one of 2 kids to get all 5 of his BB's on his target.  The only one that they were ALL on the actual target, not counting the paper outside it.  He had a good time, he was exhausted but they both had a good time.  Wednesday and Thursday Dillon went and had fun.  He got to make some really cool things!  He generally had a good time.  Then comes Friday.  Friday was "family day".  They invited all the families to come to scout camp for the day.  Carson was really excited to go, Kayda really wasn't.  For the most part the kids were about as bored as I was.  It was not put together well and did not even come close to accommodating all the people they had there.  There were four stations, for probably 200 kids.  One "station" was food, since Dillon had that first he was given a hot dog.  At 9:30 in the morning. Another was bouncy houses and an obstacle type course.  He didn't get to do the obstacle course because they didn't time their "rotations" correctly.  So not only were there things they flat out didn't get to do, but the things they DID get to do should've taken 5 minutes but because they had so many kids there at once, it took 30.  We were all ready to get out of there by the time the day was over.  

After that disappointment I think "Oh it will be so fun to take them down to the skate park".  I talk to them about it, they're all excited.  We get home and it turns out Daddy lent out the bike rack we needed in order to go.  Since we had the smaller car there was no way to get their bikes in and round trip it was too far to have them ride it.  They were able to go with Daddy later that evening thank goodness.

As I said.  We mostly have pretty laid back days or good days.  These are the exception to that but they do exist.  Life is not perfect.  I never expect it to be.  Someday I may look back at these and be fairly nonchalant.  Right now it still gets under my skin.  

Anyways, here are a couple pictures from camp.

Dillon's Cub Scouts Catch Up

I'm way behind with posts again.  So I'm combining two events into one post for scouts, even though they were a month apart...  First is his blue and gold banquet.  Dillon earned his bobcat patch, running with the pack, howling at the moon and germs alive.  

 I got a kick out of putting the paint on his face but within a few minutes he wanted it off because it was itchy!

The next event is much more recent.  He had his pinewood derby.  I've never done it, obviously, and it's been a long time for Daddy so we were learning together.  Daddy helped Dillon do all of the cutting and sanding, with Dillon doing most everything.  Daddy let him make it a little to thin because then we were desperately trying to make it heavier.

 Notice all the washers and screws?  It was so thin that there was no way to embed the weight so it got glued on top!

 There it is closest to us.  It definitely wasn't that fast but a lot of that was because the wood was warped so it kept pulling to the side.  Dillon still thought it was a great time and he got his derby patch.

 Of course we couldn't leave Kayda and Carson out so I got them each cheap little wood cars to paint.