Wolf Pride

I have recently been placed in charge of our local Wolf den. For those not in the know this is 8 yr old boy level of Cub Scouting. Last week we learned all about our national and state flag. We are also performing the flag ceremony for this months pack meeting. We had a vote and decided that our den needed its own flag. The boys designed it and I cut up and old sheet and painting it. I still need to add the ribbons with each of their names on it. Figured ribbons would be better than painting their names on there as boys will be coming and going through Wolves over the years. I did not put on our pack number because we are a combined pack. I hope this getting them excited about cub scouts and also give us a bit of den pride. :)

This little light of mine

Found a fun way to brighten up the corner in front of the house. These neat little lights have timers built in so they come on automatically and then shut themselves off after 5 hours. The change from red, blue, green, and yellow. Because we hung them with fishing line they look like they are just suspended in air especially at night.

Spokane Interstate Fair 2012

 The Spokane Interstate Fair was at the beginning of this month. The first Friday all kids 16 and under get in free! This will be our last year that all kiddos get in free. :( Ben had been to the fair up in Alaska several times but he enjoyed the variety of life stock and booths we had as well as just the enormous size.

The most fun was had in the petting zoo. The Watusi was a huge attraction. Her horns were massive and she looked very fierce, but the crew soon learned she was a sweet as could be a loved to eat grain right out of their hands. Even Ben got in on the fun.

 They had so many animals there, calves, ponies, goats, sheep, chickens, and even some llamas. They girls favorite arena to visit was where they had all the bunnies. Some girls even had their bunnies out on a table to kids could come and pet and play with them. Maria also loved the piggy arena and wanted to climb into the gates to pet the pigs better. The piggies loved all the attention she lavished on them and she was surprised to find out the hair on them is not soft at all.

 There was some great booths set up to visit as well and we enjoyed looking at all the crafts. The local Sheriff dept. had a booth with a fake jail as well as a lovely display of shanks and other weaponry that has been confiscated by inmates. The older boys enjoyed looking at the display while the younger three enjoyed getting locked up. The girls went in giggling and the officer thought they were quite cute. Then just as he shut and latched the door Anna knelt down, Maria hopped up on her back, reached through the bars and opened the door. Oh they had good fun over that trick. Living with them for the past 7 years I saw this trick coming a mile away. The officer was quite surprised and the girls scurried back in so Anna could have her turn breaking out of jail. I looked at the poor man and said, "Welcome to my world. This has been going on for the past seven years." We gathered up our crew and headed off to the next booth so more kids could get locked up.

All in all it was a great afternoon at the fair mixing the smell of thousands of farm animals with the odor of deep fried yummy food.

A single picture says so much

This post will only contain one picture.

At camp Daniel, Ike and their friends have a tent all to themselves. The family tent is set up usually on the other side of the campsite. We started this sleeping arrangement as the boys got older and became more and more smelly.

In this picture you can see a lantern hanging from the top of the inside of their tent. Next to the lantern you see a handkerchief wrapped around a cloth bag. This became known as "the sack of snakes". Now it would seem to  the untrained eye that this is an inescapable fortress, but this is not so! There were times when there would be as many as three snakes roaming through the boys sleeping bags and clothes and I am pretty sure one looked like it was working a bowel movement through his system.

So to cap this lovely story up, sack-o-snakes bad idea. Sleeping in separate tents, good idea.

Jacob

Jakey has a very unique style. He is not a slave to fashion in any way. He wears what he feels looks good and is functional to his activities for that day. After noticing this I decided to documents his outfits for a week

Working on his erector set

Playing with cousins at the Reneer's.

 The shirt says, "You are looking at a legend" he informed me this is not a statement, it is a fact.

 Getting ready to go play "black ops training" with Ike.

Jakey is also doing cross country this year for Hamblen Elementary. He finished his mile and came in 10th for the entire school. This is a huge improvement from the last time that he ran. I asked what his motivation was. He said, "Pretending Isaac was chasing me with a Nerf sword after he found out I stole all his darts out of his gun." I would have to say the black ops training is paying off.

Daniel's latest aquisition

Daniel and Ike love to play chess. They especially love to play chess against me because I am a guaranteed win. Personally I don't think they should gloat winning against a person with such an obvious chess handicap. When ever we go down and visit my sister, Regina, they really like to play on her set because it is so different. How different do you ask? Well it is about $345 dollars worth of different. Regina did not know this at the time. In fact none of us did. Especially her kids who took great pride in decapitating several pieces. When I told Regina about our research in looking for a matching chess set, I could actually hear her crying from 800 miles away as I read her text, "WHAT THE @$^*!!"

Daniel has been looking for this chess set for over a year. Each time we would get WAY out bid on Ebay. (For all I know Regina could have been the other bidder.) Then we finally found one that was left un-noticed.  It had 5 hours left and no bids. The wood was chipped on one side and a few of the pieces needed the heads glued back on. No biggie. We won!  The behemoth weighs 17 lbs. It cost more to ship than what we paid for it. 

 It is an Aztec or Mayan style in figurines and in the carving on the board. We call it Lamenites vs Nephites.

 A good game of chess can take up to an hour with these boys. I have learned to just back away. I can still skunk Ike though in a game of checkers though. Mwaa, ha, ha.

 On another note, Daniel wanted to go visit his buddy, Forbush, on the last day of summer. I told him he could but first we have to change the oils in all the vehicles. Since he is the main driver of the Explorer, I figured he could change the oil on that.If he is going to drive it he has to learn how to maintenance it. He was more than willing and knew pretty much what to do because Ben and showed him the previous time. My dad would be so proud to know all three of our vehicles had their oil and filters changed at 3000 miles.

Camping 2012

This post is long over due, but I have a very good excuse. You see it seems that blogger has deemed most of pictures I took not worthy to upload. UGH!! I had some really great pictures. Oh well, here is the extremely edited version of our week at Outlet Bay.

 

 

This is  Ike and his buddy, Phil. Yes, they are smiling and yes they are doing the dishes. I tell ya, the woods make everything funner.

 Well exept for peeing. Peeing in the woods is not funner.

 Ben and I bought a kayak. I love kayaking and have wanted one for many, many years. We got a double so that way we could take the kids for rides. Sadly, blogger did not like those pictures either. Here is Daniel taking Jakey for a ride. By the end of the week Jake was paddling along all by himself. I went with him a few times but the little buggar kept hitting my upside the back of my head with the paddle. The next time I put him in front, I came out more wet than I would have swimming.

 Here is Ben and Jakey taking off for another trip. The girls were pretty nervous on their first ride out but eventually became quite demanding on their trips and destinations.

One morning Daniel and I desided to row out to an island about a mile away. We learned how cruel currents can be and how tired our arms and shoulders could actually get. We made it to the island and back to camp in a little over a hour.

 We had our usual one day of ran and poor Ike being the lightest one there that knows how to tie a knot became the lucky one to be on Ben's shoulders and well as Daniel's. He was walking funny for a while after that little adventure. The rain had cleared by the afternoon and we were all back in the water.

 For Daniel steel toe boots are not only a must for school, riding a bike, hiking and camping, they also work great on the beach.

 Having our fill of thimble berries.

 We went for an afternoon hike to Hanna Flats which is known for its huge cedars. The hike is beautiful and we got some amazing pictures of these giants.

Mr. Bear was back this year, he was not missed last year. Most of the week we had the entire camp site to ourselves. We were super vigilant keeping food put away for the night, keeping our campsite clean and making sure to have a latern lit up at the table all night long. He does not like light and a simple thing like a lit lantern keeps him away. Well as the weekend came more people showed up. Ben and I figured with all the noise he would definatly not come around and that we had made it through the week without any un-wanted visitors. We were wrong. Luckily it was not our site that got ravaged. It was two sites over. I layed there in my tent and listened to the whole ordeal. He took his sweet time, must have been there for at least an hour. Luckily all the kids slept through it. I and the people whose camp was getting trashed were awake. I knew they where awake because I could hear them swearing from there tent. I was very glad to pack up and leave that day because I have a feeling he was going to be back the next night. More people there means more sloppy campers and more available scavanging.

The week was so much fun and went by way too fast. It is sad to think that in a couple years Daniel will be off doing his thing. Camping with diapers, play pens, kids on leashes, hauling potty chairs, and washing sand out of little buns my kids are growing up. It makes me very sad. Oh, don't get me wrong, I do not long for those diaper days, it just is amazing how fast time goes by and how happy I am to have started this camping tradition 13 years ago.