Cub Scout Webelos Camp

Sam and Dad had a blast at Camp Snyder for 5 days/nights at Webelos Camp.  Joining them were several other members of Sam's Scout Den: Moksh, William, Jackson, and Ethan.

Sam ate a lot of the food, including some new foods such as Beefaroni.

Here he is throwing a tomahawk:

On the way to the boat ramp, they stopped for a group picture in their Day 1 yellow shirts:

Sam made a covered wagon in the craft area:

The group had their banner posted outside the tent:

Everyone had slingshots (and orange shirts on the second day):

They went out every day after lunch to look for critters (in their blue shirts on the third day):

And shot BB guns:

Sam did 40 push ups and 110 sit-ups during the fitness activity:

Notice the cool quiver that the archery leader made for Sam on their third visit to the archery range:

Red shirts on the fourth day:

Flag raising during the Citizen achievement:

One of many fish that Sam caught in the fishing pond:

The giant slingshot / trashcan knockover:

Indian Village rubber band gun course:

All packed up and ready to head home on Friday morning:

Leesburg Parade

Sam and Dad had a great time marching in the Leesburg July 4th Parade.  Sam held the Pack banner with Ben Tanner and Adam Friedenberg.  They marched at the front of the parade, with the American Legion.  Then they met up with Mom and Pete and watched the rest of the parade.

Here is a video of crossing the main intersection of Leesburg at Market and King St:



Preparing for the parade at Ida Lee Park

Marching down King Street:

Mom and Pete look on from near the end of the parade route:

Deep Creek Group Trip 2013

After the Lancaster trip last year, the group trip was moved back to Deep Creek this year.

Sam got to ride by himself this time on the mountain coaster:

They also had a new activity this year: the Spider Monkey Adventure.  Here is Sam enjoying it on his first time:

And the zip line was a relaxing effort for Pete:

The boys and Dads headed out in the afternoon for some mini-golf and a stop at BK for a light lunch:

Pete got to play with Kellen this year:

Saturaday dinner this time was a big hit with the young ones (pizza):

The kids defeated the adults in some capture the flag, and then it was time for some pictures before they headed out.

They stopped on the way home for an epic meal at Santa Fe Grille.

Pittsburgh Summer Trip

The family had a fun trip this summer to Pittsburgh.  First they went to visit Steve, Laurie, Eric, and Grace for dinner.  This was the site of the infamous "pie trust" incident where Pete thought he was getting Apple Pie, which he enjoyed very much until he was told that it was really zucchini.

After staying with Thad and Kristin, everyone went to Kennywood:

The Junkers and Merrimans joined them later in the day.  When a torrential rainstorm came, it was time to go.  Fortunately, they had already hit the major rides before then.  Once they made it past the the whirlpool tunnel to the parking lot, they met up with Kristin for a nice italian dinner.

On the last day, they went to Sandcastle water park.  They had a blast.  There were some scary slides.  Sam lost some skin on the orange slide in this picture:

Also Pete somehow convinced Dad to ride the yellow one before the end of the day.

Everyone was sad to head home, but already looking forward to hopefully doing the trip again next year.

Why Was Dad Worried?

Recently, Sam could not fly home from Chicago on his scheduled flight due to airline rules for unaccompanied minors.  However Sam's bag had already left on the flight without him.

Why was Dad concerned about the possibility of losing Sam's bag?

a) Sam's heart medication was in the bag
b) Dad didn't know if Sam could sleep without his favorite stuffed bunny
c) Sam had 4 pairs of socks in the bag that were worth $60
d) The leather suitcase was worth $100


Answer: The 7th letter in the word: feedback

Summer in the Arts 2013

Pete had a fun time again at Summer in the Arts camp.  This was his third year.  He had to miss two of the nine days because of his New York trip, but he was still able to keep up with everything.

Here are the classes he took this time:
1. Computer Animation
2. Dramatic Interpretation
3. Steel Drums
4. Piano 2

Below are clips from his performances on the last day of camp.  Mom, Sam, and Dad were all able to attend.  Dad was very pleased with his performance as the lead steel drum on Everybody Loves a Saturday Night.

Instagram

Sam posts a lot of cool pictures to Instagram.  His handle is currently LAX_BRO_169.  He has one follower, who will remain nameless, who usually posts some snarky comment to each of Sam's uploads.  Here are a few examples:

Snarky comment posted by pete_berm: "You don't know how to wear hats"

Snarky comment posted by pete_berm: "And now he's on my floor.  Yay."

Snarky comment posted by pete_berm: "He 'twisted' his ankle."

Merrywood 2013 Graduation Party

Pete and Sam enjoyed the graduation party on June 8th for Taylor, Emily, Matt, and Gabi.  As you can see below, Sam played some cornhole in his nice pink shirt.  This was before squeezing his finger in the cornhole board, which require some first aid attention.

No Match Sunday

Sam declared June 30 as "No Match Sunday", which explains the ensemble he was wearing of a Steelers jersey and shorts with Dolphins colors, not to mention the socks.

Pokemon Requests

One day Pete took requests on Instagram for Pokemon to draw.  Above are some of his drawings.  Regarding the one in the lower right, someone requested "Nicki Minaj" so Pete drew Jynx.

Animal Count

In case you were wondering how many stuffed animals Sam has under his bed, the answer is 79.  We know this because whenever Sam has a friend sleep over, there is a complicated operation to extract the guest mattress out from under Sam's bed.  This typically involves moving all 79 animals four times in order to get the mattress out.

If you want to try to locate your favorite, all of the animals are somewhere in the picture above (although some are buried).

Sam's Chicago Trip

While Pete was going on his New York trip with his friends and teachers from Farmwell, Sam went to Chicago for 4 days on the same weekend.

He went with Uncle Steve to Six Flags, Shedd Aquarium, the bleachers at a Cubs game, church, Willis Tower Skydeck, and lots of other fun stuff.  And of course they watched game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Heat and Spurs.  (The Blackhawks were also in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Bruins at this same time)

Sam took a lot of great photos on the trip, with his iPod Touch.  If you want to see all of his pictures, they are available here.

It costs $30 to print an official Cubs photo, so we just snagged the proof with Snag-It:

Pete New York Trip - Day 4

The last day of Pete's New York trip began with a tour of Yankee Stadium, and then it was time to head home.

After the trip back home, Dad uploaded all of Pete's pictures and made a DVD so Pete could show everyone his pictures on the Xbox (along with Sam showing his pictures from Chicago).

If you want to see all 188 of the pictures Pete took on the trip, they are available here.

Pete New York Trip - Day 3

On day 3 of the New York Trip, Pete went to uptown New York.  He saw the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park Walking Tour (Cherry Hill, Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle, Delacorte Theater), NBC Studios tour, Madison Ave, and Park Ave.

After dinner, and a subway ride (!), they did a Garage-a-palooza competition in the parking garage at the hotel.  Pete's group finished 2nd.