Cub Scout Camp

Pete is at Cub Scout Camp this week. As you can see on the shirt, this year's theme is "Land of the Pharaohs".

One of the fun activities is archery. Apparently, one twist they implemented to make it interesting is to have one camper stand in front of the target with his mouth open.

Pokemon

Here is Pete admiring his current stash of Pokemon cards. He also like to play battle games on the Pokemon web site (not directly related to the cards). The battles seem to consist of slowly clicking an attack button about 100 times, until the site tells you who won.

If you have not seen Pokemon cards, they are sort of like baseball cards, except:

(a) They cost $4 for a small pack

(b) Some of the characters don't take steroids

Pete would be happy to tell you all about these characters if you have a few hours and a good attention span. By the way, you can also quiz him about any details on the cards.

Semantics

Sam is developing some subtleties in his negotiations. This comes as no surprise, given all of the time he spends around Pete.

The other day there was this exchange at the pool:

Sam: Can I go in the baby pool?
Mom: Ok, but don't play with the hose.
Sam: Can I work with the hose?

Summer Cut

Good news - we finally convinced Pete to get a short haircut from Barber Mom for the summer.




Now, doesn't that look a lot better?

The Cruel Life of a Cowboy

The cowboy's lonely evening begins with a rugged snack of cold beans and raw meat

Then he cozies up to a hard rock

And sleeps out under the stars with one eye open to look for snakes

Campfire

A good idea someone suggested at the campground was for Pete and Sam to work on starting the campfire while mom and dad pitched the tents. The boys were very helpful by placing our full complement of firewood into the the fire ring.

Dad suggested that maybe we should take out some of the wood to save for later, even though this would not produce the "bonfire to end all bonfires" that Pete was hoping for. We re-structured things a bit and then the boys helped blow on the fire to get it started.

This meant that pretty soon everyone could chow down on some hickory-smoked strawberries and potato chips.

Tree Climbing Cache

From the moment we told Pete about the new geocache where you have to climb a tree, this became an obsession for Pete and Dad. Well, we finally made it out there last weekend on the way to our Burke Lake camping trip.

Upon arrival, we realized that the climb was going to be far more difficult than we had hoped. Mom and Dad decided that it was too dangerous for Pete to go up. The only problem with this is that, while this decision was taking place, Pete had grabbed the rope and shimmied half way up the tree.

Mom closed her eyes while Dad's firefighter instincts kicked in and he took off after Pete. They managed to stabilize themselves at the half way point.

Finally, they worked their way up to the treasure. Pete dropped it down to Mom and Sam, and everyone made a safe return to terra firma. We each gathered some wood from the surrounding area and then it was off to the campground.

Chasing Rabbits

We took an evening stroll to the playground on Monday after dinner. Dad, Pete, and Sam saw a rabbit which, naturally, they started to chase. Mom quickly notified everyone that it is inappropriate to chase a rabbit. However, it appears that people have differing opinions on this matter.

Sam Woods

Congratulations to Tiger and Elin Woods for choosing to name their first child Sam. I think we all know that they are hoping the second child will be a boy so they can name him Pete.

Gallon Man

Say hello to Gallon Man.




I think Gallon Man is my favorite drawing that Pete brought hom from school this year. Gallon Man has 64 teeth, and he is not afraid to use them. He has quarts for arms, and quarts for legs. His fingers are pint size, but they will tear you apart. If you met Gallon Man on the street, I think we all know that you would turn and run.

Grassbox 2

As promised earlier, here is a picture of Grassbox 2. Sometimes rabbits are seen in Grassbox 2. Like many of their natural predators, Sam and Pete scare them away by throwing balls at them or yelling at them from the trampoline.

If you have questions about Grassbox 2, see the Grassbox 2 FAQ.

Boys Night

Last night was another jewelry party at our house, so the boys went bowling and to Pizza Hut.

This was not the plan. Surely Dad had worked out some other elaborate plan involving going to a wholesome museum and maybe a picnic in the park.

Dad: "ok guys, tonight we are going to-"
Pete: "Bowling!"
Sam "And Pizza Hut!"
Dad: "uh, I guess so"

Pete bowled exactly 100. He had 73 after 7 frames, including 2 spares, and we realized that he needed to average 9 per frame to get 100. The last 3 frames he got 9, 9, and 9. Sam has two techniques: 1/2/3/throw and run/run/throw.

By the way, if all of this sounds fun and you are thinking about going bowling with us next time, let it be known that twice Pete's bowling motion resulted in a ball hurtling towards dad who was minding his own business at the little scoring table.

Pause

Sam is at that fateful age where he can pause on the road of life just a tiny bit longer to remain a kid.

Field Day

Pete had Field Day at school last week. I think in the pictured event he is trying to transfer marbles from a pool to a frisbee using only his foot. Fun!

Loudoun county sets their school calendar to go until some crazy date like June 19. Then whenever there is a drop of snow, they can close school. But then they still have a bunch of days left over at the end of the year. The kids cleaned out their desks with about 2 weeks of school left. This had mom and dad wondering what they planned to do for the rest of the year.

As far as we can tell, the topics covered in the last two weeks are:

- Field Day

- Movie

- Pizza Party

- Kickball

- Another movie

- Heads down on your desk Day

- Wash the windows Day

Yeah, He's Good

Pete is so good at T-Ball, he hits with his eyes closed. Or so it seems, based on his picture. You would think in the age of digital photography, that they could take a second picture. I bet that would be cheaper than printing up forms and processing refunds. Anyhow, I guess I'll have to photoshop in Derek Jeter's eyes when I have a few minutes.

Trivia Round-up

Here are the answers to last week's trivia questions:

Thursday - Mystery Photo: It is a picture of Sam's legs

Friday - Eating Without Money: Pete learned that if you don't have enough money to pay the check, you have to wash dishes. He wanted dad to go without money so that dad would have to wash dishes. Congratulations to Aunt Stacey for guessing the correct answer.

Eating Without Money

Pete would like Dad to not bring any money the next time we go out to dinner.

You can guess why by posting a comment. I will post the answer next week.

Mystery Photo

Sam and dad took some pictures of objects around the house, for Pete to try to find. The above picture was Sam's idea. Pete found it without much difficulty.

Break With a View

After hiking up to the summit of the red trail overlooking Potomac View, it was time for a break. Pete and Sam are shown sitting on the bench Pete called the barbecue. Pete shared with everyone one of his "alternate" versions of Yankee Doodle that he learned at school. (I will just say that it ends with "and barbecued his weiner").

Sam declared that if we don't find our way back to the car, we can just sleep in the park on the benches. Pete and Sam then proceeded to argue for a few minutes over who will get to sleep on the highest imaginary bunk.

The red thing on the bench is the bouncy brain toy Pete took from the geocache.

Claude Moore Geocache

We had fun doing the only official geocache at Claude Moore Park in Sterling. Pete and mom were greeted by a snake when removing the container. Here are Pete and Sam looking through the toys. Their process of choosing a toy is generally: (1) look through lots of cool toys (2) choose to take another bouncy ball. Although it may appear that Sam walked to the cache, this is actually part of the 43 seconds during the hike that he was out of the "flying backpack".

Football Challenge

With a little research, Pete and Dad figured out that the father of the best player on Pete's T-Ball team played in the NFL for 12 years as a defensive back. So Pete and Dad decided to do the only sensible thing, which was to challenge them to a game of 2-on-2 football. The date for this game has not yet been set.

Pete and Dad practiced a bit over the weekend, including in the rain on Sunday. (Good practice for balance, and learning to catch the slippery ball). These are the offensive plays that Pete has learned so far:

1. Buttonhook
2. Stop and Go
3. Over the Shoulder
4. Criss-Cross
5. Hail Mary*
6. Pitch
7. Hand-off

* Note: sometimes Pete will say a little prayer during the Hail Mary, depending on how much space he has created between himself and the defender.

Sam has been the stand-in so far as defensive back. The plays may prove to be more difficult against a taller opponent.