Penn State Spring Break Trip - Day 2

On Tuesday, the day started with breakfast at the Waffle Shop. Then it was time to climb Mount Nittany.

At the base of the mountain, they were ready to head out:

With their walking sticks that they found, the hike was a breeze:

Pete spotted the first overlook marker (which was also the first geocache):

The view from the first overlook included Beaver Stadium and the entire campus:

Pete and Dad spotted a suspicious container under a pile of sticks just off the trail:

The boys paused for contemplation when reaching the summit:

Sam decided that climbing Mount Nittany was the biggest accomplishment so far in his life (not counting capturing legendary characters on Pokemon).

They skipped lunch and hopped on the bus to the new softball stadium in East halls.  The Lady Lions lost to Pittsburgh in the front end of the double-header.  The view was great from the second row:

See if you can tell who was having more fun than the other ("I'm bored"):

They decided to skip the second game and play baseball catch in the quad right next to Dad's old dorm:

Then they had dinner at Roxie's in Findlay Commons, topped off with dessert from the Creamery.  Then it was time to take the bus back to the hotel:

Penn State Spring Break Trip - Day 1

On Monday, April 2, Pete and Sam arrived at Penn State.

After checking in to the Days Inn on Pugh St, they walked up toward the HUB for dinner, stopping at random places along the way:

At the HUB, Chick-fil-a was closed, so they opted for Sbarro.

Although they brought a cool board game to play, Pete and Sam couldn't resist playing an hour of various Xbox games for $2 in the billiard room.

After playing their games and touring the HUB,

they did a campus tour on the way back to the hotel, including the Old Main chimes, Atherton's grave:

and the obelisk:

Crazy Hair Day 2012

Sam enjoyed a few of his favorite things one morning last week:

Krave cereal, Penn State shirt, playing Dragonvale, crazy hair, hang out with Pete, walk with Dad to the bus:

Easter 2012

The boys enjoyed the standard Merrywood activities this year for Easter.

1. Dye some eggs.  Check out Sam's cool "Troll Face" egg:

2. Find a basket.

3. Take photo with kids on street and hunt for a dozen eggs.

Back row: Madison Rook, Victoria Rebholz, Sasha Thompson, Danielle Kinney, Dominic Brazina, Ethan Markowitz, Mason Sergi, Sarah Jakubowski, Pete, Pickle Fisher, Makayla Adams, Aiden Berry, Joseph Brazina, Nicolette Kinney, Sam, Jacob Grimm
Front row: Mara Brazina, Alisa Thompson, Emma Markowitz, Morgan Adams, Landon Berry, Mary Sergi, Addison Grimm, Maya Grimm

Cub Scout Spring 2012 Campout

Mom and Dad were in charge of the Pack 1151 Spring campout this year.  Which meant that, unlike most of the recent Pack campouts, there would be scheduled activities.  And lots of them.

Unfortunately, the Pack leaders decided to cancel the Saturday night camping due to the chance of a thunderstorm in the forecast.  But that did not put a damper on the event for Sam, Pete, and the three other Scouts who came to the event (Eric, Ben, and Alex).

On Friday night, Dad and Sam stopped at Pizza Hut and then camped with Ben, Eric, and their Dads.  Despite other groups taking their reserved campsites, they set up camp in the empty site D.  Pete and Mom stayed home Friday night so Pete could attend the school dance.

On Saturday, Sam and Dad woke at 7:30am for some donuts and Sunny D, and then played some Lacrosse, put up a canopy, set up and covered a bonfire for later, and found a Geocache near the entrance to the park while introducing Ben and his Dad to Geocaching.

Mom and Pete arrived for lunch and then they did the following activities:

• Scavenger Hunt
• Hike
• Leave No Trace - How Long Does It Last?
• Ultimate Belt Loop (and many games of Ultimate)
• Leave No Trace - Watch Your Step
• Pitching a Tent - Team Building Exercise 
• Leave No Trace  - Draw
• Campfire and S'Mores

After arriving home on Saturday evening, they confirmed that it was a good campout based on the following "dirt lines" on Sam's feet:

Weather

Sam had the following question on one of his worksheets that came home from school:

Question: Weather is the current temperature and condition of the outside elements. Describe how you could check the weather.

Sam's Answer: Look on the computer.