By Any Other Name

Now that Memorial Day weekend has passed, the pool is open every evening after school.  On Thursday, just as Dad was arriving home from work, Pete and Sam independently decided that they wanted to go to the pool.  So Pete went to the pool with Corey, Sam went with Dad, and Mom went to Anthony's for a leisurely gourmet dinner with Nana and Poppy.

Sam, Dad, Pete, and Corey got the Manhattan Pizza "pool special", which is a large cheese pizza and 2 cans of soda delivered to the pool for $9.99.

Toward the end of the evening, about 1/2 hour before the 8:30 closing time, the remaining kids at the pool decided to play one of their traditional games in the deep end of the pool, over by the diving board.

Several of them shouted out: "Let's play Sharks and Minnows!"

But the lifeguard quickly came over and announced that there is a new rule this year and Sharks and Minnows is no longer permitted.  There was about a 10 second pause of complete silence, after which Pete triumphantly yelled out:

"Let's play Whales and Plankton!"

Number Cubes

Pete and Dad had this conversation one morning.

Pete: Did you know that our teacher is not allowed to use the term "dice" at school.  That is a gambling term.  She needs to call them number cubes.

Dad: So what word does she use for "Roulette"?

Pete's Meal Project

For Pete's FACS class, he had to cook an entire family meal.  This included buying the groceries, setting the table, etc.

So on May 13th, everyone enjoyed a nice steak and rice dinner, followed by a homemade cake.

Below are some pictures of the process.

Formal Dance

Mom and Sam got dressed up for the "Formal Dance" at Dominion Trail.  They look great.

Sam showed everyone there how to do the Harlem Shake.  For which he had plenty of opportunity, since they played it about every 40 minutes.

DC Field Trip

Sam had his 3rd grade field trip to Washington, DC.  He was in Jackson's group (see above), chaperoned by Jackson's mom.  Dad was not selected in the lottery to go on the trip this year.

We'll need to check with the seat belt manufacturer to verify if the above usage complies with their safety policies.

Sam didn't provide a lot of details about the trip.  We know that he rode on the bus for a while and then went to the Capitol, ate lunch, and then went someplace else, and rode the bus again.

Candy Buckets

April 30th marks the half-way point to Halloween.  So let's check the status of Pete's candy buckets:

Bucket 1: The last 17 pieces of candy that remain after their brethren have been selected and eaten over the past 182 days.  It is a sad assortment:

Bucket 2: A fresh assortment of goodness, untouched since it was placed in the back of the cabinet on November 1.

I'm not sure when Pete will officially switch over to bucket 2.  But hopefully soon, since anything he doesn't finish by October 31 will get tossed.

Sam SOL Breakfast

Sam has been taking his annual "S.O.L." tests at school.  I guess they told him that to pass these tests, he needs to have a breakfast of champions.  This despite the fact that a passing score is 400 and he has been averaging about 599/600 on his practice tests.

So Sam's SOL morning routine is:

• Wake up at 6:45am
• Shower
• 2 slices of buttered toast
• Fruit
• Juice
• Bowl of cereal
• Socks/Shoes
• Brush Teeth
• Walk to bus at 7:33

Calculator Pokemon

Above is Pete "using" his new TI-84 calculator as he gets ready for school one morning.  This is not your standard calculator.  It has some amazing capabilities, including an upload/download cable.

Pete has spent several hours enabling the following functions on his calculator:
1. Pokemon Red game

Dad is not familiar with this feature being required for class, but apparently it is very important.

Hopefully as soon as Pete is done with this important work, he will go out back and put away those sleds and snowboard that have been sitting on the deck since January.