Penn State Spring Break Trip - Day 4

It was the final day of the Penn State trip.  After packing up the car, they drove over to Rec Hall and parked  by the Nittany Lion shrine.  They took a few pictures:

They played some basketball on the stadium court at the legendary Rec Hall:

They walked around Rec Hall a bit, and had lunch at nearby Otto's:

When Tom arrived to meet them at Otto's, the family trip ended and Dad's golf trip started.

The boys walked over to the Creamery for a farewell ice cream cone, and then headed home.  (Black Cow for Pete, and Death By Chocolate for Sam).

Penn State Spring Break Trip - Day 3

Wednesday began with a brisk walk followed by a long and leisurely breakfast at the Old College Ave Diner:

Next stop was the Penn State Natatorium for Pete to do some high diving.  However, the high dives were unexpectedly closed for no reason, so everyone played some basketball at the Intramural building instead:

Then everyone walked over from the hotel to the Discovery Space Museum for lots of fun activities (not a space museum, by the way).

Instead of the original plan (PSU baseball game), they went to get some candy at CVS and then to see The Hunger Games over by Nittany Mall.  Dinner was pizza back at the room.

Penn State Creamery

Pete and Sam enjoyed the Creamery so much, they went there twice.  See if you can guess what happended just after the above picture was snapped:

(a) Sam decided that he didn't like the ice cream
(b) Sam dropped his ice cream on the ground
(c) Sam went into a rage and threw his ice cream in the trash
(d) The boys were abducted by aliens (Pete suggested that we include this choice)

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.

Window Guy

The window salesman was in the house this evening to give Mom and Dad an estimate. Of course, the 90 minute consultation lasted for about 3 hours. Pete and Sam were in the basement when the salesman explained to Mom and Dad that they needed to replace the tiny basement windows with double hung windows with awning openings. He said it was important to be able to open the windows in case of a flood.

After he left, Pete and Sam discussed their reservations with the window salesman. Pete did not think the windows in the basement needed to be replaced.

Sam added: "and if the basement gets flooded, we can just swim up to the front door and get out".

Red Devils

Sam played basketball again this past Winter. Sam came up with the name for the team, which was the "Red Devils". He had some other team name suggestions, but the Coach did not think that sort of language was appropriate.

The other players on Sam's team were Justin, Anthony, Tyler, Kyle, Lily, Andrew, Carter, Joshua, and Marley. Justin's Dad was the Coach. Justin was the best player in the league, and the team only lost or tied about 2 games during the regular season.

In this picture just before the start of the semi-final game, you can see Sam, with Justin at the top and Coach Boggs in the background:

In the playoffs, Sam's team needed to beat the purple team to make it to the championship game. They were ahead by 5 points at the break going into the final 4 minutes, so things were looking good. However, Justin's Mom yelled something at the officials. The league director ejected her from the gym, but she refused to leave. The director sad that if she didn't leave, the game would be a forfeit. She continued yelling at the director, so the game was declared a forfeit. The purple team got in their cars and drove off before anyone could re-consider this decision. When they decided to resume play, the purple team was gone. This was the end of Sam's basketball season.

Below is a picture of Justin's Mom continuing to argue with the league director, after the teams for the next game had already taken the court:

(Picture Removed)

Up until this last game, Sam had a fun season.

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Update 12/2/12
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Per request in comments, I removed the name and picture of the parent.

It is true that the director eventually decided to allow the game to continue, but the purple coach had intentionally removed his team from the gym and sped off, presumably either for the safety of the team or so they could be sure to secure the victory by forfeit.

The Unity Tree

Tonight was Sam's 2nd grade musical, "The Unity Tree". As you can see above, Sam had the starring role of chorus member #78. Unlike most starring roles, in this case the big red arrow will help you find him.

The Unity Tree is the story of a young Dog and Cat who befriend one another, despite admonition from members of the Dogburg and Catville communities. After quickly pinning down the "Romeo and Juliet" archetype, Dad and Pete discussed whether the play would appropriately end in a climactic and tragic suicide scene. It turned out that Pete was right - the communities learned from puppy and kitten that animals should celebrate their diversity and not segregate based on antiquated notions. The suicide scene was apparently scrapped in favor of a peppy musical number about unity.

Dad, Pete, and Sam goofed around in the dark school playground until they and the janitor had the last two cars in the parking lot, then headed home.

Stronger

Sam: You know how they say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"?

Dad: Yes

Sam: Well, what about gumballs?

Loudoun Spelling Bee

On March 8, Pete participated for the first time in the Loudoun County Spelling Bee. This was as a result of his winning the 6th grade Spelling Bee at Farmwell last month. His competitors were the winners of the Spelling Bees from all of the other schools in Loudoun County. The winner of the Loudoun Bee goes to the National finals.

Pete finished tied for 9th out of 103 participants. He correctly spelled indigenous and hyperbole. He went out on the word halal. The people who were still remaining when Pete went out were all excellent spellers, any of whom deserved to win.

Bread Rage

Sam has a tendency to rage. There is no telling what might set him off. Above is what can happen to a loaf of bread in the blink of an eye. I think he got mad because he dropped a piece on the floor.

Sam has a list somewhere of things that he can do to calm down when he is going into a rage. I haven't seen the list in a while. I think it might have gotten thrown out of the window together with the punching bag.

Blue & Gold 2012

Sam attended the Blue & Gold banquet on February 25 at the Ashburn Fire House. He got to try some new foods (taco), since the food was from Moe's. Above, he is showing off his new Wolf badge.

The magician never showed up, so the banquet was over nice and early. Apparently someone tracked down the magician and he came to the following week's Pack meeting, instead.

Wizards 2012

Pete played on the Wizards during the Winter 2011-12 basketball season of the Farmwell Station Basketball League.

His team went 1-9 in the regular season and then 4-0 in the playoffs, landing them a spot in the Championship game on Saturday March 3, 2012 at 12:30pm. It is difficult to think of an analogous situation, since it's hard to find too many pro leagues where you can go 1-9 and make the playoffs. The closest may be the 2005 Steelers, who beat the top 3 seeds on the road as a Wild Card in the AFC, and then won the Super Bowl.

In the Championship game against the Suns, Pete's team fought hard but lost 25-18. Pictured above are the players on the team (l-r): Coach Taoufiq Mekouar, Neil Bayya, Alex Nandury, Laith Mekouar, Travis Swann, Coach Leslie Swann, Brandon Battista, Brandon Rebok, Anis Shanneb, Pete, and Robbie Stewart.

Now it is time for Sam's playoffs to begin on Thursday March 8.

Seven Springs Feb 2012 - Activities

Everyone had a great time on the first annual Seven Springs ski trip. The boys agreed to stay home from school on Monday to reduce the cost of the trip and avoid the crowds.

The family arrived on Sunday afternoon (after University of Scouting and Blue & Gold banquet the day before). After checking in, they waited until 3:30pm when they were allowed to rent their equipment. They were pleased to spend a little time with Eric, Grace, Steve, and Laurie out on the slopes. Sam and Dad skied, and Pete snowboarded, until about 6:00pm and then they had a nice dinner in the slopeside dining room with Robbie, Michael, Katie, Megan, and Scott. After dinner, the boys played some games in the room.

On Monday, it was breakfast in the slopeside dining room. Then Pete took his snowboarding class with Robbie and Evan, while Sam and Dad hit the trails. They headed home around 4:00pm.

Seven Springs Feb 2012 - Big Air

Pete enjoyed snowboarding for the second time on the Seven Springs trip. On the first day, after a few quick runs on the Magic Carpet, he headed on to the ski lift with Eric Junker. Eric had time for a few quick runs before heading back to Pittsburgh. When they got to the top of the hill, facing a steep blue-square slope, Pete paused as he realized that he still didn't know how to turn or stop. Eric said "gotta run" and headed down the mountain. Fortunately, Scott and Robbie arrived and were able to help guide Pete down the green slopes with minimal injury.


After a number of crash-filled runs, everyone decided that learning how to stop would be advisable before heading back up the mountain. So on Monday Morning, Pete took a private class with Robbie and Evan Wirth (son of Cubmaster Dave). The lesson was great, and by the end of the day Pete was seen in the terrain parks and skiing by himself down the steep signature slope of the resort.

Mom: "Pete, your jacket is pretty wet. Did you fall on the slopes?"

Pete: "No, it's pretty much sweat"

Mom: "I'm sorry I asked."