Claude Moore Geo-Picnic

Dad was pleased to have Pete join him at a local geocaching picnic in Claude Moore park.  They met some fellow geocachers and had some cheeseburgers.

Then they went off to find the final stage of a geocache called "A Walk Along Vestal's Gap".  Pete found a cool levitating stick along the way:

Kino Level 40

Congratulations to Sam for getting to level 40 on a solo game of Call of Duty: Zombies (Kino Der Toten map).  This is the highest level any of us have seen.

Let this be a cautionary tale - when someone says they are going to play a game of Kino, make sure it is not within a few hours of bedtime.

Crime Prevention

Mom arranged for Loudoun police Deputy Capitan to come to the last Cub Scout den meeting of the season.  Pete joined in the fun as well.  The deputy showed the boys how to dust for fingerprints and gave them some tips on crime prevention in general.

Dad was hoping that the school did not get broken into that night, since his prints were on the door going in to the cafeteria.

Project Collaboration

Pete has been getting pretty high-tech when collaborating with his classmates.  Here he is pictured working in his room on a class project, using Skype and a webcam to interact with his friend:

It is good to see his fancy desk getting some use, other than for his Pearls Before Swine calendar and miscellaneous candy wrappers.

Pete finished the school year with straight A's, and a few A+ grades also.  Which makes one wonder what grades he could get if he actually did some of his projects a few days *before* they were due.

Pinewood Derby

As the Bear Den leader, Dad was in charge of the Pack Pinewood Derby this year.  So there was a lot of work to be done.  One thing that helped was Poppy working with Sam to design and cut his car.  Dad helped with the car's wheel assembly.  Here is the final car.  It weighed in at 5.1 ounces, so they had to drill a small circle out of the bottom at the weigh-in:

Sam was delighted to finish in 2nd place for the entire Pack.  There was a bit of a mistake with the trophy (which you may notice below), but they got it corrected:

The event went off great.  The only issue was when Dad was loading the derby track back into the attic, and ended up with a hernia that would require some surgery.  It is time to find someone else who can store the track next year!

Architecture

One of the BearCub Scout requirements this year was to visit a place where they make a model.  Jackson's Dad invited everyone to his office where he is an architect.  The Scouts toured the office, and then built some cool models out of cardboard and styrofoam.  There was also a computer program (Google Sketchup) Mr. Gavin told them about, that they could try to use at home.

Sam drew up a pretty intricate model on paper:

No one could really conceive of it until he built it out on the computer.  This is Sam's finished 3-D model that he created and implemented completely by himself:

Art Prize

Sam won a raffle at the school dance and the prize was a special art project.  He stayed after school 3 times and make the cool dog shown in the photo below:

He had the option of making any creature with legs.  He chose to make a dog.

Packing Lunch

Since Mom is working all the way in Springfield this year, Dad gets to prep Pete and Sam every day for school and also frequently prepare their lunches.  This year Pete did not buy any lunches, and Sam bought lunch about 1/4 of the time.

Below is a standard lunch for Sam; a turkey/lettuce/cheese wrap, strawberries, chocolate milk, cookie, and "cold guy":

Sam doesn't like too many typical lunch items, so it is a bit of a creativity exercise to pack his lunch.  Sometimes Dad throws some extra stuff in there just to make sure the lunch attendants don't contact Child Services when they see Sam show up with just chocolate milk and some tortilla chips.

Pete doesn't like sandwiches, so his lunches are typically a mashup of about 7 or 8 small "side" items, such as a small container of cucumbers or Cheez-its.

Colored Pencils

One day Pete decided that the colored pencils need to be arranged in proper color order.  You can see his pretty arrangement in the photo below:

This was all fine and good, until Pete also announced that the pencils need to be put away in this order, and that the order needs to be maintained in perpetuity.

If anyone knows of a good colored pencil order maintenance guy, please send us his phone number.

Thomas Jefferson Speech

Dad was pleased that Sam gave several speeches in class this year.  Below is the costume he wore for his Thomas Jefferson speech:

Of course he did a great job on the speech and got a good grade.

Unlike the original Thomas Jefferson, Sam posted the above picture on Instagram after his speech.

Bikes in the Cafeteria

No, the title of this post is not the sequel to "Lions on the Astroturf".

Sam's Cub Scout Den brought their bikes one night to the Den meeting.  It was fun bringing the bikes into the cafeteria.  Mr. Gavin volunteered to lead the activity.  He used to work at a bike shop:

Pictured above of course are Jackson Myers, Alex Biddle, Dominik Blank, William Hammann, Jalen Riggio (who had just joined the group a few weeks earlier), Ethan Markowitz, and Sam.  Their Den Chief, Jonah Hyatt, was not in attendance at this meeting.

Soon after the picture was taken, Mr. Gavin demonstrated how to fix a flat tire, and then Dad took the Scouts out one at a time to the obstacle course he had set up in the parking lot.  Dad was heard making the following speech that he was worried he may come to regret:

"ok Scouts, you will now take your bikes out to the parking lot for the hairpin course - keep in mind that it is dark, it is cold, it is raining, it is treacherous, ..."

Balls Bluff Hike

The Spring Cub Scout hike was a great time for the family to go out together to Balls Bluff.  Dad somehow ended up being the leader of the hike, so Pete and Sam stuck with it and joined the smaller group that hiked the longer loop around the park.

Sam is pictured below in the front left, with his sharp new t-shirt (designed and purchased by Dad):

Here is a cool animal bone that Sam and Dad spotted along the trail.  About a week later, Sam brought home a picture of the identical item in a study packet, and they were able to identify it as a deer jaw bone:

Scalp Removal

They say there's a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, so with the skyrocketing prices of gold lately the family is working to get Pete scheduled in for a scalp-removal appointment.

Sterling Station

On March 30, the family took advantage of the nice Saturday weather and did a brief Geocache/hike called Sterling Station.  They had planned for a short family hike along the W&OD trail, but as they had feared the "Carmax" trail lot lot was filled up in the early afternoon by all the bikers, so they executed Plan B and parked in the Ruritan area. They had fun briefly exploring the area.  The boys and Dad should have listened to Mom and not tried their "shortcut" on the way back to the car.  But they still made it back in time to rush Pete over to meet up with Jeff and his other friends.

Dad and the boys walking across the street from the old Sterling Station (now a private residence).  The paved path on the right (W&OD) is where the train used to run:

Dad signing the geocache log book in the area of an abandoned house:

Easter 2013

The boys dyed some eggs for Easter this year:

Then it was time for the annual Merrywood Easter Egg Hunt:

Sam quickly found his dozen eggs:

Note in the group photo, you have to look twice to realize that Pete is wearing Sam's camo basket on his head, which blends in perfectly with the tree in the background:

It was raining, and when Pete was all bundled up, Dad said he looked like the Egg-burglar.

Brennan's Party

Sam went to Brennan's party at Panther Laser Tag.  Dad got a few photos, and also scored a free game of Laser Tag with the boys.

Brennan, Sam, Sean:

Andrew, John, Sam:

Everyone in the hurricane machine:

During the party, Dad went off with Pete to find a few nearby geocaches.

Red Cedar Cache:

Leave No Stone Unturned:

They also found "TICO (Trash In Cache Out)" (not pictured).

Sunflowers

Pete and Sam both got sunflowers in their Easter baskets this year.  After growing them inside for a few weeks, it was time to plant them in the front of Dad's pumpkin garden.  We'll have to check in later to see how they progress over the course of the summer.  There were some major rainstorms this spring, and a late frost, but so far they seem to be surviving.

If you can see the little flag in the middle of the group of flowers on the left, it says "Pete's Sunflowers".

Crazy Hair Day 2013

No, that is not a green tarantula on Sam's forehead - just Sam and Pete getting ready for "Crazy Hair Day" at school.  Or as Dad likes to call it: "Scrub Spray Paint Off The Bathroom Wall Day".

Sketch Book

Sam has recently been back into sketching again.  Today he pulled out one of his old sketch books and was leafing through it while Dad was eating his pancakes.

Dad: You really have a lot of nice drawings in that sketch book
Sam: Yeah, it's mostly people on roller coasters

Mastispell 2013

Sam did a great job this year at the Mastispell spelling bee.  He qualified easily for the final (stage) round and did not have any reservations this year about going up on stage.  Unfortunately, they had him sitting next to a severely hyperactive boy (#184), who mercifully was removed from stage after spelling his word wrong in the 2nd round.

Sam correctly spelled "fatherly" and "rotund", but went out in the 3rd round on "tyrannosaurus".

It was too late in the day to make his Lacrosse game, so Sam enjoyed staying to the end with Dad to watch the winners determined, and see the awards ceremony.  Mom and Pete went off in the early afternoon to his flag football game.

Funny moments from the bee:

• Boy who could not pronounce "anonymous", going back and forth with the pronouncer with "anonymous" / "anomous"
• Indian girl who could not pronounce "effervescent"

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.

Harry Balls

Above is Sam's ball that he recently got from Five Below.  The only problem is that the name he gave to the ball is "Hairy Balls".

Well, Dad decided that, as far as he is concerned, the name is "Harry Balls".  Sam has been spending several weeks explaining the proper pronunciation to Dad.

One evening right before bed, they had the following exchange:

Sam: What is the name of my ball?
Dad: Harry Balls
Sam: That's not quite right
Dad: I know what you're after, and I'm not going to say it
Sam: Ok, what would you call someone with a lot of hair?
Dad: Hairy
Sam: What do you play tennis with?
Dad: Balls
Sam: What is the name of my ball?
Dad: Harry Balls
Sam: What would you call a single ball with hair on it?
Dad: Hairy Ball
Sam: "...s"

Sentences

Sam does "Word Study" homework.  Each week he gets a new list of 24 words.  One night he does rhyming, one night alphabetizing, etc.  Tonight it was sentences.  Sam was a bit lacking in inspiration after the Cub Scout meeting, so Dad offered to give him some sentence ideas, which led to the following conversation:



Sam:  Can you give me a sentence for 'transport'

Dad:  My spaceship will transport me to Uranus.

Sam:  Ooh, can I spell Uranus like--

Dad:  No.

That Expression Seems Familiar

Dad was taking two pictures of Pete for some comics he was preparing on Instagram.  After snapping the first picture, he noticed that the expression seemed oddly familiar...

* Note: Pete was not trying to imitate that painting, that is just the expression he came up with randomly when trying to portray someone pretending to be worried about something

Hedbanz

Sam won a $15 gift card from Target.  It was from the "Box Tops" promotion raffle at school.  Mom claimed that she should get the prize, but that is an argument for another day.

At Target, after some mini-pizzas, Sam and Dad picked out "Hedbanz" while Pete and Mom were trying on shorts, cleats, and socks for his first Flag Football game.  By the way, it turns out that the gift card was only for $5.  Oh well, Target, you win this time.

They played the game that night.  Here are the cards that each person had the most trouble with:
Sam - "Pizza"
Dad - "Dice"
Mom - "Camel"
Pete - "Paintbrush"

Sam was having a devilish time trying to figure out a food that is partly red, partly yellow, with sauce and cheese.
Pete was all over the map trying to come up with paintbrush.
Dad couldn't figure out what is white, bigger than rice, smaller than his hand, too boring to make a movie about, and possibly somewhere in the family room.
Mom couldn't get camel until Pete said it was angry and Dad said it was bemused.

Then there was "the mushroom incident":

Mom: Am I alive?
All: Yes
Mom: Am I an animal?
All: No
Mom: Am I a plant?
Sam: Yes
Pete: No
Dad: Not really
Mom: I give up [looks at card]