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.

Strangle Belt

One day Pete had his karate belt tied as shown above. I'm not sure what the story is with this. I will just have to post the picture and hope that Pete can provide a reasonable explanation in Comments.

Haircuts

Here are Pete and Sam after haircuts at the mall and then a brief hike/geocache in the woods next to the Sportsplex in Sterling. **Note, this was Sam's first haircut outside of the house. He did a great job with no complaining. In addition to the Webkinz, they are holding up the little bouncy balls that they found in the cache. We have accumulated so many bouncy balls, I think during a future storm our house will bust loose from the foundation and start bouncing down Ashburn Village Blvd.

Pete's hair looked a lot shorter as he was getting it cut, but you can see in the picture (about 1 hour later) that it immediately reverted back to it's pre-cut style. I think he has a little button somewhere that he can just squeeze to make more hair come out. Note, the style he agreed to when we looked through the book at the hair place was the "Ashton Kutcher".

Grounder Grounder Throw Throw

Here is Pete having a catch with cousin Shayna. She doesn't have a glove, but she is tough. She can catch with her bare hands.

This is the part of the yard where Pete and Dad like to play catch. The order must be grounder, grounder, throw, throw. Pete has become quite adept at fielding grounders. In his last T-Ball game, he had the best play we have seen this year. Playing second, he fielder a sharp grounder and then ran over to tag second base before the runner got there from first. The game was at Pete's elementary school. This meant that Dad and Sam could walk over and visit their friend, Tunnel.

Outdoor Achievement Award

Pete and I attended our last cub scout pack meeting of the year. Pete received his Outdoor Achievement Award patch, which he promptly ate.

Learning about the outdoors - check.

Showing respect for your equipment - still a work in progress.

We went outside for the second half of the meeting, where we shot off some water rockets and threw pies at the Scoutmaster.

Pete did quite well in scouting this year. He attended every pack meeting, all but 1 den meeting, and all but two outings for the year. He will also be attending scout camp for a week this summer.

Play Doh Snack

Don't worry, Sam is not getting ready to eat Play Doh. It just happens that the cotton candy Pete and I found on the counter is exactly the same color as the Play Doh he had been playing with.

Here is Pete's yummy cake. Maybe it is Play Doh, maybe it is cotton candy. You will have to take a bite to find out.

Networking Webkinz

Pete and Sam have figured out how to simultaneously log in to Webkinz.com and network their characters so they can visit each other's rooms and play games against one another.

We were watching something on TV the other day about what you want to be when you grow up. Sam said a pilot, and Pete said a computer scientist. I was thinking about this later, and decided that I think Pete would be a great lawyer. He has a razor sharp memory, strong command of language, and refusal to believe he is not on the correct side of an issue. These are the same qualities I always marvel at when I see lawyers testifying before the Supreme Court.

Caterpillar

Here is the caterpillar that Sam befriended at the last trip to the playground. We found one for Pete also. I believe Pete named them Caterpaul1 and Caterpaul2. Whenever Sam finds a friend at the playground, I am reminded of the motho incident.

Also notice Sam's shirt. When Sam wears this shirt, Pete and I like to point out that the shirt is 4 years older than Sam.

Trailside Geocache

Dad took Pete and Sam to Trailside Park. It takes its name because it is located just a few feet from the famous Washington Old Dominion Trail.


We have been there many times before, but this time we went to find the geocache that is located in the woods just about 100 feet away from the playground. Pete claims that he will be able to remember the spot so he can bring mom back to see the cache some time.

We also played the ice cream game. Sam was in charge of ice cream flavors, and Pete was in charge of handling the money and toppings.

Crazy Hair Day

One advantage of Pete's dreadfully long hair is that it gives him a number of options for Crazy Hair Day at school.

We did not have things such as Crazy Hair Day when I went to school. However, looking back at some of my pictures, I think we just treated every day as if it were.

Sam Tilts at Windmills

Since mom went to Myrtle Beach for 4 days to celebrate Mother's Day, dad got to spend an extended weekend playing with Pete and Sam.

If everyone in the world could spent four days hanging out with Sam, I am convinced that mankind would be far happier.

- Sam is overjoyed to do any activity. Ask Sam if he wants to help sweep the grass. Or stack some blocks. Or if he likes cereal. You will get a response such as in this video.
- If you take Sam to the playground, and then to Wendy's for lunch, when you sit down to eat lunch he will say "this is the best day ever".
- Sam will don a suit of plastic armor and attack Pete with no military objective and no hope for victory. When he has sufficiently recovered from his injuries, he will put the suit back on and attack again.
- At the end of one of those days where everything goes wrong, if you ask Sam what was the worst thing to happen he will not understand the question and will not be able to remember any problems that occurred.
- When playing a video game, Sam is thrilled to watch the opening credits, select a character, and achieve Game Over.
- Sam loves to watch someone else do something successfully. His joy is unaffected by whether he can do it.
- A few minutes after coming into the house from jumping on the trampoline, he will decide that he wants to jump on the trampoline again.
- Sam selects clothes based on comfort. Style is not relevant.
- When playing a game, after a player achieves victory Sam would like to continue playing until everyone has won.

Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap is a board game that teaches the following important lessons to young children:
- Physics
- failure
- swearing
- never try to help
- a mouse will sit still for a long time while loud things are happening around him
- the girl at the front of Target will give you money back for a toy

With mom off in North Carolina for the weekend, Sam's first idea was to play Mouse Trap. The first observation upon opening the box was that the instructions were only in Spanish. I am not making this up - the whole thing was Spanish. If there were an English set of instructions at some point, they are gone now. By the way, if there was ever one board game where you need the instructions, it is Mouse Trap.

This is how you play Mouse Trap:
1. Open the box
2. Pull child aside and instruct him or her to sit there and not touch anything for the next 20 minutes
3. Use whatever pieces you can find in the box to assemble a Rube-Goldberg apparatus
4. Confirm that none of sections A, B, C, D, or E are working properly
5. Hand the little trap piece to child and ask him or her to place it directly over a mouse token
6. Declare "mouse is trapped"
7. Put away all pieces
8. Hide game box in farthest corner of attic (sprinkle with insulation to cover)

Flintstones

Pete and I were watching The Flintstones the other day. Sam walked up and was trying to figure out what we were watching. His question: "Why are you watching a Fruity Pebbles video?"

Ahh, Nature

Ahh, nature.

A walk down a dirt path.

Smelling the flowers.

And, of course, finding an old roll of tape and wrapping it around your fingers.

Blokus

It is nice that Sam has reached the age where he can play a full board game without destroying the game or wandering away. Pretty soon he will start developing strategies.

Here Sam is playing Blokus with cousin Shayna. We had a fun few days when they came to visit. They are moving in a few weeks to Florida.

Motivation

Dad: "Pete, take these library books and go drop them into that slot while I wait in the car"

Pete: "No"

Dad: "Ok, you can watch me return them. You will observe that I have developed a special technique which allows me to run up to the slot, return the books, and run back to the car in a world record time of 2 minutes and 12 seconds"

Pete: "Your world record is toast. Give me the books."

Prisoner's Dilemma

The Prisoner's Dilemma is the most famous of all conundrums in philosophy and game theory. It deals with a circumstance where two prisoners are given an option to cooperate with one another, or act in their own self-interest. The unexpected mathematical conclusion of the game is that each person should choose not to cooperate and to act in his own self-interest, to the ultimate detriment of both.

On occasion, such as yesterday, mom decides to play out this experiment in real life. She will tell Pete and Sam: "If you boys can agree on a place for lunch, we will go there. If you can't agree, we will stay home." It does not take a mathematician or philosopher to guess how the story ends. (Hint: there is a lot of yelling)

Of course Pete and Sam have an advantage over the prisoners in the classic game, since they are permitted to openly collaborate with one another. Thus, I am optimistic that in the next 3-5 years the boys will reach an age of reason where they will work together for the greater good.

The Truth

Sam will always tell the truth. Sometimes this will infuriate Pete.

Example:
Dad: I hope nothing happens to my food while I'm washing my hands.

[washes hands. returns. food is gone.]
Pete: Hi Dad

Dad: All right, what happened to my food?
Pete: Well, the funny thing is, it got up and walked into the trash

Dad: Sam, did you see what happened to my food?

Sam: Me and Pete hid it on the counter

Pete: Sam!!!

This was a real one that took place last night:

Dad: Sam, quick! Eat one of Pete's berries before he comes out
[Sam eats a berry]

Dad: Pete, I have some bad news. One of your berries hopped out of the bowl and ran away

Sam: And I'm chewing it in my mouth

Bedtime Routine

Most kids have a bedtime routine. Of course, you probably guessed that Pete's has some unusual elements to it. I think prior to a sleepover, Caleb's mom once referred to his room at night as the "Vegas Strip".

In addition to having the radio tuned to Hot 99.5, the above picture shows two elements of Pete's sleep preparation:

1. Say a prayer to the cross made out of K'nex pieces
2. Turn on flashing blue lights (gift to Pete from Brian)

Trampoline

I've separated our medical records into two folders - the folder after April 2007 will be labeled "A.T." (After Trampoline).


If my eyes look tired lately, it is a combination of allergies and lying awake at night thinking about these quotes from The Simpsons episode "Bart's Inner Child":

"Kids, kids: once you get hurt, move aside and let other people jump"
"Stop jumping on me! I'm hurt."

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just pop my shoulder back in"

"I told you this was a bad idea"
"Checkmate, Mr. Trampoline"
"All right, all right...you win for now. But someday you'll rust!"
"Hey, no more trampoline. Let's jump on the car instead!"
"Each leap brings us closer to God.""

Webkinz

Say hello to Frogger and Libre.

They are Webkinz. This is what they would look like if they lived in a computer.

If you have not heard of Webkinz, all I can say is that I think you will. For example, on the news between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Star Student

Congratulations to Pete for being named 1st grade male P.E. Star Student for April. His class was also named the star class.

Bingo

Above and below are the only 2 pictures from bingo night last Friday where Pete and Sam are in the same frame together.

There were 10 bingo games. Pete did his own cards, and Dad and Sam shared cards. They ended up doing about 4 or 5 games when they weren't getting pizza or running around.

Mom was running around because she was the co-chair for the event.

There was also a raffle with 81 prizes. This is not even including the bingo prizes. I remember the good old days when raffles had 1 or 2 prizes. The kids got to pick which prize to go for. (Yes, our house is still full of tickets and envelopes.) Pete bought 50 tickets. Sam got some tickets too. Pete won some card games and a cool family fun pad.

This photo should give you some idea of the mass of humanity that attended this event. You may be able to see that Pete and Sam have the best seats in the house (thanks Jayne). There are also about 200 people in the bleachers that are off the left edge of the picture.

Pete's Shelves

Above is a picture of the new shelves and desk that Mom and Dad put up in Pete's room. Thanks also to Aunt Stacey for coming up and helping Mom paint the room.

Despite all of the objects in this picture, I believe only one of them has been mentioned in this blog before. Take a guess, then click here to see if you are right.

Contest: Why Is the Shower Curtain Closed

There is a good reason that the shower curtain is closed in the above picture. It is the first time it has been closed in a long time.

If you want to enter the contest, add a comment with your guess for why the curtain is closed. Closest to the correct answer is the winner. I will post the answer on Monday April 30.

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Answer: Pete and Sam are taking a bath. They are playing with squirt guns. They were squirting water all over the bathroom. Rather than take away the guns, dad came up with the idea to close the shower curtain.

Winner: I think Melly Mel had the closest guess.

Cheezy Pleezyoid

Sam woke us up about 4 times during the night on Sunday night. He said he was worried about Cheezy Pleezyoid. I have no idea what deep recess in his brain this character came from, but it is such a cool name I almost think it was worth the lost sleep. I think this would be a great name for a Boss in a video game. Espacially a video game with a pizza theme.

Later on Monday he changed the name of his enemy to Cheezy Pleezy. Apparently, this foe can be thwarted by spraying some ant killer over Sam's door.