Cool Down Time!

We generated quite a buzz this afternoon when we unveiled this little
setup. We may end up renting the tent out for parties or something.

Crawlies

We found this guy wandering around last night. That's a quarter we put
down for scale.
Nathan made it to the archery top 10, but lost it from there. He was
very proud for a first year to make it that far.

Doin' Fine

Brandon even took seconds at breakfast today! We were the most excited
that he finally had a shower...

Swimming

This is apparently how you save yourself if you have long sleeves on.
Some of the boys think they look that 'buff' already.

The Lake

This is what the view looks like from the lake house. Pretty nice
stuff to try out.

Look Out Below!

Colten has been trying to land his simulator in order to complete his
aviation badge. Several other scouts tried their hands at it, too.
(Imagine a landing field full of smoking craters.)

The good news is that he did finally land safely on Wednesday morning.
I'm still not going up with him anytime soon...

Robin Hood

More archery

Free time archery

Three of the boys tried their hand at archery Tuesday night. Nathan
won the chance to represent the troop in the Wednesday evening camp
contest.

Wave hello

This move is apparently called the oklahoma wave.

Camp requires snacks

'nuff said.

More whittling

Tristan and Brandon chose the canoe as their project. So far, so good
(translation: all fingers still accounted for, and attached).

Sweat shop whittles

During our free time the boys all decided to earn at least one extra
badge, so we're working on woodcarving. Each boy will come home with a
project or two that they have shaped.

Campfire

Skits were performed by the staff this time. Friday is the scouts
turn. Probably about the same caliber...

Flag ceremonies

Each day begins and ends with a flag ceremony. This is what about 800
scouts look like. Ours are directly between me and the flagpole.

Merit Badge Classes

Calvin learns to save drowning scout (who secretly wishes he could
just stay in this nice cool water).

First classes done

We made it through our first two classes of the day and now get a much
deserved lunch break in the air conditioning. If only it wasn't hotdogs!

Chow Time!

The glop for breakfast was a hit. Potatoes, eggs, sausage, and white
gravy casserole on a tortilla (some added salsa, too). We're off to
our first classes!

More chess

Chess! A man's game!

After dinner we tried our hands at the big set.

Hot Stuff

Brandon and Tristan came up with this two tier fan contraption in an
attempt to cool off...I think the lake may work a little better!

Made It!

After a thankfully uneventful trip we arrived at the end of the really
long dirt road that leads into Camp Hale. A week of running around in
the 90's should slim all of us down a wee bit.

Bring on the Crackerjack!

Tiffanie and the symphony are playing at the ballgame tonight (with
the fireworks, too) so we got some comp tickets - sweet! General
admission was just fine by me.

More for Mema!

Just leaving you some proof that we were here first...

Happy Birthday Mema!

And happy retirement, anniversary, mothers day, thanksgiving,
christmas...

Happy Summer!

Each summer we come up with some crazy experiment to try. This year it
was a root beer tasting contest. We found ten different flavors and
ran them head to head (no pun intended) for flavor. Stewarts and
Shasta garnered the most praise. Mug and Sprecher were pretty high on
the list, too.

Nary Contrary

Our garden is doing great this year!

Father & Son Campout

We had a great weekend campout! The boys and I tried out some new
inflatable boats on the lake and had a generally good time.

Now that's my kind of food pyramid!

Corn on the cob and ribs for dinner tonight! Excuse me while I go buy
stock in some napkin companies...

Temple Trip

Loads of good work done this weekend!

Sno Cone Slaughter

St Louis Zoo was loads of fun yesterday. Judging from the thousands
there, it was exactly the right thing to do in this beautiful weather.

Bare bear

The skull of a cave bear. These things make grizzlies look like toys -
and they used to live right here!

Mammoth hips

No, not a posting about my love for snack cakes. This is a mammoth's
rear leg bones.

Paleontologists Rock

I went with Benjamin's pack last night to the Riverbluff Natural
History Museum. What a surprise to find such a fabulous collection in
our little city! They've been pulling mammoth bones and other neat
stuff out of this cave for the last few years since its discovery. Now
it has turned into quite a treasure.

Photo Op

Do you know how hard it is to get most of the cousins to smile
(nicely) at the same time?!?

Neon egg dye rules

One of my favorite traditions (almost as good as eating them).

Sugar me up!

The annual easter egg hunt was a rousing success. Now if we can just
make it through the sugar blues...

Weird Clouds

We've been seeing these lately with the spring storms.

Breakorific

To a six year old this is what heaven looks like.

Breakolicious

Disney stores are fun!!

Happy Days!

Guess what's open again for the season?

More pizza

Nice to know you can still trade in tickets for quality merchandise, eh?

Spring Pizza

We had to start out our spring break right by visiting one of the
kids' favorite haunts - incredible pizza. They were showing some old
Haley Mills movie tonight. Boy, her family must have had major stock
in Disney or something because this one was a stinker.

Spring Took a Detour

What in the world is all of this white stuff falling from the sky? I
was expecting buds on the trees, and tulips popping up!

Meet some more family

No one in my family has apparently ever seen or posessed a picture of
Grandpa Fred's father, Isaac B Grandon. I had a scan emailed to me
this week from a distant cousin. Not sure I see much resemblance, but
nice to finally lay eyes on him.

Sledding - Day 3!

Slippery back roads has provided us with a third day of reprieve from
school this week. We will probably regret this in June. But for now,
time to hit the slopes!

Snow Days are an Educator's Friend

Its hard to worry about make-up days in June when you hear the kids
howling like wild banshees in the snow. This morning's activity of
choice was swinging onto the snow covered trampoline for a splashdown.

O Give Me a Home...

Tiffanie finally talked us into stopping by Lone Elk Park just outside
of St Louis. We decided that elk are really quite ugly, but the
buffalo were pretty huge.

Now that's big!

A little scale comparison.

IMAX

We had a boy's afternoon out at the IMAX theater. Quite a way to see
Despereaux!