She's not done yet

She just can't seem to stop. Cassidy now has her own folder on my computer that is just for her pictures. I pull a few of the best ones and add them to mine, but only a small few. It is hard to choose though.

4th of July Parade

I attended the Cub Scout's June Round Table meeting, along with two others from our pack. We talked about holding our Super Saturday event and I had also mentioned that as a pack we could go watch the Castroville 4th of July Parade. Well, one of other leaders wondered what it would take to actually be in the parade. So I looked into it and the registration was free. The other leader suggested we could walk in the parade, not a good idea for 1st-5th graders in Texas in July. But luckily Stewart had just purchased a 16foot trailer. So I roped him into driving our trailer in the parade. And I started planning the decorations. I had a few ideas and suggestions after helping to decorate two floats for our Little League parade. the principal of Thomas' elementary school donated some butcher paper, which I cut out the letters and stars to make the banners. The boys wrote their names on the stars and decorated them with glitter. The parents all pitched in and blew up balloons. The parade theme this year was "Broad Stripes and Bright Stars", I didn't know how to incorporate the broad stripes part, but I was able to pull the bright stars into it. It turned our pretty nice I have to say. Although we didn't win. The Cub Scout pack two floats ahead of us won. The scouts themselves had spent a lot of time making 1000+ small tissue paper flowers for their float. But this is our first year and we are already thinking about next year, we are going to win.

It was a lot of waiting this morning. All the parents arrived on time and pitched in to decorate the float. It went pretty fast, so after we had finished we walked up and down the street looking at all the other floats and tractors that were in the parade. Stewart drove, while Cassidy sat in the air conditioned front passenger seat ready to throw out her candy.

 

  We have our buckets of candy ready to go, we are just waiting on the signal. I gave the boys instructions not to throw candy to grown ups, but just to the kids. And don't throw out handfuls, only a piece or two at a time. Well, they listened. They through out pieces of candy to very small children, infants I would call them. And each scout only threw out a few pieces each. So our first few customers, mostly infants or small toddlers in strollers received two pieces of candy from 10 Cub Scouts. So I had to give them a few more instructions. Only throw to the kids on your side of the trailer and don't throw to kids that can't run out and get it themselves. I had no idea how long the parade route was, so I kept reminding the scouts that we still had a ways to go and we don't want to give all the candy out in the first few blocks. And of course we did run out. The parade was longer than I had thought. But we will know for next year.

This is what I get for asking the boys to smile for the camera. Zachary is such a little dear. Thomas is well, he is just Thomas, and has been hanging around his Cub Scout friends all morning.

 After awhile the sugar high wore off. Along with the regular 4th of July well wishes, we got a few Go Cardinals! shouts. Zachary was very pleased with these, since they were directed at him and his Cardinal's hat.

This was a really fun experience. The kids all had fun waving, playing around with each other and eating the candy. I think we will have to do it again next year. The float planning is already underway.

We got to enjoy free watermelon, popsicles, and hot dogs in the town square after the parade.

Our 11 year old photographer

 Now that I have my camera to play around with, Cassidy has been begging me to use my old camera. She thinks she should get it.

I think it is a great idea. Especially when she take pictures like these.

 

She received a camera for her birthday a few years ago and she loved it.  But she had to hold a little too still for the pictures to really turn out good. These are our Zinna's that Stewart and Cassidy planted from seed in our backyard.

She totally reminds me of myself. I loved taking pictures and still do. I think it even more fun now that we don't have to wait until they get developed to see if they are any good. And if you take a bad one, who cares just delete it. Or you can still keep it, just in case ( Cassidy's idea, not mine).

Cub Scout Super Saturday

 I put together our June Scouting event. In order for our pack to get the National Summer Time Achievement award we have to hold a pack event in June, July and August. Nobody else volunteered to put one together so I did. But once I got the ball rolling everyone pitched in. Here our pack trainer is giving the boys some know how about fishing. He teaches special education at our elementary school. So he knows how to get the boys attention.

We separated the boys into two groups. One group set out to fish while the other group stayed in the shade for some crafts and other activities. Cassidy and I taught the boys some German. There are several German communities around San Antonio. In fact the area just north of San Antonio is filled with German. Schlitterbahn is an incredible water park that the boys all know, even if they have never been there, they have heard about it. Cassidy also told them what is was like to attend school in Germany. They all liked that she got out of school at 12:30 and that we was able to use saws, hammers and nails. We also took our Kugelbahns and mini-Fussball table. The boys took turns playing each other. But I don't have any pictures, because I was busy teaching. 

 After about 35 minutes the boys switched. My boys went fishing and Cassidy and I taught another group of boys about German.

Thomas soon learned that fishing is all about the waiting. At least this type of fishing is. 

 Today wasn't just for the scouts. We all had a good time. Zachary finally got to use the fishing pole that has been sitting in our garage for a very long time. It was Cassidy's, but I don't think she ever used it. It is a Barbie pole and for some reason the other boys did not want to use it, even Cassidy didn't want to use it. So Zachary had the pole all to himself. And who is the only one that caught a fish. That would be Zachary and his Barbie pole.

 After our fishing and German classes a few adults took the boys out to the field for some soccer. It was hot and the boys were tired and hungry.

Nothing better than eating hot dogs, grilled to perfection by our Cubmaster, and chips on a hot summer day. It was a great way to end our great day. It was a fun day and each boy earned three belt loops, Fishing, Soccer, and Language and Culture. 

Swimming Lessons

Well I took my new present to swim lessons today. You would think we spent the whole week at the pool with all the pictures I took. But it was just two hours. We have a friend in the ward that used to be a swim instructor. She was looking for a way to earn a little extra money this summer so she rounded up about 6 families with kids all different ages and gave lessons every Friday at a community pool. We go a little early so they can play a little before lessons. Zachary's class is the second of the day, starting at 9:30.

Something I probably should have never shown Zachary is my camera's ability to take sequential shots.

 

But at least he was cooperative and let me play with my camera.

Cassidy didn't know what I was doing....

Then she asked me to delete them. Sorry I don't think so.

Cassidy earned her Girl Scout Swimming badge.

Zachary gave up his arm floaties.

 

 

Thomas earned his Cub Scout Swimming Belt Loop and Pin.

 This is the start of a great summer.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

So you don't get a picture of me, my presents or my cake though I had them all. But here is what I can do with one of my presents.....

The Original

I added stars to the one on the left. And zoomed in to see how handsome Zachary is on the right.

Well I actually did get a picture of me, my pajamas to be exact. Again the original first....

 

Now you see. My black and white on the left and only my blue dots on the right.

Not done yet, now add a bit of green and you see how much fun my new camera is. They just take a bit longer to upload onto my blog. Not good, I don't need any more excuses to not post.

A Birthday Song

I sure love the internet. It lets me send messages to loved ones far away. It also allows them to see the kids and keep up with their growth and activities. So I thought we would do all this today. I had bought a paper airplane kit a few months back, but we never got around to making any of them. The past week we have made 5 different types of airplanes. We even had airplane test flight. We timed them while in the air and measured the distance they traveled. The boys have been flying them off of their beds the past week. So when I told them they were going to sing Happy Birthday to Grandma Suzanne they had their airplanes in their hands and kept throwing them through out the song. So I helped plan things a bit better. We will throw them at the end, like we are throwing her our presents. So after several takes the kids just got sillier. This was our final attempt at wishing Grandma Suzanne a Happy Birthday.

Bass Pro Shop

 Too bad Bass Pro Shop is so far away. But we made it worth it. We came here last week with Stewart. We made our summer craft and did all the activities as well. We also sat through some classes. So after today the kids have earned their Bass Pro Shop Camping, Archery, Fishing, Wildlife Exploration and Backyard Adventure pins. Can't say it was worth it, but the kids had fun and it got us out of the house.

I think Thomas just realized he was riding a bear or something along those line. Or maybe he is just pulling one of his crazy faces.

Zachary wanted to show how much he loved his bear. Do you see him with his "lovey" face in the picture on the left. It wasn't good enough for him, so he asked for a better one.

 

They had a nerf shooting gallery for the kids. They got to shoot nerf darts at metal ducks that fell over. Cassidy got pretty good, maybe she should enter the Hunger Games.

 

Zachary is taking aim. The archery range was turned into a kids range during the day. They all got to shoot a BB gun and a bow. Cassidy liked the bow. In fact that is why we came today. She wanted to buy one with her birthday money. But after looking closely the one she wanted and could afford was too small for her. So perhaps she will get one for Christmas. The boys on the other hand loved the BB gun. Thomas thinks he will get one for his birthday.