Pack Meeting?

So, some history. After moving here in Aug '06, our first Cub Scout Pack Meeting was Sept '06. We arrived at our church building (imagine the Tierrasanta building with wings of offices off the foyer) and had the first pack meeting outside on the "lawn". The "lawn" is a big lawn with a sand volleyball pit (eagle scout project) a BBQ (another eagle scout project) a large patio with picnic tables (again...eagle scouts) and a big Pagoda covering it (you see the trend). Oh, and the whole thing is lit, thanks to another ambitious eagle scout. Its all very nice. Anyway, so the pack meeting is outside and the theme for September is "Animals". As a den mother in San Diego, we too had the "Animals" theme in years past. We bought little glass bowls, rocks, bet fish and bamboo and talked about pet care. "Animals" was translated a little different by the men (no moms) running the program. You see, our ward has a Fish and Game guy in it. He asked for a volunteer, I volunteered and found myself bent over a couple of cast iron skillets balanced on some camp stoves cooking up venison that this guy had "bagged" recently and catfish that he had "pulled out of the river" that morning. Armed with toothpicks, I passed it around and all the kids loved it. This excersize was to demonstrate one of the many valuable uses of animals to man. Next, we met a collection of "pests" that he had recently caught...the snake, the field mice, a feral cat, some possum looking thing, etc. (He had, to our relief, not brought the skunk). So, and I really can't tell you how this exactly came about, but as I mentioned, the guys are in charge, all the scouts are boys and Mr. Fish and Game (Brother Colby) is pretty much up for anything...how about feeding the field mice to the feral cat...YEAH!!! So, first try...mouse runs out of the cage before cat really is at attention but luckily Bro. Colby's trusty dog rounds him up. Now, the pretty dazed mouse and fully attentive cat have a completely different meeting. Who else can we feed to the cat?! The cries come out. There was talk of feeding the cat to the dogs...but Bro. Colby didn't really know where the cat had been...other than that, he was game...ok, the year has pretty much been the same...no tablecloths and scout inspired centerpieces...this is run by men. So, yesterdays pack meeting was held at Lake Goldwater (yes Barry Goldwater has a lake named after him here. In fact, you take Senator Hwy to get there). The above picture is about half our party fishing for crawdads off the pier. They caught about 50-60 in 45 mins. What is our fearless leaders fishing secret? -fishing line tied around chicken gizzard...drop to the bottom, watch for a crawdad to attach and pull him up, they don't let go that often. Up at the pagoda (the lake has one too) there was water boiling with a little sausage and some kind of spice concoction. We ate the crawdads, drank some sodas, ate some oatmeal cream cookies, didn't say the scout pledge or sing a song or do a skit or any of that nonsense. They passed the awards out in three and a half minutes and we went home...they aren't even going to scrap book and journal about the event. My boys were in heaven, and everybody got their uniform dirty.
Brick earned 6 belt loops and 4 pins, he was really excited because he is desperate to catch up with Dallin...pace yourself Brick!
Ok, so the one tradition these guys do hang on to is the turn the kid upside down and pin it on thing. Only the cutesy, Mom-inspired things are OUT. Dallin is earning his Webelos award. He has also earned his Arrow of Light and should be bridging, but Ike is out of town and we wanted to wait for him so Dallin will be returning for one last Cub outing in September.

The Bane of My Existence

For the first eight years of my married life, I lived in the same home with the same carport, no garage. I would think about garages, covet the garages of others. So, when we built our home in Arizona, we added four feet the the garage and picked out the model with the 9x11 storage extension. I love the garage. I like pulling both cars out and rearranging things. I like sweeping it out. I love having an extra refrigerator in the garage. I love my garage door opener and that cool thing outside that lets me open the garage door with a code. However, I live with other people, and those people have not figured out how to turn off the light in the garage. To put this in perspective, these same people have not learned how to turn off other lights, there is evidence of this all over the house. This doesn't bother me, I just walk around turning off lights.

The garage light is the bane of my existence. By the way, the people who live with me will read this with surprise. It is not something I really mention to them. I can't talk about it. I know that were I to attempt to bring the subject up I would have portray too much emotion. You know how sometimes you have a ridiculous over-reaction to something and instead of coming off as really concerned or adament or justified in your position, you come off as hysterical and insane? Everyone around just kind of gets out of your way and you realize they all think you have gone off the deep end? That is how the garage light conversation would go. And, it probably wouldn't change anything. So, I realize that I have two options: Let it go or Suffer. Apparently, I am choosing to suffer for now, that is my plan...I would say "suffer in silence" but the silence has now been broken.

To demonstrate my point, I am going to now go to the garage and see if the light is on. I was in the garage ten minutes ago getting something out of the car and I turned the light off. However, Ike, Dallin and Brick just went to the garage, loaded up the golf clubs in the truck and drove away. Ok...here I go...yep, it was on. They had to pass through the laundry room to get the the garage, and that light was still on as well, but it didn't bother me. The garage light bothered me a lot...actually, the laundry light is starting to bother me as I write about it...ok, we're going back to suffering in silence now.

Eleven...sheesh...

I really can't believe that Dallin is now eleven. Ty and I made him this ice cream cake and we celebrated Sunday afternoon. Dallin's actual birthday was last Thursday, but we didn't really have time to celebrate. He went to school (for the first time ever, considering everywhere else it is still Summer), went to the dentist and went to football practice. Friday he went on a backpacking trip with Ike in Sedona with his new pack and gear. So, Sunday we celebrated. Ty was more excited about the birthday cake than Dallin...he is less impressed now...he did eat it.

Nuns on Stools

This picture makes me happy. I smile/laugh everytime I see it. I don't remember who emailed it to me, but...good job, mission accomplished. This is the picture that reminds me not to take life to seriously or worry too much about what other people think. How long did these nuns pause to think before hopping on these barstools? I imagine that there was a pause, nuns chuckling, each one waiting for one of the others to say it was ok. There was probably the one hold out, the one nun who was never comfortable and couldn't believe she was sitting on the stool and what are people thinking? I know that in my case, were I a lapsed Catholic, this could very likely be the catalyst that led me back to mass, I would go just to meet these gals. So, would you hop on the stool or not? For the non-drinkers...lets make it a smoothie place instead of a bar. What would happen if there were no hypothetical questions?

Rafting in Durango

Finally, all seven kids were old enough to do something that you have to be a certain age to do...rafting. We took off in the big boat, under the reassuring guidance of Jesse and Tessa, our guides. We all had an amazing time and went back to camp worn out.

Kindergarten!!!

Ty started Kindergarten on August 6th!!

It was a miracle to witness. Sunday, Ty announced that he WAS NOT going to Kindergarten. It wasn't even worth a discussion because of how much he was not going. By evening, he reminded us that he had told us "three times" that he was not going. It wasn't going to happen, he was staying home...and "No Dad, I'm not getting a job!" We let him go to sleep without argument, I mean, what was there really to say? We knew he was going.

So, Sunday night I searched the pictures and found a picture of Dallin on his first day of Kindergarten and picture of Brick on his first day...they were each wearing the same shirt that Ty is wearing in the above picture. I was ready.

The next morning I showed him the shirt, I showed him the pictures. I pointed out that they were each wearing brand new shoes, not unlike the shoes we had purchased him for this occasion. IT WORKED!! He was in. Off to Kindergarten he went, no problem. He loved it. It was my first day with three kids in school and I had two and a half hours before it was time to pick them up. I ran up to Wild Flower Bread Company and flew home to spend lunch alone with my husband...I passed him on the road...he was headed out to Sedona to check out Backpacking trail maps with the State Ranger and another Scout leader...I took a nap.