Super Scout

Joseph has just about finished his term as the first patrol leader for his Burning Bullfrog Patrol.

His primary goal as a patrol leader was to help his patrol earn the National Honor Patrol Award.

Mission accomplished!

At the Court of Honor last week, Joseph had the privilege of receiving the National Honor Patrol Award on behalf of his patrol, and of distributing the awards to each of his patrol members.

Joseph reached his First Class rank a few months ago, and it was formally awarded at the Court of Honor. He's off to a great start in Boy Scouts. We are proud of him and his hard work.

Pastor Installed!
It's a great day to be Catholic!

Our Pastor, Father Qui Thac, was officially installed today by Bishop Tyson.

The boys each had a special ministry, as a server (Peter), a vimp (Joseph) & as MC (Zachary).

Mass was beautiful, as always.

Look how proud Father Qui Thac's mother (in red) looks!

Goodbye

Sister Mary Lucy

God Bless you.

Thank you for your lifetime of service and your living witness to the Gospel.

EGGS AT LAST!

Peter is thrilled to announce that his layers have begun laying!

He's collected 2 eggs so far, and hopes are high that the egg production will rise steadily.

Uncle Craig's layers (same batch as Peter's) laid their first egg on EXACTLY the same day!

Wild nature at its best.

Backpacking to

Baker Lake

Tim and Joseph led a group of Scouts on a backpacking trip this weekend to a favorite campsite along the banks of Baker Lake.

The weather cooperated for excellent stargazing and fire building.

Playing flashlight games on the beach was Joseph's favorite part of the trip.

The group blasted out on Sunday, making the 4 mile hike with packs in less than 1hr 45min with a stop to play along the creek banks.

Personal

Driver's

Guide

Zaccurate (my dear son's nickname) could not be more... accurate!

Having him enrolled in driver's ed is like having my very own personal driver's guide along for every ride.

Here are a few actual quotes from my "DG":

"I guess that's about 12 inches." (As he leaned out his door to do a curb-to-tire distance inspection after I'd parallel parked.)

"You should really stop before the crosswalk when the lights start flashing." (I did not see any flashing lights, and expect that it would have been a brake-slamming incident had the pedestrian not waited the cautious pause for the drivers to clue in.)

"It's generally a good idea to stop before the stop line." (As I apologized to a pedestrian for pulling too far forward, blocking his easy crossing of the driveway while I awaited an opening to pull into traffic.)

"What's the speed limit here?"

"No crossing the white line!"

"Technically you should stay in the right lane unless you're passing."

"Turn signal, turn signal!!"

You get the point...

When I picked Zac up from driver's ed Monday night, I asked him how he did on his first test.

"By my standards I failed. I got an 85%! But by the course standards, I was the top score in my class."

Sharing

I sat down to start a blog post today, and found that one of my favorite bloggers had something so very meaningful to share.

Go here if you would like to read her beautiful post today.

Zac (6) holding Peter (1); summer '01 at a track meet.