Annual Mireya's boys reunion and swimming with the cub scouts

another busy weekend at our house.  Saturday we headed out to hermano's home town for picnic with Mireya's boys.  Pablo, the dog, got to come along and he had a great time chasing the ball for 4 hours.  Pablo was on a leash, so there were times he needed the boys to chase down balls that went too far past the reach of his leash.

The day started with some football in the hot, humid air. Bug and D were kicking and catching and having a great time.

then there was some play time on the playground.  this playtime involved me and C's dad pushing the boys on the merry-go-round.

then some swimming and finally the boys took off for another area of the playground and I headed back to check on Pablo.

Hermano's dad cooked up some great hamburgers for us all and we all contributed other food for he dinner.

Pablo just wanted to play.

trying to get a great picture of the boys- it is getting harder to get them all to focus at the same time.

I love this picture of bug that C's mom took.  He is just hanging out, enjoying himself.

A great shot of the boys- their personalities coming thru.  Bug is firmly on the ground, unwilling to take risks to climb and the others are risking it.  But this is not a bad thing or a good thing, it just how the boys are.

playing on the tettter-totter, I was back at the shelter behind Bug.

just laughing and playing together.  I pray these boys stay connected through their lives.

Back to the merry-go-round (again, pictures from C's mom)

The boys, going clockwise: Bug (8 years old), Hermano (8 years old), D (9 years old), C (9 years old), J (7 years old?) and D's sister A (16 years old).

The whole gang

More attempts to get a good picture of the boys.

We left soon after this, 4 hours at the park and we could hear the thunder nearby.  We drove home (about 45 minutes) with some light rain- nothing serious.  About 10 minutes from home, the highway was shut down due to a police chase.  We sat on the highway for another 45 minutes.  We finally got home at 9 pm.  Bug was tired and so was I. 

 

After church on Sunday, we had a swimming outing with the cub scouts.  We were at the Y which has 3 pools, 2 inside and one outside.  the outside pool was closed due to storms that ended about 20 minutes after our event started.  we ended up staying inside for the event, playing in the water park pool.  Our event was attended by one other scout family.  No matter, we all had a great time. 

 

Bug received a gift from the family at the end, a shirt from Brazil (the parents had gone to the world cup and brought the shirt back for him- something to wear in Guatemala at Christmas).

 

Mam (my mom also joined us for swimming.  here you can see Bug in the front, Mam and then the other scout staring straight at the camera.  Bug and T are in the same grade and I am hoping they are in the same class this year.

 

the shallow end of the water park- usually there is water pouring from the mushroom thing, but the pump is broken.

Bug and T playing catch with T's dad.

another shot of the fun time at the pool

Preparing to catch the ball.

The water slide in the water park. Bug has not gone down it yet, but maybe this year while Y is with us (more on that in 2-3 weeks(.

The middles section of the water park- beyond the buoys is deeper water, but Bug has been able to touch the bottom since he was 5 and beyond that is the walking channel and the "bubble water", the hot tub area (not really hot since the water is open to the rest of the water park, but it has the massaging jets like a hot tub.

that's my boy.

 

Bug has 3 weeks of summer left before school starts.  We have lots of things to do.

 

Love and hugs,

Deb

cub scout camp and rain gutter regatta

Bug spent this week at cub scout camp (during the day, no overnight camps for him yet).  The theme this year was "Space Camp".  Bug was with 3 of his friends for camp.  Here is Bug with L. being silly before we headed to kickball.  I wen out on Friday after work to see the end of camp presentation.

Bug's den (cub scouts from many different packs from our city), getting instructions on kickball.

Since camp was space themed, the dens had different things to carry with them.  Bug's den had this alien guy.  I think this alien was very abused with these boys.

Bug and his 2 friends were in the Apollo 11  den.  they had to learn some facts about their den name and present them at the end of camp presentation.

Playing kickball.  Bug and his 2 friends ended up on one team and eventually I ended up on the other team because the other team had so many players who decided to sit out.  At the end only 2 boys were playing and I was with them in out field.

This is P getting ready to kick

Bug kicking and then running to first base.

L kicking

Bug scoring a run, his team went up 5-0 immediately and ended up winning 17-8.  It could have been worse, but the den leader invoked the mercy rule since the other team only had 2 boys playing (they started with 8 boys).

Bug got a chance to pitch

Apollo 11 Den

Our pack had some other boys present, this is the wolves (2nd graders).  We had 3 boys and a leader in this group.  They were in Den Pluto

This is the bears (3rd graders), we had 1 leader and 2 boys in this group.  They were in Den Discovery

Bug's den with the medical officer for camp (our tiger den leader).

One the way home from camp, I treated Bug to an ice cream at the Goode Shop.

Saturday, the boy scouts in Troop 660 held the rain gutter regatta for the cub scouts in Pack 660

the end of the rain gutter regatta is the water balloon fight.

The tent in case the rain arrives (it never did)

Listening to instructions

designing boats- foam pool noodles, cut in half, coffee stirrers, index cards and a straw.  all the items needed for a rain gutter regatta.

You can add in markers, crayons and color pencils for decorations

siblings and he boys scouts also got involved.

The rain gutters, capped and filled with water, ready to go

some of the kids did not want to use straws so they blew their boats down the gutters.  This only worked a few times before the kids using straws started winning.

We had to change ends due to the wind, but it was all good.

N and J racing, N ended up winning against all the other boats in the regatta.

Bug decided not to use a sail and that proved to be the mistake in his boat design.  He could not generate enough force to push the boat down the gutter.

Once the cub scouts finished racing, the boys scouts got into the action.

brother against brother.

And then the sibling winner raced the boy scout winner. 

Finally, time for the water balloon fight.

 

the balloons were gone in 10 - 15 minutes, most everyone got wet, except Bug.  Bug some how stayed completely dry. 

 

After the rain gutter regatta was cleaned up (picking up all the pieces of balloons from the grass), Bug and I headed out to buy some school uniforms.  there are 3.5 weeks until school starts for Bug.  He needed some new shirts and some light weight pants for the Fall and late Spring.  So off to the consignment store to buy these.  He got 5 shirts and 4 pairs of pants for $30.00.  He needs a new pair of shoes and some socks and that is all to get this year.

 

We have a busy few weeks left before school starts, including finishing up our spare bedroom for the student from Japan who will be staying with us for the school year. 

 

Love and hugs,

Deb