Memorial Day weekend

The photos are going to be out of order as I had to pull some from a friend's facebook page.

 

On Saturday, Bug went to work on an eagle Scout project for one of the scouts in his troop.  eagle Scout is the highest rank you can attain in scouts.  Part of the Eagle scout award is a service project that the scout plans, fund raises for and gets done.  The reason the younger scouts help is because one day they will be working on their eagle scout project and will need help too, so the younger guys help the older guys and the cycle continues through the troop.  I dropped Bug off around 10 am. Throughout the day, I received pictures from the eagle scout's parent.

This is what it looked like around 2:30 in the afternoon, at the end of the work day. 

After picking up Bug, Pablo and I took Bug out for a Hawaiian Ice

I got an ice cream- Pablo got most of this, as I only wanted a small ice cream.  Bug got a large Hawaiian ice.

Sunday, we celebrated Cousin Jason's birthday.  Bug loves the hat.

Jason was not too excited about it at all.

the "shame" of wearing the birthday hat.

Today was Memorial Day.  A day to remember those veterans who gave their lives for our freedom.  we went to the same ceremony we did last year, down at Spring Grove Cemetery.  There 999 Civil War veterans buried here.  Memorial Day was started after the Civil war, as a day to decorate the graves of the fallen with flags and flowers.

The Civil War re-enactment group was present again.

A 21 gun salute.

Decorating the graves.  This is the last part of the ceremony, we listened to one of our local congressmen speak, the Colonel of the re-enactment group spoke and there was a presentation of wreaths

Afterward, we listened to some songs from the Civil War song by a couple from the re-enactment group- I did not get pictures.  I loved the music and it really told the story.  I learned some history about the song "Dixie" and the "Battle Hymn of the republic" and the song "when Johnny comes marching home".  It was really interesting.  The end of the day, was listening to my old music teacher, who is a well known Lincoln Portrayer, teach us with Lincoln's own words about our country.  His words resonate today as we see the country coming apart during this election.  There is wisdom in the words from the past.  Mr. Wernz, was my music teacher back in 1978, he went on to be the junior high principal, the high school principal and then the superintendent of the school district. I remember his kindness and his coaching for us to be the best we could be.  I was so happy to see him today.  I think that Bug was not impressed, but I hope he remembers this day as something that shows honor to those who served, are serving, and will serve to defend our freedom. 

 

Mr. Wernz (President Lincoln) and me

Back to the scout project- all the workers having a rest on the finished area.  It will be an area for the hospital workers to come outside and have lunch or to sit and reflect.  It is also an area where the sick children can come out and enjoy a normal activity that they would not have at the hospital.

Earlier in the day- I think Bug is helping to level the stones, or holding them in place.

Scouting is about working hard and having fun

this is boys being silly- standing in the firepit.  It could be a scout skit, how many scouts can you fit in a firepit?

 

While Bug and the scouts were working on this project, I was home working on the garden.  I was able plant our tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and herbs. I am hoping to get potatoes planted this week and we have "volunteer" carrots and onions already coming up in the garden.  I also planted some flowers.  I am looking forward to the harvest this summer.

This is what the site started like.

It is now the last week of school- 3 days basically, but the reality is that they are done now.  Thursday is the award ceremony and Friday is the family picnic.  Then we are off to summer time.  Bug will be spending the first month in sports camps at the local high school.  He will doing basketball camps.  I will not be able to watch him as I have to work, but I think he will have a great time.  The last 2 months of summer will be Y camp (as he has done for the last 5 years) and a week at Boy scout camp.  I am going to see if I can go up for one day.  Bug has said it is fine with him if I come up to camp. 

It is going to be a busy summer.

Love and hugs to you all,
Deb

Soccer Tryouts

Here are the things the little man bought at the Indianapolis Speedway last week.  One hat

He looks super handsome

 

Some dog tags.  He buys dog tags whenever he can

Tonight was select soccer tryouts.  It was the hottest and most humid day so far this Spring/Summer season.  Of course the parents were sitting in the sun, with no shade.  This was the closest I could get to him- he is on the right, the middle boy in white, with the blue socks.

Pablo came out to enjoy the tryouts.  It was pretty hot for a little dog.  He took lots of breaks while we played and watched the tryouts.

Me, sitting in the blazing sun.  This is 7 pm in the evening.

Working hard on listening to the coaches and mastering skills.

While at tryouts, I ran into a friend.  This is A, she is the cousin of my best friend.  we have not seen each other in about 6 years.  Interesting, her son is in the same age group as Little man and last fall, the boys practiced together.  I never saw A at practice because I was sitting behind the field and she was sitting in her car.  How funny.  I think we will be seeing each other quite frequently this Fall.

 

Tomorrow the little man is helping with an eagle scout project with his troop.  I will be planting our garden. Bring on the tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, and herbs.  More pictures tomorrow.

 

Love and hugs,

Deb

what's been happening at our house?

It has been a busy month here at Casa Cole.  We started the month with Mam's birthday- pictures to come tomorrow when I download the pictures from the other camera. Then we headed to the baseball game on 07May, for the Star Wars themed bobble head give away.  Since food is unbelievably expensive at the game, I packed us a picnic dinner- some grilled chicken, a quinoa/tomato/cucumber salad.  F brought grapes and L brought some more fruit.  The Reds lost the game in the 10th inning, we had already left, but we had a great time visiting with friends.

Our seats were in the highest section, but right behind home plate.

The following Friday (Friday the 13th), little man's school had a carnival.  it was a great success.  He and his friends were excited to win light sabers at the carnival.  They were then happy to spend the rest of the evening having battles.  I entered some raffles and we won a week of camp for little man.  He is not excited about it, so we will donate the week to an organization that works with under privileged kids.  He did not like it because none of his friends are going.  Even the possibility of going to a week of camp with horse back riding every day was not enough to have him consider changing his mind.  Oh well.

Little Man and his buddy having an ice cream. He was a happy boy at the carnival.

I began the process of picking a color to paint my room.  We are going to host an exchange student again, and the boys will share my room and I will move into little man's room.  I have to do this because I need my office, so at the end of the work day, I can shut the door and leave work behind. So we had about 6 choices of colors. I posted them on facebook and it was amazing how many people ended up choosing the color I ended up going with- which was not my first choice. 

The color in the upper right below is the one I went with.  It is called "Sea Ice", a very pale blue.

I wanted the one below in the top right- called "Tahitian Breeze", a little more blue/green.  But as I looked at it at the store, it was just going to be too dark in the room

On Monday, I met with other volunteers at a local pizza place for the volunteer dinner hosted by the school PTO.  I am not sure what was going on here, but I really was having a great time and enjoying the time with other adults.

At the end of dinner, I was sworn in as the treasurer for the PTO for the next 2 years.  It is big job, but I have lots of support.

 

Back to the colors- with the white around the colors, they stand out a little more. I was still going for the one on the top right and little man had decided on the top middle one

 

On Friday, 20May, little man had his last bowling lesson for this year.  they ended the Spring session with a pizza party and glow bowl  You know the boy, he was happy bowling, eating pizza and enjoying the glow.  I had to go pick him up a little early as he was leaving for a weekend boy scout camp at 6:30 pm.

I sent the camera with him as they were going to Indianapolis 500 time trials.  He did not take a single picture. He came home with a new tee shirt and hat.  I will post those pictures soon.  I thought about going on this camp out- parents are allowed to go- but I really wanted to paint.  So I painted Friday night, then thought I could go up with some other moms on Saturday.  They decided to leave at 7:30 am and did not come up until 7 pm.  I am glad I did not go, as I would have been so tired and would not have finished the painting.  Next year I am going, this is the camping trip with running water and flushing toilets!  And, there is the fact that I love auto racing.  Definitely, I am going next year.

 

So here is the start of the painting on Friday night.

This is Saturday, 3 walls are done. I decided to paint the last wall a very pale green.  I am going for a serene sea glass theme.  I am going to end up making a new quilt for me, which means I need to finish little man's Star Wars quilt.

 

Tonight, little man had his year end band concert.  He is in advanced band now all 5-8th graders from local catholic schools. 

 

Mam joined us for the concert and I treated them to ice cream after the concert.  Little man has 6 more days of school.  Expect a bunch of photos next week from the end of the school events.

 

Love and hugs,

Deb