Scout camp and painting

these are out of order as I was trying to pull them from my phone and camera.  this is Bug Saturday before camp and BB leaving- a new hair cut and breakfast with mom.

all packed for camp- growing up so fast

While Bug was at camp, the plan was to repaint his room, change his bed to a regular twin bed and redo his room.  He was ready to let go of the "little boy" room and move into the preteen room, or young man's room.

So picture of bed to sell it online (ended up donating it)

Good bye bed! Good bye stuff!

We headed to the Greek festival as our last outing as 3 person family.  Bug and N had a great time riding the rides.  BB enjoyed the Greek food and desserts.  Yum food for the mommas too

the younger boys headed to the slide to use up the rest of their tickets. 

they may be growing up, but they love the slide.  Such a fun time together.  Notice that the boys are dressed in long pants.  After years of this festival being a blazing hot day, it was cool and threating rain all day.  even dressed in long pants the boys were complaining of being cold by the end of the night.

BB enjoying the Greek food.  I think he liked it.

We toured the Greek Church- so embellished.  it is very inspiring to look at.

Sunday morning, we had breakfast as a family and then dropped Bug off for scout camp.  I would see him the next day, but this was the last time Bug and BB would see each other.

The rest of the boys from Bug's Den waiting for the last boy to arrive to head to camp for 4 days/3 nights

The 5 Senior Weblos, ready for camp and lots of fun.

Back at home, the last picture of BB with the start of school page.  Less than 24 hours left at home before heading home to Japan

We were invited over to a friend's house to try out the construction equipment.

Ken owns a construction company and was happy to show us around his property and let BB "drive" the equipment.  No real driving, lots of sitting and enjoying making the equipment move up and down and side to side.

That evening, I began the work in Bug's room- so walls taped, furniture moved out.  and first coat of paint put on.  Bug went from a "toy story" colored room to a "Denver Broncos team colors" room.

The toy story colors- Blue and green

Orange for the Denver Broncos

The first coat- showing how the orange fits right in to the room.

Monday morning was saying good bye to my teenager.  We both cried and after I left the drop off, I was crying on the way to scout camp.  I will miss my teenager, BB. 

Of course, I had to prevent him from saying anything (we were playing around here).

One last look at my boy.

The scouts needed me at camp as they were a parent short (per scout requirements) so I spent 12:30- late evening with the boys.  I made it to camp by lunch time.

I helped move a table so they could clean out a gutter that was flooding the counselors room

I got to see where bug and his den was staying.  this was the messiest their room got per the leaders.

lots of games in the fort.

swimming at the pool.  The hike up to the pool included walking up 147 steps through the woods!  I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Pack 660 Senior weblos- their last year as cub scouts begins.

Back home that evening, the second round of painting begins.  With BB heading to home to Japan, I needed to move my office back into the spare bedroom.  Good bye purple walls from when "butterfly" stayed with us 5 years ago.

Hello light green to be a calming background to my office and spare bedroom

Loving the color

after one coat in the office, it was back to Bug's room for the second coat of paint. His walls ended up needing 4 coats of paint to cover the green. Apparently green is one of the hardest colors to paint over.  Why does no one every know these things until after the fact?

DONE!

back to the office for coat 2 on the walls- this room took 2 coats of paint to cover. so much easier.

except I had to do half the room and then move everything to the other side.  with 2 rooms being painted, there was no place to store everything to allow me to paint a whole room at one time.

futon moved into place and Pablo was happy to have a bed to lay on while I painted.  he was the supervisor for the painting adventure.  He ended up with some orange paint on his flank and some spots of green on his back.

The basic layout for Bug's room- his bed needs to be put together, but this is the location.

the toy bins survived the painting.  this was Wednesday morning and it was time to head back to camp.  they needed me one more day

catching up with the boys- so happy and so excited to be scouts.

playing "disability" kickball. 

blind

ear plugs to simulate being deaf

they used gloves and crutches to also simulate disabilities for the boys.  it was interesting.

the Senior weblos, getting ready to hike to the boy scout camp to go "bloobing".  Bug and his friend P were not doing it, but they came along to help me get picture.

lining up to go bloobing. 

P and Bug with bloob behind them.  one kid jumps from the wood platform and that pushes another boy into the water or actually launches another boy into the water. 

one boy has to crawl out to the end.

life guard on a paddle board.

the 3 amigos who completed the bloob.  I don't have pictures of them bloobing because I took videos instead.

great friends

proof that if bug is hungry enough, he will eat spaghetti.  He has not eaten spaghetti for me since he was 2.5 years old.  no more excuses from him now.

and this is what 4 days at camp looks like on the drive home. 

moving on to just a few days ago- I took the bug to see the minion movie- one happy boy.

We worked the Pray, Hope, Believe- registration table on 03Jul.  Bug and I were supposed to walk the race on 04Jul, but we both were exhausted after our week of camp and painting.

The baseball All start game was in Cincinnati and we headed down to fanfest.  we got to see the world series trophy for this year's world series (in October 2015)

the trophies for the home run derby

Our friend L came with us

We did some pitching to see how fast we throw- about 25 miles per hour for Bug and me.

HUGE bat

getting to hold and pose with the bat Pete Rose used to hit his 2000 career hit. 

This s GianCarlos' bat.

teeball "home run"

As Cincinnati has the oldest professional team, we had these All star mustaches around town.  they are very cool.  they are only up thru the end of July and we have been able to see a bunch of them.

this one is 2 sided and is outside Duke Convention center.

this one is outside of City Hall

City Hall- definitely showing the influence of the German settler's in Cincinnati.

Bug was gifted a set of drums.  Jas came over to help set them up.

having a lesson

another movie together.

popsicle at church- watching Frozen

baseball game with friends- the hockey pig behind the boys

water bottle misters due to the heat and humidity.

Another mustache, on Crosley Terrace in front of the baseball stadium.

our seats - 3 rows from the top.  Literally and figuratively the "nosebleed" section after bug had a nose bleed due to the heat and humidity.  I was up and down the stairs for tissues, ice and other things for bug.  he was too afraid to walk down the stairs with his nose bleed.  First aid was clear across the stadium, but all was well.  the nosebleed lasted about 30 minutes. 

See- we are way up here.  Bug's nosebleed came around the 6th ending. 

this is around the 8th ending, the Reds had been loosing all night and by this time, the crowd cleared out.  The boys wanted to stay to the bitter end.

Bug and I worked on some Christmas gifts.  This is a great craft and we will be making lots more this year.

Finally, I bought a kiddie pool for Pablo to use, but the dog refuses to get into it.  Bug thought it would be great to get into it.  I should pull up one of the pictures from 2007 to show the comparison in size.  Bug is one silly young man.

love and hugs,

Deb