Spring Camporee 2009

Kip went camping this past weekend at Camp Snyder in Haymarket, with several other Boy Scout troops from nearby areas. These camporees always have a theme, and this one was building medieval siege engines. Pretty cool! The boys were supplied with logs and poles, and plans. They had to work together to figure out the plans, and lash the poles together securely enough to hold their catapult upright in holes they dug, and fling an object farther than any other troop.

They had to finish building it and setting it up by noon, and the competition was after lunch. Just as they were testing it, a rope broke! Sam and Johnny had to climb up and fix it, and we almost ran out of time. Their practice shots looked good. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay all day, so I didn't get any pictures of the competition itself. However, I was told that they came in second, behind a troop whose machine was already built when they arrived, and had wheels and everything! (Is that allowed?!) Doesn't matter; our guys did a great job!

That night there was a ceremony to announce the scouts who had been elected to the Order of the Arrow, an elite group, by the other members of their troop. Kip says he was surprised to hear his name called, but even more surprised at the huge bolt of lightning that punctuated it! Hope that wasn't some kind of bad omen... Two other boys in his troop were also elected, but they are both a couple years older than Kip, so we're very proud of him.

Weekend at Lynne's

Todd was out of town, so Jody and Cathy and I spent the weekend in Front Royal with Lynne so she wouldn't be lonely. And so the bears wouldn't get her! Lynne and Todd are hunters, and have deer and birds and fish and bears stuffed and mounted and preserved all over the basement! It's like a museum in there, and Jody & I couldn't resist mugging with the bears. This was after a couple drinks, could ya tell? This is why they have ropes in front of the exhibits in a real museum...

Evening Out

Lon's friend Chad came to town on business, so we got together with him and our mutual friends James & Shirley. We trusted Kip to stay home alone at night for the first time ever. Had a great dinner at Red Rock Canyon, although I had to take half my dinner home because I was so stuffed! The plate was huge to begin with, not regular dinner-plate size, and it was full to overflowing with steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, and these fried onion things. It was like 3 times the amount of potatoes I would have served myself, and twice the green beans. The steak was pretty large, but some of it was the bone. One good thing (besides having instant lunch the next day!) is it left no room for 5000-calorie dessert, ha ha.

Chad, James, Shirley, Lon & I then drove to our favorite pool hall, Bungalow Billiards. I believe I have a post from last year, where we were shooting pool there. There were some amazing shots, and some funny as hell attempts. Lon's trick was jumping the cue ball over another ball to hit the desired ball. Once he actually sank the intended target, but the cue ball bounced right off the table! Chad shots tend to be quick and powerful. James touches the cue ball tenderly and lets it kiss the ball into the pocket ever so slowly and gently. Shirley uses short little strokes, and I just basically close my eyes and pray something goes in... I try to use logic, like "If I hit you right - here - you should head in that direction." Doesn't always work. Okay, seldom works! But we had a great time, and I think everyone had a chance to be on a winning team, as we kept switching partners and taking turns sitting out a game. As Lon & I were driving home, I told him we really must be old now. We've been out for a night of drinking and shooting pool with friends, and we'll be home well before midnight! Used to be we'd get close the place down! Even Kip was surprised when we strolled in at 11:45, to find him asleep in front of the TV. Can't wait to do it again next time Chad's in town!

Bathroom Remodel

We've been working on the upstairs bathroom for almost a year now! First we tore down the old black & white print wallpaper. Empire Today came out and fitted the tub & shower with a new surround last spring. Then we painted the walls and put up a new medicine chest and a "lotion cabinet" and towel racks. This past weekend, Lon's brother Colby came down and helped us tear out the old 1x1" tile flooring and lay 12x12 tiles. He has the experience, and the wet saw and other tools necessary for this kind of job. Everyone helped, but I know Colby did the bulk of the work, and I can't tell you how much we appreciate it!

In the first picture you can see what it looked like before. Kip built some muscles prying up 35-year-old tiles. Colby found a unique way to lay the new tiles without having to step on them. The odd pieces had to be cut with precision. We set up the saw on the deck, on top of the old vanity we tore out. It was a gorgeous day out! I thought this last picture was a final shot, but you can see the baseboard tiles aren't up... Still, you can see the big improvement over the "before" picture! I'm so happy to have my bathroom back in use, too!

Charlie's 50th Birthday

Saturday night Ruth threw a party for Charlie's 50th birthday. Colby & Kathy came with us and brought their boys, who had a blast playing ping pong against the big kids. Kip and Emylee and Devon (Ralph's daughters) switched off as Ayden and AJ's opponents, and also played Guitar Hero with Sam. Meanwhile, the adults lounged around upstairs, like Ruth here, or hung out in the kitchen, like people tend to do at parties... Brian & Kathy were there, and we joked that it was the second time we had seen each other in a year, since they had also been at Lon's surprise party last March. As usual, the food was great, and as usual, Kip didn't want to leave!

Images of Christmas

Was wondering why my pictures come out in the opposite order that I pick them, then I realized that it's like the blog itself, it starts from the bottom and runs upwards. So here's Kip and me under our tree. He has been the official tree-picker-outer since he was about 5 and picked a perfect one. This year we had rearranged the living room, and the coffee table is temporarily against the wall. So we got a short tree and set it up on the coffee table. Looks good, but the ornaments are crammed into a smaller space; in fact we didn't have room for several of the less sentimental ornaments.

We had a quiet Christmas morning at our house; Santa was very generous, as usual. Kip's big present this year was Rock Band for his Play Station 2, with the drumset, microphone and guitar (which he already had, from Guitar Hero). I was excited to rock out with him, and we couldn't help but get silly for a photo op... Lon got me a pair of diamond earrings, and I got him a chainsaw. It caused him to make noises like Tim "The Toolman" Taylor, ha ha. Two days later, we drove up to Rocky Ridge and exchanged gifts with the Child family. You can see that Allan is hanging in there just fine.

Newcombs visit

Because it was Black Friday, we really didn't want to go into DC to the monuments and museums there. We figured it would be really crowded and the traffic would be bad. So after we checked out the Air & Space museum, we drove to the Stone Bridge on Lee Hwy between Centreville and Manassas. The bridge spans Bull Run, the border between Fairfax and Prince William counties, and was important during the first battle of Manassas. It's a popular spot, and there are hiking trails through the woods nearby, but we didn't do that. We then went to the battlefield nearest our house, and listened in on one of the tours. That was kind of boring for the kids, so I took them to climb on cannons and play tag in the tall grass so the adults could hear what the tour guide was saying. Then we took the obligatory tourist pictures, ha ha. That was their last evening in town, so after pizza, we pulled out the board games and had a blast! Here we're playing Pictionary, and from the expressions I'd say no one guessed Kip's drawing... The boys beat the girls on that one, but we soundly defeated them at Password earlier! (Anyone know what "festooned" means? How do you make someone say "defer"?! Oh, never mind...)