Boy Scout Camping Trip and VA Creeper Bike Trail

Jason, Andrew and Ethan headed up to Abington, VA last weekend for a Boy Scout camping trip and VA Creeper bike trail. We have been hearing about this trail for years and have only heard great things from everyone. I'd give it a 5 out of 5 stars for how well this place is viewed. The boys rode the 17 mile bike ride (mostly downhill or flat) with all 17 scouts and dads or moms with them.

Here's some info from their website. "The Virginia Creeper Trail is possibly the easiest, prettiest mountain bike ride you will ever encounter. The Va Creeper Trail, which is actually the "retired" railway corridor of the Virginia - Carolina Railroad, has become one of the most popular bicycling trail destinations in the eastern United States. With its gently descending grade and well-groomed surface, lending itself perfectly to downhill adventures, the Virginia Creeper Trail is an attractive mountain-bike ride for cyclists of diverse abilities."

Hannah, Caleb and I stayed home due to lack of readiness. Hannah just wouldn't be ready to ride that long way since her training wheels are off now and she just hasn't mastered the riding yet. We also stayed back to be able to celebrate Hannah's birthday with her on Sunday just the way she wanted. I'll post more about that later. The boys came home exhausted after camping and bike riding but would like to return one day they all said.

Boys Scouts of America

Andrew and Ethan joined our local Cub Scout troop this year. They meet every Tuesday night for an hour at a church within walking distance from us. They had the hardest time deciding which activity to do. We have played soccer every fall since Andrew was a kindergartner. I left the decision up to the older 3 kids. Either they would play soccer this fall for 6-8 weeks or do Scouts and American Heritage Girls for the whole school year. That was the deciding factor. 6 weeks verses the school year was what convinced them to do Scouts.

They are so excited. The boys are eager beavers to learn their Scouts' stuff. We bought their uniforms and books and they are looking forward to their first camping trip at the end of September.

Here are my 3 scout boys. Caleb has a Cub Scouts hat now convincing him that he's a cub scout too. He calls it Cubby Scouts.

Standardized Testing

This week the boys are at Berean Christian School for their Stanford Achievement Tests. Here's how our life changes when they are gone.

1. The house is super quiet except for the occasional 3 year old singing loudly some Queen song.

2. Hannah and I get one on one teacher-student attention.

3. We have to get up super early to get them out the door to Berean.

4. We have our afternoons free!

5. Breakfast has to be some incredible protein filled homemade meal. That normally happens on Saturdays or Sundays. Today's breakfast was turkey bacon and scrambled eggs (fresh from the backyard chickens).

Boys' Choir Performance

This afternoon was the boys' choir performance at church. I was thoroughly impressed with this choir of kids ages six to twelve who practiced every Friday afternoon for three and a half months.

What a treat to see Handel's Messiah performed by young kids! There is a kids' version of the Messiah performance which I didn't know existed until September. That was when my boys were first introduced to it. 14 songs were learned, complete with speaking parts and solo singing parts.

Some boys were dressed as the prophets of old while the rest of the choir was in their best Christmas attire. Andrew was chosen to be the prophet Isaiah. It was a part he deeply wanted. He even prayed to God for it. When the choir directors told him he was chosen to be Isaiah, he was thrilled. His faith was stirred and really believed and experienced God answering his prayer. What a joy for him to experience that and for us to see him so excited about the Lord.

Ethan, our little songbird was chosen to sing a solo. After thinking it over, he actually had Andrew go tell the director that he was too scared to do it alone. Out of her kindness, she encouraged him to sing and offered backup help for him. So with two other boys at his side, he felt confident enough to belt it out! I've had Ethan with me day in and day out for 8 years now. Nothing surprised me more than to see my little joyful comedian scared to sing and so very serious. Even tonight, he looked like he was going to either cry or was writhing in pain. His facial expressions were so expressive and so contemplative but quickly changed to relief after his solo part was finished. He sang like a little angel. He has this sweet voice that stays on pitch. I laughed inside watching him because the voice coming out sure didn't match the expression on it.

Andrew's speaking part was longer than I knew. He practiced for hours on his own even right up to the performance tonight. We played the music in the car on the way there to let them have one last time to practice. He did wonderfully. He completed all his parts with one hand in his pocket too. All business.

Our former neighbors Linda and Bill Pickett came to see the boys' perform. We just love them and call them the kids' Knoxville Grandparents. Here they are with the kids after the performance.

We filmed the whole performance so that all the family can watch at Christmas. No worries, we'll fast forward to their parts only and not make you watch the full 45 minutes. I can honestly say that you'll be happy and proud to see the boys' sing. I know Jason and I are!

Pictures of Ethan singing are coming soon. I'm going to get them from a friend because my camera started acting up (again). Time for a new one.

This is how my church looked after the performance. It started snowing, big fluffy flakes and the wind was fierce. But I was joyful because I knew God had answered MY prayers. He held the snow off and allowed the kids to sing praises about HIM this afternoon and we didn't have to cancel due to the weather, Isn't He good?

Daddy Date Night in East Tennessee

Through effective advertising to little boys, Andrew and Ethan recently learned that they HAD to see the Monster Truck show. If you know these two boys at all you know that they have a great passion for 3 main things. It's like the old Bill Murray and John Candy movie: "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Monster trucks fall under the automobile category. They have Hot Wheels monster trucks, a remote control Monster truck, books, etc. So of course they would want their Daddy to take them to see them. I'm boycotting events like that. Can you imagine the screams that would arise if Hannah was there? So I talked Jason into taking the boys and called it a Double Date Night with Daddy. They loved it. I can only imagine how loud it was in Thompson-Boling Arena (a closed coliseum) Friday night. I sure enjoyed my quiet girls night at home in my pjs. Here are some pictures of the night. Check out Ethan's grimace. Can't you just hear the squeals of the tires just by looking at his face?