Caleb's Aquarium Sleepover

Jason and the three boys were able to join up with the Cub Scout Pack for a sleepover at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg.  They even slept in a tunnel with sharks swimming all around them.  There were crafts, games, scavenger hunts and pizza involved.  It was our pack's thank you to all the scouts that sold popcorn that year.  What a treat to be blessed with such a great pack.  

Cub Scout Family Camp

The family got to spend a beautiful fall weekend in Rockwood, TN at Camp Buck Toms. The kids got to climb a climbing wall, eat s'mores, hike, sleep in a tent and enjoy the outdoors.  Here's our view from the tent. Gorgeous! 

Bicycling with Ethan

Ethan finished up earning his Sportsman merit badge for Scouts this week with an hour bike ride with me one morning.  We awoke to 43 degrees.  It was a little chilly on our ears and chins but warmed  up quickly.  We stumbled across this sidewalk chalk drawing in the park.  It's from one of the kids' favorite shows.  Someone spent some time making this.  It looked great. 

Cub Scout Family Camping Trip

Ethan's Cub Scout Pack had their spring family camping trip in April to Big South Fork National Park.  The whole weekend was free for everyone!  Food included.  It was planned to celebrate the boys' successful popcorn selling fundraiser in the fall.   The food was delicious!  Not just your hotdogs and s'mores but complete meals with even homemade cobblers one night.  

It wasn't the exact place I wanted to celebrate my birthday but we did have fun.  Georgia went camping with us too.  The temps dropped in the 30's at night and we woke to a shivering, teeth chattering dog.  Jason covered her with an orange blanket to keep her warm.  That's how she slept.  That morning, she climbed up on my cot with me under my sleeping bag and snuggled until she stopped shaking.  It was too cute and sad at the same time.  

Ethan earned lots of badges that weekend.  He's almost done with his Arrow of Light requirements now too.  

WVLT TV Station Tour

Ethan's Cub Scout pack got to sit in on a live 6:00 newscast last week. We all learned a lot. I'm counting it for a field trip and school hours, definitely!

Pine Wood Derby 2013

Ethan's Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby race was a success! I volunteered to be on the parent planning committee this year and boy did they keep me busy. From making the stadium, to putting together the track and chairs to baking snacks, it was all worth it. Funny thing, with all the race day excitement and work to be completed,  I never got a picture of my Cub Scout in his uniform with his car. I only got pictures of his siblings and the derby itself. Ethan, Hannah and Caleb's cars all did well but did not place first in the pack. They did have fun though and have some great derby cars to show for it.

3 Musketeers race cars that Ethan made for the scouts.

The concession's table that my kids helped make.

The stadium that Jason and I helped the leaders build.  It holds the cars during the race.

Hannah with her red #7 car all check in and ready to race.

Caleb with his blue with white stripes race car.

Andrew taking about the benefits to being a Boy Scout.

Ethan's red race car getting ready to race. 

First year with the race shown on the "Jumbotron".

Ethan's Blue and Gold Banquet 2013

Every February, Cub Scout Packs across the nation celebrate Scouting's birthday with a Blue and Gold Banquet.  Normally, the night is filled with good food, games, friends, skits, and more.  This year's theme was a western one.  All my kids had a great time.  Unfortunately, I was so busy checking in the families and taking money (since I'm the Pack's treasurer) that I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures.  I only shot this cute one of my partners in crime during clean up at the end.  Check out those smiles!  Can you tell they had fun? 

It's Popcorn Time in Tennessee

It's October and that means it's time to sell some popcorn with the Scouts.  It's a great fundraiser that they've been doing for years.  Our pack even sets up booths every weekend in front of the grocery stores to help raise money for the Cub Scout Pack.  Here is Ethan as we worked one Sunday afternoon selling tubs and tubs of that yummy, buttery snack. 

Ethan the Webelo

Ethan finished all his requirements to earn his Bear Badge this year and has been promoted to Webelos. Here he is in his new uniform looking more like a Boy Scout everyday.

Cub Scout Camp

 Ethan just returned from his first Cub Scout Summer Camp. It was a long but fun week for him. He shot BB guns, learned archery, built and painted a wooden helicopter and boat, played games galore and learned tons. The total hours spent at camp were actually more than the entire school year spent at scout meetings combined. He earned so many badges and belt loops that the leaders sent home checklists to give to their pack leaders. Here is Ethan during the final ceremony and leaving camp with all of his goodies.

Ethan's Cub Scout Crossover

Ethan finished all his requirements and earned his Bear Badge for Cub Scouts this year.  He officially is now a 1st year Webelos.  Here he is earning his awards and doing the "official" crossover to his new Webelos den.

The BEST Cub Scout event EVER!

All three boys were able to attend a Cub Scout event to see the Knox County Sheriff's Helicopter at Knoxville's Downtown Island Home Airport last weekend. What they didn't know was that their new Troop Leader is a licensed pilot with his own plane sitting at the same airport and he had planned to take the scouts up for a ride. It was my boys' first airplane ride ever! They were over the moon excited. The Cessna plane they went up in only sat 4 which meant that this momma had to sit out and nervously watch her boys go up without her. They were so excited and I'm quite impressed with Andrew's ability to take good pictures with my IPhone camera. Here they are!

Andrew's Webelos Badge

Andrew started Cub Scouts this past August. He has loved it and has devoured his Scouts' book. He has known from the beginning that he only had 6 months to accomplish all he wanted to do in Cub Scouts as a Webelos II before crossing over to the Boy Scout troop.

In his pack there are other Webelos II scouts who've been in the pack for years. He fit right in and worked just as hard. He actually outpaced them. In the fall, Andrew asked if he could start doing some of the badge work at home during school time. I agreed and he set the pace working almost every day on finishing more and more work to receive the badges. This past Tuesday, Andrew was awarded his Webelos badge. He was the first boy out of his pack to receive it. He was ecstatic! His next goal is to receive the highest honor as a Cub Scout, the Arrow of Light. He has 2 things to do/attend and then he'll have it by February. I'm so proud of the hard worker he's become. He even has told me his ultimate goal is to become an Eagle Scout.

Here's his den leader on the left explaining to the pack how he was the first Scout to get the Webelos badge.

I just love the encouragement from the Pack Leader on the right for Andrew. 

Ice Skating Trip

Ethan's Cub Scout den had an ice skating event this week. Jason took Hannah along too. The kids had never been and looked like this at the beginning. They eventually got the hang of it and could skate by the end of the night. We also came home with no broken bones!

Again, sorry for the terrible picture quality. These were taken with Jason's phone.

Spelunking

Saturday was a perfect day to go spelunking with the Cub Scout pack. Jason loaded up Andrew, Ethan, Hannah, our neighbor Greg and his son Gabe in his truck. Jason packed tons of garbage bags for them to sit on when returning home. He just KNEW they'd be covered from head to toe in mud. Boy, were they ever! Looks like they rolled in the mud, doesn't it? Actually, they had to crawl on their hands and knees at one point in the cave which caused the massive build up of mud all over them. Hannah was so muddy that she didn't want her picture taken with the group but she later agreed to this one on her own. Can you guess which appliances have been running in my house nonstop for days? My washing machine and dryer of course! Wisk came to the rescue. All the mud came out except for the white parts on Andrew's shirt but that's to be expected.

Scouts' Hiking Trip

Andrew, Ethan and Hannah recently hiked with their Cub Scout pack on a 3 mile hike through the mountains. Hannah joined the boys to get her badge for American Heritage Girls. The views at the top were gorgeous. The kids had a blast with the pack and never complained about the hard terrain. I was amazed at how fast the kids were practically running up the mountain. I on the other hand did NOT run up the mountain but was thankful to not be the last adult in the group either and SUPER thankful that Jason had volunteered to keep Caleb. He would have never made it.