Cowboys of the Caldera!

 

This was a big weekend for Michael.  He has spent at least the past month planning the District Camporee for the Boy Scouts.  Since he has some "connections" he was able to secure a special area in the Valles Caldera (normally off limits to the public for camping).  A group effort between a few other adults from area BSA troops and our family (I painted signs, gathered prizes, E- came up with the "theme", M- cut and sanded signs), it appeared to be a HUGE success!  With at least 150 campers, this was a pretty big deal!

Michael went up early to set up, E- headed out on Friday evening, and I went up for the day today.  The weather is always unpredictable in the Caldera.  It was 70+ at our house, but went from clouds, to sun, to snow, to hail and rain throughout the day at the Caldera.  

Some of the adults (including Michael) even got into the "cowboy" theme.

Michael planned out stations for the scouts - prizes will be handed out tonight for the winning patrols.  (not shown - GPS and Tracking)

Lashing - using knot skills to tie two sticks together and levering them up to try and get a bucket on the top of the pole.

Compass/Orienteering - I am pretty sure the Venturers won this one by a long shot!  That's E- in the lead:)

A race to tie the scout knots

First Aid - the Venturers won this one too!  

Fire Building - the Venturers weren't too great at this one:(  

Belle and Barney (the newly almost complete trailer) made the trip too!

E- got to serve up the Green Chile Stew!  These guys eat pretty well for camping.

Some of the Venture Crew - and honorary member little "carrot stick".

The Caldera is quite the beautiful site!  All should feel pretty special to get the opportunity to camp there:)

I pretty much love this picture;)  Although it is a little freaky how much they look alike!

Until next year Troop 17....!   Yee-Haw!

Fabulous Fourteen!

M- turned 14 today!  I'll admit, 13 is an age I am glad to leave behind.  It was a rough one - but oh how I love my boy!  He is polite, kind, smart, huggy, honest, strong, loving, hard-working, tough, trustworthy, and handsome!  I'll stop there, but really he is such a great kid and both his Dad and I are super proud of the young man he has become.  14 will be an adventure as he heads into a new world of learning (charter school), works toward his Eagle Scout (it is his next rank), becomes a junior instructor at taekwondo, and enjoys most of the summer on his own at Boy Scout camps.  

We celebrated earlier in the week as he left today for a competition in Texas.  Another adventure he was very excited about!  Good thing we got him a phone for his birthday as he's been texting me his whereabouts all afternoon:)  

E- got him a very cool Captain America hoodie.  He can pull this off quite well:)

We all had fun at the trampoline park.  Even hubby got in on the fun and discovered he can still do splits and flips at 45!

*** Note:  We were all pretty sore the next day!

After burning off a bunch of calories we headed back home for M-'s fave meal of the month:  Juicy Lucy's (a double burger patty stuffed with cheese), sweet potato fries, and some mint chocolate cookie milkshakes!   MMmmmmmmm!

Just a couple more pics of M- helping with the little ones at TKD... this is about the cutest thing ever!

He is really a natural - The kids just love him!

Happy Birthday!  

  

Randomly Rambling'

I love my kids!  Look how happy and silly they are:)  Seriously, I love the way they look out for each other, have fun together, support and help and stick together.  Yes - they have their moments, but usually they are pretty great.  Wish this pic wasn't so blurry, but it makes me smile anyway.

Here are a couple Spring photos from the yard.  Fruit trees are blooming, bulbs are popping, lilacs smell sweet, and everything is greening up.  We've also got a little garden going... maybe we'll yield some produce this year?!  Fingers crossed - 

We are slowly winding down the year.  Both kids finished Spanish, M- close to completing pre-Algebra. E- gearing up for ACT and AP Euro History tests.   We are all finding motivation hard to come by... pushing hard to get everything done so we can begin the busy summer season!

Studying is much more enjoyable when done outside.  Multi-tasking while playing with the dogs!

E- takes her breaks trying to catch the turtles (we now have 3), lizards, and frogs.  She's mastered getting them with her hands now and doesn't even need the net.  Catching at least 2 a day.   They are everywhere!

M- heads to El Paso with his TKD team to compete in a demo competition soon.  He is pretty psyched to go by himself.  He's got a pretty big part doing multiple forms to music, nunchucks, and a cool flying kick called "stairway to Heaven".  

E- was one of 3 teens selected by our church to attend a leadership conference in Denver over the summer.  She'll be busy as it is the week before the summer writing workshop in Kansas.  The kids will be travelling more than me this summer!

I was super happy to re-connect with a friend from WA who I had no idea was reading the blog!  Yay Ann:)  Cheers to friends!  

  

  

The Perfect College!

We visited Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) this past week.  E- has been wanting to go here since her 8th grade Logic teacher told her about it.  We figured we should visit sooner than later for various reasons.  Let me tell you that if I could design a college for my daughter THIS would be it!  TAC is definitely not for everyone, but it is most definitely for E-; and both her Dad and I knew it the minute we set foot on campus.  

In brief, TAC is a Catholic Great Books College.  Professors are called "Tutors", classes are all seminar style, there are no tests, there are only 400 kids at the college, close to 80% of them are on a work study program (meaning they are running/upkeeping the campus), there is a dress code and rules and respect.  There is a focus on reading the original works of Aristotle, Euclid, Thomas Aquinas etc...  E- loves this stuff!    

Can't get a smile much bigger than this!  E- got to stay in the dorms with 2 other freshman, sit in on classes (Theology was a favorite), and eat on campus (Hubby and I did as well and the food was... good:))

This is me after learning that my 'transcripts' and records of homeschooling were "superb" from the admissions guy!  Let me tell you that I have been stressing about this for oh about 4 years or so!  If you homeschool through high school, you are not only teacher, but guidance counselor and all - lots of pressure on me!  

TAC even has a campus dog - Rusty - for the kids!  He runs around begging the kids to throw the ball for him and hangs out during the day and chases the deer away at night.

And the library!  E-'s heaven!  I'll let her post about it so make sure you check out The Spilled Inkwell sometime in the next week or so as I am sure she will elaborate.

And now for the downside of the trip.... TAC was super generous to provide not only food for our family during our visit, but also housing for Hubby and I free of charge.  We were 'warned' that it was modest.  Modest was accurate - reminded us of park housing.  We were pretty sure we could survive free and modest accommodations, but we were NOT prepared for night time....  Snuggling in the less than full size bed and roasting in the CA heat would have been tolerable, but did you know the bugs come out at night???  Each night when the sun went down the trailer walls, windows, bathrooms, and even the bed crawled with pinch-ass bugs and other flying gnats!  Okay, not the technical name for silver-fish, but come on they have pinch asses so that's what we call them!  I swear hubby killed close to 100 the first night.  Needless to say, we didn't sleep much for 3 days.

The place is pretty beautiful!  

As if visiting TAC was not exciting enough, E- got to meet up with her friend from OYAN (who happens to live 5 minutes from campus and whose Dad is a professor at the college).  These two are 'peas in a pod' let me tell you!  Non-stop talking, laughing, and fun  - and she has a super sweet family as well.  

Friends!  

E- will head back to TAC next summer for their summer program.  Until then... she is dreaming of attending there and is not too happy that she still has 2 more years of high school!