Proud Dad / Happy Husband

I now have 3 boys selling popcorn for their troop/pack, so it’s hard to not play favorites with 3 different selling links to provide. But we won’t. Supporting any of the boys is appreciated. It goes a long way toward paying for the events being planned this year (Cub Scouts going for an overnight trip at a museum - still being planned - and Will doing some super campouts, bike trips, etc.) and their awards and supplies.

Many of the same favorite flavors and styles return from last year, whether it’s microwaveable popcorn (in butter or butter lite flavors, or the fancier chocolate, caramel and cheese flavors. All microwave products are made with canola oil and all chocolate products contain no hydrogenated oils, so there are plenty of healthy, flavorful snacks to choose from.

Or if you do not want to buy popcorn, would you consider making a donation to buy popcorn that will be sent to our troops? This is also a popular option, and one that’s well-received by the troops and their families who receive the actual product.

Before you navigate around the site and possibly buy some popcorn, please click on one of the links below so that one of the boys will get credit for your order.

• To purchase from Will, click here
• To purchase from Daniel, click here
• To purchase from Sean, click here

And if you are local or will see us in late November, we can personally deliver your order. Just call Chip or Kellie, and we can take your order — prices may be slightly different (typically lower), and you do not always have to order larger quantities (like 2 boxes of microwaveable popcorn at a time).

70% of your purchase will be returned to their units, the council and their Scout rewards. Online purchases help them fund fun, educational activities and help more kids experience all the things that make Scouting great. All of your support is greatly appreciated.

And boy, do I ever feel bummed. Yes, I voted — number 204 in the precinct, at around 8am. But this is the most underwhelming slate of candidates I have ever laid eyes on in Virginia. And there have been some terrible candidates before.

But yes, I voted. And you should, too.

And I certainly hope the parties find a better slate of candidates and believable campaign platforms next time. Because these candidates and campaigns were — well, this is a family blog. I’ll leave it at that.

And happy 2013 — coming in here, I realized I hadn’t posted anything since the new year. Yikes!

My parents reminded me this morning that today is Pi Day. And when I mentioned it at work, a co-worker forwarded this image that should just about explain it all, if you don’t understand why today is Pi Day.

I honestly haven’t been able to figure out where this image first appeared, so I cannot give good credit for it. Just enjoy how cool that image/thought is.

Well now, looks like someone else has started out on a new set of adventures. It’s time to start replacing teeth. He lost this one during lunch at school today, but they kept it and he was able to bring it home. The loss was a bit of a surprise — we had no clue he had any loose teeth, and he wasn’t complaining of mouth pain at all.

I guess that says something about how hard the school pizza is. Then again, he looked at me this evening while describing what happened, then got all sad that he didn’t get to finish his school pizza. I guess until that point, he had been so excited about losing the tooth that he didn’t realize he didn’t finish his food.

His biggest question as I was putting him to bed tonight? “Will it be filled in in the morning?” Umm, no — it will take a little while for the new tooth to grow in.

Thanks to Calvin & Hobbes for this strip.

It’s the scariest Halloween yet. Daniel, Will and Sean (as shown to the left) got the costumes they wanted, and they had a load of fun tonight. 90+ minutes around the neighborhood, and they really loaded up. Wow. They’re at home, getting ready for bed, but I think we’ll have plenty of candy for them.

Particularly because we hardly handed out any candy this year. The neighborhood was much less busy this year, even less than last year’s rainy adventure. So we have plenty left over for the adults, I guess.

One last reminder about the popcorn fundraiser for Will and his Cub Scout pack. He’s just over halfway to his goal — which will help pay for a trip to Washington, DC. He’s really excited and looking forward to going.

If you don’t want to order online and can receive a local/personal delivery (i.e., you live near us), just reach out to me, and I can let you know what he’s selling. Delivery will be in mid-November. He must finish taking orders by Sunday, November 4.

Thank you.

Just like last year, Will is selling popcorn as a fundraiser for his Cub Scout pack. The pack has a lot of fun events this year, but the big one that has Will most excited — a day trip to Washington, DC in the spring to see a few sites. And with this being his last year in Cub Scouts, this is his final chance to set a new record in amount of popcorn sold.

Many of the same favorite flavors and styles return from last year, whether it’s microwaveable popcorn (in butter, butter lite, and kettle corn flavors, or the fancier chocolate, caramel and cheese flavors.

Or if you do not want to buy popcorn, would you consider making a donation to buy popcorn that will be sent to our troops? This is also a popular option, and one that’s well-received by the troops and their families who receive the actual product.

Before you navigate around the site and possibly buy some popcorn, please click on this link so that Will gets credit for your purchase. And if you are local or will see us in late November, we can personally deliver your order. Just call Chip or Kellie, and we can take your order — prices may be slightly different (typically lower), and you do not always have to order larger quantities (like 2 boxes of microwaveable popcorn at a time).

All of your support is greatly appreciated.

If you cannot click on the first link above, please copy and paste this full URL into your Internet browser address bar:

http://www.trails-end.com/estore/scouts/email_referral.jsp?id=4403561

School has finally started — and believe it or not, the kids are excited. This year is kind of special, as this is the only year when all 3 boys will be going to the same school. Yes, Will is in 5th grade, and Sean and Daniel are in Kindergarten.

Getting on the bus wasn’t too big of a deal. Will had the routine down, and the twins were just excited to be there. The challenge is that they are on the last bus stop, and so the bus is already very crowded when they get on.

Now we just need to see how their first day of school went. Will already had some homework for school today, though it was pretty easy — bring a picture to school of something he did this summer. I don’t think most other homework days are going to be this easy.

Today’s encounter was a bit unexpected. I was off to drop off the recycling this morning, than what should I find but a nice, big snake in the middle of the road. Nothing poisonous or anything. And it hung out for a while. I had enough time to turn around and get the rest of the family, so the kids could see a live snake up close for the first time.

No, they weren’t allowed to touch it. (One of the kids — I think it was Daniel — did ask.) But it kind of went back and forth, without ever getting off the road. Made for a nice conversation piece with some neighbors and others driving by. I think my neighbor eventually came back with a bag to move it to another, more appropriate location. (He’s a Scoutmaster — I trust him to find a proper home for it to continue living out its life.)

Definitely not something you expect to see every day.

And yes, that’s 3 postings in 1 week. These are short enough to pull off. I need to catch up some more.