October 2009 Archives

Nothing major — just at the daycare facility this afternoon. This was like last year. They get to dress up in their costumes. There is lots of food to eat. Some of the parents get time off from work to visit. And people go home a little early, though this year is a little different in that we don’t have to go trick-or-treating until tomorrow.

So, what are the kids dressing as? Well, you’ll just have to see below.

Will will get a better makeup treatment before going out tomorrow night. (As a vampire, if you cannot quite tell from the picture.)

One of the games that the Older Two class (the age group Sean and Daniel are in) did was apple bobbing. They each got their own little buckets to go bobbing for an apple. Lots of the kids weren’t really sure what to do. But one of ours did know what to do. First one to get it.

I should have thought of this sooner. Will has joined a Cub Scout pack this year, and our one fundraiser every year is a popcorn sale. Perhaps you’ve seen your local pack do this as well. Well, we’re looking to sell more popcorn to support the troop. Most of the money (70%) goes to Will’s pack.

Even better, you can now order online and have it delivered direct to you. You don’t have to be local to Richmond, VA to get it. Just go online at Trail’s End and enter scout ID # 4403561 when it asks you which Scout you are supporting/ordering from.

If you are local and want to order from Will directly (and get him to deliver it to you), look at pages 5 and 6 of this Acrobat file. (Yes, the image is sideways.) I will say that the Chocolatey Triple Delight popcorn (a nice sized tin for $16) is very delicious.

As I said, I should have thought of this sooner. Our sales have to be finished within a week (next Friday, November 6). Please consider supporting a new Cub Scout and his pack. Thank you.

Not sure how I’m supposed to react here. This is a photo of Sean in the arcade room of the local Cici’s Pizza. It was a school spirit night, so we went there, spent our money on dinner, then dropped in the arcade to pretend play. Sean gravitated to this shoot-em-up game. As you can see, he grabbed both gun handles and just pretended to move them all around.

See my dilemma?

With that said, I don’t think he realized what he was doing or what the game even had. He just saw something where he could grab something with both hands and pretend to move them around. He definitely wasn’t making shooting noises. And later, he sat in the driving simulator/racer and pretended to drive by turning the steering wheel and even shifting the gear shift.

So, all’s well here. Especially now that I’m over the flu I had last week (though I still have a cough). More shortly on Will’s camping trip last Saturday night.

OK, first off, mornings are never good for me. I am not a morning person. But Sean picked up Will’s backpack and put it on (almost the the ground, but he could walk around with it), so of course, it’s picture time. And then Sean and Daniel insisted everyone should have a picture taken. And that lead to this round of pictures.

My second excuse? It’s been seven days since I first came down with the flu. I’m actually over it now (really, yesterday), but sleeping was tough most nights, with all of the coughing. So that’s the “real-life,” droopy-eyed view you get of me. I normally look much more chipper. (I think I also didn’t try to look better when the picture was taken.)

I hope none of you get this flu bug. It’s one of the longest lasting ones I have ever gotten.

Maybe you thought I messed up and got the wrong day, but not really. It’s Navy Day — and 234 years ago, the US Navy was first established (as the Continental Navy). So for my Dad, and all of the other sailors and officers who have served in the US Navy, I offer you this little video of the Navy Ceremonial Guard Silent Drill Team winning an international tattoo competition a few years ago. They competed against units from all over NATO and took first prize.

Pretty impressive stuff. Definitely puts the MOB to shame.

At least we wished him a happy birthday as a family closer to his actual birthday, which was last Tuesday (October 6). (Still a day late, but it turns out we likely wouldn’t have reached him anyway that evening. Not that that should be a consolation or anything.)

I’m sure Dad doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I’m here to still wish him a happy birthday, no matter how belated on the Internet. (No, I won’t give away age details.) He got a nice game of golf in on his special day, and he was even able to avoid going in the office. (Good for him.) It was a nice, quiet birthday for him, from what I understand.

So here’s to another year of fun and family for Dad/Grampa. Happy birthday, again — at least one more time this year. Maybe I’ll actually start catching up on some of the other family details that I’m falling behind on.