Cub Scout Rocket Academy

Our local scout council held a full day Rocket Academy for the boys (and dads!).  Stuart and Nicholas were pretty excited about going.  The boys started off with shooting some pre-made pressurized rockets with some type of air pump. 

They also shot some rubber band guns.  While I don't see the connection between the rubber band guns and rocket academy,  I can tell you that after talking with Nicholas and one of the other scouts, these guns were close to the best part of the day.  They loved them!

If one gun is good, then two must be better!

There were also live critters to examine and touch like this king snake!

Rocket Academy was held at Sid Richardson Scout Ranch.  They have their own special grace that they say before meals.

Finally it was time for the boys to build their own rocket.

The rockets were marked with identification so you would know which was yours and then they were lined up in a row on a table.

A short distance behind the rockets was another table where the rocket builders waited for the command to hit the button to launch their rockets.  There were 18 stations and rockets went off one after another down the line.

Stuart didn't put enough wadding in his rocket which caused the streamer to catch fire and burn up.  So in addition to his rocket falling back to earth quickly, he also lost the marker to help him identify it.   But I think he figured it out since he may have been the only one without a streamer :)

Nicholas is quite proud of his own rocket!

After a long day building, running, and playing, Nicholas snoozed a little on his way home.  Although he still denies that he was asleep.  He was just "resting" for a moment.

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Celebration

Tonight we had our Cub Scout Blue and Gold celebration.  It's kind of a birthday party for Boy Scouts of America which was first organized in February 1910.  We celebrated their 103rd birthday tonight.

Our pack threw a big disco party at Lone Star Skating Rink in Denton to celebrate.  We had the whole place to ourselves and it was catered by Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers!

Since Nicholas is so used to ice skating, he chose some inline skates.  He's never been on inline skates before but he did an amazing job skating around.  Although he had no idea what "disco" was, he enjoyed the laser lights on the floor and lots of glow sticks.

Rachel wasn't intimidated by skates.  She grabbed one of the cradles to help her get used to the skates.  Soon she was zipping all over the place.

She was excited to see some of her friends there too.

Here's a quick video of Nicholas and Rachel skating around.  I wish I had gotten more video of Nicholas but for most of the time the lights were low so the camera couldn't pick him up well enough.



Happy Birthday Scouting!

Cub Scout Bear Badge

In Cub Scouts, third graders are working on their Bear Badge. This requires completing 12 achievements in the categories of God, Country, Family, and Self.

The Cubmaster read the following as one of the Assistant Cubmasters painted Nicholas' face with blue and gold face paint.

"Nicholas, tonight we recognize that you have taken your next step along the Cub Scout Trail.

"You have completed the achievements required to ear the Bear badge.  The Bear is respected by all other animals because of its size, its loyalty to its family, and its ability to hunt and fish.  In The Jungle Book, the story from which the names of the Cub Scout badges come, it is the bear Baloo who teaches the man child Mowgli the Law of the Jungle.

"In earning this badge, you have traveled the way of the Bear, sharing activities with your family and demonstrating useful skills in life.  You also have followed the Cub Scout Pledge, learning about your faith and your duty to God and learning about our country and its traditions.

"Tonight we mark you with the Cub Scout colors of Blue and Gold.

"Blue represents truth and the loyalty for which all Bears are known - loyalty to God, family, country, friends, and, most importantly, loyalty to your beliefs and convictions.

"Gold represents good cheer and happiness.  It's easy to be happy on a special night like tonight.  But remember that a Cub Scout always looks on the bright side of things, rather than the gloomy side.  Remember to spread your good cheer by bringing happiness and a bright outlook to those around you.

"I now present your Bear badge to your Akelas (that means parents) and ask that they present them to you.

Later his whole den was called up to get their patches and pins from the last month.

To celebrate the new Bear, we took the kids to Tutti Frutti for some frozen yogurt.

The kids love this place because they can fix their own yogurt cups and mix and match from lots of different flavors.

Then they can add toppings like fruit, candy, sprinkles, and syrups until it is a mound of sweet sticky goodness.

What a fun night!  We are so proud of Nicholas and his how much he has learned and achieved through scouting.

I Told Her "No"

Earlier today, I told Rachel "No".  I don't even recall now what it was about.

She huffed a little and walked off.  I thought she went to her room but a few minutes later she called me over to her to show me this.

She pouted out her little lip and pointed to the pictures as she said, "This is me.  I"m mad because you told me "No"."

I can't stop laughing!  

I love the little fingers and toes but the expression on her face is just the funniest!

At least she has a good understanding of how to read facial expressions.  Ha!

Goodnight Moon at Dallas Children's Theater

The Dallas Children's Theater is launching the performance Goodnight Moon based on the classic children's story book by Margaret Wise Brown.  We usually go to plays during the school week because school performances are much cheaper than the regular performances on the weekends.  However, I learned that Dallas Children's Theater will let you attend their dress rehearsal night for "whatever you can pay".  You can attend for free but they hope you will at least donate $5 per person to attend. Since it was in the evening, Stuart was available to watch Nicholas which was so great because he was not interested at all in seeing the "little kid" show.

Rachel was excited about the girls' night out.  She said she wanted to bring "Baby Rachel" (her Bitty Baby doll) to the show with us.  She and her baby doll wore matching dresses.  We read the story of Goodnight Moon before we left the house and Rachel brought the book in the car with us so she could "read" it again to her baby doll along the way.

We were the first people to arrive so we passed some time in the lobby.  They still had the Pinkalicious cutout from a previous performance so Rachel let her baby doll pose as Pinkalicious!

I love the line up of upcoming shows....Rumplestiltskin, A Wrinkle in Time, Boats (a puppet show), The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!  I think we might have to plan on some trips to DCT this season :)

We played with the puppet theater.  By then there were other kids waiting in the lobby too so there were often lots of puppets at the window.

Rachel loved just hiding behind the curtain and then peeking out to say "Boo!"  We have lots of puppets at home but a crummy tabletop puppet theater that likes to fall over.  I wish we had a cool puppet theater like this!

Rachel's favorite thing to do when we read Goodnight Moon is to find that silly mouse that moves around on the pages.  So when we saw the giant backdrop of the "great green room", instead of wanting to pose for a picture, she had to find that little mouse.

The audience is not allowed to take pictures during the show but I got this quick picture of Rachel and her baby doll as we waited for the show to begin.

For more information about the Dallas Children's Theatre performance of Goodnight Moon, you can check out my review on She Is Dallas or visit the DCT website.