Video at Ethan's Eagle Court of Honor

This is the video that we played at Ethan's Eagle Court of Honor on April 27, 2019.

Other 2016 Scouting Events

The boys at the start of their 50-miler across the Sierras.

The boys at Camp Chawanakee.  This was Ethan's fifth summer camp and Ryan's second.

This was on one of their prep hikes - there was a lot of snow!

The boys with their 50-miler awards; their walking sticks for their over-land 50-miler and paddle replicas for their over-water 50-miler.

Green River Trip Kayak Trip

Photo on the Green River taken at one of the troop's stops.  You can see the two-person inflatable kayaks to the left that were purchased by the troop.

Arches National Park - Needs to be on Your Bucket List

The boys with their scout troop that went on the Moab over water 50-mile trip had time to visit Arches and Canyonlands national parks.  We drove them to Salt Lake City to meet up with the rest of their troop at which point the other three members of our family went our separate way.

The Windows Arches at Arches National Park.  If our memory is correct, you're able to walk up to and through these arches.  These are quite large arches with this photo taken from a distance using a telephoto lens.

Balancing Rock - probably one of the more well-known formations at Arches National Park.

Delicate Arch - this is the arch that is on the Utah license plate.  There are three places where you can view this arch.  The furthest away is the main parking lot where most of the tour buses park.  The second location is a slight hike up from the parking lot (this is where this photo was taken).  The third is a two-hour plus hike that will take you to the arch.

This was on the way to Double O Arch at the far reaches of Arches National Park.  This was probably the most strenuous hike in the park for us.  This photo was taken in the late evening.  We made it within sight of Double O Arch, but did not make it all the way to the arch due to darkness.

At the Fiery Furnace Viewpoint.  Took in an incredible sunset on this evening.

Scouting: Ski Trip, Prep Hikes in the Mud and Pancakes

Ryan on breakfast duty flipping pancakes.

That's Ryan with the light blue backpack cover in the middle of the stream of mud.

That's Ethan in the center with the gray backpack cover.

The boys traveled to Camp Norge near Tahoe with their Boy Scout troop for their annual ski trip.  Here's a link to their FaceBook Site:  https://www.facebook.com/campnorgeofficial

Off to Camp Chawanakee

Ethan off to his third boy scout summer camp at Camp Chawanakee.  His troop shoved off at about 1pm today leaving their scout shack, 15 or so boys with three adult chaperones in three vehicles.

Having attended with Ethan his first year, the mystery that might exist with many of the parents regarding boy scout summer camp does not exist for us.  The complications of summer vacation means that not everyone will be traveling to camp together and returning together, making travel logistics somewhat challenging.  Almost every seat in each of the three vehicles was completely filled today by a person or gear as they headed out.



After autographing the trailer, they were soon off for a week of adventure, learning and making memories.  Ethan's classes this year are Cooking and First Aid.  The week will go by too fast and they will be home for the rest of the summer.

From Vet Visit to Flight Day to Festival

The day in the life for our family for today, August 10.

The day started with a vet visit for our Hazel.  Hazel is cured for now was the good news!  Now we need to decide if we will get a friend for her.

Next, Ryan attend flight day with scouts at the Martinez Marina.  We've attended this in the past and getting out kite to reach for the skies has always been a challenge, but today the winds were with us.  That's Ryan below with his kite flying high!

Then this evening we went to the Diablo Japanese American Summer Festival to take in the sounds of San Jose Taiko, play games, and most importantly eat.

Ethan Returns from Camp Chawanakee

Seems that Camp Chawanakee was a resounding good time once again.  The scouts returned to the Scout Shack at about 2pm following a drive that started some time before 9am and included a 45-minute stop for lunch along the way.  It was difficult to tell if the scouts had gotten slightly tanned (the camp is at about one mile in elevation on the shores of Shaver Lake with day time temperatures this time of the year in the 80s) or if it was just a layer of what is affectionately called Chawanadust.

A main way in which the troops at camp get recognized for their overall performance at camp is at evening flags where what is called the "thumbstick" is awarded to the best troops in camp.  The troops are recognized for a long list of accomplishments such as: how the camp site is arranged, neatness of the tents, cleanliness of the camp site, presentation of important information on the camp site bulletin board, the gadgets that have been added to improve the camp site (such improvements have included a four-hole golf course, archway into the site, a compass rose, an equipment rack, a wash basin, a medic station, a towel rack, and a weather rock to name a few items), and overall scout spirit (behavior of the scouts, quietness after taps, cooperation, etc.).  Each day of camp, one troop from each the groups of troops is awarded the thumbstick for that group and is required to do something to improve the thumbstick.  One the last day of camp, an overall winner is announced for each group and that troop is able to retain permanent possession of the thumbstick and take it home with them.  Last year, we were one of the thumbstick winners.  You can see last year's thumbstick below.

I don't have a picture of this year's thumbstick just yet, but they were winners again this year.  It's a little bit larger and pink - covered in pink duct tape!

This year, not only are they thumbstick winners, but they won the Spirit Arrow given to the top overall troop for the entire camp.  This is camp that has as many as 20 or more boy scout troops from all over California, some as far away as San Diego.  So winning the Spirit Arrow is a significant achievement.  Below is a photo of the score sheet from the middle of the week.

In the score sheet, you can see that a perfect score each day would be 100, but the commissioner responsible for inspecting the camp site and monitoring the behavior of the troops has the ability to award extra points to troops that go beyond the usual level.  In the above sheet, you can see where Ethan's troop got scores significantly above 100 for three of the days.  Ethan says that on Friday they got a score of 165.  I guess this is like acing your AP classes and having a GPA higher than 4.0.

The other significant aspect of this achievement is that they did this with a larger troop size than what our troop usually has at Chawanakee.  There are pluses and minuses with the larger troop size.  A larger troop size means that the troop can accomplish more things but a larger troop size also means that there are more items that need to be kept in order.  Two years ago there were something like 8 scouts that attended camp, last year there were 12 scouts and this year the count was up to 22.  See below for photo of the group that attended this year.

So although the scouts have many fun activities, the camp also emphasizes the development of character, teamwork, good citizenship, and other sought after traits.  The fun activities include sailboating, canoeing, row boating, swimming, polar bear plunge (6am plunge into the lake - okay, not nearly as bad as water on the Bering Sea), mile swim (one of our scouts broke the all-time record for the mile swim this year by swimming it using the butterfly stroke and then broke his own camp record swimming it free style), five-mile hike, archery range, rifle range where you can shoot 22s and shot guns (and on the last full day, adults are able try black powder shooting), horseback riding, and many different classes for boy scout merit badges.  There are also evening campfires attended by all troops at camp.

The last day of camp they have this competition called Chawanadayze which is a campwide competition of leadership.  This year there were seven stations with a variety of competitions.  The scouts break into their patrols for this competition.  Each troop could have several patrols of six to eight boys.  Ethan's troop had three patrols this year with Ethan being the patrol leader for a patrol named the Forks.  The Forks managed to win third place at two of the seven stations (first aid/stretcher relay and tomahawk throwing).

Ethan is ready to go back next year for his third year at Chawanakee.  The year after that will be Ryan's first opportunity.

Klondike Derby

Ethan attended the Klondike Derby in February with his boy scout troop at the camp that his troop attends for summer camp.  The camp is located east of Fresno at an elevation of about one mile on the shores of Shaver Lake.

The scouts camped out in tents and generally tried to keep warm.  Activities that they participated in included: sled race (Ethan was the payload), tug-of-war on snow and ice, morse code deciphering, two-man sawing, snowball fights, igloo making, and campfires just to name a few.

Ethan is ready to go back next year if his troop attends.

Camp Chawanakee - Volume 5

The last full day of camp was Aloha Friday. The scouts spent the morning checking in with classes to wrap up any last minute items. In some cases, it was to make sure that all requirements were complete to earn a merit badge.

The afternoon featured a camp-wide competition called Chawanadayze. We were somewhat hampered since one of our scouts was on crutches, but we gave it our all to show our scout spirit.

It all paid off at the final evening flag ceremony where we learned that we were an overall winner for one of the thumbsticks, the Twig of Destiny. That evening was also the final campfire where certain recognitions were given out. Troop 370 was named one of the honor troops for our performance during the week. Our senior scout, Chris, earned the highest rank for Chawanakee campers. Ethan was surprised to be selected Pioneer Hike, which is given to one scout who best displays scout spirit from each troop. For this honor, he was able to sleep one final time outdoors with the other Pioneer Hikers in a "secret" location. During this campout, each award winner was asked to write what scout spirit means to them with these essays to be kept at the camp office for future viewing.

Camp Chawanakee - Volume 4

This volume features a water theme due to the many pictures taken of our scouts at waterfront classes like swimming, canoeing and lifesaving. Ethan was able to complete a couple survival swimming maneuvers that involved jumping into the water fully clothed and taking off your pants to use it as a flotation device. Later in the week, Ethan was able to earn his first merit badge, the Swimming Merit Badge.

In the evening on this same day, most of the troop went on the Canoe Outpost to the other side of the lake. This excursion featured paddling a canoe across the lake, camping outdoors under the stars, and campfire activities - also they had to wake up extra early to make it back for the regular breakfast time at 6:45am.

Ethan also got to shoot a gun for the first time, a 22 caliber bolt action rifle.  Perhaps next year he will try for his Rifle Merit Badge at camp.

The other camp activity that kept the scouts busy was making camp gadgets.  These are things that help improve the camp site.  These were important for the purposes of competing for the thumbstick because the gadgets resulted in bonus points.  Starting with the first gadget, the flag pole, the scouts also made a sun dial, towel rack, a four-hole mini-golf course, a weather rock, pine cone toss table, uniform rack, wash basin, gateway arch for our campsite, and a compass rose.  Ethan was quite involved in the making of most of these gadgets and came up with the idea on how to complete the rope webbing for the arch.

Camp Chawanakee - Volume 3

This volume of Camp Chawanakee videos introduces the "Turtle" formation, Mr. President, and the Twig of Destiny. The "Turtle" is what the scouts came up for their march formation to and from flag ceremonies. The idea was to have all the scouts form a turtle shell around their leader, Chris, the Senior Patrol Leader for summer camp. A game they came up with was "Mr. President" that involved pretending to answer a call from the President. The objective was to not be the last one to answer the call. Finally, the Twig of Destiny was the thumbstick that the commissioner that was assigned to our grouping of troops awarded to one troop each day of the camp. We won the thumbstick on Tuesday. Winning the thumbstick meant that we would have to add something to it before the next evening's flag ceremony where it would be given out once again. The overall winner at the end of the week would get to take the thumbstick home with them.

Camp Chawanakee - Volume 2

This is the second video in a series of five from summer camp for Ethan's boy scout troop. Camp Chawanakee is located on Shaver Lake northeast of Fresno in the Sierras. The camp runs for nine consecutive weeks. Apparently, our troop has been attending this camp for several consecutive summers now.

Camp Chawanakee - Volume 1

This is the first volume of videos from our time at Camp Chawanakee located northeast of Fresno in the Sierras at about a mile high.  This was our first boy scout summer camp. This video covers parts of the first two days at camp. The first day was check-in. There was the getting settled into our camp site, including the making of our first camp gadget: a flag pole. We also got a tour of the camp by Grant the "Plant" who was the counselor assigned to our troop.

Arbor Day Celebration On Earth Day

Our kids participated in Arbor Day celebrations with the City of Concord on Earth Day, April 22, this year.  We've done this the past three years or so through our scouting activities.  We have a leg up on some of the other scouts because the cubmaster for boys' pack is the "tree guy" for our city.

This year we planted about a dozen or so trees in Newhall Park.  The mayor and another council member were also in attendance.

Cub Scout Graduation

Ethan is officially now a Boy Scout after bridging to Troop 370 earlier this week. He enjoyed his five years as a Cub Scout, but it is time to move on. And move on he did. He's already away on his own with his new troop on a weekend campout on Mt. Diablo. This was the first time for him to actually backpack into the campsite.

Here is a video clip of his graduation ceremony that included him earning his Arrow of Light award, which is the only award that moves with a cub scout to boy scouting. The ceremony included scouts getting their Arrow of Light award presented to them by the Order of the Arrow.

Cub Scout Den Visit to Pixar

Ethan's cub scout den was invited to a tour of Pixar.  Talk about exciting, huh?  Here are some photos from the visit.

2012 Pinewood Derby Races

This was Ethan fifth and final pinewood derby since he will be moving up to Boy Scouting later this year. He came into this race as the defending champion and probably was rooting more for his brother than for himself. He had a fast car, hitting a top scaled speed of almost 201 mph, and had Spider Turtle in the cockpit

This was the second pinewood derby for Ryan. Last year he finished just off the medal stand. This year he surprised all of us and took home top honors. It's hard to say what he did right, maybe a little help from mom, dad and our cubmaster. Ryan's car reached a top scaled speed of over 203 mph.

2011 Pinewood Derby Car Races

"Rock" and Roll?

We took the kids to the Contra Costa Mineral & Gem Show this weekend. It started because a Boy Scout troop was using the event as an opportunity to help Webelo scouts earn their geology pin; and Ethan wanted to earn his pin. This led to Ryana and Naomi joining too because all scouts in uniforms got free admission.

Ethan and Naomi had a general understanding of what we were going to see. The kids hurriedly got into their uniforms as we readied to leave. But I wasn't sure if Ryan understood what we were going to do. So I asked him, "Do you know what we're going to see at the Gem and Rock show?"

After a brief pause, Ryan said, "I think we're going to a gym and we're going to see a rock show...you know, a rock and roll show with music."