Are You Ready For Some Football . . .

Football season is here.  Six hours of practice a week until school starts then 4 hours a week and a game on Saturday. 

The little town of Lynden has four junior level teams this year.  That's one quarter of the teams for the whole league that includes; Lynden, Blaine, Ferndale, Bellingham, Lummi and Nooksack. 

That's my boy, #50.

Interestingly, these Lynden boys aren't big.  They're of average height and build.  My Architect is on the bigger side of the average. 

A quarterback sandwich by #44 and #50.

Next year my boy would move up to the senior league.  There are only two Lynden teams in the senior league this year.  It seems to me that the jump to senior league weeds out some of the smaller players.  A smart move in my opinion.  Bigger boys make bigger hits. 

Round Em' Up . . .

On Thursday evening we kicked off another Cub Scout year.  Oh my how these boys grow.

Our meeting was filled with a pot luck dinner, a skit by the leaders, awards, a balloon stomp game, more awards and raffles.  Over half the pack earned the Summertime Activity Award pin.  That's awesome!  It means that over half the pack attended at least 3 of the 5 summer events that were planned, like our 3 mile hike, soccer in the park, and a 6 mile bike hike on Hertz Trail.

Josh is now serving many roles in Scouting.  He's an Assistant Cub Master and Webelos Den Leader here and in Boy Scouts he is also an Assistant Scout Master.

There's the Architect in the back with is elbow on his knee.  He's the big guy in the group now.  One of the boys the little ones look up to.  He's so great in that role.  It will be an adjustment when he crosses over to Boy Scouts in February and the ladder climb starts all over again.

Here's a couple flash back pictures of him.  One as a Tiger Cub and one as a Wolf Cub.

Is there anything cuter than that!?

A Grand Week . . .

We spent some of our week with the Grands. 

 While I was inside canning peaches with Mom, the boys were helping Wayne fell a tree and clean up.

 Their hard work was rewarded with a hot dog roast at the fire pit.

Today, we headed to the Blaine Senior Center to play Bingo.

The last time we played Bingo our youngest won the grand prize for getting black out bingo first.  Well, today, we really cleaned house.  Multiple bingo's were won as well as door prizes.

 And the final black out bingo was won by our youngest and Peggy who was sitting at our table.

Peggy was so kind to concede the win to our youngest and give the grand prize to him.  An awesome set of ceramic popcorn bowls.  We had fun using our new bowls tonight for a family movie night.

Donkey or Elephant . . .

I think it's safe to say many homeschoolers are asked if they school year round or do they take the summer off.  I'm one of those homeschoolers that needs all of summer to regroup.  I need the summer break maybe more than my boys do. 

But having said that, there are still plenty of learning opportunities that the boys participate in. 
Recently, the Republican Party survey came in the mail.  I really dislike these surveys, so I gave it to my boys to fill out.

The Professor read the questions out loud and all the boys helped answer them.  Their answers were no surprise.  :-)

KVR - Part II . . .

Getting back to my story...

(This post is a bit more wordy.)

It's the morning after the 3rd night.  The one support vehicle and I arrive back at the gravel site just as the group is ready to head out at 7:30am.  The bikers head up to the trail.  Since the other driver is familiar with the area and the next campsite I follow him in my van on the road.  We'll look for a place to fill the 4 big multi-gallon water containers we had.  They were similar to this.

 

Along the road we find a community bulletin board.  We stop to check it out.  It has a notice that all water in the area must be boiled before consuming.  Another challenge to overcome.   But the other driver remembers a little general store down the road.  We'll drive there and try to find out more about the water situation.

When we get there and ask some questions about the water, the store/deli owner confirms the boil order.  But he informs us he has a fancy/high priced filter on the water coming into his deli kitchen and we can fill up all our jugs with it.  What a blessing!  We would travel back to him the next day and fill them up again.  

With our water containers filled we head on down the road a few miles and pull into Chain Lake Recreation Area.  No piped water but we're back to outhouses!  Hooray!  And they even have toilet paper! 

We pick our spot, check in and the other driver heads out with his bike to find the rest of the group.  His son was the one riding the 3 wheeled seated bike because he has some physical challenges and the dad had medicine he needed to give his son at different times during the day.  

So, I settled in to make camp.  We would be here two nights.  It was good for me to have some quiet time of no stress.  I set up the water jugs, strung some para cord for a clothes line.  Rested and had a little lunch.  My stomach was still pretty queasy and nauseous. 

By one o'clock I knew the fast group of boys and adults had been on the trail 5 1/2 hours.  By 2 o'clock I was getting nervous.  I took my van out for a quick drive to check the road.  When I returned the slow group had just pulled in.  They asked me where the fast group was.  I hadn't seen them.  It was quickly obvious that the fast group had overshot the turn off from the trail and were somewhere up there still riding.  

Another leader and I hoped in my van with a walkie talkie radio and started our search.  It didn't take too long and through radio contact we were able to tell them to just find the nearest path down to the paved road.  We found them 3.5 miles past the exit they were suppose to take.   This group had now been on the trail 7 hours.  Making them ride the road 3.5 miles back to camp was not an option for me.  We loaded as much gear, bikes and boys as we could in my van.  It took two trips to get the whole group back to camp safe and sound.  I was so thankful I had my van. 

For the rest of the day, while a group of the adults were getting driven back to their cars so they could bring them to the camp site, the boys rested, explored the campground, made dinner and turned in.  It was so nice not to be rushed off to bed by rain.

The weather had steadily got warmer during the day and colder at night as we climbed in elevation over the last 4 days and at this point we were basically at the summit.  When getting ready for bed I would wear two pairs of poly type leggings, two long sleeve poly shirts, a wind breaker vest, a jacket shell and a warm winter hat.  Sounds good right?  Where I failed was in the sleeping bag.  I bought a sleeping bag that only went down to 40 degrees but was the size of a quart jar.  I was going for small size.  A few other boys brought nothing more than a fleece blacket or flannel sheet. 

That night I woke up around 12 am with chattering teeth.  I told my tent buddy I was going to sleep in my car.  About an hour later she knocked on my window and told me those other boys were freezing too and she would put them in her van.  We ran our engines off and on through out the night to stay warm.  

The next day was our second to last day.  Some of the boys had originally planned to bike 50 miles on the road in 8 hours to earn the cycling merit badge but that was voted out due to exhaustion and the fact that they needed to accomplish 10 hours of community service on this 5 night biking trip to earn a 50 miler patch.  The boys had only managed to spend 2 hours picking up trash around camp sites the previous days because there simply was not any more free time than that due to the length of rides and early nights.

So, through some divine intervention, and fast acting leaders the boys found a service project just down the road.  The details were finalized around 10:30 am and the boys were working at Osprey Lake by 11:30 am.  The link takes you to the community association page that thanks the boys for their hard work.

Just a week prior the Osprey Lake Community had their beautiful wood benches vandalized.  It had never happened before and they were just sick about it.  Our boys worked 6 hours in 95-100 degree sun and heat.  They removed the graffiti and varnished all 4 benches.  We were all amazed!

They were rewarded with a quick jump in the lake.

They went from near heat exhaustion to cold lake water.  The only one it seemed to effect was my son.  From there on out he was sneezing and stuffed up with a runny nose.  

We arrived back at camp in the vans with just enough time to eat dinner and pick up more trash around the camp sites trying to knock out those 10 hours of service per boy for the 50 miler patch.

At night one of the other adults offered to boil water and put it in a Nalgene bottle which I could then keep in my sleeping bag for the last night.   I was more than happy to accept.  It allowed me to stay in the tent all night but I was ready to get up by 5am. 

 

 That morning we worked to get all the gear loaded up in the vans.  The boys would not be carrying their stuff on their bikes for this ride.  It would be 23 miles of riding plus a 3.5 hour car ride home.  They were anxious to get home and wanted to leave at 7:30 am.  The strong and healthy boys would take the trail and the others would take the road.  My job was to find a place to dump all our trash, fill jugs and meet up with the road group some where down the road to be a pilot car.

It took the road group 5 hours to make it to Princeton, BC.  I caught up with them around 9:30 am.  Little did we know the road was used heavily by logging trucks.  We watched them pass us empty and an hour later they were barreling down the road and rumbling past us.  

 

(Not THE actually truck or road but close enough.)

It was nerve wracking and dangerous.  Looking back, I should have demanded the bikers load up their bikes on my van and I would drive them to town.  Technically they had already ridden the 50 miles.  Today was just extra.  But, by the grace of God those boys stayed safe.  I know angels were working overtime with our group.

That was such a stressful day for the road group.  I won't even go into detail about the adult who went down in some gravel and I had to perform first aid on his arm as well as prevent him from passing out.

By 3:30 pm everyone was back together.  The vans were loaded with the bikes and we were headed south, back home to Lynden.

I say this trip was harder than Marine Corps Officer Candidate School.  Even Small Unit Leadership Exercises in the field.  The reason being is that the military takes care of it's people.  They make sure during training that you have enough food, enough water and some type of facilities even in the field.  Medics are always nearby to look at feet, assess heat exhaustion and other problems.

The boys scouts motto is "Be  Prepared."  

And if your not, well hopefully there's someone there looking out for you but don't plan on it.  Expect the worst and plan for it.  Then you can be pleasantly surprised when the outcome is different.

When we crossed the border and I was asked if I had anything to delcare I said, "Only tired scouts."

It will be years before I send my son on a long outing without Josh or myself and my son feels the same way. 

**************************************************

I can't end the post without a positive note or silver lining so, here it is.  Most nights the boys gathered for a quick bible reading and discussion.  I relied on God for strength.  We saw pretty streams and wildlife.  And... I lost a few pounds!

Kettle Valley Railroad Bike Trip 2013 . . .

I arrived home yesterday around 7pm from a 5 night, 6 day biking trip with my son and his scout troop.  I'm still a bit shaky this morning from 5 days of a lack of sleep, freezing at night, near heat exhaustion, and stress... mentally and physically.  I'm not trying to sound dramatic just relaying the facts.

The trip that was planned was suppose to be much gentler, not a survivor man style week of challenges.  But, I was hoping for the best and didn't plan for the worst.  My role on this trip was as a driver, parent and support vehicle.  I wasn't involved in the planning.

To start, we left way too late.  We were traveling in 4 cars with 8 scouts and 5 adults.  The plan was to leave at 11:30 am.  We didn't cross the border until 1:40pm.  Then we had trouble finding the first camping spot.  I think it was after 6 when we arrived at Scout Camp Boyle for our first night in Summerland, BC

This is a very small summer camp that was empty while we were there.  It had running water bathrooms and showers.  Our spirits were high.  The next morning, we rose early and went for an easy 10 mile ride on paved road.  This would be the end of anything resembling easy.  

 After lunch we loaded our bikes and headed out for another 10 miles to the second camping site.

 These 10 miles were 5 of road and 5 of trail.  The Kettle Valley Railroad trail is a path of trail created after the old railroad failed economically in the 1980's.
Some of it looks like this...

 Not too bad, but it's uphill at a 2.2% grade for 4 out of the 5 days we traveled on it.  We realized quickly that the 5 miles an hour we were averaging around Lynden on bikes was now becoming 2 miles an hour on the trail.

I never took pictures of the bad parts of trail.  The parts with deep grooves from 4 wheelers and dirt bikes.  Or large rocks that tumbled down from the steep hill side.  I was just too tired during those parts.  So, most of my pictures will portray a nice looking time.  Like me standing on this little bridge.

Note:  The outhouses are few and far between on this trail. :-(

Campsite number two was near a stream.  Which was great because we didn't have our support vehicles near by yet and the camp sites don't have a piped water source.  Just a creek so you better have brought a filtration system.  Thankfully the other mom I was paired with had such a device.

This creek area where we camped was a favorite crossing point for ATVs and hornets.  We nearly set our tent up on a underground hornets nest.  Thankfully my son loves to look at the ground in search of treasure.  He spotted it pretty quickly.  This evening was cut short due to pouring rain that forced us into our tents.  Then the ATV's came back after dark, driving through our camp site to cross the creek and party for a bit.

Day 3 was a doozy.  We needed to go 13 miles up the trail to the next camp site which... get this... was no where to be seen because it was UNDER WATER!  The 1997 book that was used to plan the trip was an out of date copy.  A dam had been put in a few years back that raised the water level of a lake and wiped out the site we were suppose to be at.
So, we camped here.

A gravel clearing just down from the trail and near the access road.  No outhouses, but a stream near by.  See me sitting down?  I have a white hat on.  This evening was also cut short due to a massive thunder and lighting down pour that crossed right over our heads and just seem to circle there.

You can see the dark clouds forming.  I learned quickly to listen to the other scouts and adults when they started talking about rain coming.  The mountain weather patterns move quick!
The 15 plus lighting bolts struck so close, my tent buddy and I prayed for the safety of all of us over and over again.  My nerves were shot.  There was no where to go.  We were in God's hands. 
The next morning at 5:30 am I spoke to the adult leaders.  I wanted my vehicle.  I would no longer be riding my bike.  I was tired from not sleeping for 3 days, exhausted from the trail and mentally stressed out.  So, the one support vehicle drove me back to get mine.  An hour and a half round trip.
This would prove to be a blessing later that day.

Part II tomorrow.

And I'm Off . . .

The boys' theater camp was a success!  They did so well.  I'm always amazed that they really enjoy it and want to do it again the next year. 

The Cast of Villains, Villains, Too Many Villains.

Performance days are long with early rehearsals and late shows.  I treated us to a big old fashioned milk shake.  The Scientist didn't like it so he took the picture.

With the play finished I could get to the business of getting packed for the bike trip I'm taking with my oldest and  12 others from his scout troop.  Josh was awesome and built the bike buckets!

And I'm off!  I hope to have lots of pictures and stories to share when I return.  Pray for safety, good health and a quiet relaxing time for Josh and the two younger boys.