They survived!

The boys are back in town, and they had a great trip. I've heard amazing stories of things such as brushing their teeth with charcoal, seeing bald eagles in the wild, how loons make awful noises, and peeing on Canada. They both had literally hundreds of mosquito bites on their legs (ouch!) but are starting to get better.

This is a picture of their crew - the guy in red was the "tour guide." Interestingly, the man on the top left, Tom Hulcy, worked for my dad YEARS ago at the Boy Scouts corporate headquarters. His grandson, JT (front, brown hair) is now in the same troop as Drew, Nick & Brad. What a small world!!

...and then there were two

I am down to just 2 children this week. :( Saturday morning, Drew & Nick got on a plane to Minnesota to participate in the Northern Tier trek with their fellow Boy Scouts. They will be out on the water for the week, canoeing. They'll carry their packs and food with them, going through the lakes in the boundary waters between the U.S. and Canada, portaging the canoes where necessary. From what we've heard, of the big 3 Scout treks, (Northern Tier, Philmont, and Sea Base) this one is, by far, the most remote. There are 3 crews, and each crew has 5 boys, 3 adults, and 1 guide. Drew & Nick are in the same crew, and Nick is the crew leader.

We've spent months, little by little gathering the gear that they needed. The big thing was having to take synthetic clothes; t-shirts, shorts, pants, socks, even underwear (eww.). That's so that everything will dry quickly. We got new hiking boots (yea!) then brought them home and drilled holes all through the soles (huh?) so that when the entire foot gets submerged, the water can eventually drain out. Sort of like do-it-yourself jungle boots! Packing was interesting - everything had to be in dry-sacks or in large ziploc bags. The boys were very good about it - they packed everything (more than once!), made sure they had everything on the list, and even knew what things they could actually do without.

I am so proud of them, but at the same time, I worry. I'm sure everyone has seen the story of the 4 young men that died last week at the scout camp in Iowa. This is a very different situation than my boys will be in, but nonetheless, it still comes to mind way too often. That said, I'm sure that they'll be having the time of their lives, and making wonderful memories.

Go Mr. Cruz!

One of our karate instructors, Mr. Cruz, had a cage fight in Lubbock last weekend. He won in the first round with an arm bar. woo hoo! As Brad says, "He ROCKS!" The week before the fight, we got to take turns working him over during class (to improve endurance, of course) and he went for ten 5-minute rounds! It obviously paid off, and he did great. In the video, he's the one in the Puerto Rico flag shorts.

Gas prices

I ran across this today, and couldn't resist sharing.

Memorial Day celebration

On Memorial Day, we had the opportunity to take part in a great celebration right here in McKinney. For over 20 years, the Pecan Grove Cemetery has hosted a Memorial Day event. The cemetery dates back to the 1800's, and there are veterans from every conflict (as far back as the Texas Revolution!) buried there. Boy Scout Troop 303, has been involved since the beginning. They get together on Saturday and put flags on each veteran's grave - some American flags, some Confederate, even Texas flags. The cemetery provides food for Monday as well. The boys volunteer to cook beans, cobblers, and briskets and bring it early on Monday morning. They also provide parking assistance, a color guard, and then clean up the place afterwards.



Nick, Drew, and Brad were all involved every step of the way. Nick provided beans and carried the American flag in the color guard, Drew cooked apple cobbler and played in the all-city middle school band, and Brad made blackberry cobbler and was part of the scout detail. I don't know how many people actually were there this year, but last year there were well over 700!!

This is such a wonderful opportunity for these young men to see that Memorial Day is so much more than a day off and a barbeque. They understand that it is a day to honor the soldiers who have lost their lives in the service of this country, defending our rights, and helping to make our country what it is today.
The local chapters of the Knights of Columbus, Knights Templar, Civil War re-enactors, Firemans' Bagpipers, McKinney mounted police, Congressmen Sam Johnson and Ralph Hall, Mayor Bill Whitfield, and countless other local dignitaries were in attendance.


A WWII Stearman open cockpit bi-plane did a great flyover as part of the ceremony!



This is a very moving video that I found, done by Terry Kelly, reminding us all to take a few minutes to remember our fallen soldiers.