Christmas 2021

Christmas was a little more normal this year.  We opened gifts at home then headed to Grandma and Grandpa's to do gifts and enjoy a meal together.

The elf was not brought up this whole season until this morning.  I thanked the boys for not thinking about him until now and apologized as well.

Ralph wore a Santa hat every school day in December and chose to wear Pikachu today; luckily Henry played along and wore a Santa hat.

Henry found a bottle of sarsaparilla in his stocking.

Reaching for that one last gift.

 . . on to Grandma and Grandpa's house . . .

Nick & Jenel came for Christmas too!

Cheers (with personalized mugs) to (almost) the end of 2021!

Henry: Celebrating 12 years!

The end of 1st semester of 6th grade is within reach.  Henry seems to have adjusted middle school.  His current class schedule is Humanities (2 periods - covers English (reading/writing) and Social Studies), Math, Science, Healthy Living (known as Home Ec when I was in junior high), and PE or Vocal Music (they meet every other day).  1st quarter Henry had Spanish instead of Healthy Living.  His favorite class is Math; his highest grade is currently in Science.  He should be making a pillowcase in Healthy Living but has yet to cut out the fabric.  Henry (and Ralph) walk home after school - luckily the weather has been more than cooperative for this to happen so far.

Henry is now a "Tenderfoot" in Scouts.  He is up to 11 merit badges.  He added 1st Aid, Swimming, Environmental Studies, and Emergency Prep to the Eagle required badges as well as Electronics, Safety, Architecture, Genealogy, and American Heritage.

His free time is usually spent playing Hearts of Iron IV on the laptop and watching videos on his phone.

He is currently wearing size 12 (with adjustable waist) pants and L (10/12) shirts.   His shoe size is 3.

Breakfast still usually consists of a breakfast burrito during the week; sometimes a crossiantwich ~ weekends are usually pancakes or french toast.  Cereal with milk is not part of his eating regime; dry cereal might be a snack.  He has not taken a cold lunch to school this year and will pick among the hot choices.  Suppers lately have usually been a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

We celebrated his birthday last night with Grandpa and Grandma.  Henry opted for a Monopoly themed cake this year and mint chip ice cream.

His gifts had a common theme . . books, books, and more books.  He also received a robe.

Fall Fun??

 ??

Ralph: 13.5 years!

Ralph started his day making himself pancakes this morning.  Its not a typical weekday breakfast choice but it is what he requested last night - batter was whipped up and ready for this morning.

Most mornings he does have cereal - his cereal choices have turned a little more "grown up" lately and include Frosted Mini Wheat, Raisin Bran, Cinnamon Life Cereal along with Honey Nut Cheerios and Dunkin' Donuts Mocha Latte and Caramel Macchiato.

Ralph hasn't officially been measured recently but continues to grow.  He has moved adult Small shorts and medium tshirts.  Current shoe size is 5.5.

Ralph is caught up on watching The Office series.  He plays chess online and various games on Steam.  He also continues to watch plenty of videos (and listen to music) on youtube.

Ralph is growing into his role as a teenager.  I can't keep tabs on his chats with friends (texts, calls, and other means of communicating) but know they are taking place.  

He does help a friend who has a mowing business once in awhile for some extra cash.

He is keeping up with scout activities.  He currently serves as his troop's Assistant Senior Patrol Leader and has camped out the last two weekends - one with the Order of the Arrow group and one with his troop.  

He is also continuing with CCD this year.

Ralph is halfway through a teen fitness class at the Y which will allow him to use the fitness room when he completes the class.

2021-2022 School Year Begins!

 

Today was the 1st day of school for Henry (6th grade) at Mickle Middle School.  

Tomorrow marks the 1st day of school for Ralph (8th grade) Mickle Middle School - 

his sign reads The Day before the First Day of 8th grade.

One drop off again! Yay!

Sixth graders had the school to themselves today as they learn the ropes.  They were given a tour of the school this morning and ended the day with an assembly.   In between the visited each of their classes and had lunch.  The first three days are shortened days with the school day starting at 8 am (normal time) and ending at 1:40 pm (normal time when it is a PLC day but 80 minutes earlier than a regular day).

Henry named off some friends he had in humanities and knew people in his other classes.

Here's hoping Tuesday is a good day too!

Time for "Back to School"

The time has come to go "back to school."  This year Henry will join Ralph at Mickle Middle School.  They may not see each other much or at all during the day but we'll be back to one drop off in the morning which will be nice.

School readiness nights were last week.  The 6th graders were invited to come on Tuesday and the 7th/8th graders night was Wednesday.  Ralph came with us on Tuesday.   He didn't talk to any of his teachers but did find his locker and re-oriented himself on how to open a combination lock since they didn't use lockers last year.

Henry practiced opening his lock to get his locker opened and made the rounds and met what teachers we could find.  Ralph took over the tour after a bit; I'm afraid Henry won't remember much of it come Monday.  

Luckily the 6th graders have the school to the themselves on Monday, the first day of school; the 7th/8th graders get an extra day of summer break and report on Tuesday.

Photos are of Ralph pointing out the finer areas of recess and walking Henry down the hall.

Ralph: Detasseling Adventures

As a compromise of sorts, Ralph signed up to detassel this summer.  The season was a week underway before he was called and then he had 3 days off due to the scout camp we has already signed up for.  All in all he worked 12 days.  Twelve days of waking up at 4:15 am to be at the bus at 5 am.  He had a lot of help getting out the door with his lunch and water in hand but he never had to be prodded to go.  There were some hot days but they were all dry days with the exception of the morning dew on the corn stalks.  The fields he went to were in the Utica to York area and north to the Stromsburg and Gresham area.

Photos from heading out the door the first day to getting off the bus on the last day.

A Summer of Scouting

Camp Cornhusker: June 13-19

With there being a bit of uncertainty when it was time to register for summer camp the Troop chose to stay local and attend Camp Cornhusker.  This would be Ralph's 2nd year in a row of attending Camp Cornhusker and Henry's too in a sense since he went last year to Webelo camp - but his first week long camp.

In keeping with tradition I attended as well since it was Henry's first BSA camp.  Most of the restrictions from last year were lifted - the biggest modifications from "regular" camp was most scouts camped in their own tent but Ralph and Henry could share.  We were able to eat in the dining hall but the camp was split into two shifts and one Troop ate outside.

The Troop did flags on Monday morning.  Henry helped with the American flag; Ralph posted the Nebraska flag.

Ralph took Pioneering (it met during two periods), Electronics, and Engineering.  

Henry took "Trail to First Class" (which worked on various rank requirements), Swimming, and First Aid.

On Thursday Ralph and I were called out during the Order of the Arrow call outs.    The Order of the Arrow is an Honor Society in scouting and Scouts must be invited to join.

The last night of camp the scouts decided to sleep in hammocks and took their tents down on Friday.  Mother Nature decided she didn't like that idea and decided she might bring a storm to the area.  Rather than sleep in hammocks the scouts ended up tarping the picnic shelter.  Henry and Nathan slept in their parents tent due to space in the picnic shelter.  Henry peaks in on the group Saturday morning.

We finally spied a sleeping Ralph on the ground.

Both boys completed all the merit badges at camp!

Grand Island Merit Badge University: July 23-25

I discovered the GI MBU last year . . and it seemed like a great opportunity to do some badges that are not readily available PLUS the meals are provided with no cooking required.  They had some offerings I don't see very often including tinsmith and metalwork.  

A total of 7 scouts from the Troop and 3 parents attended.  There was a class Friday afternoon, water hose fights at the nearby Fire Station Friday evening, a morning and afternoon class Saturday, Oasis water park Saturday evening, and a class Sunday morning.

Ralph took surveying, metalwork (tinsmith), sustainability, and safety.

Henry took electronics, architecture, genealogy, and safety.

Henry has a few requirements to finish up on one badge but otherwise between completing the prerequisites and what was done in the classes they completed the other badges they were signed up for.

Order of Arrow Pow Wow: August 6-8

This campout was not on our list but came about when Ralph and I were "called out" at camp in June.  We did not plan to have three campouts this summer; it just happened.  The first part of the Order of the Arrow is going through the "Ordeal" weekend and that is what Ralph and I did this weekend.  There will be a weekend in the spring we can go through the "Brotherhood"

Ralph and Malcolm relaxing before the events of the weekend.

Malcolm, Ralph, and Jullian after the ceremony - and Ralph receiving his OA membership card and other information.

Other Scouting Activities

The boys also did flags at the blood bank for scouts on Memorial Day and July 4th.

And spent Sunday evenings volunteering with the Lincoln Municipal Band handing out programs and collecting donations for service hours.

In an effort to find various day camps that weren't just "daycare" for Henry I ran across a two day Environmental Science merit badge class at the Wildlife Safari Park near Ashland.  This was one of my views when I picked him up the first day as the building the class met in was partly through the safari.