All of the lost stories

So I have pretty much let this blog go. Things have just been so busy! I am going to do the Catch-Up-On-Everything-In-One-Post post. This is going to be a fast, action-packed posting, so hold on to your hats and glasses!

I went on my first campout as a Scout Leader. I survived, the boys survived, so it was a success. We only had one kid who threw up, and the food was good (it is all about marshmallows over a camp fire in both cases). We completed our 5-mile hike the next day, with the only down side being that these two grandmas out-hiked our little troop of 11 year olds. Neither the boys or the grandmas seemed to mind, so I don't either, I guess.

After 1 year, 5 months and 17 days, I made my triumphant return to Disneyland. I don't know what I was triumphing over, but that is how it felt. It was tons of fun, not the least due to the fact that we got to go with some family that we hadn't been there with, as well as some family that we had. The fastpass acquisition went well, and we had teenagers along that stayed from dawn to dusk with me in the park. Yes, it was a success.

My boys have a new favorite card game: Killer Bunnies. It is time for the next expansion pack.

Looking over my previous posts, there was one more trip to Japan in there, but to Okinawa this time. In case you are like me and assume that since Okinawa is a part of Japan that it is physically close to Japan, you are wrong, just as I was. It is instead a little island in the middle of the ocean about 2 hours south of the main Japanese island (by air). I had high moments, like when I felt true patriotism in every person around me as we stopped in the middle of the street at 8AM to show respect for the Stars and Stripes. I had low moments, like on my final day I read an article in my daily copy of the appropriately named Marine newspaper, Stars and Stripes. The article talked about the gang culture in the military and how this guy was acquitted on a technicality even though he contributed to the death of a comrade. Overall it was a good experience and I have some goofy pictures to prove it.

We got new evidence that life isn't fair. My mother-in-law has been diagnosed with lung cancer although she has never smoked a day in her life, and while I can line up a hundred people who don't deserve this kind of experience, she is at the front of that line. We are asking that you add your prayers to ours that her fight will be successful.

So over the last few months a lot has happened, and I often find myself thinking, "I need to write about that on my blog" but time being the limiting factor, it hasn't happened very often. So rather than waiting for time to write up each of these into its own posting, we will see if this opens the floodgates. I'll try to post some pictures about all of this a little later.

Scouting has become a part of my life again

Yes, I was a Boy Scout once. A mildly successful one. I got the badges, heck I even got THE badge, but soon afterwards I got married (sounds weird to put it in perspective like that) and I dropped teenagerishness like a hot potato and moved on, or so I like to think. Anyway, it has been fun to get re-involved with Scouting. I am a leader for a group of 11-year old scouts, and Collin is now a Bear Cub Scout. Logan is just dying to be a scout and wants to do all of the cool stuff that Collin gets to do, so I see scouting pretty solidly in my future. And so far it has been nothing but fun.

So here are a few pictures from some recent scout hikes.

My first caveat: I shot all of these pictures with my G1 (cellphone.) Thus the acceptable, not exemplary, quality. So obviously we went and found some petroglyphs on our first hike. There were hundreds of them in this canyon, which made us wonder what was so special about this canyon? I think it was a sign yard. You know, the place where your local city or county construction crews keep their construction signs? When the prehistoric business owner needed to leave a message for passersby, why spend weeks chiseling it out of rock, when he/she could just run for a day through the desert barefoot, and come back the next day with a 200 pound rock already engraved with their message. Brilliant. Not to make light of a different culture, but I dare you to comment with your best guesses as to what these prehistoric billboards say. What about the picture above? Obviously it means Help Wanted: Dancer with Maracas and Fringy Outfit. Duh.

This is the popular holiday warning sign: Don't Use Christmas Tree for Ashtray. These are so intuitive. I bet they put the best-sellers right down by the trail. Trenton and Logan got to come on this hike because it was a family hike. Heather educated me on the fact that "Family Hike" and "Father/Son Hike" are in fact synonymous, so she stayed home with Taryn. The boys were true to their personalities. Logan was only happy if he was in front of EVERYBODY, and Trenton was tired and wanted to go home and watch TV as soon as we got to the trailhead sign 100 feet from the car.

Lizard Roadkill Ahead? This one is slightly less obvious.

Tie Your Goat To A Tree By The Tail Only? Don't Pee on the Cacti? Bighorn Sheep Should Use the Second Port-a-Potty From The End? Ok, I give up on this one.

And here are the boys. Collin in the uniform, Logan up on the rock, Trenton with the hat. Nice. That is all for that hike.

So this was a different hike. Again I'm shooting with my camera phone. The sun is so harsh in the desert that pretty much all of these pictures are washed out. Oh well. This one is a natural arch. The cool thing is that the arch is only about 8 inches tall. You could totally put miniature people on it and make a believable scene. It was cool.

Here is Collin sitting on another natural arch. I let him come on this hike even though it was for my 11-year old Scouts. He was hyper the whole time for some reason and was all over the rocks. He was the youngest one there and the first one back to the car.

Well, this has been another make-up posting. Another one bites the dust.