Kitten Update!

Just to show you how big the fur babies are getting!

Ranger is just waking up from a nap.
He is well over three pounds now.

Scout!!  He loves his little cat post and even though we got the big tree for him, his favorite spot is still his first spot.  He is more than 7 pounds now !! He will be a year old in August.

Pinewood Derby!!

Today was the pinewood derby!   It started at 10 am, and we were there spot on time !

Last minute preparations, a little bit more powdered graphite!

Getting all the cars into the starting slots! Can you see Lon's car?

Lon came in first!

Another heat!
Lon came in first twice, second twice and then third once.  I think.

While we were waiting to see who would be advancing into the finals, the webelos sang us a song.

Calculating the finalists

Lon made it to the finals!! !!  There were 8 automatic spots,   Two top finishers from each den, tigers, wolves, bears and webelos.  Then there were 4 wildcard spots, based on fastest times!  Three wildcard spots went to bears, Lon got the fourth one!
Lon was so thrilled!

Watching the last 12 heats with Daddy!  The thrills!
Lon came in first, second , third and fifth.
Lon thought he was not going to be in the top finishers.He was very sad when they called 9 boys to the stage to give them certificates on being finalists.  He thought he was just getting to go home.

He made the TOP three!   Third overall for the entire pack!
We are so proud of him for doing all the work himself! He made it work.

Getting his trophy! It is a great trophy, custom made by a dad in the pack! The car fits on top of the trophy. What a cool idea!

Lon is so happy with his third place trophy! He is thrilled to have made it to the finals and actually place!!

They also got certificates. I am going to be getting a frame for his on Monday!

It was a great time at the pinewood derby!

Pinewood Derby Weigh-In

This afternoon we finished painting and putting together Lon's pinewood derby car!  Lon did most of the work.  I helped drawing the outlines and putting on the spray sealer. Mark helped nailing in the wheels.  The rest was all Lon!

The car!
Space Maniac!

The front

after burners!

Lon is proud of his work!

Before we went to the official weigh in, we stopped by Harris Teeter for a little bit of pizza dinner. I wanted to try the Asian bar. It was not too bad, for here it was good.  When we got there at around 6:30, most of the bar was sold out.

Getting entered into the system! Name, car number and rank!

Passing all the requirements, height, wheel clearance, length, all the things that have to be just so.

Making sure the car cleared the track.
They weighed the car. They were impressed out car weighed exactly 5 ounces.

The official picture with his car!

After the car was impounded, so it would safely make it to the derby tomorrow we went out for ice cream at Dairy Queen.  Lon wanted an Oreo Brownie Earthquake, but he knows he can not finish it all by himself, so we split it!
Lon is thinking he can probably finish one by himself now.

Tomorrow is going to be fun!

Paddinngton- the Movie

On Wednesday, the 28th, we went to the movies. Lon had a half day, so we were not skipping school.  Mark had won tickets through his work.
One thing we learned, the sizes of popcorn and drinks are HUGE. Mediums are more soda than I can drink and the popcorn large is way way too big for us! I think next time we go, we will order one medium soda and a medium popcorn and split them!
The movie was adorable. A story of family, and who gets to be family, and revenge never really works out.  Hugh Bonneville was in it. I kept waiting for him to be Lord Grantham, but he was always Mr. Brown.  Mrs. Brown was delightfully played by Sally Hawkins.

goofy photo

The serious photo 

We both enjoyed the movie and it was very much worth seeing.  Adorable, light and fun. 

Showman Cub Scout Badge!

Tonight was a pack meeting. Lon's den was to do a marionette variety show.

Last minute help from Dad.
Somehow the marionettes got a a little twisted up, but they worked with it

Final Prep

Lon's marionette, but it is hard to see.  All the webelos were laughing, so they had a great time

taking a bow, sort of

Getting his awards, sort of.
They did not have time to hand them out so I got the packet after the meeting

Then it was ice cream time!!
Lon had been wanting mint chocolate chip ice cream for a long time.
And tonight he had some!

Looking over his achievements
Belt loops earned as a webelo and his webelo pins.
He earned pins of
Family, traveler, fitness, athlete, citizenship, scholar, geologist,  and handyman,
He earned beltloops for
basketball, soccer and I will have to go look them up and post the rest.

He is still having fun in cub scouts.

Mark goes to Cracker Barrel!

Mark had never been to a Cracker Barrel !  At Christmas, Mark received a gift certificate for the restaurant!
Saturday morning we decided to see what it was all about.

Looking over the menu

While we were waiting for our food, Mark was showing Lon how to play the game what was on our table. The golf tees in the triangle and you have to jump them and get down to one tee.
Lon was able to get to three. Mark and I both got to two.

Lon devouring the chocolate coca cola cake.

The food was pretty good. The service was iffy, but okay.  We will probably go back!
It was fun.

Bear Cake

I went to a baby shower in the neighborhood on Saturday, this is the cake I brought

Bear cake in progress
There were three flavors of cake. Chocolate, White, and a lemony yellow. That was the base

All done!

Side view

Everyone liked the cake! It was fun to make!

Lego Kittens!

A few days ago, Lon was rebuilding his Chima lego set. He left it in the living room.  The kittens thought this was a great idea! They played with the legos after Lon went to sleep.

Scout in the lego box, inviting Ranger to play

Scout, I think this brick goes here

I think you are right, Ranger, that brick does look good there

They had lots of fun!

Ranger Update

On January 14 I took Ranger in to have his second round of shots.

His Supreme Cuteness

Ranger now weighs in at 2 pounds 15 ounces. One good dinner away from three pounds! 

The vet says he is amazing, cute and cuddly and in perfect kitten health. 

We agree with her! 

Magnolia Plantation

This month you can get a buy one get one free ticket to Magnolia Plantation. They ask you to print out a coupon from their website before you go. The ticket taker was impressed I had actually done that.  
We finally got on the road at about 10. We had a great breakfast of mickey mouse waffles and bacon!  We brought Jack with us too

The road on the way to the parking area

From the back seat, is that a real swamp?
Yes, that is a real swamp.
with ducks

It's a long drive way

Little ponies and big trees
They are behind the ticket booth

They still had Santa's Village buildings set up. It was very muddy back there. The boys did not want to play there very long

We found the petting zoo. The first animal that came up to us was this lovely girl. She was very friendly. She loved the boys  even when they ran out of food

Petting the deer. Lon was surprised by how very soft a deer is.

Time to go see the gardens

Winter blooming camellias
They had a lot of them in the gardens

A rice boat model.

There was also a boat landing at Magnolia

Garden paths

The plantation house. It was built on the ruins of the first floor. All the was left after Sherman burned it.

Reading the history signs

A full size rice trunk.  Lon was not sure what it was at first since he had only seen models before! Then he started explaining how they worked to drain the water from the rice fields into the river.

flight

We are now on a mission to find the wildlife observation tower

A little history first

We found it!!  You can sort of make out the boys at the top.
There was another guy up there who started shaking the railing. This freaked the boys out.  It was not a very nice thing to do
The observation tower is on the far side of the gardens, time to start working out way back

The boys were amazed by this, is it a tree, a really thick vine? what caused it to grow like that?

a little bit about the tree pictured above

On our way out we passed the slave cabins.  They had signs that said no parking. so it was jut a quick photo

We had a good time walking through all the trails and seeing the gardens.
We like Middleton a little better, a bit more compact at Middleton and there are lots of people around for Lon to talk to about the plantation.  
It was a great day to get outside. 65 degrees on January 20!