A Cutie turns 2!

Well, there was a birthday, and based on the number of pictures, it appeared to be its own blog.   But there are no stories, nor facebook posts from this day, so perhaps that is all it should be...some pics of a birthday.   Looked like fun!

 

AHG Bonfire

The Lewis' hosted the AHG bonfire again this year, and from the pictures, I would say it was a success.   I was in the DR this weekend, and had to miss this one.  And since Magan did not make a post on Facebook, I will steal the words from another mom and leader, Robbie Lewis...

"Thanks for a wonderful warm, sunny Bonfire experience at the Lewis home tonight! A bit different from years past and filled with swimming, catching tadpoles, sweating by the fire, s’mores and roasted rice Krispy treats, bloody finger stories x 2, and lots of siblings included. My heart is full! I love my AHG family!!"

 

Skills USA - Davis goes to Mobile

 Since Davis placed 1st at the regional Skills USA competition in the "Customer Service" category, he got the opportunity to travel with his CTEC school down to Mobile for the state competition.   While it is a competition, his teacher does not really care to much for this stuff, and said it is just to have fun.   So I think him and his buddies did just that.   They got out of school for three days, took a charter bus to Mobile (all expenses paid by the Boston Butt sale earlier in the year) and even got to visit the USS alabama while down there.   

Davis did take the required picture in the machine room of the battleship, and said he was the designated tour guide there.   They did find a gun on the submarine that his group realized could still be raised and lowered...so of course, they would put one guy sitting on the gun, and the rest would spin the wheel to raise him up.   

One food truck for hundreds of kids at the battleshop, so after they got back to the hotel, they all ordered food from Uber.   His friend Logan spent like $80 on sushi.   Davis did not place at the competition, but he really didn't care much, was just happy to be there.   Sam did not get to go until his Senior year.   I don't remember any other stories shared...one picture shared that I told him never to share again.  haha.   I'll let you ask Davis about that one.   

Boy Scout Campout - Chewacla State Park

Haven't been on a scout campout in awhile, but I booked this one at Chewacla like 8 months ago, and have been looking forward to it.   It is one of my favorite locations due to the large scout field, really nice waterfall, and biking trails all over the place.   And it is one of the closer trips we go on which is also a plus.   We arrived Friday evening at the campsite around 8:30PM, which in troop 354 experience is early.   The boys quickly put up the dining flies, and the adults did not because of another great thing about this campsite...a large covered pavilion that is a part of the campsite.  I found a great flat spot to unpack and set up the tent, and after a small time at the pavilion talking with the other dads, went to my tent and fell asleep with no problems.   

The next morning the adults had bacon and eggs.   And Davis' leadership patrol had grits and sausage, and it was funny because they forgot that the grits were for their supper with shrimp.   Oh well, they would come up with something later.   Our day began with one of the newer scouts getting sick, and having to call him mom to come get him.   

I went off with the mountain biking crew, while another group went hiking.   One of the other adults crashed at about the 2nd turn, and was out for the rest of the day.   We are just too old for this.   We started our day at the trick area, that had some ramps and skinny boards to try out our balance.   I am not good at all riding bikes, but I tried the first ramp and made it, so I decided to try the second level ramp and turned two quickly when I landed and slide on my side for a little while scratching up my arm pretty good.   My buddy Shawn Rumsey made it look easy.   He is clearly my favorite person to talk to and hang out with on these trips, and I was glad he was here.  Davis hit the level 3 ramp twice getting some great air, so I told him to do it one more time, and I would get it on video.   And as luck would have it, he came off slightly twisted and wrecked very bad on his landing.   He was bleeding much worse than me.   

After getting bloodied at the trick spot, we rode over to some fast trails with big hills.   I almost wrecked bad just due to stupidity  stopping at the top of the hill.   Fortunately, I did not, and when I made it back to the stop, I decided that was enough for me.   We did one last trail towards the end, and Davis again tore up his bike, but after seeing him passed out in my lounge seat, I think he really just needed to rest.  While he was sleeping, I rode my bike down to the waterfall, and enjoyed bouncing around on the rocks trying not to get wet.   This is one of my favorite places, and I was going to be sad if I missed it.   

Then we had a great supper where Shawn made what was probably one of the best burgers I have ever eaten.   Davis got a bite and would tell you the same.   Then shortly after supper, the bottom dropped out.   And the thunder and lightning got intense.   Looking at our radars, we could see that these storms would be coming all night, so all the leaders got together and did a tent check finding 8 of the tents were soaked with water.   So we made the decision to pack up during a short 2 hour break in the rain, and go home that Saturday night.   Oh well, we did not miss anything other than a miserable night in a tent hoping that a tree would not fall on us.  Shawn and I did get the first Board of Review from a minivan completed for Cason Williams, while everyone was packing up.   

Funny stories for the night of camping.   On the first night, Davis completely lost his air pods in his tent, and after searching thru his whole tent was frustrated that he could not find them, as his phone said they were in his tent.   Then when he stood up, he felt something strange in his pants...somehow, I don't want to ask...they both ended up inside his pants.   And since Max Beneke told me his parents might not be home, I suggested he text his brother Will.   "I would be better off texting the dog than texting will"...hahaha.   And George sent us a picture of him doing inventory, so he could not be at the campout, I immediately put his picture into one of ours at the campout, but that sparked him being in a mayonnaise factory, then in Egypt, and all over the place.   

 

AHG Spring Campout - Around Monte Sano

Another fun weekend with the girls and the AHG troop, this time visiting Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville.   I am always curious to see if we will be able to get the van doors shut when we pack for these campouts.   The girls each have their own tent now, and Magan still needs the large 10 man tent, but she has slimmed down to a cot, away from the queen size air mattress.  We arrived around 5PM after a super long wait for Jacks chicken, and began setting up all our stuff, which takes quite a while.   

One of the new girls in the troop helped me tie the flagpole knots, and she gets the prize for tying the best knot ever.   It held up very well through the entire weekend.  Ruby was super proud of all the room in her tent.   It was a fun night for smores around the campfire, and apparently the girls really liked them, as there were none for the following night after dinner.   We realized and remembered from the last campout here how far away the bathroom was from the campsite, but Magan loaded all the girls up in our van and they drove down to it on this night.   Davis sent us a picture of some chicken he grilled on the new grill.   

The next morning put us in a bad place, because we were too far away from any fast food, so I had to actually cook breakfast for the girls.   But I had forgotten to bring the grits that they all wanted, so we were left with breakfast bars, and some freeze dried eggs, sausage, and potatoes.   This is a fine breakfast for me, but not so much for the girls.   Ruby reminded me that the only freeze dried meal she likes is the biscuits and gravy one.   Oh well, we survived.   It was also an exciting morning when I looked on Life 360 to make sure Davis had gotten up to go with his mentor, Eric Kolb, turkey hunting.   Davis was very excited about this, and had recently taken all the tests and gotten his hunting license.   But I was surprised when I saw him still at the house...then I realized quickly that he had just never waken up.   Eric had left me a voicemail that he knocked and rang door bell multiple times at 4AM, but Davis can sleep thru anything.   Magan went into crazy woman mode (she would call it concerned mother mode, but she would be wrong), and panicked tht something was wrong with Davis.   I agreed completely that something was wrong with him, but knew that it was because he can't set an alarm across the room to force himself to wake up.   But Magan called Dewann Francis, who went over, went in the house, and scared Davis to death when she went in his room.   Well, at least he was awake, and embarrassed that he missed his hunting trip.   He sent pictures of catching turtles and fish later in the day, so I guess he still had fun with the house all to himself.

After breakfast, we left camp to visit the Space Center, and that has its own blog, so enough for that.  When we returned, the Explorers and PiPas got busy with their badge requirements, but since I had the Tenderhearts and we only had 4 girls, I let them play, while I took a nap.   All of the girls were earning the "Living in Space" badge requirements.   Belle and the PiPas had a fun time being spun around and simulating shooting a rocket off from Earth to land on a certain area.   Ruby and the Explorers were building some test experiments in a small area to simulate the tight working spaces.   The tenderhearts and I worked on a drawing for our space crew, then we read a book about Mae Jemison, and finally had a "Stomp Rocket" competition shooting rockets up into the trees and trying to catch them.   One funny story was as I was reading the book about a little girl that was told she could be anything when she grew up, I asked all the girls what they wanted to be...teacher, mommy were good answers, but when I came to Diana, she looked at me with big eyes and said with no hesitation "A Unicorn".   

It was great that Marcus, Emily and the girls were able to drive up and join us at the campsite.   The girls both liked playing with the Stomp Rockets also.   All of the girls also got together to perform a skit for Mrs. Magan that Shaley had written.   And since Belle Douglas was not there (she got sick the first night, and they left in the middle of the night with puke in the tent), Ruby took over the role of Mrs. Magan.   It was awesome...the skit showed how Mrs. Magan loves to sit in her chair and sleep with lots of blankets...it picked on her (and probably me) for always having Jacks in the morning and ChickFilA for dinner...hilariously had Anabelle Lewis dragging a super heavy bag of bathroom "essentials" for the nightly shower...showed her curling everyones hair that wanted it done...and lastly, had Ruby as Magan, with a large towel wrapped on her head lay down on her Queen size mattress.   "Good Night Girls" Ruby said laying on the bed..."Good night Mrs. Magan" all the girls replied to end the skit titled "Camping, Mrs. Magan Style".   Of course Magan loved it, and since this was the 5th and final year of her being the troop leader, the girls loved that she loved it.   

That evening we had our normal skits and songs.   Hadassah was the MC of the event, and did a great job.   Our tenderhearts brought back the Squirrel patrol, the PiPas did not have a skit, and the Explorers did a funny one about a guy that killed everyone for a movie, but the cameraman did not have any film in the camera...you just had to be there.   I brought out the Hey Joe song, which I think Ruby is now ready to lead by herself.   And we ended the evening with a flag retirement ceremony lead by Anabelle.   I told Magan that I often request things from our kids with the same manner that I ask others...it is with a hesitancy and slight plea for help...but it is not required with her or any of them.   As soon as I asked, she quickly said "Yes, no problem" and started asking me about what she needed to prepare for...truly a blessing.   And she did an amazing job.   She spoke up well, and kept the perfect pace for a respectful ceremony.   We retired three flags that night.   And thankfully, she came and stood next to me to lead the Star Spangled Banner, as she has much better pitch.   

The next morning began with some grits!   The marshalls had went to Walmart, and I asked her to pick some up for me.   So all the girls were happy with a cup full of grits.   After breakfast, Hadassah led a very emotional devotion, that really impacted many as it was true reflection of the darkness that is all around in schools.   But through a little tears, I think everyone there was encouraged to stand up to the darkness, and shine our lights a little brighter in the world.   We then finished the campout with the paper plate awards.   I did get one to Diana about being the best unicorn at the campout (she actually wore unicorn pajamas that Sunday morning).   Belle got the paper plate award for "Best Moma head massager" and "Master of the Flag Retirement Ceremony".   Ruby got the award for "Best Director of Phenomenal Filmography" (she was the director in the Explorer skit).   After the breakdown of camp, we went and visited the Japanese Garden at the state park...and even recreated some pictures from our last AHG campout here.   

And our weekend came to an end with a visit to La Finka mexican restuarant with Marcus and Emily.   I ordered the special, then was surprised when they delivered three plates for the special.   Haha, marcus then said that he wanted the special too.   It was a fun ending to another great AHG campout.  There is always some craziness with how these things get planned, and drama abounds often with the planning, but it always works out, and it was perfect weather for the weekend.   Even tho Mrs. Princess did not have enough blankets on the first night.   

Oh...and some random memories...that will just need to be remembered...tree spider with Mr. Jimmy, Ruby behind tent, alka selzer rocket duds, concentrated pudding with the tenderhearts was nasty, and hahaha...I guess I will go back to Magan's first night in the tent.   She was really cold, and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.   So she put on 6 shirts, and with her eye mask, and ear buds, had to worm her way around the tent before going to bed.   The second night, she put hot hands all over and inside her clothes to stay warm.   I'll let her share the location of the hot hands that help a good night sleep.