Cooking Breakfast Over the Fire

Saturday morning was a beautiful time to sit around the fire. Derek decided we would enjoy breakfast outside. He cooked the bacon and mixed up the bannock. The boys found sticks and were ready to cook their bannock. 

After much patience and fighting of smoke, the bannock was done. While it cooled the boys enjoyed a few pieces of bacon, then devoured their bannock.

It was fun to watch the boys learning how to cook over a fire, a favorite past time of their Dad.

Magic Tree House: Passport to Adventure Tour

Micah and Matthew both love to read the Magic Tree House Books. They are great books to get kids reading chapter books and to learn about many different places of the world and different times in history.

Time for a Magic Tree House Adventure!

The boys are ready to go. In amazement at the huge bus. Especially that Jack is riding the Pteranodon from the book Dinosaur Before Dark, which he had started reading in the morning. 

Enthralled! Matthew sat, watched and laughed as Jack and Annie sang and shared. Micah was actively engaged in all that he could. Clapping and yelling. Both boys are becoming Magic Tree House Reading Ambassadors.

New Reading Ambassadors meeting Jack and Annie. All the books we had with us are stamped by Jack and Annie. Matthew is now more excited, if that is possible, to read all the Magic Tree House books. Micah is ready to see if he can find any that he hasn't read.

Slowly goes the Sloth

Continuing on in our study of the rain forest.  We spent a day learning about the slow moving sloth. 


How slow does a sloth move?  Well much slower then the boys do. We read that it can take a sloth up to one hour to move 15 feet. To give the boys a visual, I taped off 15 feet and asked them to walk it as slowly as they could. Bryce managed to last about 60 seconds, Derek had to work really hard to last 2 mins. 

Slow, Slow, Slowly goes the sloth but not the boys.

Then we spent time making Sloth Notebook pages. All the boys drew and colored their own sloth. Next, they wrote about what we had read. I am amazed at how different the details can be and how well they are able to draw when drawing from an example. 

South America

Earlier this year, I realized that geography was not happening during our school day. The boys were learning about many different cultures through out our studies but not where these cultures were in the world. They had an idea of what a continent and country were but struggled with the difference between the two. I knew it was time for a change. So, as I re-worked our schedule after Christmas, I decided to start Bryce and Micah in A Trail Guide to World Geography. This went wonderful. The boys loved being able to label maps and quickly were picking up different geography terms and learning how to read maps. Then, Matthew started wanting more school and wanted to participate with his brothers. 


The answer combining A Trail Guide to World Geography and Galloping the Globe. Bryce and Micah were about to start learning about South America. This lead me to starting a huge cooperative art project. Creating a rain forest in our front hall way.


To start off, we read a few different books and discussed the various levels of the rain forest. It was decided that Matthew would paint the river. Bryce would work on the forest floor and the under-story. Micah would work on the canopy and then help with the under-story.  A morning spent painting the rain forest in the kitchen was enjoyed by all. The boys worked hard and were anxious to start creating the animals that live in the forest. 

In the following weeks, we will study the culture and countries of South America. Each week, we will read about and create animals to add to our rain forest.

Tiger Cub Bowling

Micah and his Tiger Cub Den went bowling for a den meeting. The boys had a blast seeing how many pins they could hit and seeing how many times their balls could bounce off the bumpers. 

Styles were very different, but all equally effective (it would be very different outcomes without the bumpers). The excitement for strikes and spares ran high.

Pine Wood Derby

Pack 246 had their annual Pine Wood Derby on Saturday March 3rd.

Excitement runs high in the house when it is Pine Wood time. The all important decision of what is my car going to look like. Then drawing the design so Daddy can attempt to cut it out. Sanding and more sanding eventually lead to painting. The first layer is spray paint, then the boys get to add in the final touches. This year Bryce created a fire breathing dragon, Micah made a shimmering shark, and Matthew wanted his flying elephant, again. 

Bryce came in third in the races. 

Blue and Gold

Each year in February, our scout pack celebrates scouting with a Blue and Gold dinner. 

Bryce and his den received their Bear rank this year, including receiving the sign of the Bear. It is fun to watch the boys get their faces painted and earn their rank for the year.

This year, Derek provided our entertainment. As Scout Leader Wizard, he presented Cyrogenics. He had fun playing with liquid nitrogen, while the boys ohhed and ahhhhhed. 

 Bryce was the MC for flag, as his fellow Bears brought the flags forward. Watching him quiet the group and proudly lead us in the pledge is a moving experience. The boys take flag ceremonies very seriously, it is easy to forget how young they are.