Glacier National Park

Tonight I have been reading over some old blog posts and I noticed one from about 3 years ago where Isaac mentioned that he wanted to visit Glacier National Park.

It just so happens that we did visit Glacier this summer.    It was a spectacular part of America, with the most amazing road to drive on (although Ben did all the driving).

Here are a few highlights of our trip...

This first photo is a view of the Going to The Sun Road - if you look very closely you can see the cars on the road, in the distance.

This was a fairly tame section of the road - in some places the road was very narrow, with rock overhanging on the left and a drop off on the right.   Ben thoroughly enjoyed the drive, and says this road made the trip.

 

The kids all earned their junior ranger badges for completing work books about the National Park.   Kai jumped up and down with excitement as he was awarded his badge, even though he was my most reluctant participant.

 

I'm just throwing this photo in because I love my boys...what a handsome lot!

 

 

We all went swimming in the freezing cold Lake McDonald.   Ben and the kids swam every day.   I only did it once :)

Proof that we really were there!   Although Ben rolled his eyes at me, I insisted that we had a photo at the entry of the park.   Luckily for us, we went animal spotting one evening and found a little used entrance so we didn't have to compete with the crowds trying to get their photos.

 

And yes - we camped at Glacier National Park.   No 5 star hotels for us!   And yes - it was freezing cold in the mornings despite that fact that it was in the middle of summer.

And the holy grail of National Park vacations....the bear!    We saw this Black Bear (yes - it's a black bear despite being brown) on our last day.   I was told by a park ranger that we might see a bear at Many Glaciers, so I directed Ben back over the Going to the Sun Road, on our way home through Canada.

 

Little did I realize that, by going this way, we had to go through Alberta and that it was going to make our 5 hour drive to our first stop a 9 hour drive.    Let's just say we saw more of the country than we expected too.    I must admit that Ben held up remarkably well as the designated driver.

A Family of Readers

Conversation around the dinner table tonight came back to my 40th birthday.   Ben had mentioned that we should do something big for my birthday.   As I don't really like parties, I asked the kids if there was anything "big" they could think of that I would like but the family would enjoy too.

Isaac came up with the idea of a day of reading, where we would all sit around the house reading books.   I love that he recognizes that I love reading, and that all our kids have followed in our footsteps.

Before that sounds too braggy - I will mention that his first idea was a day where we all play computer games together.

Freak Out

We were driving in the car the other day, when Ben bought up the topic that I was going to be 40 next year.   (Great way to make me feel good, dear, especially when I'm still 38!)   Ben was joking that I could have a midlife crisis at 40 and buy a sports car and get a tattoo.  

Elizabeth asked what a mid-life crisis was.   Ben started explaining, when suddenly Kai yelled out "Guys - you're freaking me out right now.   It's just so crazy about cars and tattoos!"    

That kid cracks me up!  

Rain

It is now Autumn here in the US.   For us, this means it's the beginning of the rainy season.   The sky's will be mostly gray from now until May, and I often find that a depressing thought.

However, Kai has a different outlook on life.   Yesterday he announced, "I love the rain because I can jump in puddles".

Oh to have the outlook of a four year old.

Welcome Charcoal

We have recently added a new family member of the feline variety to our household.

Charcoal joined our house about two weeks ago.    My friend's cat had kittens back in April, and I said outright that we would not be getting a new kitten.   Cleo is a senior cat these days, as she is 8 years old and I didn't want her to have to cope with a baby in the house.

However, after watching these kittens grow from birth, I fell in love.   Finally I ended up taking Ben to Kristina's house and Charcoal worked his charm on Ben too.   We came home with a new kitten.

We kept the two cats separated for a while, although there were the occasional escapes and encounters.   But they were brief and we quickly separated the cats.   They soon started sitting at the door and batting paws.

Two days ago, we started having supervised visits between the two.   It has gone very well.   They spend most of their time play fighting.   The movements are slow, and lots of bouncing is occurring especially by Charcoal.   Cleo is jumping and leaping and playing too - she's getting more exercise with Charcoal than she has in a long time.   Our vet said that she's the equivalent to a 300 pound, 56 year old woman - so a bit of exercise with the young might do her good!  The downside, is that I saw her limping slightly tonight.  I think she might have worked the muscles a bit too much today.  

Charcoal is a bit of a twit, and doesn't know when to stop though.   You can see that Cleo is exhausted from his antics, but he keeps on stalking her and pouncing on her.   She'll finally hiss and he gets the message.   He then walks around her making a pitiful meowing sound.    Five minutes later, he'll try again though.

So far, they've had about 4 "together" times, with the longest being about 2 hours.

I think it's going to work out.   At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

A Super Mario Party

It was Kai's 4th birthday yesterday, so of course you want to see a photo of the birthday boy.

 

Kai chose to have a Super Mario party.  One thing I love doing, is doing some creative cooking for the kid's birthdays.   This one was no different.   After some brainstorming and researching we ended up making the following items....

 

Doughnuts - because there is a level on Mario called "Donut Land".   Lizzy made these gluten free doughnuts, and iced them.   She was a great helper.

Marshmallow pops - to look like the Mario mushrooms.   These were quick and easy to make.  I just stuck a lolly stick into the marshmallow, and then dipped them in melted red chocolate.   By the time I finished the last one, the first was dry enough to put some little white chocolate dots on them.

 

Star shaped cheese quesadillas - to represent Mario Star Catchers. 

 

And some cheese stars too.   These were all done with cookie cutters.

 

And finally - the spread...   As you can see, we also had some watermelon because it is Kai's favorite fruit and some chocolate dipped strawberries because Liz wanted to dip strawberries!

 

 After our party - we had present time.   He got a sword and shield from Grandma & Grandad (plus another sword, so that he could play with someone else).    It's been a hit, although we've had to have some conversations about not hitting too hard.

 

And the big present was a trampoline from Mum & Dad and Grandma Jan & Grandad Joe.   It's currently set up in the garage, but we will be moving it outside in the next few days.   It's been used extensively by all children in the past two days.  

He also got an orange car from Isaac and a Robot arm (or a grabber as he calls it) from Elizabeth.

All in all - it was a fun birthday!

Bike Riding

Kai loves to ride his bike, but he also likes to have the security of someone holding onto his handle bars when he's not on flat ground (read...our garage).   However, we took his bike away camping this weekend and he was able to get lots of riding time in.

We started one bike ride still wanting Dad to hold on....  

 

 But he quickly became a much more confident bike rider and was going all by himself.   By the end, he told Ben that he didn't need help getting up the steep hill.   He accepted the help only when Ben pointed out that even Isaac and Elizabeth couldn't ride up the hill by themselves.

Yes - he is on Elizabeth's old bike but soon he'll graduate to a bigger Spiderman bike.   But he likes his pink bike for now.

Tulip Festival

We went camping at Deception Pass last weekend.   My main reason for choosing this location was that we were close to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.    It's normal for the fields to be muddy at this time of year and we knew to wear our mud boots.   This was a highlight for Kai, who spent most of his time either jumping between the rows of tulips or splashing in the mud puddles.   

Here are some of my favorite photos - I just love the colors!

England

This time last week I was in England.   My wonderful husband looked after our kids for a week, so that I could travel with my friend Kristina.

We spent two days in London, where we visited the British Museum and Windsor Castle.    After that, we drove to the other side of England (which was only about 90 minutes!) and visited Stratford upon Avon, where Shakespeare was born.   We spent two more days there, then spent a day driving through Gloucestershire visiting some of the places were my Mum's family came from.   Our last day was spent in Bath, which is a place that features in many historical books that I read, as it was a "place to be seen" in the 1800's.

This photo is a special photo, as I am standing outside a house named "Potter's Court".   In 1803, my 4th Great Grandfather, Samuel Hickling, married Lydia Potter.    From records I have, I know that Samuel and Lydia were living in Potter Court in 1841 and 1850 - I don't have any earlier records so it's possible that they lived here all their married life.    It's possible, that given the name of the house, it used to be Lydia's father's as I was told that the houses and alley's were named after residents.   It was pretty cool to see somewhere that my family lived 200 years ago.

My Apologies

My apologies to my family!   I needed somewhere to publish the last 3 posts, so the information on how to make the Cub Scout Arrow of Light was somewhere.   This was the only spot that I have, so you all get to read it!

I'll get back to my usual family stuff now :)

Making the Arrows - Putting it All Together

Once you have all your materials together, and have collected all the data on the boys who are crossing over, it's time to make your plaques.

Arrows

Before you make the arrows, you need to know:
1.   What rank they joined scouts (eg Tiger, Bear, Wolf or Weblos)
2.   Whether they earned any gold or silver points as a Bear or Wolf
3.   How many activity badges have they completed as a Weblos

Once you have collected this data on each boy, you can paint the arrows.

You need the arrows, masking tape in various sizes, paint, paintbrushes, a sharpie pen, a plate to put the paints on and some water for washing brushes.

To paint the arrows:
1.   Tape some masking tape around the nock of the arrow and write the boys' name on the tape

 

 

 

2.  Using the data on each boy, start taping the arrow.   The green tape is used between each rank, and the 1/8th" tape is used between gold/silver points and between activity badges.   In the example below the scout earned their Tiger, Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Weblos, 8 Weblos Activity Badges, and their Arrow of Light.



 

This picture shows the three stages of painting - the bottom example is a taped arrow, the middle is a completed arrow and the top arrow has been painted but still has the tape on the arrow.

 

Each rank is 3/4 inches long, and each gold/silver point and activity badge is 1/4 inch long.

 

 

The only except is the Arrow of Light, which can be up to 3 inches long.  

 

 

Each arrow will look different according to what each boy achieved.

 

Tip:   You may find it easier to draw the arrow out on paper first.  If possible have someone check that you have taped the arrow correctly.  

 

 

3.   Paint the arrows.   If time permits, do a second coat.   I found that yellow and orange were critical for a second coat and looked even better with a 3rd coat.    Do not paint the yellow Arrow of Light until as late as possible as the boys could complete an Activity Badge after you have painted.    If this happens, use fine grit sandpaper to remove the paint and add the extra gray Activity Badges.

 

 

The Plaques

 

1.   Using a fine grit sandpaper, sand the plaques until they are smooth to touch.   You can do this before or after the Arrow of Light has been engraved on the plaques.

 

2.   Once the plaque is smooth to touch and the Arrow of Light has been engraved, you may stain the plaque.   We elected not to stain our plaques, giving the wood a natural look. 

 

3.   Paint the wood using the Polyurethane.   It needs 3 coats of Polyurethane, with a drying time of 2 hours between coats.   The instructions say that you do not need to sand in between coats unless the drying time had been over 24 hours, but I found the wood didn't feel as smooth after the first coat, so I used an Ultra-fine grit sandpaper between coats.

 

4.   Once the paint is dry, you may attach the brass plates.   These come with a self-adhesive backing and just stick on the plaque.

 

5.   Next the brass hooks need to be prepared.   They are too narrow to hold the arrow, and need to be widened using needle nosed pliers.  

 

6.   Center the arrow on the plaque to determine where the brass hook will be placed.   Mark this position on all plaques.

7.   Drill a hole in the plaque, and then screw the brass hook into the plaque.   We found that the hook would snap if a hole was not drilled.

8.   Place the arrow into the brass hook, and then use the needle nosed pliers to tighten the hook and hold the arrows in place.

Making the Arrow of Light - Time Line

Today I am going to look at the time line of making the arrow.

I'm going to start off with saying...it's not cheap.    If you have people who can do any of these steps, I'd highly recommend asking them if they would be willing to donate their time.

The boys usually cross over in late February.   I would highly recommend starting making the plaques in November or December.

This is my ideal time line:

November

• Talk to the Den leader to determine how many boys have the potential to earn the arrow of light.   Also check with the Weblos 1 leader, to see if any boys are crossing over early.

December

• Order Arrows from Northwest Archery.   
  They take 1-2 weeks to arrive from the time your check arrives.
• Order Wood for plaques
  It takes about 2 weeks from the time of the order, until your wood has been molded.   If a parent is going to do the molding on their own time, you may need to order the wood even earlier as they don't do this as a full time job.
• Check the supplies which have been handed down from the year before.   Buy anything that is missing.

January

• Have parents double check the spelling of their sons names, in preparation for the making of the brass name plates.
• Take the wood to a trophy shop to have the Arrow of Light engraved into the wood.   We used Northwest Trophy & Awards in Bellevue.
• Take the list of boys names to the trophy shop, to arrange the making of the brass name plates.
• Start collecting information on what the boys need painted on their arrows.   While you cannot paint the full arrow until the very end as the boys can earn new Activity Badges, you can always get started with what was completed as Tigers, Wolfs & Bears.
• Once the wood is lasered you can sand and stain/finish the wood.   If you want, you can have a "sanding party" with the Weblos 1 boys.   This could even help them with an achievement for their Craftsman Activity Badge.

February

• Choose a cut off day for the last day the boys can earn Activity Badges
• Tape the arrows, in preparation for painting
• Paint the arrows, leaving the last yellow Arrow of Light band free until the cutoff day.
• Attach the brass name plates to the plaques
• Attach the arrows to the plaque

Arrow Of Light Plaque - Materials

Every Cub Scout pack has their own Arrow of Light Plaque, which is presented to outgoing Cub Scouts.   It recognizes what they have achieved as Cubs.   This year I was given the task of getting the plaques ready.   While I had documentation, I'm a visual person and having something visual would have been a great help to me.   So I decided to document the process here.   

Every pack makes their plaques differently.   This first post will cover the materials Pack 557 needed to make our plaques.

Materials List:

Wood - 1/2" x 6" (wide) x 36" (length) - without knots.   Our pack used Red Oak but any other hardwood would be suitable.    We bought our wood from Eastside Hardwoods http://www.hardwoodssupply.com/   They molded the edges and sanded the wood.   This was the most expensive part of the plaques - and if you are looking to cut costs I would suggest changing the wood, wood size or the molding.    In 2011, the troop used Upper Cut Woodworks.   http://uppercutwoodworks.com/     I was unsuccessful in getting in contact with the owner, Matt Gradwohl, but he's always worth trying again.     If you have a parent who is interested in woodworking - this would be a great time to tap into that resource.    This wood will need to be laser engraved with the Arrow of Light emblem prior to staining/finishing.
Tip:  These wood measurements are longer than the original Pack 557 measurements.   Redmond Trophy was unable to laser the longer length wood, so I used Northwest Trophy and Awards in Bellevue.   If you want to use Redmond Trophy you will need to shorten the wood length by at least 2 inches - if you do this your arrows should be no longer than 30 inches!

Arrows - We bought our arrows from Northwest Archery.   http://www.nwarchery.com/  Suzanne St Charles, the owner and maker of arrows, was extremely helpful.    For 2013, these were the details of our arrows:
     11/32" Port Orford Cedar
     Clear coat seal
     24 3/4" tip to tip including Hawkeye Head
     4" Feathers
     1 Blue and 2 Yellow Feathers
     Blue Nocks
     Hawkeye Heads
Tip:  These arrows were long enough for our boys in 2013.   However if you have a cub scout who has been in Scouts since Tigers, and earned Arrow Points as Bears and Wolves plus all 20 Activity Badges as a Weblos, then this arrow will not be long enough.   You can order an arrow up to 31.5" tip to tip including arrow head.   This would leave 1 inch from the tip of the arrow to the end of the wood.   We have a 5 inch gap on the 2012 plaques.    If you have a longer arrow, I would suggest getting longer feathers (5").   Suzanne will be able to guide you in the aesthetics of the arrow if you want more details.     If you want black flecks through your feathers, you will need to order Dyed Barred Feathers, rather than Solid Feathers.  

Brass Eye Screws
We used Crown Bolt 3/4" Cup Hooks from Home Depot. 

Brass Name Plates, engraved
We engraved these with the boys First & Last Name, Pack Number and Location, Arrow of Light Date, and the words "Arrow of Light".    I ordered these through Northwest Trophy, as they did our laser engraving on the wood.  

Paint
Water-based paint.   Each different color represents the achievements of each boy.   We used the following DecoArt Acrylic Paints - available from most craft shops such as Ben Franklin's.

These are the colors we used:

Tiger                          DecoArt Americana                   Bright Orange DA228
Bobcat                       DecoArt Americana                   Ultra Blue Deep DA100
Wolf                          DecoArt Americana                   Primary Red DA199
Gold Arrow Point     DecoArt Dazzling Metallics      Glorious Gold DA071
Silver Arrow Point    DecoArt Dazzling Metallics      Shimmering Silver DA070
Bear                           DecoArt Americana                   Holly Green DA048
Weblos                      DecoArt Americana                   Navy Blue DA035
Activity Pins             DecoArt Americana                   Slate Grey DA068
World Conservation  DecoArt Americana                   Royal Purple DA150
Religious Award       DecoArt Americana                   Mink Tan DA092
Arrow of Light          DecoArt Americana                   Cadmium Yellow DA010

DecoArt's color chart can be found here:  http://www.decoart.com/cgi-bin/ColorChart.cgi?Americana_Acrylics     Sapphire DA099 has been used in the past for Bobcat.  It is lighter than the Ultra Blue Deep, and I personally think it would look better than what we currently have.

Stain and Finish for Plaque
Using a stain is optional.   It will darken the wood.   However we elected not to stain the wood, using the natural beauty of the Red Oak.   We did need to finish the wood using Polyurethane.   I bought this at Home Depot.   It required 3 coats with a drying time of 2 hours between coats.

Sandpaper
The sandpaper required depends on what level of sanding your wood has had before it arrives in your hands.   The wood from Eastside Hardwoods was well sanded.   However, I still needed to use 150 grit (Fine) sandpaper to prepare the surface.   I then used 320 grit (Ultra Fine) sandpaper between coats.

Paint Brushes
Basic art paint brushes for applying acrylic paints and a good quality paint brush designed for polyurethane.

Arrow of Light

Isaac received his Arrow of Light at Cub Scouts on Saturday.     This is the highest award a Cub Scout can get before he moves on to become a Boy Scout.   

Isaac and one of his friends received special mention at the ceremony, as they had completed all 20 Activity Badges - the most a Cub Scout can achieve as a Weblos (the name of the Den for the oldest boys).   They were recognized with a "Super Achiever" badge. 

 

 

 

Now he is a Boy Scout - and has gone from being one of the oldest at Cub Scouts to being one of the youngest at Boy Scouts.   But this does not concern him at all.   For his ceremony, he wrote that one of the things he was looking forward to most of all was going camping more often without Mum & Dad.    He's excited and ready to be a Scout.   

Math

I use Facebook a lot these days to keep family updated on little things that happen.   But over time, they disappear into the land of computers.    I like having a blog, because I can go back years and giggle over some of the things that happen in our family life.

Today, I had one of those things happen.   And although I put it on Facebook - I decided to write it down here so I can find it easily again - and so all my family without Facebook can have a giggle.   And, I'm sure some of you will giggle because the Math/Science gene seems to run strong in our family.

My conversation today with Isaac went like this:

"What sort of things do we do everyday that requires math?"
"Working out 2 to the power of 13"
"Isaac, that's not really something we need for our daily lives"
"But I think about what the answer is nearly every day".

I love my nerdy family!

Piano Recital

Elizabeth had her Winter piano recital on Saturday night.    These are the pieces she played.   This first one is called Planetarium.

The second one is an excerpt from Grieg's Morning Music.

Mum Glasses

Elizabeth loves to cook.    However, after cooking, the kitchen is a mess.   Ben was talking with her the other week and told her how when he was her age he would clean the kitchen but his mum would tell him it was still messy.    In his mind, it was clean so he thought it was strange that she would say that it wasn't clean.

Elizabeth did some more cooking yesterday, and I was reminded of this conversation.   She had cleaned up in a typical nine year old style.   The counter was wiped down and instead of the batter being wiped away, it was smeared over the counter in a thin layer.   Some things were put away, but the flour and sprinkles were still on the counter.

So I said to her "Thanks for cleaning up Lizzy.   You've obviously tried hard but there is still some more to be done.   How about you put on Mom glasses.   What would the kitchen look like if I had cleaned up?"  

She looked around and said "It would be perfect".   

I had to smile at that:  my kitchen is far from perfect but I do have counters that are clean.    However to a nine year old, I have a perfectly clean kitchen.