westphals.net Three Boys, Mom, and Dad

So there have been a few other activities of note on the Webelos front. I'd like to point them out and draw attention to the photos, but all in one post.

First was Haunted Camp Munhacke. Kieran and I went to it again this year. Nobody else in the Den was able to make it, but we had fun. Ran into some of the troops that we are considering joining.

Next, most of the members of the Webelos Den and Declan and Owen went to the Talladay Farms Corn Maze. They tried to navigate through the maze and find all the checkpoints using a GPS. The owner of the maze provided the coordinates of all the checkpoints to me in advance and I had them all programmed into the GPS. We ran out of daylight before we could find them all, but it was lots of fun.

Finally, several of the Webelos joined Boy Scout Troop 243 from Ypsilanti for a hike at Camp Munhacke. They are one of the troops that we are considering joining. We wanted to see how they operate. It was fun!

(Click any picture for more.)

Pack 295 did a Raingutter Regatta this year. It's the first time that Kieran has participated in one of those. You build a little boat from a kit. Then you use a straw to blow air at the sail of your boat to make it float down the length of a raingutter filled with water. The goal is to get to the end of you gutter before your opponenet gets to the end of his.

The Pack 295 regatta wasn't competitive. Nobody was keeping track of who won which races. It was just a lot of fun to build and race the boats.

(Click the image for more.)

Halloween never seems to get old when you have kids. Especially for the kids. We have our traditions in this family and they were upheld this year.

First we have to attend the annual pumpkin sale fundraiser at the Lincoln School's Lowden Schoolhouse. The sale supports the upkeep of the one room schoolhouse as well as a scholarship for a Lincoln student who attends Eastern Michigan University. Each of the boys picked a pumpkin. The sale was on October 17 so the pumpkins had to sit outside for a while to stay cold before it was time to carve them.

Of course, the twins were not happy seeing their pumpkins sitting outside for such a long time just looking like pumpkins. We couldn't carve them or they'd be rotten by Halloween. Linda came up with a plan. Each boy used some paper body parts to design a face that was then glued to the gourd.

Finally on the 30th the carving took place. Linda is the master carver. Declan and Owen drew what they wanted their faces to look like and Linda translated the drawings into carvings. Kieran selected a pattern from a book for his Wolfman.

This year the boys all had recycled costumes. The twins wore old costumes that Kieran had used when he was younger. Kieran was Harry Potter again as he was previously. They all looked good, although Owen's second head didn't want to stay on top of his first one properly.

There are a couple more pictures in the gallery that contains those shown here.

We needed some fire skill practice for our Webelos advancement. So Kane's mom Kathy brought her fire pit over and we had a campfire right in our driveway. The scouts tried to light the fire using a flint and steel, but that didn't work after quite a few tries. So we resorted to the clicker.

The best part was the companionship around the fire after it was started anyway!

We made sure it was completely extinguished before we retired for the night.

Owen made a really impressive drawing of a king on the blackboard. Don't you agree?

After we left Cub Scout Fun Day we met Linda in Dexter where she was getting off work. After a quick dinner she took Declan and Owen home. Kieran and I returned to Camp Munhacke for the Dad and Lad campout. We got our tent setup and enjoyed the time together and activities.

(Click on the image for a few others.)

The annual Cub Scout Fun Day comes in September. It was at Camp Munhacke again this year. I took Kieran and his brothers to enjoy some time outdoors. The twins got to participate in everything just like the scouts. There was archery, BB guns, wrist rockets, and lots of other things. However, it seems like the most popular thing for the three of them was climbing the various trees. At least that's what I got the most pictures of.

Yep we picked apples this year. Proof in the photos.

We decided to take a trip to Reed City right at the end of Kieran's summer vacation from school. So we spent the Labor Day weekend up in that neck of the woods. We took a day trip from there to Ludington. Since the kids don't do very well when it comes to tourist shopping we focused on the beach. It was a popular place to be that day!

We also took a walk out the pier to the lighthouse that guides boats into the harbor.

There are more picture in the gallery.

On August 16th Whittaker Village (our neighborhood) had an outdoor community party. The Ypsilanti Township Fire Department sent a truck and two firefighters to visit with us. The kids (including a couple of the grown-up kids) had fun touring the truck and playing with the fire hose. It sure can shoot that water a long way! Thanks to the YTFD!

(Click the image to see others)