Holly and Todd: July 2009

Ethan, Jake and Akela

The bridge to Boy Scouts.

Ethan and Akela

The Cub Scout follows Akela.
The Cub Scout helps the pack go.
The pack helps the Cub Scout grow.
The Cub Scout gives goodwill.

After a 3-year journey in Cub Scouts, Ethan was awarded his Arrow of Light this week. It was an incredible ceremony where the Indian "Akela" came and spoke about honor and commitment and how these traits were ones his father, Chief Arrow of Light, regarded highly and awarded his award to those scouts that exemplified them. You could have heard a pin drop during the ceremony where Ethan and his friend, Jake, earned their awards. So now it's on to Boy Scouts and the "Trail to Eagle". We still have a few more years in Cubs with Everett and Emery though.

Todd and the boys admiring the view.

This year we were lucky enough to be invited to a friends "cabin in the woods". It was in Pine top Arizona which is, on the average, 20 degrees cooler than the valley. We left the valley at 107 degrees and three hours later we were in 85 degree heaven. Later that evening it got into the 60's and it was great to be outside again. We were able to enjoy the local fireworks at the high school and had a fun-filled weekend of riding quads, shooting the guns and enjoying the great outdoors. Holly sampled the Glock .40 cal, the 12-gauge shotgun, the .38 caliber handgun, the boys .22 rifle and my 7mm rifle. She proved that girls can shoot and that growing up with 5-brothers does count for something. You'll notice that there are no pictures of Holly shooting. She was heavily armed and willing to fire on me given the chance.