Sucia Invasion by T3

There was a reported invasion by troop three scouts on the peaceful island of Sucia, on the far away archipelago of the San Juans.

They were invited by their allies, the sea scouts, to board their ship and they worked as a team as they unloaded the gear to take over the Island.

A strategic location was found to set up their base camp.

The scoutmasters inspected their superbattledroids to make sure they were well prepared and geared up.

Although somewhat odd looking, the inhabitants of this island were rather peaceful.

Well, most were peaceful, others were quite aggressive, but none the less, conquered by the brave scouts. After a day of exploration everybody was rewarded by a dutch oven dinner cook off. No one went to bed hungry. The island proved to be a very hospitable place, and apart form a few broken bones, the invasion went quite smoothly. What a beautiful place! It sure begs to be "invaded"

Good News & Bad News

I'll start with the bad news first because I can summarize them in two words: Broken Bones!

This was Ethan five years ago after he fell off our bed and broke his arm. This past Saturday, as we were camping on Sucia Island, he did not quite clear the log he was jumping over and fell down, right arm first. As I commented how he really hurt his arm when he fell, he summarized it well: " Sure my arm is hurt, my whole body fell over it, and I am 67 pounds!"

Now here are the good news, the fracture was not displaced, in other words, no need to "set it back in place". This was also good news since we were in the relatively remote Sucia Island, with no ferries or bridges, and made waiting another day to get off the island bearable. Also, because of the nature of the fracture, close to the radius head, there is no need for a cast, only a sling. I was starting to question if that really was good news once the sling started to irritate Ethan and he wanted it off. Humm, I thought, with a cast he would not have that option. Then I remember the smell of the cast he wore 5 years ago during the summer. That thought seal it, a sling is very good news! Other good news are that our parental instincts are still sharp. After the fall, Shawn and I were probably seen as very overbearing and overprotective parents, as we kept Ethan from all the fun activities the other boys were involved in. As we strongly suspected a fracture, we wanted to avoid another fall which would certainly add insult to injury. We are now glad we did!

Good news #5: Ethan is now even, one fracture in each forearm, balance is key to life.

Another bonus, Jack has a sympathetic ear and an impaired right hand buddy to play with .

Most of all, we thank God for another day where he kept His protective hand over us, and that he equipped our bodies with bones that heal.

Not at the Fair

While most of Whatcom county and half of the Canadians from the lower mainland can be found at the Lynden fair this week, you will not find find us there. We did the fair last year and I'm good for a while. Instead we headed north (and up) to Grouse Mountain. You might ask the same question as both border patrol agents asked us: "What's up at Grouse Mountain?" The mountain is known for it's winter skiing, but there is quite an entertainment up there in the summer. It starts with a beautiful gondola ride, and once up there, you can watch some lumberjacks show off their skills, you can admire some grizzlies, ride up the ski lifts for some great views, feel the wind of birds of prey wings flying over your head, and so on. We got treated to a few bonuses. Our lumberjacks needed some help, so they came to the audience to pick a good helper. Lucky fo them, they picked a nice strong partner. Ann nailed the competition and won the grand prize! A beaver tail. If you went to the fair you ate an elephant ear, we got a beaver tail , just about the same healthy ingredients on both. Great outfit Ann!Of course no lumberjack show is complete without the tree climbing competition. We headed to the birds of prey exhibition and were treated to another bonus. The wind was quite strong and on the previous show, their eagle had taken off and the trainers spent more than an hour going up down the side of the steep mountain trying to retrieve their bird. They were successful and did not take another chance. We were able to admire the beautiful bird, but he stayed teetered to the trainer. They felt a little safer with this Harris Hawk, and let it take off. At first it landed on a spectator's head. She (the expectator that served as he perch), was really cool about it did not panic. I'm not sure if I could have remained that calm. When it took off again , it must have felt the force and freedom of the wind. The trainers were a little stressed, especially when they saw it landing on a tree right in the middle of the grizzly bear habitat. Eventually they managed to retrieved the hawk without being mauled by the bears. The next show got canceled! Kudos goes to Christian D. for confronting his fear of heights head on.

We had a really great day, and as I was savouring an aero ice cream; only found in Canada and it also happened to be one of my favorite candy bars; I said I would have to return another time to have this yummy ice cream again. Only I would earn it by doing the Grouse Grind, hiking up instead of taking the gondola, a mere 2800 feet elevation gain in 3km. As I was struggling to jog our little trail today, I thought: "Who was I kidding?" I either have to start some serious training or just forget about my aero ice cream.

Merit Badge Fun

I wonder if Christian knew how much fun he would have when he joined the T3 boy scouts. It's been a great fit for him, he is learning and growing with the scouts, and along with that, having lots of fun. The theme for August is water sports, and one of their choices is water skiing. This was a first for Christian, but he was able to get up and stay up on his first try. On the second time out in the water he was crossing the wakes, not only four times as it is required for the merit badge, but "tons of time, it's easy you know."

Even Nolan and Ethan got a ride on the boat and were able to give it go at skiing. They now have the taste of it and can't wait to try it again. Good thing they have many years of scouting ahead of them.

The kids were not the only one to get in the water though. As some of us were watching from the dock, we saw one of the boats returning and wondered who was skiing. I saw right away that it was Bridget, it took the older scouts a while to agree with me, but sure enough, there she was smiling and waving at us. You go girl!

Shawn figured he might as well give it a try, it had been years since the last time he had been on skis. He was able to haul up on one ski and cruise the waters. Great fun, he was glad that he "still has it", except he has been sore ever since and made sure he got his stretches done this morning before work.

A big thank you to all the generous people that made this possible by opening their homes and driving their boats.

Bear Grylls' Apprentice

This is to those of you out there who are fans of Bear Grylls and his show "Man vs Wild". You don't need to worry, if Bear ever gets sick from one of his food choices, or gets sick of his food choices and decides to drop the show, we got him covered. Nolan would be happy to carry on the show. The other day he walked in the house and very matter of factly, told me he had just eaten a worm. At first I played along with what I thought was a joke. Not so. Apparently it's very easy to eat a worm, you just bite it in half and swallow. If you are queasy and grossed out by now, I warned you that this is for Bear Grylls' fans, remember? I also learned that when he went fishing at the little creek with his friend Ethan F., they had tried a few periwinkles that they caught for bait. Hey, from periwinkle to worms, just a natural progression! I don't really want to know what is next. No wonder Nolan has trouble at times to finish his dinner plate, all this snacking . .

Summer Is Not Complete Until . . .

. . . we go visit Grandma and Grandpa on the Island. And as always, we have a great time, wheter it's hanging out with grandpa,

playing at the beach,

Everybody is always up for a game of botche ball.

And the winner is . . with a close second. Nolan would not miss an opportunity to try his luck. And after all that fun there is nothing quite like sleeping under a blanket of stars!

Gathering of Friends

What could be better then a picnic by the beach, with some great weather and delicious food? It's to have the picnic with some good friends, and repeat it every year. It was another great annual Birch Bay picnic, now a tradition that we all look forward to.

Just look at these smiles, fun times spelled all over their faces.

Father/Son Outing

The day finally came for Nolan and Shawn to go on their backpacking trip. It's now a family tradition to celebrate your 10th birthday with an overnight trip with dad. The destination is the birthday boy's choice, and Nolan had picked out their spot a year ago on a family hike. He does not turn 10 until December, but due to the nature of the trip, it had to be done a few months in advance. It was also Nolan's first backpacking trip and he was beyond excited. On the morning of his trip, he downed his 17# backpack and ran up and down our stairs, for "warm up". They headed to Excelsior Pass, Nolan did a super job carrying his stuff up the trail . . . . . . and they were able to pitch the tent on the "prime spot", reserved a year ago by Nolan. The views were beautiful, the weather was clear and the bugs were plenty. Shawn described the bugs (mean black flies and mosquitoes) as being "pure torture". That was certainly a "buzz" they could do without, as it sent them into their tent at 6pm, they just could not take it anymore. The views at night were just as beautiful, as they enjoyed gazing at the stars and the milky way from the safety of the tent. At the crack of dawn, they broke camp and headed down, with a stop at the creek for water to cook breakfast. Despite the big annoyance of the bugs, Nolan said it would not keep him from future backpacking trips (which will be equipped with pure DET).

A Hiker, a Sailor and a Player

Many times I have heard how easy it must be to have all boys. People making these comments must believe that one size fits all. Same kind of clothes, same toys, same discipline, same hobbies, basically, find what works for one and apply it to all. Ah! If it only would be that simple!! But then life would lose a lot of it's flair, right? The boys could not be more different from each other! Among many other things (that I will not go into), one of the areas they differ greatly is their outdoor passions. Christian is so comfortable around water, including chilly water. His ideal morning for swim team is one of those misty, even rainy days!! Go figure!! Nolan on the other hand, would be happy to stay on land, more specifically, hiking. What about Ethan? Right now he is dragged to either the water or the mountains. If you ask him, he would rather play with Noah or Jack, that's his choice of outdoor activity right now, creative play with his buddies. I just love to watch the boys develop their own interests and their God given gifts.