No progress lately, my time’s just been full of life stuff.
I could have pushed myself to get over to the gallery to make a new video last weekend, but opted to get myself and the kids home from our Scouting trip. I had a good time at the event, but it didn’t leave me refreshed. Here’s the summary.
The wind up to the weekend a bit on the long side. The evening before was full with the Cub meeting and packing. The day we were to leave was even more full.
After a good day at work, I attempted to replace a squealing belt on the car I intended to take on our trip, but missed a second bolt that allowed for the install (the mechanic that replaced the belt the last time must have missed the bolt as well since the belt that was on the car when I bought it was larger than the one listed for the vehicle).
Once I gave up on fixing that in the growing gloom of Autumn, we threw the last of our gear into the car and headed out without restored power steering. A couple miles down the road I looked down to realize that my checkbook hadn’t made it into the car. Assuming that it also hadn’t stayed in the last place that I could remember setting it, I turned around to look for it on the street close to home.
It turned up, not as close to the house as I would have expected, but all the parts were accounted for so my blood pressure began to settle closer to normal.
We turned once again to our destination, and the only remaining excitement from my perspective was driving 2 hours of the twisty coastal highway in the dark without the power steering, while already feeling a bit tired.
My youngest son however felt a little anxiety over getting down to our camp site and setting up well after it was dark, which can challenge any 7 year old. Further the location and accommodations for my middle son was of some concern to him.It came to a bit of a shock to the little one, when I didn’t know (or seem to be worried about) precisely where in the camp my middle one was bunking. He quickly adjusted his thinking when I explained that I was not in camp to be the middle ones daddy for the weekend, I was there just for him.
This event is the annual election meeting for an advanced level organization for Scouts that my two older sons are a part of, but I myself am not (yet) a member. I have always felt welcome at the groups events, but between finances, spending time keeping my younger sons engaged in their own growth, and feeling it important for my sons to find their own space as they mature, I was not in a hurry to join the organization and have rarely attended their meetings.
The weekend itself was not too exciting, as it is a business meeting, there were parts that didn’t pertain to my little partner or I, and as the weather had finally turned, we limited our scope of activities to stay close to the dining hall and its fireplace. Myself, I had started to work up a head cold and sore throat, so I was intent on staying comfortable.
We did manage to find a cool new spot in camp. I have been to this camp for nearly every kind of function in my dozen years of Scouting, and have wandered through many of it’s concealed corners. However this nifty spot is out beyond the firing ranges, and therefore not safe to visit anytime that the ranges are being utilized. We had a brief window one morning to walk out and enjoy the peaceful spot among some of the oldest trees on the facility.
Much of the rest of our stay centered around a range for tomahawk and knife throwing. I have seen ranges here and there over the years at events oriented for older scouts, but my kids never expressed an interest is giving it a whack. Until now. My youngest asked the Rangemaster if he could give the tomahawks a try, and most of the rest of the day was lost.
Luc handled himself as well as any of the Scouts twice his age, listening to the Rangemasters’ instructions and suggestions, waiting his turn whenever he was cycled out, and trying out the throwing knives whenever it was his turn but another Scout wanted to throw the hatchets. The thing that surprised me most, was that my relatively nonathletic son kept throwing those heavy chunks of metal over and over for hours. What pleased me most though, was that all day while he was waiting he was quietly clapping and encouraging the older Scouts with their throws.
The day ended with a nice banquet featuring the first roast pig, that I’d ever experienced. Naturally, Luc expressed astonishment over the apple that someone (inevitably) shoved into the mouth.
The next morning was full of packing out and cleaning up.
On our way home I stopped at another auto parts store and after a false start replaced that belt with the correct size.
As I mentioned, I had considered stopping off at the gallery to shoot my next video, but my energy was flagging again. Despite that we got unpacked, started cleaning gear, and I even ran some errands before crashing. Sleep didn’t come as soon as I’d hoped, but it came eventually.
Monday, the cold was progressing, but as my partner was out of town, I headed in to work anyway. Tuesday however I sacrificed to better health, then I took Thursday off as well to go to Parent/Teacher Conferences for my younger sons.
This year showed a change in the norm for them both.
Our kids have always been popular with the teachers, and are academically capable. My middle son however, has always preferred to challenge himself to turn in all the work at once (a goal he has yet to achieve), resulting in poor grades in many of his classes and in him retaking a required class this year.
So far, he has managed to turn in most of the work for all of his classes, meaning that he is carrying grades well better than the norm for him.
For his younger brother, we find a teacher highly motivated to drive him to even greater heights. We have known the Luc is advanced socially and academically, although the testing had been somewhat limited. The latest testing shows him to be even further along than we thought academically, to the point of his teacher suggesting that he could skip forward a grade if we pushed him a little on math (I have been reticent on making him memorize his multiplication tables). I am not a huge fan of skipping grades (part of the reason to go to public school is to learn to deal with your peers), so we will explore what electronic and extracurricular learning activities we can track down for him.
I also need to spend more time with him reading aloud. He speaks well and reads (possibly too far) above his reading level, but hasn’t learned to be fluid when reading to an audience.
My challenge with him will be to continue to push him while keeping it fun.
We wrapped the evening with a Halloween themed Pack meeting.
So there you are, some full days (even if some were full being still). Now I need to dig deep for some energy to research in education applications and some for my kites (I’m looking forward to trying a smaller shield with that web print) & cards.
TTFN