Dear Empty Nest,

I hate you.

(Thankfully Harrison will be back from summer vacation soon! We are SO boring without him- hence the lack of posting).

Warning- lots of new posts were added, so keep scolling down to see them all!

Favorite Day- BB Guns and Archery

Okay- so the family picture was taken the last day of the camp- so that explains the tired, worn out, dirty, frazzled look we are all sharing. This was Harrison's favorite day of camp. He was able to take gun safety and practice with the bb gun and then finally was able to learn archery- which is way harder than it looks. All in all, we had a great time and are thinking of volunteering to run the camp next year! Yes, we are crazy!!

Retiring the Flag

One night, the closing ceremony was a Flag Retirement. The boys learned that the American flag should be burnt in a fire when it gets too old and worn out to be flown properly. They were able to witness a flag retirement and then they were able to partake in it also. The staff had cut a flag up into tiny pieces and each boy was able to throw their piece into the fire. Then they saluted that flag. The boys were extremely reverent and respectful during this ceremony. I was in tears! It was a peaceful, yet proud moment for our family.

Military Service Night

My favorite part of the camp were the closing campfires every night. The theme for this year's camp was Country- so every ceremony ended with something patriotic. Here are some pictures from the night where there was a man representing each of the 4 branches of our military. The boys were in awe and completely mesmerized by the military uniforms and big strong heroes they got to meet. After the presentation was over, the boys simultaneously rushed the stage to get each of the service mens' autograhs! Harrison used his newly made leather-bound journal and now has some cool messages in it from each member of the military. It was pretty awesome.

Scout Camp- Part I

Yesterday we finished up 5 days of scout camp with Harrison. It was EXHAUSTING! But the boys had a GREAT TIME. They were able to accomplish so much and learn a little something every once and awhile also. Here are some pictures from Leatherworking and Engineering. They made leather bound journals and bridges out of marsmallows and toothpicks.

We miss our truck....

We have a huge palm out in front of our house and once a year we have to trim down the palm frawns and haul them to the dump. Last year, this was no big deal (for me, atleast, it's James who has to actually do it). But this year---without the truck to throw the palm frawns into---we were wondering how to get the dead frawns off the lawn and to the dump....

Well...this is what we managed to do (and again, by "we" I mean "James")- he's my hero!

Hey, whatever works right?!