Pictures from Scout Camp 2017

On Father's Day, the scouts left right after church to go to scout camp.  They had a long drive to get to Tokyo!  I don't have stories to go with the pictures, but some of the leaders sent us these so I thought it would be good to document them here.

They were excited that they got to bring movies to watch on the drive down.

Unfortunately, they got soaked one or two of the days, but it looks like they handled it like champs!

Even though it appears that all they did was sit around, I've been assured that they worked hard all week. The leaders just weren't with them during all that time. :)

 Setting up camp

Teamwork!

We have a troop with our ward and the base also has a troop that went down.  Because both troops had so few boys going they shared a camp.  I think it was so good for the them to bond with the other boys from base!

After camp we got an email from Ethan's family.  Turns out one of their family friends has a son on a mission in Tokyo who was able to serve as a merit badge counselor for Emergency Preparedness which both my boys signed up for.  Attached to this missionary's weekly email was this picture!  Ethan's sister recognized Bryant (and sort of Jonas...in yellow).  Its such a small world!

 Some shots of their camp.

They got home on the Saturday after leaving.  They were tired but had nothing but excitement about their week at camp.  They both worked hard and earned lots of merit badges.  Jonas is only missing time and service hours to become a Life scout and Bryant is nearly done with all the merit badges needed to earn his Eagle. He just needs to finish a couple up and then do a project and he'll have finished a big goal.  So proud of my scouts!

Random June 2017 Photos

I've managed to fall behind in my blogging once again due to living life to the fullest and not making this record a priority... So, time to play catch-up!

A good friend here had her baby about 13 weeks early.  I made this quilt for him.  He's still in the NICU, but doing really well all things considered.  I think this quilt is one of my favourites made yet.

Jonas sat and played this game by himself for quite a while one day.  He really wanted me to take a picture of how well he'd done.

Abe got to go to a birthday party at the bowling alley.  He is so funny to watch bowl... he chucks that ball as hard as he can and it sometimes bounces a couple times before it starts to roll (slowly) down the lane.

June 5 Abe's eye when he woke up was super swollen.  He is prone to styes, but this one has been horrible!  We're still trying to resolve it (its now July 18)!

I had my ultrasound and was so happy and relieved to see a healthy, growing baby...BOY!  I was somewhat surprised, but we were all happy with the news.

Not quite half way there... 18 weeks.

Funny tidbit about life in Japan... produce can be VERY expensive.  Watermelons have cost up to $15 at the commissary.  Yesterday I saw some in the Japanese grocery for about $22.

And check out the price on these peppers.

The sty continues to evolve throughout the month.

One day Abe really wanted to play outside and blow bubbles, so I took him down to the playground outside our building and let him go to town.  It was a beautiful day... June is the rainy season here and I wish it lasted longer!

The bubble wand was missing, so I had to fashion one out of a pipe cleaner, but it worked really well.

He loved blowing the bubbles and trying to catch them before the wind carried them away.

More of the sty.

Levi and Jonas were both given more awards at school... so was Bryant but I didn't get to make it to his awards because there was no room for the rest of the family to go in to watch.  I couldn't leave the others behind because the ceremonies were held in different locations at consecutive times.  I was a little frustrated at how it all went down, but it is fine, now.

These two buddies are excited to graduate from 6th grade.

The sty looks like its coming to a head finally!

June 15, 2017 Last day of school!!! Finally!!!

The sty.

June17 (I think) Ethan went for a 110 km bike ride with some friends and this is what he looked like upon his return.  He crashed hard coming down a narrow, curving gorge road.  From what he said his bike went to the side landing in the bushes on the side of the road, but he continued forward and bounced a few times down the road.  He fell hard enough that he busted his helmet.  We are all so grateful that this didn't have a worse outcome!  Some road rash and a tender body for a couple weeks were a small price to pay when we think what could have been!

Telling the story... he says he's still glad he went, he had a blast!

His hip was pretty badly torn up, too, but I couldn't really get pictures of it without revealing too much.

After soaking in the tub and cleaning out the wounds.  I told him this one looked like someone had taken a cheese grater to his shoulder.

He's going to have a gnarly scar on this elbow.

The day before Father's Day I took Jonas with me to do some shopping for his dad.  Of course he found something he wanted for himself and was willing to do anything to get it... even get a facial for a 10% discount!  He's a pretty cool kid.

Father's Day we celebrated what an amazing man we get to call Dad in this family.

He started the day with a yummy breakfast in bed.  I made Pioneer Woman's French Toast casserole (adding peaches) and I will definitely use that recipe again.  So delicious!

The kids in Primary all filled out these cute ties for their dad.  He was wearing more ties than anyone at church that day!

 More of the sty.

June 19, I took the kids to the base beach and these two boys were so excited to get going!  We went with friends and I was amazed at how long the kids just played and played and played.  The water and the sand were exactly what they needed that afternoon.  We will definitely be spending more days at the beach this summer.

There you have it, the first part of our first June in Japan!  We fit a whole lot in to the last 10 days of the month... so updates are coming...