Cold Weekend

 Our weekend started early.  School was cancelled because of this blanket of snow Friday Morning.  This is what we call a blizzard in Texas.  It doesn't look like much but it was enough to keep the school buses from driving safely. 

 All that snow melted so that the Pinewood Derby could go on as scheduled on Saturday Morning.

 At Christmas time the boys sent care packages to the troops serving in Afghanistan.  The flag they are standing in front of is one that was sent to them by one of the package recipients.  It was one that flew over a military installation in Afghanistan.  The boys didn't seem very impressed but all the adults thought it was neat.

JD's green Drago car didn't win any awards but he and his friend Matt had a great time. 

 

Whittling Chip

JD has been working hard on his Bear Award requirements.  Here he is presenting his family tree to his pack.

The boys were all VERY EXCITED to earn their Whittling Chip which gives them the priviledge of carrying a pocket knife when we are camping.  To practice they were given a bar of soap and a plastic knife.  Everyone worked at shaving off small layers.

It isn't NEARLY as easy as it looks.  All the boys had a pretty good pile of shavings in front of them and I'm happy to report that nobody left to get stitches.  That's how you judge a good scouting event.  It ended without a trip to the emergency room.

Cheer Camp

George's Worst Nightmare

George says this is his worst nightmare -- That he will be at the football game and someone will ask him what position his son plays and he will have to say, "cheerleader."  In spite of George's nightmare, JD had a fun day at cheerleader camp.  It was something that kept him busy today while I was doing "teacher work day" things.

 At the end of the day the kids performed their new skills for the parents.  JD's group did a cheer and a dance.  Since he was the only boy in his group he had an extra special part in the middle of the dance and got to lift up a girl at the end.

The girl in the bulldog suit was one of my favorite students from last semester.  WAIT - I'm not supposed to have favorites -- forget you read that.  I told her to come by my class tomorrow and she and JD would be my new screen saver.

The Last Days . . .

. . . before we have to go back to school that is.  JD and I had a few things on our bucket list to take care of before school starts again next week.

 We went to see The Blue Man Group at the Theater downtown.  The patio there has a great view of the downtown skyline.  You can't really see it in this picture, but I found JD his suit. According to the Ebay listing,  someone in Boston bought it for her son to wear to a wedding and it was only worn twice before he outgrew it. It looked brand new and was well worth the $39.99 I paid for it. 

We went to the LBJ library where JD learned about "The Johnson Treatment" and posed for this picture.  He isn't quite tall enough to effectively demonstrate the full power of "the treatment." 

Merry Skylanders Christmas

 All this little boy REALLY wanted for Christmas was the video game Skylanders Swapforce.  Santa bought it back in October when it came out and it has been hiding in my closet at school every since.

 To play the game properly new video chairs wer a must.

Here's what the rest of Christmas break is going to look like.  JD playing his new game sitting in his new chair.

Trail of Lights

 After several years of being AWOL the trail of lights is BACK!!  We tried a new strategy this year and got our parking pass online early.  We were there before dark to enjoy the Christmas tree and beat the crowd.

 Once it was completely dark we started our hike down the trail.  The entrance is my favorite part.

 Lots of the displays have been around for YEARS - some probably since I was a kid when you used to drive through the trail of lights.

 There was a spot for you to take a picture with the Austin skyline in the background.  JD can't just stand in a picture and smile he has to make a silly pose.

 I liked this display sponsored by our favorite Mexican restaurant.  If you aren't from Texas you may not be familiar with the Jackalope.  It is in the same species of animal as the unicorn - pretend.

Being Austin, you have to have a free speech zone.  JD stood in front of this sign and started, "I have a dream . . ."  It was a proud moment for his social studies teacher mother!