Fun with Kyle

The kids have been playing with Kyle a lot this spring and summer. They have gone to Oaks park, the regular park, swimming, and lots of other fun stuff. Here is a sampling of some of their activities.

Spring/Summer Scout Activities

Andrew continues to really enjoy scouts. He is pretty motivated to pass off requirements and earn segments for his uniform. We went out to Horning's Hideout for the Scout Fishing Derby. Andrew did not want to keep the fish, which was a requirement. He would much prefer to catch and release so that he didn't have to gut and clean the fish. Fortunately, Grandpa Norm went along and took care of all the gross parts. Marin and I went around looking at all the peacocks and peahens that are found out there.

Andrew also participated in a conservation activity, working toward the World Conservation Badge. They learned about Ivy and Blackberries that are invasive species. They pulled some out. They also weeded and dug up root balls of blackberry bushes to get rid of them. It was funny to watch him doing yard work, even though he hated every minute of it.

Andrew went to scout camp this past week. They went to Camp Discovery out on Scouter Mountain. The consensus by the boys that had been to camp last year was that Camp Ireland was much better. They liked the site better, the staff better, and the activities better last year. I think they enjoyed themselves this year too. They participated in archery, BB guns, leather crafts, scavenger hunts, maps and orienteering, an obstacle course, and various other activities. I went one of the days. They were pretty well behaved and had a good day. I happened to be there on one of the two BB days. They made me demonstrate how to hold the gun (I am anti-gun, any gun). Andrew earned his pro shooter award. He got 5 shots within the bullseye. His first shot was dead center of the page. I guess he has a great eye, just like his sharp shooter father.

Rice Rock Museum Field Trip

Marin got cheated out of a bunch of field trips this year. With the budget crisis in our district, they apparently cut down on field trips. Marin got to go to Rice Rock Museum though. I went on this field trip. It was fun. Marin seemed to enjoy seeing all the different kinds of rocks and minerals. She really enjoyed taking the school bus out to the museum and sitting with her friends. The best part was choosing a rock to take home though.

Spring Soccer 2010

Andrew decided to hang up his baseball career, I am sure much to the chagrin of the Fahsbender boys. He has decided that soccer is much more his speed. I for one am glad that I don't have to sit through boring baseball games. Soccer is so much more interesting. I also love spring soccer because there are no practices. It is just 7 weeks of games. It was an interesting dynamic though. Most of the kids from two teams played baseball, so they combined the remaining kids from those two teams into one soccer team which competed with teams from other leagues. With no practices, the boys had to adjust to playing with players that they were used to playing against in fall soccer. They adjusted pretty well. They also had about 3 different coaches throughout the course of the 7 weeks since the two regular coaches were at aforementioned baseball games with their sons. One father finally stepped in for the last 5 weeks, although his son had never played soccer before. It made for some interesting games. Andrew has really improved his soccer abilities. He did awesome. One game, Kevin promised him $20 per goal. Silly Daddy!! Andrew scored 2 goals that game with a third that hit the post and bounced out. Andrew was pretty excited after that game. Other than the weather which did not cooperate (Mother Nature gave us Fall soccer weather), it was a great experience.

Portland Play and Battle of the Books

Andrew participated in the Portland Play this year. It is a 3rd grade play put on about the history of Portland. The kids practice for a couple of months, try out for parts and really put a lot of hard work into it. They learn many songs and memorize most of their lines (except for the narrators). Andrew tried out and got two parts, narrator and hippie. He took learning the songs and his lines very seriously. He had to sing a solo in the song "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan. He was surprised when I knew the words to the song--I think he thought it was written specifically for the play, which many of the songs were. It was well rehearsed and came off beautifully. Andrew did an outstanding job. We couldn't be more pleased with how well he does at everything he tries.

Andrew also got to participate in Battle of the Books this year. This is an event put on by the librarian. It is a much-anticipated event every year. The 3-5th graders are allowed to participate. The third graders have a list of about 15-20 books that they need to read. The 4th and 5th graders have their own list, with some overlap. Participation is optional. Those who want to participate form teams. Andrew's team was the Smarties. They had Kestrel, Kristin, Savannah, Kimberly, and Andrew on their team. The name was very appropiate. They strategically divided the list up so that each of the books was read by at least one person. Andrew read almost all of the books. At the Battle of the Books, there is a buzzer system that is used in a quiz show format, similar to Jeopardy. They are asked questions, buzz in, and if they are the first, they give their answer as a team. Andrew answered almost every question for his team. It was kind of a joke among all the parents in the audience, since he was taking it very seriously. At the end, Andrew's team prevailed. They were the winners and lived up to their team name. It was very exciting. The kids all picked up the list for next year's books at the end. Andrew and Kestrel have decided to form their own team this year. They have already divvied up the list and are working on it as we speak. I guess there are worse things than being a bookworm, smarty pants.

Spring School Activities

This spring brought lots of activities at the school as well. They did the Run for the Arts program again. Each child gets pledges from friends, family and neighbors. They have 30 minutes to run a 1/4 mile loop around the blacktop. For each lap, they get their card marked. Then they get points awarded for how many laps combined with how many pledges. Each of the kids did well enough to earn the requisite 30 points to be awarded their Run for the Arts T-shirt. I believe Andrew ran 11 laps and Marin did 9 laps, but it might be more than that. I helped while Andrew's class was running so I got some pictures of him but I didn't help when Marin's class did it so there are no photos of her.

The kids also participated in the Spring Music Program. The Kindergarten-2 graders were one night and the 3-5th graders were another night. Each grade got to sing 2-3 songs. Both of the kids did well. They dressed up and sang their little hearts out. We are so proud of them.

Daisy Scouts' Spring Activities

It has been so long since I have posted on my blog that I am dreading the catch up portion. To condense, I am lumping all of the Daisy Scout activities into one post. Marin's Daisy troop had a bake sale early in the spring. They decided that they wanted to raise money to donate to the Oregon Food Bank. The girls were so excited to be making a difference in the world. They recruited parents and friends and even a couple of teachers to make treats to sell at the bake sale. We had no idea how successful the whole experience would be. We arranged to sell the goodies on a Friday at the end of the school day as parents were picking their children up from school. The girls had their tables of treats and a lemonade stand turned into a checkout stand. We were hoping that they would earn a few bucks and have fun. What happened amazed all the adults involved. The response was overwhelming. The line stretched for almost a full block in front of the school. People were not only buying everything we had, but donating money in the process. The girls sold everything, right down to the crumbs. If we had more we would have sold more. They ended up earning $140 one quarter at a time. It was an awesome experience. Never underestimate the power of Girls Scouts supporting a good cause.

They also did a day camp at the end of May. They went to Camp Namanu. I went along with the two leaders. It was freezing. We were dressed in winter coats and boots since we were ankle deep in mud at some points. It didn't matter to the girls. They loved it. The highlight of the day was the boating. The girls were in groups of 3 and 4. They went out onto the pond in little boats and paddled around without adults. It wasn't deep and there was a life guard monitoring the situation. The funnest part was watching the girls try to communicate with each other to organize their paddling efforts so that they could go in a straight line. The boat with 3 girls, Marin's boat spun around in circles for quite a while till they figured out how to balance the paddling efforts on both sides of the boat evenly. They loved the experience. It was a long day though. We had planned on staying for dinner but called it quits before dinner so that we could drive home. The girls were exhausted but joyful.

The girls graduated from Daisy Scouts to Brownies at the end of the school year. They had a bridging ceremony. They performed a dance and song routine that was quite cute. It is fun to have witnessed the progress and growth that the girls have made over the past year and a half. They are turning into very responsible young citizens.