Cub Scout Science Fair

In an attempt to bring more "education" in a fun way to Cub Scouts we had our first Science Fair for the boys.  It was a great success!  B10 and CW really enjoyed making their first Science Fair projects.

B10 did a project about how to look for birds.  He really enjoyed doing it - and his project was hilarious!

CW dissected a 3.5 inch floppy disk - which was so cool!  It is funny to see him so excited about something that was such a basic part of my high school/college years (that good old 3.5 inch disk).

GO hung out with Queen and I (check out my new hairstyle!) and played happily.  Which was nice, since it was so hot!

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Cub Scout Breakfast

CW had to cook breakfast for the family as part of earning his Wolf Scout Badge.  He prepared scrambled eggs, sausage and cinnamon toast.

I am so proud of how well he did - and how well he cleaned up afterwards!  Plus, we managed to eat a hot breakfast before making our way to church.

He did an awesome job!

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Gatlinburg Cub Scouts - Day Two

Day Two started wonderful.  Everyone woke up happy, and GO & CW rolled around on the bed playing.

 

 

We had breakfast all together,in the hotel, and I had a chance to take pictures of our beautiful view from our balcony.

The hotel was amazing, and I loved being so close and walking all around downtown Gatlinburg, but still being able to see the Great Smokies in the distance.  The long bridge is how you exit the hotel and get to the main street.

After breakfast the group split up.  We went with the Royal family to the Guinness Book of World Records Museum, managing to be the first people in the door.  GO spent her second day in the Ergo Baby (getting ready for our long trip).

Hubby and King found a really cool drumming machine - King bet us all, but no one came close to the record!

B10 found a car to drive.  I never really understood the car, I think it was a car from a movie.  Either way, he enjoyed it immensely!

After the Museum, we made our way to the Mirror Maze.  It is one of the few attractions I had never visited in Gatlinburg (attached to the Candy Kitchen - buy 10 lbs of candy, get a free toothbrush) and we LOVED it.  It was a really cheap addition to our group passes, but one of my favorite things.

We had a blast wearing our gloves (so as not to smudge on the mirrors) and trying to find our way back and forth in the maze.

Lunch was at Wendy's (again...), but we made it back to the parking lot around 12:30 pm to get our cars and head to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I love watching B10 stare at nature, he could do it for hours and the way his brain works is so fascinating to me.

The GSMNP is the most visited park in the National System.  We stopped at the Sugarlands Visitors Center with Prince, Princess and ET.

It was raining (except in the upper elevations, where it was doing a bit of "slushing"), so we didn't get to stop often.  We did pull over at the Newfound Gap, where the boys could stand in both Tennessee and North Carolina at the same time.

Also, the Appalachian Trail crosses this point, so while I didn't hike MUCH - I did "hike" a part of the trail!

GO and CW were fast asleep, ignoring the cold, wet snow.  Hubby didn't really get out of the car either!

After we left GSMNP, we headed south home, following the Royal Family.  Since I've been an adult, I've never driven by Tallulah Gorge during daylight hours and not stopped, so we had to pull over and take a few quick pictures.

This was GO's first Gorge visit.  She was quite happy to get out of her carseat!

The rest of the drive home included IHOP for dinner and a quick geocache grab at Brenau University.  Overall, a great Cub Scout trip!  (Even with the damaged toe!)

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Gatlinburg Cub Scouts - Day One

We drove up late last night (arriving at the hotel after 11 pm), so we woke up early this morning and put on our new Cub Scout Class B shirts and headed out to breakfast.  This is the balcony in our room (B10 was so cute and careful, he refused to stand up on the balcony with GO at all!).

Our first stop was the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, one of my favorite aquariums ever.  GO was fascinated by the TV and Prince is fascinated by GO.

The Caterpillars worked hard on their Scout badges (Princess even had a Girl Scout book).

Hubby practiced using our new Ergo Baby.

I loved this "fish"...

The aquarium has a really cool tunnel that you ride through, the saw-tooth sharks like to lay on the top of the tunnel.

GO and CW loved this turtle.

When B10 and I came to Gatlinburg in 2007, I took a photo of him next to a Coral tank and it is still one of my favorite photos ever.  On this trip, I wanted to be sure to get a photo of all three Caterpillars next to the tank.

And the two little "Nemo" fish came out to say hello!

GO seemed to enjoy the Ergo Baby as long as she could look around and see stuff.

B10 LOVES the horseshoe crabs, and he loves showing others what he knows.

For lunch we all went to Wendy's, our old faithful standby.

Then it was off to the Ripley's Moving Theatre, another favorite attraction from 2007 and my trip with B10.

GO fell asleep on ET's Daddy, and when she went back into her carrier, she looked like her little head was going to fall off.  But she wouldn't let us prop her forward!

You can see Hubby isn't thrilled with her stubbornness!

We went as a group to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, then I headed out early to pick up drinks for the Scout Dinner.  The families all headed to our hotel room around 6pm to eat pizza and enjoy time with each other.

The goal was to be at the trolley stop by 7:10 pm for our "Winterfest Trolley Ride of Lights".

While it was chilly waiting for our Trolley (named "Frosty"), the Caterpillars had a blast.  GO was in her pajamas and ready to fall asleep (not that she did, mind you).

The hour long trip was awesome (I highly recommend for anyone traveling to Gatlinburg during the winter).  We learned a lot about Gatlinburg and saw beautiful LED lights all over town.

Back at the hotel, it was POOL TIME!  Even GO spent about an hour in the warm indoor pool water, and B10 and CW got to swim for almost 2 hours!

They crashed hard when they finally got in bed asleep!  But, that means they'll be doing good tomorrow when we wake them up early for Day Two.

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

A Shrunken Christmas Carol

The Cub Scouts and the Daisy Girl Scouts came out to see "A Shrunken Christmas Carol".  CW wasn't in the show (he came with Cookie and Doc) - but they got to see B10 doing his extra role (Turkey Boy).

It was so much fun to have our friends out to see the show!

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

He's Not Little Anymore...

B10 and Hubby went on his first Webelos campout, for two whole nights.  It was just the older (4th and 5th grade) boys.  He pitched his own tent, managed to get a nice burn on his fingers from the fire, got to use his pocketknife - plus the never-ending search for bugs.

He absolutely loves Cub Scouts and talks all the time about wanting to be an Eagle Scout someday.  I only hope he will stick with it, because I think it will truly help him develop into a well-rounded man.

But it's amazing to look at him...he's such a BIG kid!

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Noah's Ark

The Cub Scouts took a summer trip today to Noah's Ark (an exotic animal rescue/home). Even though we didn't have any Cub Scouts with us, Queen and Princess rode out with Hubby, GO and I to see the animals.

CDO (the Game Family Mummy) actually brought an extra stroller, which she generously allowed GO to ride in.

Princess, and the other kids, really enjoyed the animals -

- but you can see how hot it was! See her little red cheeks? It took quite a while for that to fade in the cool car.

I can't wait to take B10 and CW back when they get home.

~Lone Butterfly )i(