Pedal to the metal

For Webelos this month we've been working on the Sportsman badge.  It's been SO much fun!  Tomorrow night we'll go for a bike ride with 8+ boys around the neighborhood near the church, and, believe me, I'm looking forward to it, crashes and all.

Rhiannon graciously let me borrow her bike for this thing, and I hopped on it this afternoon for some practice and rode with Wade over to his piano lessons.  We're talking a 2-minute bike ride, but it was exhilarating, ha-ha!

I miss the bike I had in college that was stolen.  Boo.  Time to think about getting myself a bike!

Bikes! Log Cabin project!

 

Jason challenged us to start getting up earlier, even though it IS summer.  He said we waste the best part of the day when we sleep too late!   He's right--it's been so hot and humid lately that MORNING is the time to get things done, especially fun things like bike riding!



 

 

 

 

Wade reminded me that I hadn't taken pictures of his log cabin project yet.  "Will you please get that done so I can take it apart and get it out of my room?" he said. :)  We worked on this project together--I liked Wade's quilt job and pine-cone trees.  My favorite part was painting the outside chimney and going crazy with the hot-glue gun!  I wish I'd taken pictures of all of the projects in his class--they were AMAZING!  Families had used all kinds of materials, even pretzel rods (genius--why didn't I think of that?)

A teenager lives here!

Rhiannon had an "epic" 13th birthday!  Thank you for all the phone calls, thoughtful gifts, and well-wishes!  Her birthday was also the last day of school and a minimum day, so she and I went to lunch and did a little shopping.  That night was the "Feller's Cake Bake" at Wade's pack meeting, so Jason and Wade baked a cake in Rhiannon's honor:

Wade and I decorated it--we thought the "piano keys" out of vanilla wafers and Kit Kats added a nice touch!  Then AT the pack meeting Rhiannon was presented with ANOTHER birthday cake from the Cubmaster Sister Grant:

We were blown away by  her thoughtfulness.  I had made a random comment at a committee meeting the week before about how Rhiannon's birthday was the same day as the pack meeting, and Sister Grant wanted to do something nice for her.  She even had the entire crowd sing Happy Birthday to her!

The next day Rhiannon had 7 friends over to swim.  We kept the gathering as low-key as possible, "gifts not necessary," since it was an "off-year" for parties.  But Jason was totally right when he said Rhiannon was old enough now to just have friends over for kicks!  They swam, ate, and talked for 3 hours and had a fantastic time.  Many thanks to Jason who ran to get more pizzas when we ran out, too! :)  Teenagers need sustenance, right?

That night Howard and Sandi joined us for dinner (more pizza, ha-ha!) and cake.  They gave Rhiannon a super cute gift--a bag of 13 items.  Rhiannon had a lot of fun opening that one!

That's a DR WHO shirt--she is a BIG fan!

Another "teenager" perk--getting her own Facebook account!  She is LOVING it!

On Saturday Jason took Rhiannon shopping for a BIG gift--a brand-new bike!  They went to TJ Frisbee's, a specialized bike shop in town and got her "the works."  She was a little rusty after not being on a bike for almost 5 years!  But she hopped right on this one and has had so much fun riding around the block and on bike paths with her brother.  So FUN!

We love you, Rhiannon!  We'll get through these teenage years just fine! :)