Made it to the news

Remember when we did the flag ceremony for the hotel?  Well there was a reporter there and he wrote an article.  Click here to read it.

Flag ceremony, piano, playdate and mechanics

We were out the door early this morning to go to flag ceremony.  One of the families in our homeschool group owns a hotel (Best Western Lakewood) and they are doing some renovations and today was the groundbreaking.  They are changing the theme of their hotel to like a "Night a the Museum" with dinosaurs.  They brought in a model of a stegosaurus from Illinois, they had a large sandbox filled with fossils, Mr Bones, and a jeep from the Jurassic Park movie.

Cairn carried the flag so she is in the front.

 She also clipped the first ring on.

 And she raised the flag.

 The troop did a fabulous job and I was very proud of them.  They were able to adjust very quickly and in the cold.  We practiced with carrying a flag in on a pole and posting it.  They had to carry the flag through sand, hang it and post it.  They are ready for anything thrown at them.

After the ceremony, they did a groundbreaking of throwing some shovels of sand and then the kids got to dig for fossils.

After we hung out and talked with all our friends, (the event turned out to be mostly homeschoolers and their kids) we ran home to eat lunch before Andrew's piano class.

He knew that as soon as piano was over he was having a playdate with K.  First question when we pulled into the garage, "How long until K gets here?"

K ran into the house and the two boys starting playing right away.  I caught them playing in the "rocket" and had to grab a picture.

Grandma's car broke down this morning so Dad had to tow it home so he could work on it after work.  When Dad announced he was going to work on the car, Andrew ran over and demanded I help him put on his pants so he could get outside to help Dad.  Then he went into the laundry room to put on his shoes.  I heard him say, "ooops wrong foot."  All by himself he did his shoes and then out the door he went.  A while later, I grabbed the camera and this is what I found in the garage.

They even had to go to the part store to get a part.  "Mom, we are leaving for the part store to get a fuel filter."

I was wondering if he was asking me for the keys but then I remembered he is only 3 1/2 - I have a few years before he is driving to the part store by himself.  For today, I will be happy it was only his shoes.

Another flag ceremony and school day

The girls and I had to get up at 5 AM (me) or 5:30 AM (the girls) to get ready for our 2nd flag ceremony.  We had to be out the door by 6 AM to get downtown to the Ballroom by 6:45 AM.  We made it but not everyone in the troop was on time so we didn't get as much practice time in as we wanted.

The girls do great at the library where we have a straight shot. We did well at our 1st ceremony because it was a straight shot we just had to adjust for the smaller stage.

Today was a totally different story.  The tables were very close together and there was not straight shot.  Finally, we found someone who knew what they wanted us to do and they said we were coming in from the side.  First, troubling thing was they didn't have the flags set up correctly so we had to let them know to change the Colorado flag.  Then I had to question why the flags (especially the American flag) was not on the stage.  They wanted the stage to be clear except for their decorations.  Okay whatever - it is there program.

So we got down to the nitty gritty - what they wanted us to say and do specifically.  Here is the kicker - they wanted us to bring in the flags, post them and then leave - no mention of the Pledge or Allegiance.  Now, luckily, there was a representative from Girl Scouts Council there to back me up because I immediately said that didn't seem appropriate.  They said they did not have time in their program for the Pledge, they had it timed to down to 30 second intervals and there just wasn't time.  I didn't feel comfortable with this.

First, when you post the American Flag you honor it by saying the Pledge.  Second, if we did not say the Pledge it would make my troop look bad because the audience would be expecting the Pledge and if we walked away without saying it they would think we forgot it.

So guess what!!  I had the girls put in the Pledge.  What were they going to do at that point?  Interrupt us?  No way!  In the end, the troop did a fantastic job, we didn't take up too much time with the Pledge and Council will invite us back to do more flag ceremonies.  How many do you think we can do?

We were finished by 7:40 AM so we headed home to have a 2nd breakfast, get schoolwork finished and run some errands.  We also had to pick up Andrew from Dad so he could go to his physical therapy appointment for his back - it was a great appointment by the way.

Cairn got her schoolwork finished before noon and with no complaints - this does not happen very often so it is cause for celebration.  Skylar didn't finish hers which resulted in us not being able to run the errands for her birthday party or being able to go to the park.  Andrew did finish his too.

Dad came home and started talking about going to the park when I reminded Skylar she couldn't go because she didn't finish her schoolwork.  She took a bite and went to the classroom did some work and came back to the table, took another bite and back and forth she went until her work was completed and she could go to the park.  So we all got to go to the park, I rode my bike with the chariot on it with Skylar and Andrew in it and Skylar/Andrew's bike on the back.  Cairn and Dad rode their own bikes.  Andrew practice riding Skylar's bike, he is ready for his own.  Skylar practiced riding Cairn's 2 wheel bike and Cairn lamented about how she is ready for her new bike.  She is tired of purple and really wants a pink one.  All in good time!

While I was cooking dinner tonight (tofu scramble) I was also prepping some veggies for tomorrow night - cippoloni onions and brussel sprouts.  Skylar loves the onions (Cappy's girl) and she ate some brussel sprouts raw (not Cappy's girl since he doesn't like brussel sprouts raw or cooked).  Skylar will eat any veggies raw and cooked but she doesn't like the meat substitute stuff at all!!