Lamb Family Reunion at Lake Crowley

Right after Isaac started school we took him out for two days to go up to Lake Crowley in the Mammoth Lakes area. I know not the best time to miss school but this was the only time we would be able to see Jeff's brother Jack and his family this year. We went up to Bodie Ghost Town to look for ghosts and take lots of photos. The kids enjoyed looking around at the buildings and finding little treasures lying around. Little Elise was a blast even though the boys weren't too sure about playing make-believe and role-modeling. Max did this a lot better than Isaac. Elise and Max even made Jeff a pretend birthday cake for his 41st birthday!

Jeff took the boys fishing. Max looks like a pro here...a little Jeff. Unfortunately only Uncle Jack caught fish. The highlight of the fishing trips according to Isaac was that a black bear came to Convict Lake while they were fishing and walked by. Jeff had to get Brandon and Isaac out of the way to let him pass. Isaac was so afraid that the bear would take his stuff...as if the bear really needs a fishing rod and reel. The bear settled on checking out an ice chest left by another fisherman. Jeff wasn't too happy that his fishing time was over after this.

It was nice having a couple of days off during a summer that was packed with a lot of other activities for the boys. Jeff was happy he was able to go up to Crowley three times this summer himself. The first two times he went with his friends that he works with. This trip was his last hurrah before starting back to teach for the new year.

Welcome Tennyson!

The Lamb household has now grown by one more! No, we did not have another child. We have rescued a 9 month old puppy from the local animal shelter. Tennyson is a pit bull terrier/labrador mix. Wondering how he got his name? Well the boys' favorite cartoon is Ben 10. Ben Tennyson is a kid who can change into different aliens to fight bad aliens. I'm sure those of you with boys totally understand this. Anyhow, Tennyson is the sweetest dog I have ever had. Now our cats probably have a totally different perspective on him. Scooter, our 18 month old cat, has been teaching Tennyson that he is THE LOWEST in the household heirarchy. Tennyson is not quite agreeing with this but Scooter is very persuasive when he smacks him on the snout with his claws. Haydn, our 16 year old Grannyman, doesn't really care either way if the dog is here as long as he maintains his spot on my bed and sleeps with me.

After a hard summer of clearing our yard of weeds, debris and trips to the dump, we were able to put up a chain-link fence to not obstruct our view of the golf course. Jeff had a little bit of fun using the 36 inch wide Bobcat bulldozer to level the yard. We were able to actually extend our yard by a couple of feet before it slopes to the golf course. But let me tell you....putting up a fence is not exactly what I wanted to do this summer. But I now have the knowledge and skill to do another one. I just hope I don't ever have to.

The boys are so excited to have this dog. We were able to go to the Dog Park this afternoon to check it out. Wow! It's really nice with lots of big shade trees and benches to sit on. Tennyson had a blast checking out all the scents and playing with the other dogs there. We will be training him next month so he'll be a bit more manageable. But considering his age he does real well already.

Limboing Lamb

Isaac finished off his First Grade year with a Carnival-style field day with all of the first graders. We were able to get lots of mommies to help out and set up different stations. The game stations included Limbo Stick, Musical Chairs, Face Painting, Coin Toss, Sponge Toss, and a few others. I think Isaac's favorite was the bowling station. The pins were plastic pineapples and the ball was a coconut. After they knocked the pins down, each kid had to reset the them for the next player. I think the mommy got pooped out bending down and told them to do it themselves. What a cheater!


Isaac did really well with the Limbo Stick. But I think that Mrs. Sigsbee showed them all up! Not only could she go low low low but she had style to go with it along with the music! I am so grateful that he had such an awesome teacher who just loves boys! I am hoping that this next year will be just as great.

My Wolf Cub

In June, Isaac bridged from being a Tiger Cub to being a Wolf Cub. And what a wolf he has become! He has either a hollow leg or a tapeworm. Not sure which...he just eats and eats and eats. Our first year in Scouts was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to this coming year. We were able to attend Cub Scout Day Camp at the end of July and Maxwell even got to tag along. Both boys had lots of fun and Isaac was able to earn his Marbles, Ultimate (frisbee), and Wildlife Conservation beltloops. In addition to the beltloops he also earned his BB Gun, Archery, and Wildlife Conservation pins. That's a lot of work (and play) done in one week's time! No wonder why I was so exhausted every night.

I get to be involved in planning this next year as an Assistant Den Leader with Adrienne, our fearless Den Leader. And once again, I am the "Popcorn Kernel" for our Pack. This means that I am in charge of the popcorn fundraiser that our Pack does in September. I even have the opportunity to wear "the Corn Cob" hat. Now that will be something. I'll see if I can get that posted later. Adrienne and I were able to increase sales by almost 50% from the year before. This will be a hard goal to beat this year. But when you clean up those Cub Scouts and have all them dressed in uniform it makes it too hard to turn them down at the grocery stores when they ask "Would you like to buy some popcorn and support Scouting?" Who can resist that?

Hopscotching Grandma

Charlotte's friend, Shelly, lives in neighboring Norco and owns a horse. In May, Charlotte was able to make arrangements for Grandma C to ride Shelly's horse, Hopscotch. Grandma was in Seventh Heaven. After an emotional moment of her recalling lots of memories from her horse-owning days, we were able to get her up on the horse. Okay, it actually took us two tries to get her on the horse. Not bad considering she is 81 years old and has had a hip and knee replaced. We almost shoved her over the horse on the first attempt! Thank goodness for stepstools and a very patient horse.

As soon as Grandma was settled, Hopscotch took off. Luckily she is a seasoned rider and, believe it or not, Hopscotch was able to tell that and decided to mind her and not do his own thing. It must have been that "I'm the boss" tone she used. I'd behave too if I were the horse.

The boys and I were allowed to ride as well and the boys had a blast. I'd like to be able to get them some riding lessons when they are just a bit older and bigger. I think that they would really enjoy that.

Scout-o-rama

I took the boys to the Scout-o-rama in Orange County. Our council doesn't put one of these on for some odd reason. Michelle gave a us a family ticket to see the event. Wow! Another great childhood memory for me. Besides being super HOT we had fun. I was able to get Isaac and Alex on this ride with their cousins Webster and Tristan. Olivia and Dominique decided not to ride...the older boys scared them. It was nice to see my brothers all dressed up in their leader uniforms. I haven't seen Martin since last year and Baron since February 2006. They seem to be doing well. After the boys went on this we started walking the grounds to see the booth exhibits. They had a lot of cooking demonstrations, hands-on activities and booths where the boys could work on beltloops and pins. Alex and Isaac were able to earn their Astronomy Beltloop. I think that just made Isaac's day.

Pinewood Derby

Isaac participated in his Pack's Pinewood Derby last month. This brought back lots of childhood memories for me from both of my brothers. Isaac designed his car to look like the Space Shuttle. His car did fairly well for being his first year doing this event. He came in 8th in the Pack out of 19 participants. I'm not sure who has more fun with this event...the boys or the dads. It's pretty funny to watch all of them. One of the leaders made a "Cam Car" outfitted with a tiny camera. The boys loved seeing the footage from the "driver's seat".