Weeding & Hiking

We had no school on Friday, so we took advantage of the day and rescheduled our meeting for the morning.  I'm so glad we did because we got so lucky with the weather and our entire meeting was outside!  It stayed dry until five or ten minutes after our meeting ended... so lucky!  Anyway, we started the meeting up at the school and we weeded the front garden bed.  There were a lot more weeds than I originally thought.  The boys did a great job on this service project.  After we finished the weeding we headed over to Lake Sawyer for a three mile hike!  It was a relatively flat trail with lots of little ponds along the way.  The boys all paired up and collected the little bits of trash that we saw along the way.  Another great service project!  Such a nice way to start the day!

Mathew got the biggest weed of the day!  The dreaded blackberry bush!

Eric and Connor working on those tiny little weeds that grew at the base of the Euonymous bushes.  They were tough to spot!

Nick, Hunter, and Liam working hard.

Benjamin, our Den Chief, even got to work.



Eric and Hunter collected the most trash along the hike.  I think they even found a car part!

The hike was beautiful.  Here are Mathew, Connor, and Hayyan searching for trash.

Noah & Luke

Veteran's Day Assembly 2011

The boys participated in another Veteran's Day Assembly at school.  Between the Veteran's in attendance, patriotic songs sung by children, and old photos from the battlefields this particular assembly always gets me so choked up.  I just wish our auditorium was twice as big, so I could get better angles for my photos!

Liam, Connor, Mathew, Hayyan, & Noah lining the aisle.

Skyler, Nick, Liam and Connor waving the colors.

Hunter, Eric and Luke.

The ROTC Color Guard from Kentlake and Kentwood HS did the opening flag ceremony.

Veterans from every branch of the service participated in the assembly.

The boys standing at attention.

The second year Webelos did the closing flag ceremony.





Veteran's Day Assembly

The boys participated in the Veteran's Day Assembly at school again this year.  It is quite an honor for them to be able to be a part of this wonderful assembly in which we honor veteran's of our country.  The Webelos performed the flag ceremony.  A big thank you to Maria for organizing the boys and snapping pictures for this event as I had to work.  I was sorry to have had to miss it.

Matthew, Hayyan, & Liam

Liam, Skyler, and Noah



Luke, Connor, Hunter, Nick & Eric



2010 Summer Swim Party!

We missed those who couldn't be with us for our (dare I say...) Second Annual Cub Scout swim party at Kent Swim and Tennis Club.  It was a great way to end the summer (boo hoo) and have all of the boys reconnect before school starts.  Big thank you's to the Reitan and Keane families for making it possible for us to enjoy this fun place together!  Thanks Dawn for organzing all of the food and beverages... :) 

Lots of photos... I'll let them speak for themselves.  I just want to say that Wes, Luke and I love all of you guys and we feel so very lucky to call you all friends... you're so much fun to hang out with!

Fishing on Lake Tapps

Even though we didn't have the greatest weather we still had an awesome day fishing on Lake Tapps!  Noah's Aunt and Uncle invited us to use their yard and dock for our first den fishing experience.  Wow, what a beautiful spot with a fire pit for roasting our hot dog lunch.  They sure took care of us by setting up an awning for us to keep dry and allowing us to use their paddle boats!  All of the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and fished non-stop!  I do believe that just about everyone caught something during the day... it made for lots of excitement! 

The boys also learned about fishing safety and local fishing laws from Mark... thank you Mark!  He also helped them to be able to identify five different kinds of fish that they caught throughout the day. 

Matthew jumps right in and learns how to bait a hook.

Skyler caught a little guy while Nathan, Logan and Jessica and Todd look on.

I think Liam was the first to catch a big one!  That was exciting to watch!

The McClure family... Mike was a fabulous help with all of the boys!  Thanks Mike!

Skyler getting ready to cast off...

This was Luke's first "real" experience with fishing, so he was a little unsure of handling a squirming fish.  His first catch was a little guy and I had to bribe him to actually hold it.  By the look on his face I'm guessing that he's not super comfortable with it!  :)

Hunter caught a big one too! 

A few of the moms and I were starting to think that the boys were catching the same big fish over and over (we were practicing Catch and Release), but after looking at the photos I think Eric's fish has different looking fins and different coloring, don't you?

Luke and Wes stuck it out in the rain and caught this big one!

Noah kissing his fish for luck!

The boys taking a break from fishing and roasted hot dogs over the firepit for their lunch.

How many dads does it take to untangle a fishing line?

Noah, Hunter, Luke and Wes doing circles in the paddle boat... who's steering?

Jeff is roasting Nathan's shoes which were dripping wet!  Not sure how successful he was in drying them out!

Mark brought his fishing boat and treated all of the boys to a trip around the lake.

Group photo of Den One Wolves (soon to be Bears) along with Logan, Connor, Nathan, Julia and Jessica at the end of a great day!

Spring Break Bowling

What do you do with a bunch of crazy kids when you've only got a couple of days off for Spring Break?!  You spend at least one afternoon bowling!  The boys (and their friends and siblings) had an awesome time getting together and all I can say is, 'Thank Heavens for the bumper guards!'.

Nicholas catching air!

I think this is a shot of Liam right after he bowled a Strike!

Lisa and Alison cheering on Nathan!

I think we all agree that the McClure boys are completely expressive athletes!  :)

We had a great turnout...

Luke and Nick hit the slots after their afternoon of bowling!