Summer of Scouting

Scouting, of course, continues to be a strong tradition in our family. Justin and Christopher earned their Eagle awards, Andrew is "this close" (thumb and pointer finger about 2mm apart) to earning his Eagle, and Mark is also well on his way, being "this close" (again with the thumb and pointer finger thing) to being a "Life" scout (requirements done, just awaiting the time necessary between advancements) - one away from Eagle.

Mark has had fun with Boy Scouts this summer, starting with the week-long Boy Scout Camp at the end of June. Our troop camped at our local Ore-Ida Council's camp, Camp Morrison near McCall, Idaho, and all the boys and the leaders had a great time. I was also up there with them for a couple of days, and had a great time, as well.

Mark worked hard during Boy Scout Camp, earning 8 merit badges: Climbing, Shotgun Shooting, Wilderness Survival, Tracking, Camping, Fish and Wildlife Conservation, and Soil and Water Conservation (hmmm... I only count 7 but that's what he told me). I was up at Camp and witnessed Mark qualifying for Shotgun Shooting; he's a good shot! Mark didn't do any of the water merit badges (he's actually already completed most of those), and that's a good thing because so early in the summer with a little bit of snow still remaining up the mountains, the water temp in Payette Lake was still clinging to the low-50s. Brrr!!!

Then more recently (July 23rd), we had a really fun ballgame/camping outing where we went to a Boise Hawks (minor league affiliate of the MLB's Chicago Cubs) game versus the TC Dust Devils. Coincidentally, as a group we were trying to figure out what the "TC" stood for, and I think my guess "Tyrannical Chickens" was the group favorite. The game was an absolute blowout 13-3, and we were down 5-0 after the top half of the first inning alone! It was still a lot of fun, though, and they did a really cool fireworks show after the game. This was a special Boy Scouts night at Hawks Stadium, and ALL of the Boy Scouts in attendance were supposed to camp Friday night after the game in the outfield. Unfortunately, as the grass at Hawks Stadium is struggling, they wouldn't let us camp there. Instead, they were going to cram all of the Scouts in to a really small bullpen area just off right field. We thought, "Oh yeah... that sounds about as fun as getting a root canal."

So we bagged on that the field camping idea, and instead went camping at the farm owned by Scoutmaster Whiting's parents. They have a HUGE grass area, and we went and camped there, instead. We really had a great time! We slept out under the stars, braving the elements and the wild animals (the most ferocious of which was their cat "Tigger"). After a yummy pancakes and eggs breakfast (we were really roughing it!!!), the boys even got to feed the chickens and do some other farm chores.

We'll have a Court of Honor on August 11th, and I believe we'll have one more summer campout before school starts, but it's been a fun summer!!! Andrew, as part of the older "Venture" scouts and the Teachers Quorum in our ward (church) is on a "High Adventure" trip even as we speak. They're doing a 75-mile bike ride, and hopefully he'll get some good pictures for me to post later. I just hope he doesn't try to take pictures while riding!

Enjoy the pics posted herein; you can see all 98 pics from Scout Camp and the Hawks/camping activity, posted here on my Flickr account.

Beijing Public Safety Dog

This past week in Beijing, in the taxi on the way to a meeting I snapped this fun picture. Two big ol' police dawgs riding in the back of a police truck. Two interesting things about this picture. First of all, on police cars in China, painted across the hood (only) of all the police cars I've seen there are "POLICE" (in English) and "KEISATSU" (or at least that's how the two kanji characters would be pronounced in Japanese) in Chinese. However, everywhere else on the car is the phrase "PUBLIC SAFETY." The second thing is that these puppies would be ILLEGAL in Beijing (if they weren't police puppies). I was reading an article in a local paper in Beijing this week that it is illegal (you cannot get a permit) to have a dog taller than 35cm at the shoulders. Illegal or not, I don't think I'd want to get in a mixup with these public safety dogs!

I had an interesting cultural experience the other day in Beijing, as well. Since I am on quite the tight budget on this trip, I have eaten twice at McDonald's. The Mickey Dees right across from the Beijing Railway Station (pic at right) that I ate at was really crowded, but I happened to find a spot at a two-person table, and I sat down. Shortly thereafter, some Chinese dewd (in China - go figure!) gestured to my table, inquiring as to whether or not he could also sit at the table. I gestured back that he could. He sat and we both ate in complete silence. This is interesting because it would SO NOT HAPPEN in Japan!!! Because of this, Japan has the mistaken perception that the Japanese don't like foreigners. Not so!!! In fact, they love foreigners, but they are embarrassed because they don't speak English (all throughout Asia, if a white person is present, it's automatically assumed he/she speaks English - another cultural discussion altogether). So to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to communicate, on trains, in restaurants... in all public settings, Japanese will tend to shy away from foreigners. So I thought it interesting that this Chinese guy would come up and sit at my table so readily.

With meetings in Japan on Monday and it being cheaper to stay in China rather than heading to Japan for the weekend, I had a free day in Beijing on Saturday. I've been to the Forbidden City and seen the Beijing Olympic venues, but I had never been to the Great Wall. As such, I was really looking forward to it!!! So I purchased a really cheap tour bus ticket out there and set out, in spite of weather in Beijing being a little bit questionable. But after the 90-minute bus ride out there, the weather was much worse. Went to the "Mutianyu" section of the Wall, which is quite high up (you take a cable car ride up), and even covered in snow during the winter. Especially up at the Wall, the rain and fog were so thick that at points I couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of me. This picture on the left is one of the better ones; you can actually see part of the Wall. It was still good to be there, though. Now at least I can say, "Been there. Done that." (but didn't get the tee shirt)

And finally, I just LOVE these little motorcycles you see all over China (pic at right). Or these cool, or what?!

I've posted 55 pics from Beijing to my Flickr account; you can check them out here.

Fun Fourth!!!

We sure had an AWESOME Independence Day weekend!!! All three of my sisters came up to visit us. And while they were here, all of Michelle's Boise-area cousins also came over for a big BBQ/pool party, as well. I think we had nearly 45 people here, and at one point I think we had as many as 25 in the pool. Fireworks, and impromptu baseball game with a tennis ball, a lot of food, posing for family pictures, etc. etc. etc. Just a great time with family this weekend.

Unfortunately, I'm very pressed for time as I'm taking off for Beijing, then Tokyo later this week, so I can't post much detail. And once I get to China where the Great Firewall of China blocks blogging, I won't be able to blog at all. So just a quick entry here, with a family picture (serious and silly, above and below) and links to more. To see about a hundred pics I posted from the weekend, you can go to two albums on Facebook (here and here), or see them in higher resolution on my Flickr account here.