No Spelling at the Table

The End

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:50:00 -0800

Molly is 6!

After much thought, I've decided it's time to end No Spelling at the Table.

My reasons are several. Josh and Molly are getting older, and soon they may want to have a say in the content of their Internet presence. It has been fun to share all of the adventures of their baby, toddler and preschool years, but now I feel like I need to be more reserved about the pictures and stories about them that are posted online. I also wonder how many times you all want to see pictures of the same events, over and over, that we do every year.

This blog has been a wonderful way for me to record Josh and Molly's early years, and I appreciate all of you who have checked in with us and even, at times, left comments.

I'm ending my blog just after Molly's sixth birthday, and she was an infant when I started writing here. When and if the time opens up, I plan to transfer all of the photos, writing and comments into a scrapbook.

We move forward on Facebook, where I'll continue posting pictures of the kids, and I'll share all of the crazy details of our year in my annual Christmas ~~novel~~ letter. Thank you for reading for so many years! It has been a joy.

Marty

Josh vs. The Intimidator

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 8 Oct 2012 06:58:00 -0700

I was very happy that we were able to talk Josh out of a birthday party this year and instead into taking a family trip to Carowinds, our local version of Six Flags. After teaching Cub Scouts for the past few weeks, Chris and I weren't sure we could handle an additional outing with 9-year-old boys! My parents came to Charlotte for the weekend, and we spent Sunday afternoon at Carowinds.

The Intimidator is the biggest ride at the park and is aptly named. It's 23 stories high and apparently goes almost 80 mph on the first drop. Josh rode all of the other roller coasters first and then decided he wanted to ride The Intimidator. Chris went with him. When they got off, Chris looked a little green and Josh was thrilled.

Josh wanted to ride it one more time before we left, but no one would go with him! I finally told Chris to walk him up to the ride (there was no line), put him on it and walk back to the exit. My dad and I waited for Chris, but instead we saw him and Josh on the front seat of The Intimidator for round 2. Chris later said he didn't want to look like a chicken putting his 9-year-old on the roller coaster and not riding it himself.

Needless to say, things did not go well for Chris. I'm not sure how well you can tell in this picture, but he looked like he was about to lose it when the roller coaster came around the last turn. We spent about half an hour at the park waiting for Chris' nausea to calm down, and then he spent a few hours in bed after we got home. Josh, however, had a great time.

Molly stuck to the tamer rides, like the Red Barron planes, and talked my mom into buying her several stuffed animals and ice cream.

We celebrated at home later with chocolate cake. Happy 9th birthday, Josh!

Weekend in the mountains

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:29:00 -0700

We took an impromptu trip to the NC mountains this weekend and enjoyed great weather and a generally complaining-free time from the kids. There must be something about the mountain air! We hiked to this waterfall twice -- the first time we were afraid it would get dark while we were in the woods, so we returned the next day with a picnic and our swimsuits. I'll just say that Josh, the dog and I had a great time swimming.

We do feed our children and pets, even though you can count every one of Josh's ribs in this picture. If the dog was standing sideways, you could count her ribs too.

Molly's feelings on swimming in freezing cold waterfall water

This is before the first hike, where everyone is clean and dry.

After the first hike, where Molly fell into the creek several times. She was a great sport about it, even after falling several more times the second day. Her clothes from this hike will never be the same! I think the back of her shorts will permanently be gray and brown from the creek mud.

We also visited the apple orchard, but it was raining so we mostly bought pre-picked apples.

First Day of Third Grade

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:09:00 -0700

Finally! We had an extra-long summer this year, and Josh got on the bus this morning to start third grade. He seemed a little nervous and quiet at the bus stop, but he has a great teacher and a couple of friends in his class. I'm hoping it will be a good day for him. I wish I had taken a picture of him sitting at the breakfast table staring out the window like a zombie. The early morning start was a bit jarring for everyone!

Josh is holding our new dog, Kaia, who so far has been a wonderful addition to our family. She loves the kids and the cats, although the feeling is definitely not mutual from Homer and Henry. Kaia enjoyed all of the attention at the bus stop, and Josh liked showing her off to all of the kids there.

Molly starts kindergarten on Wednesday, so only two more days until I start my new life with both kids in school all day! I'm the school yearbook adviser this year, which will be like a part-time job for several months, and I'm trying out a new writing job with a local news website in Charlotte. I'm excited about the possibilities with this large block of time I have every day, although next week I may take one day to read a book, eat and nap as an official day of rest after nine years of staying at home with kids!

Josh and his teacher, Mrs. Hodges, at open house last week

The Fifth Decade

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:26:00 -0700

We celebrated Chris' 40th birthday by ziplining with some friends and then enjoying dinner on the patio at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. It was a little more low-key than his 30th birthday blow-out, but with age comes less energy!

I practiced my new cake decorating skills I learned from my cousin in Florida on Chris' birthday cake.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 22:31:00 -0700

Josh is at sleepaway camp in the N.C. mountains this week, and we have no communication from him. The camp does, however, post hundreds of pictures on its website every day so desperate parents can get a glimpse of what their child is doing and make sure the kid is wearing clean clothes every day. I have been pouring over pages of pictures, and Josh finally showed up in the photos today. Unfortunately, he looks either tired, miserable or confused in all of them. We haven't received any calls from camp (they have a no news is good news policy), so we're hoping he's having a good time.

Josh is behind the girl in the tie-dye shirt playing four square. We're always happy to see that he's participating (our standards are low!). Also glad to see that he is wearing a different shirt in two of the photos.

Maybe acting out a skit?

I think this is how I looked in every science and math class I ever took (if I wasn't nodding off).

We're picking up Josh early Saturday morning. I've been writing and emailing him daily, and I'm sure he's been enthralled with my updates and photos of our kitchen renovation. I sent several stamped, addressed envelopes for him to write home, but so far, nothing! No news is good news, right?

Billy and Katherine?

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 22:22:00 -0700

I could hardly take these two seriously when they told me they would now be called Billy (Molly) and Katherine (Vivy). We're having a sleepover tonight, and these outfits appeared during the slaphappy phase of the evening. Hopefully everyone will sleep in tomorrow!

I took a picture from the back to show Molly's stuffed gator backpack/butterfly wing ensemble.

Hilton Head 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:23:00 -0700

We just returned from our 5th annual Hilton Head beach week, a trip that has become a wonderful tradition for us. We picked up Molly from her dance recital Saturday afternoon and headed for the beach

Thankfully the initial weather forecast of rain every day didn't hold up, and we enjoyed some mild weather and lots of sun toward the end of the week. We spent a substantial amount of money playing putt-putt golf and arcade games! This golf course had nets stationed along the course to use to fish your ball out of the water, which the kids used a lot.

Josh, Abbey, Molly

Molly takes a new approach to swimming every year, and this year she became some kind of ocean maniac. After her first swim at the beach, which appeared to be enough to get her acclimated to the waves, she wanted to swim on her own (with a life vest). I had to pull her kicking and screaming out of some rough surf on the last day because she didn't want to leave.

Rare photo with everyone looking at the camera

Thankfully this year we did not have any issues with bikes running into cars or cars running into trees. I provided all of the calamity, falling over twice on my road bike, once on the edge of a busy intersection. I have a giant bruise on my backside to show for it. I'm sure I gave all of the drivers stopped at the light something to laugh about on their way to work that morning.

Emily, 16 months, and Mom

Molly, Elizabeth, Abbey

Molly is very serious about posing with Emily,
while Josh looks like someone just popped him on the rear end!

Celebrating summer family birthdays on our last night

Cub Reporters

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:58:00 -0700

I used to try and get babysitters or pawn the kids off on a friend when I had to work, but lately I've just decided to take the kids with me. People don't seem to mind the kids around, so in the spirit of trying new things, they are now my official assistants. It actually helps to have extra hands to hold notebooks, pens and my camera.

The kids and I have had some very interesting experiences in the past month! There are two trips I unfortunately don't have pictures of, the most notable a pet healthcare event in a questionable neighborhood where people were lined up around a parking lot with their dogs, primarily pit bulls. Josh and I almost got in the middle of a fight between two dogs that got off their leashes, and he got to see a bit of the perilous side of reporting!

This week we've already made a visit to an artist's studio, where Josh (and I) got to learn about encaustic painting, and have taken a tour a library. In the picture above, we were stationed on the course of a 5K for elementary school boys that ended in a baseball stadium. I was a bit horrified when Molly decided to use the dugout's bathroom, but the kids seemed to enjoy the afternoon. Josh even decided he'd like to try running a 5K himself after seeing some kids from his school in the race.

The best part about our library visit today was that after our tour, Josh agreed to sign up for the library's summer reading program and learned how to use the electronic check-out system himself.

Next week, the whole family is going with me to cover a bluegrass church. Hopefully it will be the first of many adventures on the job this summer!

End of the school year

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:01:00 -0700

The school year came to a quick end this year! Molly finished preschool in late May, and what I thought would be a bittersweet ending to preschool for our family was not bittersweet at all! We're excited about her going to kindergarten next year, and I am very happy that my days will no longer be fragmented into dropping off and picking up kids every few hours. Molly had a great year at her new preschool, and now we are heading into a loooong summer.

Her preschool ended with a program for parents, and here Molly is giving me the "stop taking my picture, Mom" as she walks to the front of the church. The kids sang a few songs, and then all of the families had a picnic outside the church.

Josh finished second grade two weeks later, and we made sure to check that the "promoted to third grade" box was checked on his report card he brought home on the last day of school! Second grade is a bit of a wasteland as his school -- all second grade classroom are in trailers outside the main school building, so we're looking forward to Josh and his peers rejoining the rest of the school next year. He made a lot of progress in second grade, most notably learning to be a good sport in kickball and writing in cursive.

Next up was Molly's dance recital, which brought an end to an excruciating year of dance lessons. Molly decided around Christmas that she no longer wanted to take dance, but because the dance school cleverly charges you $120 for the recital costume and "fee" in early December, we were committed to finishing out the year. I have employed many forms of bribery to get her to go to class without crying, and I will be relieved not to have to endure dance class drama every week anymore!

Molly is fifth from the left in the line of girls below. She did fine in the recital -- I'm not sure what bothers her so much about dancing, but she's definitely made her opinions clear.

Josh and I attended the dress rehearsal and Chris attended the recital. I was thrilled to run into an old college friend as Josh and I were waiting to pick Chris and Molly up after the recital, then a bit mortified when Josh told immediately told my friend (who I haven't seen in at least 10 years) that he "came out of my mom's belly in September 2003." A simple "hi" would have sufficed!

A less miserable Cub Scout campout

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:37:00 -0700

I reluctantly agreed to attend the spring Cub Scout family campout, primarily because the weather would be more humane and the campground seemed pretty nice. I admittedly started the trip with a very bad attitude, but thanks to perfect weather and a great state park, I ended up having a lot of fun! And, I got some sleep!

The park where we stayed had many things for kids to do, including mini golf and paddle boats. The kids were in heaven. Molly turns out to be a pretty good putter -- maybe there's a future for her there.

At this point we had not seen a mirror or a hairbrush in quite a while.

Because it wouldn't be a true campout without the Metzl family providing some entertainment, Josh obliged by getting stuck in the Port-A-Potty while everyone was gathered around the campfire about 20 feet away. We were all treated to his panicked yelling and beating on the walls. Here, the cub master is walking over (he was followed by a pack of kids wanting in on the action) to assist Chris in the rescue. It turns out that only the door was stuck and the "potty" part of the Port-A-Potty was not at issue, and Josh was quickly freed.

Annual $90 Tutu

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:06:00 -0700

It may be a good thing that Molly has decided she hates dance class, as we hate having to pay $90 each spring for a tutu. Last week was the ceremonial unveiling of the recital dresses, and this year Molly's class got bright yellow. She likes the tutu, but she tells me that some of the dance moves are too complicated for her and she'd rather just take gymnastics next year. My pocketbook thanks her!

I also attended Parents Day at the gymnastics center last week, and I got to watch both kids' classes. We should signed these kids up for gymnastics as soon as they could walk! It's a great way to tire them out each week. Here they are with trophies they earned for... attending class this semester.

Happy Mother's Day?

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:56:00 -0700

I was treated to some very interesting events at the kids' school this year for Mother's Day. The week began with a "Mom's Salon" at Molly's preschool, where we got our nails painted... by 5 year olds. As you'll notice, I have blue glitter nail polish on my right hand and (thankfully) a lighter shade on my other hand. I removed the polish that night, and Molly couldn't understand why!

Josh's class held a "Poetry Breakfast," where all of the kids read aloud poems they had written for their moms. I was a ball of nerves waiting for Josh's turn. Creativity is not really his thing, and I could only imagine what kind of crazy stuff he might have said about me in a poem! Thankfully, his poem was pretty tame and didn't contain lines like "You're my mother/I'm glad you're not my brother" like some other poems did!

The poetry reading was following by a smorgasbord of donuts and cookies. I'm sure the teacher enjoyed herding a bunch of sugared-up kids for the rest of the day!

A visit from Ethan

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:49:00 -0700

Chris' parents came to visit this weekend and brought Ethan, which was a huge treat for the kids. They played non-stop, and Saturday afternoon we took them to the U.S. National Whitewater Center to watch the Olympic trials in canoeing. Josh was desperate to try to zipline there, but it had a 70 pound minimum weight limit. Instead, he and Ethan tried a smaller zipline that involved a long climb up a net to the start of the line.

Unfortunately for Molly, you have to weigh 45 pounds to do the small zipline. She was quite unhappy about it.

I let her take pictures while we were waiting for Ethan and Josh's turns on the zipline, which cheered her up some. I had to delete a lot of pictures of people's posteriors, since that is about eye level for her. She did get some okay pictures of Josh and Ethan.

We Spent the Night in the Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:35:00 -0700

And it's taken me a week to recover enough to write about it!

I bravely volunteered to accompany Josh on the annual Cub Scout "super trip," which involves spending the night in some unusual place. Last year, the pack spent the night on a battleship in Charleston, and this year we got the zoo. There are no pictures from the actual sleepover because once we entered the zoo they locked it down like a prison and I couldn't go back out to the car to get the camera.

After spending two hours at a nearby children's museum and then eating at a restaurant with about 50 kids and parents, we finally made it to the zoo around 7 p.m. Our group had grown to about 80 at that point, and we all slept in the zoo's education building. I strategically secured a sleeping spot in a hallway with two mom friends from my neighborhood, hoping that the snoring dads would be sleeping in the more popular auditorium.

We spent three hours touring and hiking the zoo that night, where Josh impressed the zookeepers with his non-stop commentary on the animals and eagerness to answer almost every question they asked. When we finally got back to our sleeping quarters at 11 p.m., the kids were exhausted and I was hopeful that we might actually get some sleep.

Then, my friend's son started coughing, as in he was about the cough up a lung, and he kept it up all night. I never fell asleep, although I think a few of our fellow hallway sleepers did. The next morning we found a bunch of cranky adults and kids that didn't want to get up -- until they remembered the zoo sleepover included spending as long as we wanted that day in the zoo.

Josh was especially eager to see the animals in the daylight, and I was especially eager to get home as soon as possible because I knew I'd be sleepy driving two hours home. I drug around the zoo after Josh for more than two hours, hoping that he'd run out of energy at some point! He finally quieted down in the car -- he was so out of it he hardly spoke on the drive back to Charlotte.

My favorite part was feeding the giraffes their breakfast -- this one was especially hungry.

Here's Josh and one of the kids in his Cub Scout den.

Josh had a great time, and now he wants to wear his commemorative "I Survived a Night in the Zoo" t-shirt, which glows in the dark, every day. I should have bought myself one of those shirts! Next year, Chris is already penciled in to chaperone the Cub Scout "super trip."

Singing with Headphones

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:11:00 -0800

The entire second grade performed a song and dance show last week about the environment, and Josh entered the very crowded auditorium in his favorite way -- wearing headphones and holding his teacher's hand. Among almost 200 kids wearing green shirts, it was easy to spot him!

It never does get any easier to be the parent of the kid wearing headphones, so we were relieved when he took them off two songs into the performance because it was hard to dance in them. Amazingly, Josh sang, danced and rapped (!) along with the rest of the second graders. Each class performed one song on stage while the other classes sang along with them, and we were surprised at Josh's high level of enthusiasm for his class' dance! He's just to the left of the girl with the green bow in her hair in the picture below. I've included a video of "Water Waster," a surprisingly catchy song that we are still singing around the house. We've also found it very effective now to tell Josh to hurry up in the shower because he's being a water waster!

In the video, Josh is in the center row toward the right, above the blue sign shaped like a recyclable bag. Enjoy!

Pinewood Derby

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 18:40:00 -0800

Josh entered his first Pinewood Derby this year with "Tar Wheel," a car with Tom Brady's jersey number and the UNC logo. Not sure what to think of that combo!

The track was hooked up to a computer, which listed each kid and his car before the heats. There was no strategy involved, but the kids acted like their lives were on the line every time their car raced. One mom did tell me there was less crying at the event compared to last year.

We're hoping Josh's car will do better next year! He's already making plans for his 2013 design.

Molly is always happy to attend Cub Scout events if there's food. Up next is the sleepover at the zoo in Columbia, S.C. in March. We will actually spend the night in the zoo, and I say we because I'm a chaperone. Arghh!

Backtracking

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:59:00 -0800

We took the kids to their first UNC basketball game in early December, stopping by some campus landmarks on the way to Franklin Street for dinner. They weren't too interested in any "Mommy used to live in that building" talk, and they spent a good bit of time complaining about how far it was to walk anywhere.

We met up with Mandy, Josh's first-grade teacher who's now a PhD student at UNC, for dinner at Pepper's Pizza. It was very fun to hang out with her as friends instead of teacher/parent, and we're glad she's being converted into a Tar Heel fan!

The Tar Heels struggled in the first half against a crappy team, and our fellow fans in the nosebleed section had some choice words for our team. Josh picked up on their colorful language, and in a shining moment for all of us, stood up and yelled "You suck!" at the team. Several weeks later he yelled the same thing to the Charlotte Bobcats at a game here. In Josh's defense, they deserved it!

Molly was less than impressed with the whole basketball thing. She was mostly interested in our trip to the Yogurt Pump for oreo yogurt before the game.

Even though some guy with a Tim Tebow jersey was seated a few rows in front of us, I hope in the least our trip to the Dean Dome will remind Josh which collegiate team he needs to cheer for.

Molly is 5!

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:49:00 -0800

Molly turned 5 last week ...and I missed it!

I had the rare opportunity to take a Caribbean vacation with my college friends, kindly paid for by Shelley's husband Kevin. While we were sitting on the beach in the Bahamas, Molly celebrated with Chris, Josh and Jerry, who came to help run the show for the week. And really, I'm the one who did all the work on Molly's birth day -- a little relaxation is always in line to celebrate that event!

Chris is now an expert in making chocolate cakes, as he made one for my birthday earlier this month as week. They took Molly bowling, her choice of birthday activity. Tim and Hannah took her to Barnes & Noble the next day and let her pick out a book for her birthday, and she ran from the classics straight to the super hero section, where she chose "Hulk Saves the Day." All we can say about that is at least she's interested in books!
Just for fun, here's Molly almost five years ago ...

Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:21:00 -0800

We have a lot to catch up on! We're back from two weeks of Christmas celebrations, which started with Molly's last day of preschool for 2011 and the Christmas party at her school. Santa doesn't appear too interested in Molly's Christmas list!

We spent the first week of Christmas break in Charlotte before heading to Chicago, and Chris and the kids went with me to interview the owners of the animals that participate in live nativity scenes around Charlotte.

We celebrated an early Christmas morning at our house and opened gifts from my parents and from us.

Then we had Christmas morning with Chris' family. Missy and Tyler graciously hosted us for a whole week!

Josh and Molly goofing off at a post-Christmas family party in Chicago

Rhys, Ethan, Molly, Josh and some of their cousins

We spent one day at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

Yesterday Chris, Rob and I took Molly, Ethan and Josh on the commuter train into downtown Chicago. We planned to take the elevator to the top of the Sears (now Willis) Tower, but a huge line and $17/per person fee made us change our minds. We went for ice cream instead.

Parent Observations

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:39:00 -0800

Last week was parent observation week for Molly's dance and gymnastics classes, so I joined the parent paparazzi and cringed as Molly received presents and medals for... attending class. So much for the good old days when you actually had to win something to get a prize!

Dave's Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:47:00 -0800

Our good friend Dave, who we first met in Wilmington and who now lives in Charlotte, got married in early December, and as you can see the kids had a great time playing on our phones while we enjoyed catching up with old friends. I first met Dave in the late 90s, and we have enjoyed reconnecting with him in Charlotte. Molly is especially fond of Dave!

We first met Dave's wife, Roseann, at dinner a few months ago, and we love her!

We were so happy to see Karen and her husband Dean at the wedding -- longtime Wilmington friends who got married last year. It was an unexpected reunion with some great friends, some of whom had never met Molly and hadn't seen Josh since he was three months old.

Lukewarm Santa

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 19:35:00 -0800

After such a wonderful Santa experience last year, I took the kids back to the children's library last week in hopes of a repeat visit. Unfortunately, the kindly Santa has been replaced with the unsmiling Santa. While not the best for pictures, at least he didn't telling us we were traumatizing him.

No hope of getting all four kids to look at the camera at the same time

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 19:21:00 -0800

We spent most of Thanksgiving week in Florida again this year, starting with a few days at the farm in the Florida panhandle. The weather was great, and the kids were somewhat cooperative for pictures before leaving for Thanksgiving brunch in Panama City Beach. We are happy to report that Molly did not fall into the decorative pond at the hotel this year.

Chris and I took Josh, Molly, Abbey and Elizabeth for a walk/run on the pier after brunch, and one man, who thought all of the kids were mine, offered to buy me a drink out of pity!

Mom, Dad and Emily

Mom pushing the kids on the porch swing at the farm. Dad bought a fire pit this year, so we all spent two nights roasting marshmallows and hotdogs over it and looking at the stars. Too bad we didn't think of this years ago!

We went back to Gainesville on Friday, and that night we went to a Florida basketball game, which Josh thoroughly enjoyed. The Gators won by over 50 points, so Josh was thrilled. He was not so happy the next night when he attended the Florida-Florida State football game, where Chris said Josh was in tears because Florida lost. I don't think he was the only member of my family who wanted to cry that night!

24 Hours of Misery

noreply@blogger.com (Marty) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:20:00 -0800

We naively thought it would be fun to participate in the Cub Scout pack's family camp out this weekend. The campground was only about 40 minutes from our house, and I felt like I could convince Molly to come home with me to sleep, and then we would rejoin the group the next morning. The forecast was for the mid-30s on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, every time I offered her a bribe to go home, even as it got dark and the temperature dropped, she would yell, "I want to sleep in the tent!" I didn't want to abandon Chris with two kids in a tent, so I stayed too. The kids passed out 10 minutes after they went to sleep, Chris was snoring and I spent the night lying awake, hoping my kids weren't freezing to death and wondering why I ever agreed to camp out in November.

While I think the camp out was 24 of the most miserable hours of my life, the kids loved it. Josh (here reading his Cub Scout handbook) fished, hiked and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. The boys told ghost stories and "funny" stories, which mainly involved a lot of jokes about poop, and did skits. I sat in our camp chair with three coats on and tried not to look as horrible as I felt.

Molly and her friend had fun playing in the leaves and sliding down a hill. I didn't take more pictures because that meant I had to take my hands out of my pockets. Thankfully, the Cubmaster announced on Sunday morning that there would be no more November overnight camps. Finally, someone came to their senses!