Saturday, May 17, 2008

Carnival, Cub Scouts, Fish, and Rugby

It’s been a busy week! Wednesday, Ryan’s school had their Spring carnival. It was originally scheduled for May 1 (while we were in Hawaii), so I hadn’t signed up to help with anything since we weren’t going to be here. Apparently it snowed here that day, so the carnival was rescheduled. It was great to go and have fun without having to be responsible for anything.

We ran into a good friend of ours who is going through a divorce. We hadn’t talked with her in a while, so we moms stood with her baby and talked while Ryan and her other two kids went on the rides. It was great to see her and talk with her, and Ryan had fun with friends he hadn’t seen for a while.

I’ve never been a big fan of “winning” goldfish or having a REAL fishing pond at carnivals. Some of you may remember a couple of years ago when Ryan “won” two goldfish at the Eaglewood 4th of July carnival. It was on a Saturday afternoon/evening, and we toted those poor fish around with us through eating, games, and fireworks. We found marginally suitable temporary lodging for them when we got home late Saturday night, and then had to run to the store Sunday before church to get food for them. Unfortunately, Nemo and Gil had gone belly up by the time we came home from church. Ryan is convinced that they died due to the deadly combination of the loud fireworks and us shopping on Sunday for their food. We had a small graveside service for them. Ryan said the prayers, sang the songs, and gave the talks. And cried. A lot.

So when I saw that there were goldfish at the school carnival, I tried to talk him out of the whole idea. But he has been trying to convince me for quite a while that we need a pet. A Yorkie has been at the top of his list. Hmmm…let me see…$1300 for a Yorkie or a buck for a goldfish? I let him get the fish. He was extremely thrilled. He named the fish Nemo II. I am certain that local pet stores donate cheap goldfish to carnivals just to get people to come into their stores to get the other “necessities” that come with fish ownership. After I picked up Ry on Thursday, we went to the local pet store to get more suitable lodging. Ry also decided that Nemo needed a friend, so we looked at other fish. I had an amount in mind when I went into the store of what I thought we’d spend. I obviously haven’t set foot in a pet store for a long time. No, we didn’t spend anything close to the $1399.00 price tag on a Yorkie there, but the bill ended up to be about three times what I thought it would be. That’s ok. Nemo now has a beautiful aquarium, some plants and a treasure chest to swim around and through, and a beautiful blue betta-fish friend named Brock (don’t ask).
We ran home from the pet store, had dinner, and set up our yard for cub scout pack meeting. The theme for this month is “Leaf it to Cubs.” We decided to have a leaf identification/collection activity in our yard and neighborhood for pack meeting. My mom was our guest speaker. She did a great job teaching us about the different types of deciduous trees, and then we took a walk to identify and collect some of them.
Ryan also earned his Bobcat and EIGHT belt loops!!! (This picture is Ryan pinning the "Mother's Pin" on me.
We also had a lot of fun this week and weekend having lunch with old friends and dinner with new friends. Thanks! :)

Ryan had an amazing opportunity today (Saturday). Since Uncle Marc now has an “in” with the Highland rugby team (working on “Forever Strong” with them), he was able to introduce Ryan to coach Larry Gelwix and some of the players today! Today was their Pacific Coast Conference tournament game before the national game in Pittsburgh. So they went to the game, and then had fun talking with Coach Gelwix and some of the players after the game. Ryan took his rugby ball and the coach and some players signed it for him. He was in heaven!!! I sent his camera with them, but it apparently had a technical malfunction as they were trying to take pictures of the event. That made me sad. Those would have been great for blogs and scrapbooks. Ry had a great time and was totally star struck!

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