Saturday, February 27, 2010

Just Last Week

Things are progressing nicely here at the home of the Loudamericans and we along with the rest of Minnesota are not so patiently waiting for Spring. The arrival of the annual Blue and Gold banquet however is the current topic of discussion.

Comes a time in the life of every Cub Scout when the next patch becomes acknowledged and the movement toward the real goal of becoming a Boy Scout drives all behavior good and bad. Yes the wolf patch is now ready for all worthy recipients and what says "here is your Patch" better than a banquet complete with chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and 100 screaming cub scouts. I mean, I thought the den leader was supposed to teach these kids manners and respect for the elders, otherwise what is the sense of cub scouts and the whole honor the pledge thing? I digress.


Aunt Sue made another trip over from Green Bay to visit and catch up after her recent stint in Costa Rica. She arrived in time to attend the aforementioned banquet. The Loudamericans plus Sue showed up at the venue and we found our way to the main floor with a view of the stage, for later in the evening Young James would be on that stage receiving his Wolf badge. The whole ceremony was dedicated to Scouts old and young. There is a member of the Scout Leaders whom received the highest award for a Scout, the National Heroism Award, which was quite awesome.




The "regular" scouts had dinner and were then called onto stage to receive their individual awards. It was quite the site and "herding cats" comes to mind. The final ceremony of the evening is called the Arrow of Light ceremony and no photography is allowed. However, due to the shortage of scouts able to do this ceremony we were in a holding pattern so the MC of the evening made his first mistake. He thought it would be a good idea to allow the scouts to come on stage, take the mic and tell jokes. This does not even work in theory and it came to pass that many of the kids have stage fright, not the case with Jimmy " give me the mic"Murphy. He had a little repertoire and finished with the favorite " On Valentines Day what did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus?" " Want to hold my hand, hand ,hand,hand?" The lighting ceremony was over and we headed out with Wolfe badge in hand and hope to be invited back next year.


Saturday was all about Sooners Basketball. Jimmy's team is somewhere in the middle of the rankings, you will have to ask him the standings, and Sue was there to cheer him on. The team had only 7 of the 9 members present and half way through the first period 2 of the Sooners were on injured reserve, the game was well fought however the Sooners were soon winded. The coaches, taking advantage of the 2 time outs, tried to get he boys the needed rest however the opponents were relentless in their pursuit of victory. Much to the dismay of the Sooners the scoreboard was shut off, the boys continued to volunteer to sit out not realizing we had no subs. The team pulled together and put on an awesome display of determination and defense keeping the opponents under 50 points. Jimmy is now rallying the rest of his 2ND grade class to come "cheer them on" for their last game. He even has a cheerleader sign up sheet in class. So far he has 5 takers. He also gets them "fired up" leading the Sooners in pre-game chants before the jump shot. Go Sooners Go!
Sunday we celebrated Nikki's gotcha day. Hard to believe not only have we been back in the States for a year we have had Nikki for a year as well. Unlike the kids Gotcha Days which includes cupcakes and a trip to Mirror of Korea, Nikki received a bath and some new chew bones, it is unclear whether she realized it was her day or not!

In the mean time Jimmy has not abandoned his real and first love, FOOTBALL. He has been walking around the house as an offensive coordinator complete with head phones and a clip board, dark glasses and the offensive coordinator attitude, God help us this fall!

Thanks to Sue for coming over and hanging out and once again watching the kids so Mom and Dad could have a date night!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Worlds Most Injured People

You would think that with all the travelling, school events, sports, gymnastics and music lessons the kids would run out of energy, well not the 3 loudest Americans.



It seems that the kids have been watching a little to much TV lately and have developed what many say may be the next greatest Reality Series yet, Worlds Most Injured People.



The first video features the brainstorming session with Jimmy and Billy laying the ground work for the show. Pay close attention to the busswords and remember do not try this at home.

1st one -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVzNoQoYG_4



In the second installment the injuries seem to be more based on trail and error. Jimmy has somehow taken on the role as commentator and not participant, coincidence, we do not think so.


2nd one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv9arxvCCtk



In the third installment Jimmy has added another contestant, Kay. It seems that to be a contestant you need to submit a form stating your favorite way to be injured and Jimmy will acknowledge that in the show. Remember the kids are highly supervised, and do not try this at home.



3rd one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlqlOzLBAgU



The content of the videos in no way represents the views of the parents. The content of these videos remain the property of the Loudamericans,LLc and are copyrighted under any applicable laws both domestic and international.



No children or animals were hurt in the filming.



Those wishing to become participants in The Worlds Most Injured People are encouraged to call your local crisis center or 911.



More to come.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

As Luck would have it.....

And other weekend of Winter events in Wisconsin.

We packed up the family truckster and headed off with the Millers for a weekend winter get away in Danbury Wisconsin. We planned for skiing, snowmobiling, sledding and a Winter festival in the town of Luck. The Milers have an Aunt that owns a great cabin in the woods and we all met there Friday evening. The Loudamericans however had to stop off for a Friday Fish Fry, Wisconsin style and the fish was great.









Saturday we woke to the smell of fresh coffee, bacon and pancakes, what a great way to start the day! Then it was off to Luck for the festival, which featured a Ice Castle, snowmobile racing and an event that never before entered the mind of the author, a pile of saw dust. I kid you not there was actually a pile of saw dust that had a few quarters in it for the kids to dig around and find, really... What a mess. Angela and I were to meet Wade, Tracy and the kids at the "pile" and when Angela and I got there the others were no where to be found, we were puzzled as they left before us? Angela, in all seriousness said " There can not be two sawdust piles in Luck can there"? Finally the others arrived and we opted for trying to get the kids to play bingo instead of looking for quarters in a wet pile of sawdust. It was off to the races as bingo had no draw for the outdoors persons within us all.... whatever, as Billy would say. The races were well... lame and we headed off to the Senior Citizens Center for over priced sloppy Joe's and pie.














Later back at the ranch, or cabin, it was outside to sled and learn to snowboard. Jimmy was amazed at himself and his ability to learn how to snowboard in one day. Kay and Billy were sliding like champs, Wyatt was getting into everything, except his nap and Caden was building a bonfire (not by himself.... Kay helped) We had chilli and mac and cheese followed by s'mores around the bonfire and the kids finally had enough. Finally!! Because now the real fun begins, Christopher Guest movies, YES! Saturday night featured the classic Best in Show which continues to entertain.












Sunday was again a great breakfast and hanging around the cabin day. Snowboarding, sliding, bonfire, snowmobiling and the like. Tracy and Angela went for a "walk" around 10:00 and did not return until almost noon. Tom was using this as an excuse to go look for them and drive the snowmobile and with Kay and Billy... drove all over until he spotted them. Poor Jimmy got sick and was sidelined for most of the afternoon and evening. Meanwhile the rest of us had a great dinner and after the kids hit the hay, more Christopher Guest, this time Waiting for Guffman, yes another classic.

















Monday was clean up and off to Wild Mountain for skiing and snow tubing. Tom and Jimmy had skiing equipment and headed to the ski area while the rest of the crew entertained themselves with snow tubing, and sure enough no one was hurt. Jimmy was on the slope for about 20 minutes when he had the whole skiing thing figured out. At one point I was trying to get him off the bunny hill and onto a chairlift, however it was not going to happen. He is quoted as saying ' You know what Dad? No what Jimmy? This is like a black diamond bunny hill!

Kay, Billy, Caden, Tracy & Wade hit the tubing hills. Have you ever tubed? Its crazy fun. Sort of water park speed/excitement int he winter. Wyatt even got into it on the baby hill. Too fun!