Play 60

On May 6th Zachary had the chance with school to go to the Cardinals Stadium and workout with a few Cardinal players, and Sione and Filipe from the Biggest Loser.


A few months back the 4th-6th graders at our school all pledged to be active for 60 minutes a day. They had to keep track of what they did. Then turn all the paper work in. Then at the end of April they picked 4 kids from each class to go and participate at the stadium.


Zachary had a ton of fun. They teachers who went on the trip took a ton a pictures and sent them home to us.

Above is the whole group from our school with the stadium in the background.

Enjoy a slide show below of some of our favorite pictures. See if you can spot Zachary in the shot of the whole group doing push-ups. (hint- he is toward the right)

Karate Promotion

Last week both Brandon and Zachary finished this semester of karate, and had their promotion ceremony.
Both of them did great this year. Brandon is now a Orange with Black Stripe, and Zachary is now Blue with Purple Stripe.

Here is Brandon doing a Kata demonstration. Kata is a "dance" of karate moves. For every belt they have to pass of certain Kata's. It is one way to show how they have mastered the moves.

This is Zachary doing a Kata demonstration. The boy to Zachary's left is Ethan's friend Cooper. They are in the same class.

Birthday Fun

Zachary had a great birthday yesterday. He loved having the day be ALL about him. He took cupcakes to school to share with his class, got to pick where we went to dinner- Red Robin (although Burger King his favorite place was a close 2nd), open presents, talk to both Grandmas on the phone, and have an ice cream cake for dessert!

Happy Birthday Zachary

Happy Birthday Zachary!! It is hard to believe that you are 11 years old today!! You have always had such a sweet, quiet disposition. You always root for the underdog, and are a real peacemaker in our family. Thanks for being such a great brother, son and friend, we are lucky to have you in our family!! Hope you have a great day today.

Diagnosis ASTHMA

So Zachary has been wheezing occasionally over the past few weeks. This weekend he was having tons of trouble and was coughing tons! We just kept doing breathing treatments and it helped a little, but not completely.

Today he went into the doctor, and after some tests - it's official he has asthma!!! He joins Bob and Brandon in this wonderful club.



He is now on a treatment plan that in a few days will hopefully really make a difference and help him to breathe freely again.

Pinewood Derby

Yesterday was our Zachary's final Pinewood Derby.
This year he and Bob made a "monster truck". It was 2 cars high!!! They made it by glueing two blocks of wood together. It was a really fun design to make. Zachary's favorite part of the car is the way the "logos" on the side turned out. Mine is the way he made the weights in the back into Nitrous canisters!!!

This is his truck height compared with one of his cars from another year!!

BIGFOOT

Bigfoot at the start of a race

Zachary is such an excellent sport. Even though he did not win, he cheered on his friends and had a good time. Zachary, we are so proud of all the hard work you have done in Cub Scouts.

Now that Bob isn't in Cubs anymore and Zachary will be 11 this year, we will get to take a year off from Cub Scouts until Ethan turns 8 next year!!

Arrow of Light

Tonight at Pack Meeting Zachary received his Arrow of Light award. This is the highest award that a cub scout can earn. Our ward has a really nice ceremony that the boys get to participate in.
Unfortunately our camera is on its last leg and I didn't get any really good shots of the ceremony or the bridge crossing to welcome them to boy scouts.

It was a really nice evening. Zachary was so cute when we got home. He said,"Man it feels really good to get your Arrow of Light". I hope he gets that excitement about scouts forever!

Jack and the Beanstalk

Today we surprised the boys with a trip to Hale Theatre to see "Jack and the Beanstalk".

Bob and I have had season tickets going on 3 years and love it. We have taken Brandon every year with us to the summer musical and "A Christmas Carol", last year Zachary went at Christmas too. They both really enjoy being able to go.

Ethan has been asking more questions about the plays we go see, and asked why he didn't get to see "A Christmas Carol" with us. We were going to get him a ticket for this year, but decided to try it out with their children's show first.

When they left for the show they still didn't know where they were going. Brandon guessed an ASU game of some kind, or the Science Center. Ethan thought it was the zoo, and Zachary agreed with them. (Why they thought they would dress up for those events I don't know)

This weekend is also Gilbert Days, and the parade runs right down the street the theatre is on, so they were going to have to park a little ways away and walk over. This only added to the suspense.

But they all loved it!!! Now Ethan really wants to go with us to see "Christmas Carol", what have we started.

Webelos Badge

Tonight at Pack Meeting Zachary earned his Webelos Rank. He has been working very hard to get it done. He has also finished all the requirements for his Arrow of Light and will receive that at the special Arrow of Light ceremony next month.

Way to go Zach!

This is him going on the obstacle course to find his award

This is him pinning me with my mothers pin.
(Photography by Brandon)

JA Biz Town

A few weeks ago Zachary got the chance to go to JA Biz Town with the 5th grade. It is a mock town that the kids get to run for a day. They elect a mayor, all get jobs with "paychecks", learn to write checks, pay bills, and how a town government works.


He had so much fun. He was an attorney. They got to put down 3 jobs that interested them, and then the teachers assigned everyone a job. Some of the other jobs were- newspaper, insurance, Cox Cable, Papa Johns Pizza, airlines, mall, just to name a few.


He did have one little bit of trouble. Somewhere between the bus, and when it was his "lunch break" his lunch disappeared. He was pretty upset, but a few of his friends Moms were there helping and had lunch at the same time and gave him a bunch of stuff, and then one of the teachers walked down the street and bought him a sandwich, and drink at the gas station. He ended up with a better lunch than the one I packed him. Thanks Kristen and Katrina.

This picture is of Zachary, Easton, and Kendyl in front of City Hall.

Jiffy Pop

This last week we were watching MythBusters and they had some myths about popcorn. This got us all talking about popcorn.

Apparently we have only ever made microwave popcorn here at home. The kids didn't know you could make it any other way. So Bob and I had fun telling them about the "old fashion" popcorn you could pop on the stove and how it made a big tin foil bubble.
The next day we went to Wal-Mart and sure enough they had some. So that night we made popcorn the "old fashion" way.
The boys thought it was pretty cool, and it brought back some fun memories for Bob and I too.

Swimming Lessons

The last few weeks Ethan and Zachary have been doing swimming lessons. They have both come really far this summer. Zachary still likes to do things "his way", but has lost the fear he use to have and tries so hard and never gives up. Ethan wishes he had gills. He spends more time under the water than he does on top. He has gotten really brave. Just yesterday he asked his teacher if he could swim in the "deep" part of the pool. He actually swam from one end all the way to the other.

Ethan swimming through the hoops:

Ethan just popping out of the water:

Zachary doing his back float:

Zachary swimming across the pool:

Ethan swimming through the hoops:

Zachary swimming across the pool:

Bad Hair Day

Zachary is going to hate me for this,but it gave us such a good chuckle to start our day we had to share.
Zach took a shower before bed last night and went to bed with his hair a little damp!!!
This morning it was a work of art.
He was actually not grumpy at all. He was laughing too, the picture just caught him at a really bad moment, which made it all the funnier.
I love you Zach, thanks for being such a good sport.

Karate Promotion

Last night was Karate Promotion for this semester. The boys have both worked really hard. Brandon earned his Orange belt and Zachary got his blue with white stripe.
This is them with the instructor Sensei Darrin.

Pack Meeting

Last night Zachary was awarded his Bear Award. He actually earned it a while ago, but we missed pack meeting in February, so he just got it last night.
He also received a gold and a silver arrow point.
Having your Dad as your webelos leader has some advantages and some disadvantages.
Zachary has worked really hard since turning 10 and got his Communicator and Fitness activity pins, along with his communicating and computer belt loops.
The den had started some of these right before he came in, but Bob worked really hard with him so he was able to get the awards with the rest of the den.
Way to go Zach!! Keep up the good work.

Pinewood Derby!!!

Today was our ward's pinewood derby. Zachary's car was the Batmobile. He and Bob spent many hours out in the garage working on it. He had a lot of fun. At the end of the races he was tied for fastest Bear, but in the run-off came in second!
This year Bob also built a car. It was a Hostess Twinkie. It was a filler car so that all the races had all 3 lanes filled. He didn't win a single race, maybe next year! Some of the other leaders had some pretty fast cars. Something to aim for next time.
Below is a video clip of one of the races where he placed 1st. Also a slide show of the whole process.