The Klondike is a competition between the troops with prizes and awards. In most Scouting competitions skills are whats being tested. So our boys were ready with knots, lashing, first aid, fire building, ect... but not this time. It was mostly races and boy did we have a heavy sled! 
Between the races was lunch, a good time to sit down and enjoy a warm meal and a well earned rest.
Then back to the races. When it was all said and done we did not place, everyone was a little disappointed. We had placed in the last 4 competitions and had a streak going. But we are already planning for next year. I was talking around and got a set of snow ski's donated and Noah and I will be building a new sled this summer. I was hoping for an all composite, carbon fiber sled but that would end up costing over a thousand. So, back to reality and I'll search the web for some other light weight ideas.
Noah and Rowan were promoted to First Class and received the patch and neckerchief denoting their rank. 
After the Court of Honor the Boy Scouts preformed a flag retiring ceremony and invited Luke to help them since he was in uniform.
Before all awards and ceremony the kids and I were working in the garden digging sweet potatoes. They were the largest we have ever grown. Some of them could be entire meals in and of themselves.
We celebrated Luke's 8th birthday last Sunday with our fellowship. He really turns 8 tomorrow. He wanted paintball equipment and being a loving and supportive father I got him some and I'll soon get me some. Noah spent Saturday creating a small paintball field in the woods beside our property and Sunday morning we had 11 players on the field. As you can see Luke is the smallest and youngest. I made him some body armor out of gray indoor/outdoor carpet. He took several shots without complaint until one sneaked in under his armor and hit him in the arm pit. After some tears and encouraging he was back on his feet and ready to play again.
Here is a group shot just after walking off the field, this was taken right after Luke's armpit shot. You can see he is smiling and in good spirits. We are wanting to start playing once a month so more pictures should follow.
Noah is at Scout camp this week and doing great, almost to great. He is taking swimming, sailing, archery, orienteering and model building. 
On Monday morning Noah and troop 403 had the privilege of doing the flag raising ceremony. We drilled and practiced the night before and some in the morning on the parade field. The boys did a great job represented 403 very well.
Noah had to build a bird feeder for the merit badge he is working on. We used inch thick reclaimed oak barn siding for our materials. Noah made up the plans on his own and we adapted the size to the material we had on hand. Its base it 2 feet square and it is 18" tall. Noah did about 90% of the cutting and assembly himself. He used the table saw, compound miter saw and a cordless drill. I only helped with cutting the beveled corners. We put it up on top this tree stump to keep the bird feeder from becoming a cat feeder. With its overhang and height the cats cannot seek up on the birds. We've watched them try without any success.
Here Kristi is harvesting some of our first blueberry crop. We've had blueberry pancakes, blueberry coffee cake, blueberries on homemade ice creme and yesterday a blueberry pie, plus lots just eaten fresh off the bush.
The puppies eyes are open and they are up and moving around. They are barking and growling and being very cute. They are about three weeks old and we will start looking for new homes for them soon.
The kittens are growing as well and are closer to six weeks. We have found a new home for one of them already and are looking for homes for the others. Noah gets to keep one for himself since his cat "ran away" last fall. They as still living in the boys toy box upstairs and are a source of endless entertainment.
We also are still working on financing our house, mostly trying to educate ourselves as to what our options are and what will work best for us. We will be applying for a loan next week if you could keep that in your prayers we would appreciate it. We have been praying about getting the finances together for making the down payment and closing cost and God has blessed us with a gift of $1000 to start us off. We are very thankful for the gift and we continue to pray for His provision. 
I was recently reminded that I did not post any pictures of Noah's bridging ceremony. 
Just recently Luke's scout group toured the local airport. The highlight was this flying "chain saw". The chopper in the back ground carries the saw and flies up and down the power lines trimming trees. It is quite an impressive sight.
Thanks for visiting, Josh
They spent the first little while getting use to breathing thru the regulator and how to clear the equipment of water in case it gets dislodged.
After everyone was comfortable with the equipment and how to use it the got around to moving and playing underwater. Here you can see Noah's friend Rowen getting ready to throw a disk to Noah
And Noah ready to catch it. The boys did not get to swim around, this was just an introduction. But it is a merit badge they can work on if they choose to do it.
Noah will be bridging to Boy Scouts on April 2. At the ceremony he will be presented with the "Arrow of light", the highest award a cub scout can earn. He will then be stripped of his cub scout colors by the boy scouts and redressed with boy scout colors. The boy scouts will then walk him over a bridge and welcome him into his new troop. Noah is very excited and I'm very proud. Noah and I have worked very hard to get him to this point and we are not even near finished, next stop Eagle Scout. 
Luke stayed the night with me and Noah but wasn't allowed to participate in the activities because of his age. This was a boy scout event and the boy scouts invited Noah and Rowen to join them. Saturday was full of events to compete in, knots, fire building, orienteering and first aid were some of the events. The boys were judged according to how well they completed the task and given a score.
Late Saturday night the winners were announced, I didn't figure that we would place at all because our troop was one of the smallest but as they counted down 3rd, 2nd and then first they called our troop 403. We all stared at each other in disbelief but willingly took the first place pennant. Over all it was a very good time and the boys had a blast. We learned alot and had a great time getting to know the boys in troop 403 better. Noah will bridge up to boy scouts in the spring and will himself be a member of Troop 403 soon enough.
April will bring the next camparee. It is said that that this one will be a "disaster" with a focus on first-aid. Look for that blog around the end of April.
The boys and I along with many families in Pack 403 went to Campagonza in Butler, PA. It was a weekend camping event in which over 10,000 scouts showed up and with the total number of people pushing 18,000. The boys made water rockets pictured above, biked, went out boating, shot sling shots, climbed a 30 ft climbing wall, ran obstacle courses, too preparedness classes, saw fireworks and a concert. We had a great time! I'll upload all the pictures to picassa for you to check out.
On the same weekend Coshocton had its airshow on one of the war birds sprung a lead. It is an A-10 and was hangared by us for a few days until the parts were available to fix. 
Our last batch of chicks arrived also, this group contains 25 meat birds and 25 layers. We plan to butcher the meat birds right before Thanksgiving.
Pictured above is my kids plus Alan, Noah's WEBLOS leader and his son Rowan. Our small group stayed together the whole day and hike all but 1 of the trails. The main body of scouts hiked less. Many of the scouts are young and cannot hike so much.
It did rain on Saturday night and without the threat of lightning we sent the kids out to play and play they did. It was the closest thing they had to a shower all weekend. I was amazed at heir stamina, our group walked the 8 miles and ran in the rain and played capture the flag till 11:30 and then slept like a rock. We managed to stay dry in our tents but that was not the case for everyone.
We explored some caves while we were out this one is at the Rock House.
And played in waterfalls. If you look up to the upper edge of the cliff and see how high it is, that is what the return trail follows back.
On Monday Noah, Luke and I went fishing on Lake Erie with some men from our home church. We went out for yellow perch and almost caught our limit. It was a great time and everybody caught lots of fish. We had alot of fun catching up with the people on our boat. I think this will become a yearly tradition that we look forward to and cherish.
Two weekends ago Luke and I went to Adventure Camp. It was an absolute flurry of activity and I think the purposely put our activities as far apart as they possible could just to tire us out. There was swimming, boating, BB guns, archery, an obstacle course a, bouldering, crafts and more. To say the least I was whipped at the end of the day! Luke had a great time and I look forward to going again with him next year.
Times up! Thanks for visiting and come back soon. Josh
Warm days playing with puppies in the yard.
Breakfast by the campfire on a weekend camping trip to Blue Rock State Park with the Scouts.
And spending lots of quality time together. I hope your week was as full and as rewarding as mine was. Josh
