April 20,2012 Scout camp out

On April 20, 2012 Pa and Orion went on a Scout Camp out.
Orion is required to camp out at least three times this year
to earn all his requirements for the 11 year old boy scout
Pa went with Orion to help out.  Orion isn't experienced
enough yet to do a lot of the tent setting up and cooking yet.
Pa got a few photos while he was there.

The serious group

The goofy group

Orion at the Flag ceremony

The Flag Ceremony

A long walk back.

This makes two camp outs for Orion for

this year.  He has one more to attend.

An ihop Night Out.

It was one of those days when Pa did not feel good, Ma had
Route Counts, (got audited) at work, and Orion was hungry.
The day was a cold and windy one.  Too windy to grill
anything, or too cold as well.  Ma was tired, and Orion
was the only one who felt like cooking dinner.  Except
one thing, Orion does not know how.  So Pa and Ma
decided to take Orion out to get his favorite thing:
A Happy Face Pancake.

Orion is so happy to get his favorite meal.

This one is a chocolate pancake.

The white one had strawberries, and

Orion does not like strawberries.

(Not sure why.  Everyone else loves them.)

Cherries for eyes, and whipped cream sprinkled with

chocolate chips.  Yum Yum.

It is a kids dream.

And to top it off, Orion got a double chocolate

Hot Chocolate. 

It the size of a double hot chocolate too.

Maybe that is why they call it double chocolate.

Easter Sunday

Orion was so excited for the day the Easter Bunny came.
He could hardly wait.  He woke up early to find out that
the Easter Bunny did NOT come.  Truth is, the Easter Bunny
would have come but the Easter baskets were still in storage.
Pa had to keep Orion busy for a few minutes while Ma looked
for the Easter basket,
and then, Pa had to look for the plastic Easter eggs.
We told Orion that since church started at 9:00 AM, the
Easter Bunny was going to wait until after we got home.
But that did not stop Orion from taking a quick shower and
put his church clothes on.  What would have taken him
two hours, he did in 15 minutes flat.
Ma put the Easter Basket on the dining room table
instead of the regular place.  That way, we could blame it on
the difference in location.....ya, that is it.

Well, Orion found it just before we left for church,

and he was very happy.

After church, we had a special Easter Dinner,

and Jerry and Michelle Johnson,

Michelle Martin and Christian

as well as Ma, Pa and Orion were there for it.

We had a very delicious ham dinner.

But, since Christian was here, we put him

to work hiding 52 plastic Easter eggs filled

with candy.

Christian found some unique places to hide them.

Ma helped hide them, but she put them in the

usual place, on the ground in the flowers.

Orion found those easy buy the ones

Christian hid, well Orion had a problem

We don't even know how Christian got some of these

eggs to stay put.

This one is high up above eye level.

This one is just under the tree house.

Now for Orion to find the eggs.  He was the only one

looking this year, so he had no competition.

Notice how Orion is only looking down?

He found most of the ones on the ground quickly.

Finally, he got Michelle Martin, Jerry, and Ma to help him

look for more eggs.  None of us could find all 52 of them.

we got down to 18 more, then 10 more then 5 more.

We found all but 4 and then Christian had to go look.

He found 3 of the eggs, but not the last one.

Pa finally went to look, and what a sneak.  He

claimed he found it, and put it in the Easter Basket,

(he wanted to calm Orion down)

but no one to this day has actually found the last egg.

Maybe one day, someone will have a lucky Easter egg

magically appear and bring them luck.

Dying Easter Eggs

Even though it is only Orion this year, we still wanted him
to have a fun Easter.  Ma boiled 11 eggs for Orion because
he is 11 years old.  Then we added hot water, 1 tablespoon of vineger
and food coloring.  Viola!  Easter dye.

putting in the eggs

checking the color

Yellow is his favorite color

All the eggs are colored.

Orion had a lot of fun.

He wanted to eat one right away.

Orion cracked one open, and he put it in a bowl

smashed it with a fork,

and took a bite.

Orion said that he did not like it,

so he asked Ma if she could scramble it.

Ha!!

Ma told Orion you can not scramble

a boiled egg, so

We put lots of butter and salt and pepper on it.

Orion decided he liked it that way, but

Ma thinks her and Pa will have to eat the rest.

Laughs for Matthew

There was a family who used to live near us, but still live in
 Albuquerque.  They are Elissa, Kurt (the parents) and Dilynn and Matthew Petroddy.

Matthew is four years old, and on November 21, 2011 they found out
that he has cancer.  His parents took him to see the doctor because he
was complaining that it hurt to walk.  They found out that he has
stage 4 Neuroblastoma, which is a rare form of cancer, and
claims about 600 cases per year.
 Matthew has been in and out of the hospital
several times since then for tests, MRI's and Chemotherapy.  He has
had 5 rounds of Chemotherapy to date, and the Pedrotty family is
now planning on traveling to New York to have Matthew's tumor
that is on his intestines removed.
Family members of the Pedrotty have been having fundraisers to help
with the medical care in helping Matthew fight this cancer.
On April 7, 2012 at 8:00 P.M.  there was a benefit featuring the
Three for All group doing improvised theater.  Tickets were $27 per person
no matter where you sat.  We picked the fifth row.

Our e-Tickets for the show

Orion just outside the Kimo Theater

Orion with Elissa Petroddy

at the Kimo Theater

The program

The Three for All Trio

This is them doing one of their improv skits.

A closer look.  They were very funny.

One of the skits was when Orion sneezed

by mistake.  The actors took that sneeze and

made an improv skit out of it.  Orion

turned into a sneezing Coyote out on the Mesa.

At the end of the skit, Orion sneezed again.

It was a funny skit, and ended on the note

of Orion's sneeze.

The curtain.  Orion loved this and wanted Ma to

take a photo of it.

There was a live key-board player also there,

who played music along with the actors.

It was a blast, and we are so glad that we went.

We are also glad that we had fun donating

to a wonderful cause of helping Matthew.

GOOD FRIDAY (part two)

Pa surprised us with a double treat.  After we went to see all the dinosaurs,
and watch a 3-D movie, we were able to visit the Planetarium.

We went to see the show called.

"Dawn of the Space Age."

It told about all the trips into space since

the Russians first entered it on Oct 4, 1957

The conclusion of the show  

was about trips to the moon,

 and now to other planets like Mars.

Pa and Orion ready to look up at the ceiling for the show.

Ma and Pa

The things we learn because of

telescopes.

This is a replica of the robot that was

used on Mars.

There was a New Mexico resident who went to the moon.

Harrison H. Schmitz

While he was there, he collected a moon rock

The moon rock looks just like a lava rock

Orion looking at the moon rock.

Some of the other things we did were these:

This is putting how small the earth is.

There are 4 trillion pieces of sand in this container.

Orion found Orion