Arrow of Light Award

Ronin has been actively participating in Cub Scouts since he was 8 years old but recently outgrew the program once he turned 11 years old.  However, he went out with a bang by earning several awards at his last pack meeting a few days ago. 

The biggest award he earned that evening was the Arrow of Light Award....it is the highest ranking award a Cub Scout can earn in the program.  It is also the only award that is allowed on the Scout uniform when he turns twelve years of age.  

A special ceremony was performed for Ronin...it was pretty cool.  Chief Akela with his Guard, Guide, and Medicine Man showed up to do the honors.  ;P 

During the ceremony, Ronin was given a small leather pouch with a feather in it to symbolize the feather of an eagle. 

In not so many words, the Indian said:
"This pouch with the eagle feather symbolizes that which had been given to eagles since the time of our ancestors, and it is perhaps the most difficult to understand. Like freedom, the eagle had to soar and survey the land beneath him; so too will you have the freedom to choose the goals in your life and pursue them with eagle's courage. Know who you are, where your powers lie, and use them to achieve your goals. You are to soar with the eagles."

 
The Indian then presented Ronin to the Scoutmaster....which position just happens to be held by his very own dad (who also happened to be working on duty at the time.)  So when Ronin joins the older Scouting program, Jed will be his new leader.  Pretty cool.  :)  

  We, as parents, were both then given the opportunity to present Ronins' awards to him personally.

The seven rays of the Arrow of Light represent wisdom, courage, self-control, justice, faith, hope, and love.

 

We are very proud of this young man!  Congrats, Ronin!

Baseball Wrap Up

Ronin's baseball season is winding down to a close this week, with tournaments next week.  He's had a really good year - he has steadily improved throughout the season, especially the last three games.  His last game he caught two fly balls in the outfield - he was pretty excited about that.

Season Highlights:

* Ronin still managed to get in some goof-off time during practices and games with some of the other teammates.  He loves to laugh and play with others, so it's really no different in baseball either.
* In one particular game, the pitcher nailed Ronin right in the head.  Good thing for helmets, Ronin was a little dizzy after that but it could have been so much worse.
* One cracked windshield from parking my vehicle a little too closely during baseball practice....Jed was really happy about that one.  :)
* Grandma & Grandpa Hansen coming out to watch the games and cheer Ronin on.
* Stealing bases, getting walked many times, windy, cold days, dirty uniform, playing several positions, hitting a double, bad calls from the umpires, cheering for your teammates, a coach pushing you to do your best, etc...what's not to love about baseball?

TEAM PICTURES

Aubrey and Ronins' Birthdays

Hello blogging world...it's been far too long since our last post.  Yes, we're still alive.  Just popping in to say hello and post a few updates of our family.  Yesterday we celebrated Aubrey's sweet 16th birthday and Ronin's 11th birthday with our extended family.   

Dishing up ice cream and cupcakes after the presents.  My parents and brother, Cory, with his wife and kids came too.  :)

Sweet 16 Party

On the day of Aubrey's actual birthday, she had a friend party at our house - she had a great turnout.

They played the game 500.

 Afterwards, they played Eenie-I-Over.

 

A close family friend, Kendra, stopped by to give Aubrey 16 balloons...well, it ended up being 15 since one of the balloons popped in the car.

 The rest of the evening they played a few other games and laughed a lot.

 The evening was topped off by opening up gifts and cooking up smores.

Aubrey & Alexis.

 Aubrey's childhood friend, Keneisha, who moved away years ago stopped by and surprised Aubrey.

  Now that she's 16 she is old enough to officially start dating boys too - I'm not sure Jed is ready for that.  From the looks of it, I'm not so sure Aubrey's all that comfortable yet with male attention either.  :)

The only boy in the group that Aubrey welcomed physical affection from - her brother, Connor.

But even that is only allowed so far.  

After the family party yesterday, we went and visited my brother, Troy's, grave.

Happy Memorial Day from our family to yours!