News from the Jacobs family in Saudi Arabia
I recently downloaded the pictures off of my iPhone and there are probably a couple of posts worth there. Here are a few more of Nora’s first day of school as well as a Cub Scout one thrown in as well. Enjoy!
A couple weeks ago Kai had his crossover ceremony from lowly Tiger Cub to Capable Wolf Scout.
Kai and Ben had a good time building his first Pinewood Derby car. I need to dig up a picture of it, turns out I don’t have one to post. It had a clone trooper motif and since the kids get to name their cars Kai called it TK421. He wanted to go with “TK421 Why Aren’t You at Your Post?” but we couldn’t get it to fit on the car so we just went with TK421. Some readers may get the reference. He got some respectable times but once his wheels got out of alignment he dropped back to 5th place. Nora also built a car, “The Flower” and took third place on her track. The Cub Scout Troop does a good job of making family events where siblings can participate when possible. She was home sick but Kai took care of her car during her races.
Some video of Kai’s grade 1 concert is below – stay tuned for a post with Nora’s dance recital. Enjoy!
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The Cub Scout pinewood derby is coming up soon so this last weekend we started work on Kai’s car. It was a foregone conclusion that we would be using a Star Wars motif. Though specific details of the paint job remain to be determined, the vehicle has already been dubbed “The Captain Rex”.
Cub scouts, intersession activities, new backpacks and soccer team photos. Enjoy the pictures.
This last weekend was the Cub Scout Soap Box Derby or “Serp Box Derby” as Nora calls it. The day started out perfect with warm temps but some cloud cover. By the time the Tiger Scouts started racing at noon, however, the clouds had disappeared and the sun was out in force. With plenty of sunscreen though we avoided any major sunburns. For those familiar with Dhahran the race started at the top of Peninsula (the perimeter road) near Rainbow. There is a good hill there and along with the starting ramp they managed to build up some speed as they raced towards the jebels.
In preparation for the upcoming Soap Box Derby races they held a practice event to make sure the cub scouts could steer, brake, etc. Kai enjoyed it of course but the real fun was playing on the jebels afterwards.
Last month the big Cub Scout activity was the family beach day. No swimming as per Cub Scout regulations but it was a chilly, windy day so no one minded.
Last weekend was the annual Cub Scout campout –Kai’s first. We camped out on the cricket fields on the edge of town. It was nice being close but also far enough away to make it feel like we went somewhere. Having camped in the desert I can also say that it was much nicer to camp on a field of well trimmed grass than in the sand somewhere. We all went out to set up the tent and then from the opening at 10am until the 4pm awards ceremony it was scouts only. After than it was open to families so Crystal and Nora came and joined us.
The pack leader laid the ground work for his campfire story by telling the scouts that if they saw any rattle snakes with red eyes to tell him right away. “Don’t look at them for sure but come tell me right away.” Kai was intrigued but when Nora got wind of it she had the serious heebie jeebies and did not want to be out there as the sun was going down. She stuck it out though and at the campfire story was totally intrigued[[it was a good story, well told, not too scary though if late at night fiddle music has been heard out in the desert half the kids would have bolted]]. Even four days later Nora told me at dinner “Dad, did you know that Martin Stone played fiddle and that after that terrible night (here she drops her voice for effect) he was never seen again.”
After school activities are back in full swing and, with Nora turning 4, she is able to start joining her own. She started preschool this week and is enrolled in a dance class as well. Kai has joined cub scouts and is continuing with his soccer team, art school and Karate. It keeps us all busy after school. Here are a few pictures. For those that seem grainy and out of focus that is on purpose. I was using the hipstamic app on my iphone to get that old-photo-nostalgia. It takesa very fancy camera to get pictures that bad so easily!
