Adam in response: "I highly doubt that. You just locked my in a cabin with 18 screaming 5th grade boys for two days on a whim. You don't do that to despised enemies, much less beloved husbands."
Mackay had his 5th grade field trip to Clear Creek Camp down at Schofield Reservoir. It's an old coal miners camp that Alpine School District bought a few years back and turned into an education retreat. The teachers get their own cush little cabin while the volunteer parent chaperones get to sleep on bunk beds with the boys.
We all had a lot of fun on that trip.We played capture the flag, made boondoggles, picked apart owl pellets, watched movies, hiked through knee high snow and made lots of friends. My favorite thing of the entire trip was being called "hey Mackay's dad" by every kid there. He's a young rock star and doesn't even know it. It was the best title they could have possibly given me. For being so new to the school Mackay sure is a popular kid.
During lunch he went through before me and sat down at a completely full table, right between the wall and this cute Venezuelan girl in our ward named Laura. I was last through the line and paused near him. I said rather loudly, "Mackay! What's the deal man? I see that you have saved a seat for the cutest girl in school but not one for your very own dad? Not cool Mack." Every 5th grader there got a pretty great kick out of it; except Mackay.
When trying to get all those boys to sleep I came up with a brilliant plan - keep this in your tool kit for the day this problem confronts you. After letting them wiggle for a while and get teeth brushed and such I yelled to everyone, "Would you guys like a scary story before bed?" They were the perfect age for this and were just dying to hear one. "I won't tell you anything until everyone is in bed, not talking and all lights are out." That problem went away in less than two minutes. Then after the story was over I went to bed. The lights remained off but the talking had just begun. It sounded like a cocktail party. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I said, rather loudly, "Next kid that talks cleans the toilets in the morning--after 18 little boys have done their business." It was pretty amazing, the silence was deafening.
Then next day I caught a redeye to Florida to take care of a rental property we own that had fallen into disrepair and needed correcting before the next tenant took it over. I spent the night in ABQ's airport trying to get back to Utah in time for work.
Brigham has been notified that he did really well on all of his AP tests and will take advanced courses in everything the offer in Jr. High. He's really excited about it. I'm glad. He thinks that is that greatest thing and I'm happy for him to finds joy in something like that. Speaking of joy, tonight in YM/YW we were learning how to use FamilySearch.org and after a while he figured it out. He traced his lineage all the way back to Adam and Eve. He went around all night saying, "Man, this is so cool." He even tried to change it so that it said God was his Father and Eve was his sister and spouse. pretty nuts.
David had his first track meet this week. He took second in his age division for the 100m and hucked a javelin 19 feet. He's becoming something of a natural athlete. It's fun to watch. Michelle noted that at lunch today he came up to her and asked for her phone number. "Levi wants it so he can call you and I can come over to his house to play." Then in chorus most every other child said they wanted the same thing. "David has a unique problem in that everyone wants to be his friend but his is rather...'selective'". Sorry dude, looks like you got the dirty of both our social situation genetics.
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