She is growing up too fast!

Annelise is seriously grown up! 16 years old...a junior in high school. She will be leaving all to soon!

It's Fall!

All the kids are now in school and it was time for John Paul and I to go "Off Track". I haven't decided what is more difficult. Having two boys off track that make messes and noise or one boy off track who wants to do something fun everyday...with me. I know, I am such a great Mom!
One of our adventures this "Off Track" was to go Apple Picking! John Paul thought it was great fun to put on the special apple picking apron. The apples were delicious and it was free labor for me.

Day 10-11 Jamboree

parents,sorry about yesterdays e-mail the at&t wifi towers went down yesterday right in the middle of my e-mail and it just came back up so I am going to try and send you some more photos and give you a little update while it is working, but rest assured if I don't send out an e-mail everything is just fine just the fact that the wifi is down. alot of you have been asking what the George Albert Smith award is, so I will tell you it is a special award that the LDS church has created just for the boys and leaders here at the Jamboree, alot of the kids have also earned it, but I am told there is a limited supply of the awards. and they may run out of the awards today or tommorow. alot of the boys are getting into patch trading and things. but it is very hot and it takes all your energy out of you real quick, if you don't stay really hydrated. for the most part most everyone is healthy other than a few of us with blisters on our feet, and some heat rash, we are encouraging the boys to take several showers each day if needed. things are going great, Your boys are the best ever, I had one commisioner from the Western Region come up to me today and mention to me that he ran into some of my boys and they were some of the most polite boys he has run into here at the jamboree. Your Boys are the Greatest!!!! Cal

Day 9-Jamboree

Parents,Things are going great, The boys experienced the first real day of the Jamboree experience with all the action centers, merit badge midway and everything. the boys are having a blast and everyone is healthy and strong. it is hot and humid but today was kind of overcast and we even got just a bit of rain during the afternoon. so it has not been that bad, we also have an arena show scheduled for the morning which we need to get up a little bit earlier for. some of you have been asking for the address to mail packages to, I don't have access to that info right now, but I did send out an e-mail about two or three weeks ago with all the infomation about how to mail a package to us here at Fort AP Hill. it must be sent thru the US Postal service, (no UPS or FEDEX). we get our mail every day here, and there have been a few packages come to boys in our troop already. AT&T spent 5 million dollars puting in cell phone and wifi towers here for the jamboree, but you are lucky to even be getting this e-mail because it has been down most of the day because there are so many people here at the jamboree trying to do all their e-mail and stuff, that I think they made it crash. hopefully I can continue to keep sending out daily e-mails but if I don't it's because the internet is down here.Your Kids are the greatest!!!!Cal

Day 8-Boy Scout Jamboree!!

Parents,
We are here!!!! And I have free WiFi right in my campsite, this is better internet service than I paid $13 a day for at the Hilton for the past 4 days. We have arrived and we have the best campsite in the whole jamboree I am sure, we have a big shade tree right in the middle of our camp, and we are linedting up stuff but we are now taking that to brag but it was a real compliment coming from some one who is in charge of all the troops in the whole western region which is about 6 states. So our troop is really pumped up after he announced that to all the boys on the bus as we were being checked in. We are really envious of all the other troops because of our campsite and they are kind of mad at me, but I am sure they will get over it. Free wifi, a shady campsite, great kids, what more can I ask for.....
your kids are the greatest!!!!!
Cal

Day 7-Washington DC

Parents,
Another great day, our church service with the council was excellent, we had Congressman Sessions from Texas as well as Elder Charles Dahlquist as the key speakers. After that we went and visited the JFK memorial and then we found a secluded private place in Arlington and we secured some sacrament cups and bread here locally to be able to conduct our own troop sacrament meeting so all of us had the opportunity to partake of the sacrament, the 4 youth leaders blessed and passed the sacrament to the troop. The four of us adults leaders all gave a short message and I passed out the letters to all the boys that all of you wrote, at the conclusion of the sacrament meeting I had them all go off in private and open their letters and take a minute to think about their relationship with God, and possibly say a prayer in their hearts. This was a very emotional for alot of us. This will be a sacrament meeting that I think everyone will remember for the rest of their lives.

After church we went to visit a couple more monuments, then we went to the Air & Space museum for the rest of the day. The 3D Imax movie was way cool, and it was the best $300 plus dollars I have ever spent to provide the troop with a 45 min nap. Just kidding but I have to admit there were a lot of heads bobbing around, there are also some rumors that some of the boys are starting up saying that I was snoring during the Imax movie, but I am sure they are just rumors.

Our special secret Dinner that the council provided tonight was exceptional! Our bus driver was the only one that knew where we were going, so it stayed a real secret, and I have to say the Council hit a home run with this one. We ended up at a place in Baltimore called "Medieval Times" it is a Dinner show with horses and people doing Jousting and stuff while you eat your food with your hands. It is just like the place in Vegas at the Excaliber. All the boys loved it and it was very entertaining I give it a A++++.

The Yo-YO thing is getting bigger qnd bigger and all the other troops are very jealous of us. And we have started a new trend for the whole council. At the dinner place tonight there was a toy store, but we were one of the first troops to arrive and Shawn when in there and purchased every YO YO they had so none of the other troops could get them before we get to the Jamboree. So now every one in our troop has one, even all the adults, matter of fact I love to pull out my YO YO in front of the Council people just to annoy them and let them know that troop 607 rocks, and that they have the most cool scouts and adult leaders. Today we also presented our bus driver with his own Yo Yo so he to can be a member of the Troop 607 Yo Yo team. All the other troops keep asking us were we got our Yo Yo's and if we have any more for sale, but I'm sure you know the answer that we give them.

Good news and bad news, I finally figured out how to make the photos smaller so I should be able to send them easier, but after this e-mail I am not sure how I am going to get a WiFi signal at the jamboree, they are supposed to have WiFi available for the scoutmasters, but until I get there and check it out I can't promise any more e-mails so if you don't get one while we are at the jamboree it is because I can't get internet access at fort AP hill and I don't have one of those fancy wireless internet cards on my computer that work anywhere. I am kind of old fashioned I guess when it comes to that kind of stuff. But I will check it out once we get camp set up and and settled in which could be a day or two.

We are going to depart from the hotel in the morning and make another shopping stop at Target to allow the boys to pick up any last minute things that they need before checking into Fort AP Hill.

The troop is really starting to Jell and function as a real troop and us four adults could not be more pleased with how things are going. Everyone is healthy and strong, and we are constantly reminding them to drink, drink, and then drink some more.
Your Kids are the greatest!!!!!

Cal

Day 6-Washington DC

Parents,
Another great day, we started off by turning the kids loose in the natural history museum and the American history museum. They all did real well with staying in small groups and coming back to our meeting place on time. Then we drove to Baltimore for the baseball game, I think most of the kids had a good time, we were only able to stay for 5 innings because of the time limit that we need to give our driver each day and the amount of hours that we need to make sure he is off duty each night.

Tomorrow we have church service in Arlington and then we are going to go to the Air and space museum until the time we have to leave to attend our special secret dinner tomorrow night. There are tons of scouts here from all over the country and I feel sorry for all the other people here in DC with their families because the lines are so long for everything with all the scouts running around on the National Mall. So while the kids were in the other two museums today us 4 adult leaders walked over to the air and space Museum in blistering heat and purchased IMax tickets for the whole troop for tomorrow afternoon for the new Imax movie "Hubble 3D" which was highly recommended by the people here because it is not only Imax but it is also in 3D with the 3D glasses and everything, I am actually kind of excited myself to see this one.

The health of the troop is very good, no illness or sickness going around. We got Cowboy Charlie some Powder and ointment so he is walking much better today.

I did not want to mention this earlier, but we had a few kids leave some of their clothes in some of the previous hotels, I tell them that I am not their mother and I am not going to clean up after them, but I have been contacting the hotels and talking to the housekeeping dept. in each hotel. and having them FedEX the clothes to me and I think we have all the clothes back, or at least all the ones that I know about. the job of a Jamboree Scoutmaster is never boring, it is an adventure and you never know what kind of adventure awaits you each day when you wake up after a minimal amount of sleep.

Don't get me wrong I would not trade this experience for anything, because I love adventure and being able to turn negatives into positives, that's my job....

I'll say it again, Your Kids are the greatest!!!!
Cal

Day 5-Washington DC

Parents,
Another great day, we started off with a special wreath laying ceremony, then we went to the Holocaust Museum, and toured monuments with a tour guide for the whole afternoon, it was real hot and humid, and we tried to stay in the bus as much as possible but we still had to walk a lot in the heat just going back and forth. the kids we came back early tonight to help the kids do laundry and go swimming in the pool here at the hotel. the kids are doing great and no problems other than a little bit of Crotch Rot, so some of the kids are learning the hard way how important it is to take care of themselves and keep themselves clean down there. there are a few of them walking around like they just came off the Pro Rodeo Circuit. We are talking to them about this and how they can avoid this, so I think they are finally listening to us. We have a new name for one boy in our troop his name is Cowboy Charlie.
Things are great and we have the best kids ever in our troop!!!!!
-Lincoln Memorial
-Jefferson Memorial
-Vietnam, Korean &WWII Memorials
-White House
-Washington Monument

Day 4-Washington DC

Parents,
We had a great day today, we spent a lot of time in the air conditioned bus, and it was real great to see the troop working together and learning how to work things out themselves, without us leaders having to step in. We had a real neat experience in the Gettysburg Visitors center, that is only about 2 years old, they had a real neat film about the civil war, and then they also have another thing that everyone thought was real cool it is a 360 degree oil painting of the battle of the civil war that you sit and watch while they narrate the battle. Then we had our walk on tour guide that took us around and the kids thought it was real cool to be able to walk on the same ground and see the actual bullet holes in houses and things from the war also. We had about a 2 hour bus ride from Gettysburg to Washington DC, we watched "national treasure 2" on the bus to get us all ready for the stuff we will see in the next couple of days, The Marine Barracks Parade was real cool to see. Also there were lots of scouts there from all over, as we get closer to the jamboree we are seeing scout troops from all over the country, and it looks like a lot of the places are being taken over by Tan scout shirts and green pants everywhere you go. We also stopped at Target today and we had a bunch more interesting purchases from the boys??? Oh and by the way the kids are getting along just fine without their cell phones and ipods, they have a new thing that occupies their time, it is a really neat brand new invention that they just discovered called a YO-YO. I think over half the troop has one and we are getting to the point that we have to start making rules about when and where they can use them. they are calling the leaders "the YO-YO Nazi".

Your kids are the greatest!!!!
Cal
Battle of Gettysburg "A New Birth of Freedom"



They visited the massive 360 degree painting in the
round, "Battle of Gettysburg"


Left the National Military park for Washington D.C
Attended the Marine Barracks Parade
Stayed the night at the Hilton in McLean, VA.

Day 3-Philadelphia/Landcaster, PA

We started off with our tour of historic Philly, we went and saw the liberty bell and Independence hall and a bunch of other buildings around the town, we also went on a tour of the Philadelphia Mint. It was very hot and humid today. Much worse than it has been all week long. We visited Benjamin Franklin Court and the Old Printing Press. We then went to Valley Forge and Lancaster for a great tour of the Amish country by our Famous Bus Driver. We had our famous meal at the "Plain and Fancy". The dinner was a hit! Tomorrow we have a much easier day and most all of the day will be either in air conditioned museums, or traveling around on the bus. While the troop was in Amish country the boys purchased a lot of lemonade from one of the cutest little 7 year old Amish girls, who had a lemonade stand set up. I think she made a killing on these boys.
I have said it every night and will keep saying it!! Your boys are the greatest!!!!

Day 2-Newark/Philadelphia

Email from the Scout Master...
We really ran the kids today and we got everything on the agenda completed and even a few other things. our bus driver is the best!!! He took set us up with the opportunity to take the boys out on the Brooklyn Bridge, so we can all say that we have walked the Brooklyn bridge. We also turned the kids loose in China town to purchase gifts, and I have to say some of the kids purchased some interesting things????? We have another jam packed day scheduled for tommorrow. Everyone is doing fine, everyone is healthy, everyone is having fun, so what more can we ask for...
your kids are the greatest!!!!
-Ellis Island
-Statue of Liberty
-Battery Park
-Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum
-Ground Zero
-Times Square
-Central Park
-Brooklyn Bridge
-South Street Seaport
Left for Philadelphia



My favorite part of this picture are all the tourists staring
at the scouts!!

The boys walked across the Brooklyn Bridge

I am not sure where this is. Anyone know??

Charlie and the 2010 Scout Jamboree-Day 1

Charlie and his scout master Cal Condie.

I think John Paul is going to catch up with Charlie in height real soon!

All decked out and ready to go!

Charlie left for the Scout Jamboree today. He has been looking forward to this day for over two years. We took him to the airport at 5:00a.m. and he met the rest of his troop there. There are 36 scouts and 4 leaders in his troop. As he left to go through security, he didn't even look back. He was gone. The only thing that made me feel a little better was that I didn't see any scout look back. They were all more than ready to go. He flew to Newark and spent the day and night in Manhattan.

We are on vacation!

We are on vacation in California for two whole weeks!! Hope you are all having a great summer! I will tell you all about it when we get home!

Appendectomy!!

What a night!! It all started on Saturday with a stomach ache. We ended up at IHC in Riverton on Sunday night. We arrived at 6:00 and at 12:00 a.m. After blood tests, x-rays andCT scans we left with an answer of "appendicitus". The only problem was that, that particular hospital does not operate on children under 12. So, at 1:00 a.m we were on our way up to Primary Children's Hospital. We almost had to take the ambulance but the Dr. told us that we looked like reliable people that would get him there safely. Well...we get up to Primary's and they had to do the whole shabang again! Same questions, same routine! We finally got to our room at 4:00 a.m. and John Paul went into surgery at 4:30 a.m. Everything went well and he got out of surgery at 6:15. We didn't get back to our room until 7:00. If you can believe it WE GOT STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR!! Not even kidding! For 20 minutes we were confined in a 8X8 box. John Paul was miserable because the hadn't given him any pain medication yet. They finally got us out and we got a wonderful tour of the basement and underground parking garage!! All this while John Paul is being pushed in a HUGE bed! Well, we are now warm and cozy in our room. John Paul is Playing Playstation and waiting for his room service of Mac and Cheese and a rootbeer float! He may not want to go home anytime soon!

Waiting for the SUN!!

Buy a FLIP! I DID!

I just bought this handy flip video camera. It is AWESOME!! I first used one a few weeks ago when I had to tape myself teaching a lesson for my Masters Final Project. NO...I am not showing anyone that video. In fact, after I burned a CD for my professor. I DELETED it!! If anyone has had to watch their own teaching. It is not a good video to watch! In fact, it is pure torture!
You can use the software provided that will post directly to facebook and your blog and anywhere else you want. Oh the possibilities!
Then my sister sent me a link on Amazon that was selling the FLIP HD for 144.00. I was tempted and I bought. But, I am glad that I bought!
Here is a short clip of Charlie at his piano recital. I was not able to go because I was in class. Talking of class...three more and I will have my masters degree!! Yea me!
By the way...I am offically off track until April 22nd!! Now I can update my blog!

I am a slacker!!

I have truly been slacking in my blog postings! But, I have redecorated two rooms in the meantime. Anyone...I really doubt anyone keeps up on my personal blog anyway. But, in case you do, I will update soon! I did update my "Fall" design! I promise...soon!