Adventures of the Cutter Family

We had some Peeps left over from Easter, so the boys decided to roast them over the chiminea.

Jillian and Dave attended a formal dinner Saturday night.

He earned his Arrow of Light and crossed over this week.

I sure like countries where your wallet is full of 1000 bills and the only thing on the menu is meat!

Pinewood Derby Saturday once again.  This is Nate’s last year of racing as he is moving up to Boy Scouts this summer.  Zach re-ran an old champion car in the family category.  A new tool added to the Cutter Racing Team is a kitchen scale.  No more worrying about getting the car’s weight just right.  After a minor disaster brought about by the expanding characteristics of Gorilla Glue, we were ready for another year of racing.  Game faces.

Tigers and Wolves were up first.  Sam placed #2 with a speed of 194.8 mph.

Webelos II were next.  Nate placed #3 in his den.  Last year for these boys, and the top 3 finishers all came in over 200 mph.

Zach placed #3 in the family race, clocking in at 198.8 mph.

With all the den races over, the finals began.  Since Nate and Sam were both top three finishers, they both qualified for the finals.  In a couple of heats they raced each other.  Nate in the far lane and Sam in the second from right lane.

Sam received a ribbon at the awards ceremony for his #2 finish in his den.  Nate finished #3 overall in addition to #3 in his den.

Another good Derby Day.  With a better showing than last year, the Cutter Racing Team continues to improve.  Sam will be the solo Cub Scout racer for the next 3 years.

Happy Birthday, Zach.  Frites, burgers, root beer and ice cream pie for dessert.

Zach pointed out that March 14th is both Albert Einstein’s birthday and Pi (π) day.

Good flick, good story.  Always fun to watch movies from the 1950’s.  We lost the two younger boys about halfway through after they announced, “Boring!”

Jillian led the boys on their second of four 10 mile merit badge hikes Saturday.  Walking in the footsteps of Wellington, Napoleon, Blucher and Ney, they circumnavigated the Waterloo Battlefield.  All the scouts are getting stronger as they prepare for the final 20 mile hike.

Visited Rome for a seminar at the NATO Defense College.

In addition to the academic portion of the program, they scheduled a cultural event on Thursday evening, a tour of Galleria Borghese. The Bernini sculptures were particularly impressive.  My favorite was my namesake.