August 22nd 2009 Western Carribbean Anyone?

[Ski-and-Sea]

We went to Planet Hollywood in HAwaii. I ordered a pasta dish. It was not spicy. but, by the end of dinner. I was swaeting and started to hallucinate. I hated it. Dh laughed because he knew the ingredients would "build" up. He never told me.

That's a guy for you

 

[stsomewhere]

I got him back. I told him we would be able to walk to Diamond Head. It was not too far. ( He hates walking!) He wanted to kill me after 2 hours of walking up hill and we still weren't there.

 

[soccermom10]

I got him back. I told him we would be able to walk to Diamond Head. It was not too far. ( He hates walking!) He wanted to kill me after 2 hours of walking up hill and we still weren't there.

Good for you....paybacks are the best

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Good for you....paybacks are the best

 

[JoiseyMom]

Good to see you back.

Woodbridge is a bit too far for us to go. Plus, with the price of gas I'm just not willing to drive very far to go out to eat anymore.

But I do loooooove good chips. Yeah, I'm not too much of a salsa person myself.

Speaking of hot food.....last night our school district had its biggest fundraiser - a chilli cookoff. Twenty two entrants. Never did get around to try them all but there was one I totally regretted. The teachers union had an entry and their chilli was so hot I actually was crying and I thought my tongue had burned off.

Don't understand the need to make something so hot that you can't enjoy the flavors.

Did try a yummy one that had chocolate and pineapples in it.

And my dentist always enters. Last year he was one of the top winners. Sadly he didn't win this year - he had a turkey chilli this year. But a friend of ours was the top winner.

My eldest should enter one of those. He makes (or so I am told, I don't do chili) a kick-butt chili. He doesn't make it too spicey that you cry though!!

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

My eldest should enter one of those. He makes (or so I am told, I don't do chili) a kick-butt chili. He doesn't make it too spicey that you cry though!!

The only hot chili I tried was the teacher's one. That will be the last time I try any of their chili.

The cook-off is such a great fundraiser because the dress is casual, you get to try all the chili and run your silent auctions/basket raffles/50-50 raffles as well. So lots for people for do. The biggest problem is it sells out very quickly.

Its a massive undertaking - takes about 50 people to run it and months to plan.

But they raise ridiculous amount of money.

 

[fluffy bunny]

Hi All, just been catching up on the last few weeks exchanges. We are also a scouting family. I am a cub scout leader (have been for over 20 years now, so you can tell the madness has really set in ) Maza is currently our quartermaster and both the girls are currently scouts, so that all takes up a fair amount of our free time. Looks like this years holiday may be a weeks scout camp either in Scotland or Norfolk. Roll on August 2009.

Just reading about you cook-off and it's potential for fund raising, as we are always looking for more money for both the scout group and the girls school as we help on the PTA there as well. It's something I have heard of, but don't have a clue on how it's works. I don't want to bore everybody with an explanation on this thread, but would appreciate a PM with some basic details on how it works. It may be something new we can try over here, as people get fed up with doing the same things every year.
Not over keen on spicy hot food myself, much prefer to actually taste what I'm eating rather than remove skin from my taste buds.

 

[stsomewhere]

DH and DS are planning on attending the BSA National Jamboree in 2010.
Dh is planning on volunteering so he can go.

DD just had her first cookie sale. They did fantastic. They are using someof the money to spend the night at a hotel with a waterpark. All the girls are looking forward to it. I am probably going.

The last time I chaperoned an overnight , it was at a gymnastics placewith all the troops in our neighborhood. About 100 scouts. They asked what time we wanted them to go to bed, I said midnight. Did they take our suggestions? NO!! They stopped using the equipment at 3:30AM. We had to get up at 6AM to leave.

Last week, DH and DS had WEbelos den meeting on Monday, Tuesday-DD and I Brownie meeting, Wednesday-DH and DS outing to Zap ZOne Laser Tag, Sunday-DD and I went ice skating with the neighborhood troops. 75 scouts.

Fluffy Bunny-
are your scouts mixes male and female?
We have friends that live in Canada and they are combined.
We keep hearing rumors that this could happen in USA, but so far rumors.

 

[stsomewhere]

DH is interseted in doing a patch swap with you. Council strips, or patrol badges, or 100 years of scouting stuff.

He was a Cub Scout and Boy scout. He just went to Wood badge training in the FAll. Our Pack is commited to sending 2 leaders from our Pack each year.

I don't know enjoys scouts more DH or DS.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

How interesting so many of us are involved with Scouts.

Our Council sells cookies in the fall. A few years ago our Council started a program where we ask our customers to buy boxes to donate to a charity picked by each troop. Its been incredibly sucessful because a lot of people watch their diet and won't buy cookies but they will buy a box if its going to be donated to a needy group.

Regarding hosting a chili cook-off.....ours was a mixture of professional entrants and local "amateurs". Area caterers/restaurants/grocery stores were invited to participate as well as individuals.

I believe each group had to prepare six gallons worth of chili and provide all their own equipment to heat/serve the chili. That included plastic cups/spoons so people can sample your chili.

I think the organizers supplied the tables and they found a venue big enough to hold it in.

Tickets were sold in advance and every ticket gives you a gold coin and you go around sampling the chili and then give the gold coin to the people who's chili you liked the most. At the end of the night the coins are counted and a winner announced.

The tickets were priced so that all the drinks and alcohol were included.

Local businesses donated soda and water and the local wine stores discounted the price of the alcohol.

This was an adult only event.

 

[fluffy bunny]

Fluffy Bunny-
are your scouts mixes male and female?
We have friends that live in Canada and they are combined.
We keep hearing rumors that this could happen in USA, but so far rumors.

Yes our scouts have been able to be mixed for a good few years now and as of this year, scout groups have to take girls should they ask to join a group. Our eldest has been through the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and is about to join the Explorers which is the 14-18 year group. Our youngest started in the Brownies, but decided to come to scouts rather than continue on with Guides.I know I am biased having two girls, but I feel that mixed groups work really well.

Badge Swap sounds like a plan. I will get some stuff together for next year. Lets hope I remember to bring it with me.

 

[stsomewhere]

Ski- That sounds like a terrfic fundraiser. I know it took alot of people to pull it off. I use to be very invovled in the PTA.. I was the Presidenet for a year. DS attended the school around the block for K and 1st.

We decided to change schools.

Both kids go to a Charter school. It focus in performaning arts. It has been in the top three charter school in MIchigan for the last three years. DS's teacher last year was Mi teacher of the year. The staff is excellent. They have drama, tap, orchestra, mural painting, creative writing etc. as elective classes for 3rd-6th grade.

What we really like is the building is two years old. They just built the high school addition over the summer. They will not have to switch schools. Both kids hate that they have to wear a uniform.

It is wonderful to have so many of us interested in scouting.
I think that over time we will have mixed troops. It is hard to get parents involved in scouting. We are lucky our Pack has 50 boys. When they cross over, they move into the Troop, then Venturing. We will push DD into venturing.

Fluffy Bunny- DH will be excited about Badge Swap. I'll have to remind him, too. If we forget them, we can always mail them.
It

 

[fluffy bunny]

Ski-and-Sea

thanks for the info on the cook-off. Sounds like a great idea, but I am not sure whether it would work over here. I can't see many businesses wanting to take part, but you never know. May just have to stick to the summar fair's and chocolate bingo.

stsomewhere, 50 kids in one pack! We have a maximum of 24, mainly due to the number of leaders and the size of the school hall we meet in, and that seems like to many at times. I know what you mean with regards getting parents to help. We have a few which are always there helping transport kit to camps, summar fairs etc, but most just drop the kids off and pick them up later. Saying that, we had nearly 100 at our family camp last September (two weeks after we got off the Wonder), made up of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Parents. Thankfully we have a strong leadership team at the moment, which means we don't have to rely on parents to help at our weekly meetings.

 

[trimix]

Twelve years ago I first dreamed of a Disney cruise and, unfortunately, life has very effectively prevented me from taking a cruise. Until now! In late February, discussing the subject with my DW, she agreed to let me book a cruise for summer 2009 - it will give us ample time to save everything needed beyond the deposit.

I cannot tell you all how happy I have been for the last few weeks, as I have known that I will finally be taking a cruise and returning to some of my favorite dive locations!

Is anybody here besides me an avid diver? My DW likes to say "I'm not afraid of the water, I'm afraid of what's in the water!" DD-14 is not interested in diving, and DS-6 is too young. I won't be doing any technical diving on this trip; as tempting as it is to visit the ancient beach 300 feet below the sea off Grand Cayman, I don't want an elevated risk of DCS to cut the trip short. So if you are an active recreational diver, let me know!

I am looking forward to getting to know you all, and meeting you on the cruise!

 

[soccermom10]

Welcome Trimix!

Congrats on finally booking your trip You and your family are going to love it!

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Welcome Trimix......

How wonderful you finally get to live your DCL dream!!!!!

You are going to love the western itinerary.

We're avid snorkelers ourselves. We're interested in diving but haven't taken the classes/certification yet.

In Cozumel I would book with Eagle Ray Divers. We did the 3-reef snorkeling tour with them in 2006 and we will be booking that same tour in 2009.

I know DIS people have done their dives with Eagle Ray and loved it.

At Grand Cayman we plan to snorkel with one of the local operators - Captain Marvins is very popular so I will be checking them out. I don't know if any DIS people have done dives at Grand Cayman.

There is nothing wrong with booking the DCL excursions other than they tend to be on the shorter side and a bit more crowded. We've found its better to go with a different local shop. And usually cheaper, too.

 

[trimix]

Thanks for the welcomes!

I will probably book Cozumel with Aldora; they use 120 cubic foot tanks - 50% larger than the common aluminum 80 cf tanks so you get more bottom time. There are also plenty of good ops on Grand Cayman. It would be tempting to do a two or three tank boat trip in the morning, then a beach dive or two in the afternoon. But if I spend more than half my shore time in the water my DW won't be very happy...

Experienced diver/cruisers have told me that the cruise line excursions involve an excessive amount of hand holding; they may have very experienced divers in the group but they will also have people who haven't been diving in several years, so they cater to the lowest common denominator. I look for an operator who will let me dive to the limits of my experience and computer's no decompression limit.

If you are really interested in learning to dive, let me suggest you do your training and certification dives at home. That way you will have an exposure to local diving, you will not pack all the training into two days and will be more likely to remember vital information, and without the rush you will have more time to master the basic skills. And when you are on your vacation you can enjoy the dives without having to take time out to demonstrate the skills your instructor will require.

Brian

 

[stsomewhere]

Welcome Trimix!

Great to have you and your family on board.

 

[stsomewhere]

We have alot of scouts because we are the oldest one in the area. 76years.
We are charted to a church. Alot of parents seek out our Pack because it does have a lot of parental involvement. Each family is required to hold some type of job. Setting up chiars before meeting, take down, pinewood derby, etc.

The 50 scouts are broken into 5 dens ( by grade 1-5). There are about 10 boys in each. The chursh has plenty of rooms for us to meet. The only time they meet together is at the Pack meeting once a month. Plus, the Boy Scouts meet in the basement dining room on the same night.
As you know, not everyone goes to every outing. But, there are always enough boys to make it fun.

They are going to spend the night on a submarine in June. DS is looking forward to it. I believe there are 25 scouts and 25 parent going. They will be sharing it with another group.

DD only has 7 girls in her troop. Maybe only 6. We are having a problem with one mom. She owes us cookie money. We are trying to figure out how to handle it. She has missed 5 weeks and always has some "outlandish" excuse why they couldn't not make it. The leader has assured the other moms that the council will place her on a collections list. But, we feel that she has ripped off the girls.

Oh, the drama

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

They are going to spend the night on a submarine in June. DS is looking forward to it. I believe there are 25 scouts and 25 parent going. They will be sharing it with another group.

DD only has 7 girls in her troop. Maybe only 6. We are having a problem with one mom. She owes us cookie money. We are trying to figure out how to handle it. She has missed 5 weeks and always has some "outlandish" excuse why they couldn't not make it. The leader has assured the other moms that the council will place her on a collections list. But, we feel that she has ripped off the girls.

Oh, the drama

I'm the service unit cookie manager in our area and I am well aware of the cookie money collection problems. If the leader passed on the name of the mom to Council then Council will definitely handle that. Usually a single phone call from Council will get the late payers to pay. Otherwise it does go to a collection agency because the parent signed a consent form saying that she is responsible for payment. It is taken very seriously.

Its a shame when these things happen. But if the mom continues to not pay then Council will deduct the cost of her cookies from the troop cookie bill while Council goes after the mom.

We've had troops in our service unit sleep on the Battleship NJ. They loved it. Said it was a fantastic trip and recommend it highly.