The first pictures are of Nathan's Eagle Court of Honor. Last Year Nathan was awarded the highest rank that the Boy Scouts of America have, that of Eagle Scout. Now we had the formal ceremony where he was honored and issued the official award.
The official opening; presenting of the colors (flags)
Pledge of Allegiance
Our Eagle Scout waiting to be introduced.
Speeches
The Eagle Oath
Stephanie pins the Eagle medal on Nathan's uniform
Stephanie gets 7 roses, one for each Boy Scout rank, as a thank you for all her support through the years.
Two of the Scoutmasters put the Eagle Neckerchief on Nathan.
The Committe Chair presents Nathan with a temporary flag, telling him that the official flag he will get, is flying over the US Capitol on this day.
Closing ceremony.
Reception.
Nathan getting ready to cut the cake.
A picture of the Eagle Scout and his Cub Scout and Boy Scout Leaders.
Below are two pictures of yet another very heavy snow storm. You can see our power lines on the left being down. The snow was so bad that the driveway could not be plowed with the normal plow, but we had to bring a buldozer in.
Jordan's 8th birthday
Mason came over and they went to an Easter egg hunt.
Guess what Stephen wanted for dinner on his birthday? This was only his first serving. And he still had room for cake!
Mason came over for Easter and found his Easter basket. So did the other two. Once the exitement was over, there was an Easter egg hunt in the yard.
The in May Stephanie couldn't help herself and brought a new member in to our cat family. Wilson who is completely white and as many completely white cats, has two eyes with different colors and is mostly deaf in one ear.
The end of the school year came with a concert from Jordan's class. Of course vacation and good weather ment pool time as long as Diederik gets the pool clean after the winter.
This year was Stepen's chance to go to the Jamboree. A very special one on top of that. 100 year Boy Scouts in the USA. When Stephen went to teh Jamboree, Stephanie and Jordan flew to Wisconsin for a few days. When they returned Diederik and Jordan flew out to the Bahamas while Stephen was still at the Jamobree. When Stephen returned, he and Stephanie went too.
Too soon summer was over and the kids had to go back to school. Boy Scouts started again too. On 9/11 the Troop held a fundraiser in front of the Lowes store in Poughkeepsie selling popcorn. Jordan like always was there to help and start a new year as top seller of the Troop while he isn't even part of the Troop.
Early October Stephanie tried her luck selling on a big Antique show in Philadelphia. So we joined her there to help with the setup and breakdown. But in our spare time we visited some of the historic sites.
At the end of October Diederik went to Europe to visit his aunt in France and then on to the Netherlands to visit his family and also attend the annual dinner of his close college friends. The first two pictures are from the Martini toren in Groningen (where Diederik went to college) and from the central market place with in the background the Student Club he belonged to. The last picture are his friends having dinner in the library of the Club.
Then the holiday season started with Thanksgiving. Nicole and her friend Christien were also present. They were staying closeby in a hotel and the 4th picture shows them enjoying the pool with Jordan and Stephen.
In the mean time Stephen wrapped up his Eagle Scout Project. He rebuild a kennel at the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruilty to Animals). This kennel is used for especially vicious dogs. The first picture shows the mess he started with and the other two the final product.
Like every year, Saint Nick came by in the night of Dember 5 - 6 and brought some presents for the children that had been good that year. I guess that included Stephen and Jordan.
Next on the Calendar was Mason's birthday. Pizza and games (and more games) at Chucky Cheese followed by cake and presents at home.
And then it was finally Chritmas. Everybody got to open on thing on Christmas Eve before dinner. Mason was also there that evening.
The next day was obviously Christmas and Santa had come by and left more presents on top of the ones that were already there.
