Gavin has officially bridged from cubscouts to boyscouts. He is now in the Bulldog patrol in troop 525.
Gavin with his new scout leader at the bridging ceremony
Gavin in his new uniform
Gavin’s official welcome in his new troop
Gavin’s troop went to Fairhaven cemetery to put flags on all the graves of servicemen for Memorial day.
Gavin is thrilled to be out on a Saturday morning
Gavin’s troop at Fairhaven cemetery
Gavin’s been doing karate for about a year and a half now and he’s currently a green belt. They had a photographer come in and take pictures so I thought I’d share them.
Gavin’s school had a year end festival. They had a Karaoke stand and Gavin tried it and decided he liked it. I videoed a couple, which I now present to you in all his karaoke glory!
We Will Rock You by Queen
Gangnam Style by Psy
For Gavin’s birthday, he got to do two things. First on his actual birthday we all went to Rainforest café in downtown Disney for dinner. Gavin really likes that restaurant as long as he doesn’t have to sit by the gorilla. He swears the gorilla is staring at him, so he wants nothing to do with it.
The next weekend I took him to Disneyland with his BFF Derek. They had a lot of fun and didn’t stop talking the entire day. Tristan, as Gavin’s older brother, was a common topic of discussion. We had lunch at the Blue Bayou and the boys decided that it was a very classy restaurant because they had colorfully lights in the drinks.
Gavin at the Rainforest Cafe
Mom and Gavin
Memaw and Gavin
Pepaw and Gavin
On the Mark Twain
Ice cream break in the Golden Horseshoe
Eating lunch at the Blue Bayou
On the Jungle Boat ride
So last week Gavin’s school had a magic show as a fundraiser for the PTA. The magician had come to his school and did a few tricks as an introduction and then the main show was on Friday night at the nearby high school. Gavin had really enjoyed the bit he saw at his school and asked me to take him to the main show. So on Friday night Gavin, Tristan, and I went to the show. There were about a hundred kids in what was the school cafeteria, which got kinda loud at times. The kids all really enjoyed the show and even got to see the magician try to saw their principle in half. The best part was Gavin got picked to be a helper up on stage.
Gavin up on stage
Tristan is not amused at the wait
Gavin waiting for the show
Me and the boys went to see the Angels play the Oakland A’s, which was a very exciting game as it was before the Angels got their big lead in the west. The crowd was loud and the game was very exciting, and the Angel’s won. After the game, the boys were able to run the bases on the field, which they both thought was cool. We’re going to a playoff game against the Royals on Friday. The boys are in for a surprise since they thought the As game was loud. Hopefully the Angels will win this one as well.
Taking off running.
Waiting their turn to run the bases
Gavin again
Tristan and Gavin
Well this is late, but here is a picture of the boys on the first day of school. They are looking kinda sleepy because they had been used to sleeping in over the summer. It’s hard to believe that Tristan is in his last year of elementary school and Gavin is an upper grader now.
So sleepy
Gavin has been taking Karate since the beginning of summer, and a couple of weeks ago he was tested for his yellow belt. For the test I had to drop him off, no parents are allowed there, and he was tested by a Sensei that is brought in just for the testing. The people he normally works with at his dojo aren’t allowed to test him for his belt test. Gavin passed with flying colors and he moved up to yellow belt.
Gavin wearing his new belt with the testing Sensei.
Gavin got congratulated by all his Dojo’s Senseis
Gavin receiving his yellow belt from the testing Sensei.
Once we got back to Toulouse we went out to Carcassonne, which is the largest walled city left in Europe. Frankly after spending 3 days in Aigues Morte,Carcassonne was a bit of a letdown, so we only spent a couple of hours there. We spent the rest of the day taking a boat tour of the Canal du Midi. Which is a canal built in the 1600s to connect the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. It is considered he greatest construction feat of the 17 century. We got to go through one of the locks twice, once in each direction. Going through the lock was very interesting and the trip down the canal was a relaxing way to end the day.
The next day we went to Albi and visited the cathedral there, which is the largest brick cathedral in existence and took almost two hundred years to build from 1287 to 1485. This cathedral is still painted throughout the inside as they all used to be. Tristan found the Albi cathedral to be even more impressive than Notre Dame in Paris and it is certainly worth seeing if you are in the area. When you see it the thought that they built it 500 odd years ago is pretty mind blowing.
After Albi we went to a nearby town and went to a coal mine museum which takes you down into a recreation of a coal mind. The ride down in the elevator scared all of us as it was very noisy and bouncy and they don’t tell you it was a recreation until the end. It is a very realistic tour.
We ended the day by touring an old village. France has a listing of the most picturesque villages of France and we have visited several this trip and they have all been worth going too.
We spent today going back to Toulouse and seeing stuff we missed the first time through. I think we are all starting to get pooped out and looking forward to coming home on Wednesday.
Boys in front of Carcassonne.
We spent the next three days in an old walled own named Aigue Morte which is in the Mediterranean coast of France. The city was founded by the Romans around 100 bc. It was fortified by Louis the 9th, later known as Saint Louis as a place to launch the 7 and 8 crusades from in the 1200s. He fortifications he had build still surround the city today and are in very good shape. We stayed in a hotel in the heart of the old city.
While we were there we took a trip to the city of Nime which was also founded by the Romans and has a very nice intact temple and coliseum both from around 100ad which we saw. Unfortunately they were having a concert in the colosseum that night so we couldn’t go inside as they were setting up.
The next day we took another day trip to he city of Baux to see the medieval town and the ruined castle there. The castle was at the top of the highest hill in he area and from it you could see miles in every direction. While we were there we got to see a demonstration of siege weapon use flinging balls of clay and a fight between knights. We were also allowed to climb all over the ruins and around the walls.
On our last day we went to Saintes Maries de la Mer where it is believed that Mary Salome, Mary Magdalene, and Mary Jacobe landed in France after setting sail from Palestine. This was another old Roman town from the 4th century ad. The church there was built starting in the 9th century. We checked out the church and then went on a boat trip into the Camargue, which is a large swampy area bordering the Mediterranean in this part of France. The Camargue is known forints wild cattle and wild white horses which we were excited to see (and we did in fact see some)
After this we headed back to Toulouse.
The boys standing in front of the Mediterrean
Closeup of the Colosseum
Colosseum in Nime
Roman temple in Nime
