Rosie is 6

For her sixth birthday party, Rosemary hosted her pals at Kathy's Kreative Kakes.

Spelling aside, the kakes are delicious.

Kathy teaches the kids how to frost, and after two practice rounds (doily, cupcake), each frosts his or her own kake.

Rosemary and Nyana concentrated deeply.

Tess did more eating than frosting.

Rosemary chose a Paw Patrol theme for her birthday kake, and made the paw prints herself.














On Rosemary's actual birthday, we feasted on the kake that Tess decorated.  If you look closely, you can see that Tess encrusted hers with ... popcorn.

Marine Unit

Another weekend, another scouting activity.

Silas' den leader is the head of the San Francisco Police Department's Marine Unit. 

He gave us a tour of their bayside headquarters  (where Silas mounted this Quadski XL), and then took us out on a police speedboat.

The speedboat went fast.

Here is the cub scout gang and their den leader, Keith.

If Silas is ever arrested on the bay, he'll now be able to tell the officers that it's not his first ride in a police boat.

Big Basin

Silas' scouting den camped at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and Rosemary tagged along.

Here's a picture taken shortly before I realized that I'd forgotten to pack our sleeping bags.

So ... we skipped the first night, and I drove the kids home while they shrieked things from the back seat like, "You're the worst dad ever!"

This neat shot of Rosemary was taken right before a tick bit her.

Rosemary, still atop this huge log, started screaming, "A tick!  A tick!"  I clambered up there, not expecting to find anything. 

But damned if I didn't see the tick's rear legs kicking deeper into Rosemary's belly button as it scrambled to get away from me.

Borrowing a knife from a scout, I tweezed the tick out, killed it, and then drove Rosemary back to San Mateo for some antibiotics.

 A dead deer tick.

After my third drive to Big Basin, I finally was able to relax and participate in the cub scout events. 

Shown here:

The den volunteered to sweep the seats in the Big Basin theater. 

Silas spent a lot of time whittling.