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Rebecca's Birthday

Winter came late in 2013 with a major snowfall just days after Rebecca's 11th birthday. But as long as there was chocolate cake, Becca still had a happy birthday.

Thomas' Eagle Scout Project

Thomas received his Eagle Scout award in January 2013 after six months of hard work on his service project building benches for the athletic fields at Neuqua Valley High School. Thomas' original plan was to rebuild a set of benches that were used around the Neuqua atheletic fields. After discussions with the NV Athletic Director, he changed his project to construct four new benches to be used around the school's tennis courts. The school asked that the same general design be used which Thomas modified slightly to remove the plywood kick panels which were a weak point of the previous design.

Galaxy Soccer Club

Rebecca's spring season with Galaxy Soccer Club was a success as her team claimed the spring championship.

Purdue Swim Camp

Rebecca spent the first week of June at Purdue University at their Black and Gold Swim Camp to improve her stroke and turns.

Summer Camp

Thomas and Alex worked at Three Fires Council's summer camp at Camp Freeland Leslie in Wisconsin for the summer.

Water Polo

Rebecca joined the White Eagle summer water polo team where she got a chance to show off her goalie skills.

Cubs Game

J. R. had tickets from his company for a suite at the Chicago Cubs game against Cincinnati so he took Thomas. He told Thomas he didn't need a jacket because it was warm, but it was very cold at the game so Thomas had to buy a Wrigleyville t-shirt.

Fourth of July

On the fourth of July, we pitched our tent at the Bolingbrook Golf Club and met up with the McRaes to watch the fireworks.

Thomas' Eagle Scout Court of Honor

After quite a few issues getting his paperwork processed through Council, Thomas finally was awarded his Eagle in early 2013. We decided to wait until summer to have his Court of Honor, where we were greeted with a windy day and threat of rain. His Court of Honor, where he formally received his award from his Troop, was held at the Riverview Farmstead on 01 June 2013.

Tim McGraw Concert

For J. R.'s birthday, Janie got over her hatred of country music and took him to see Love and Theft, Brantley Gilbert and Tim McGraw at the Hollywood Casino Ampitheater.

Karate SWAT

Thomas joined the leadership progam at his ATA studio and was part of the demo team.

Pittsburgh College Visits

Thomas was interested in Carnegie Mellon University so J. R. and he flew to Pittsburgh for a weekend.

The first stop was at the Carnegie Museum to take a look at the dinosaurs.

Pitt

In the afternoon, J. R. and Thomas toured the University of Pittsburgh and took in an information session. Thomas wasn't really interested in Pitt but since we were in the area, we decided to tour.

Carnegie Mellon

On Saturday, we had an information session and tour at CMU then went down to Station Square for lunch and visit downtown Pittsburgh.

Birthday

Thomas opted for a cookie cake for his birthday, so we lit the candles and celebrated his last birthday at home.

University of Michigan

Janie and Rebecca took a drive to Ann Arbor to visit the engineering campus at the University of Michigan. Thomas took UM off his list after the visit, not really liking the campus much.

Science Fair

For the Builta Science Fair, Rebecca invented "Becca Cola", her own soft drink, which meant her parents had to sample the various different variations while she focused on the right formula.

Builta Music

Rebecca sang in the Builta chorus which meant multiple concerts at the elementary school as well as at Gregory Middle School and at the Neuqua Fine Arts Festival.