Birthday Boot Camp

Stand up straight, Soldier!

We had so much fun at Cannon's Birthday Boot Camp this evening and I've got a lot of pictures to share. 

When the recruits arrived they were given a bag with their uniform, dog tag, compass and Rambo bandana.

The Drill Sergeant commanded their attention and informed them they would always answer him with "SIR!".  And that during training new recruits would affectionately be called "SLUGS".  

The swearing in. 

The birthday boy-- it's good to be seven.

The Little Brother.

The Big Sister.

The Buddy Around the Corner.

The Cousin.

The Robot Comrade.

The Piano Comrade.

The Primary Comrade.

 The Oldest Recruit.

The Back Fence Neighbor.

Lieutenant B. Fox.

Lieutenant E. Fox.

 Drill Sergeant Fox, SIR!  He wore my Dad's Army fatigues that still bore his name patch. 

Push-ups.  DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY, YOU SLUGS!

Jumping jacks.

They trained on all the elements of the obstacle course.

Faith ended up with the most bumps and bruises this evening-- she's pretty hard core.

Preparing for the Army crawl.

The Lieutenants demonstrate.

Get your face down, SLUGGY-BUM!

 MOVE IT!

Up and over the wall climb.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? 

Drill Sergeant Fox didn't take any guff.

YOU BETTER WIPE THAT SILLY GRIN OFF YOUR SLUGGY-FACE!

IN THIS ARMY THERE DEFINITELY ARE WINNERS AND LOSERS!

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

YOU'RE MOMMA CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

This one told us he wanted to bring his shotgun to the party, but his mom wouldn't let him.

HUSTLE IT!

GO, GO, GO!

Thank you to Burt Brothers Tires for their discarded tires.

Tug-of-War-- Lieutenant B. Fox's team won.

MAN DOWN!  Carry your partner to safety.

Oh no!  Two men down!

He's too cute for the military.

He enjoyed sitting and watching all the action.  And eating the grass.

Private M. after a respectable run through the entire course.

The top three finishers were only separated by one hundredth of a second each.  Fierce competition.  

 Lighting the fire for the recruits to cook their own dinner.

First one on the job.

Open flame and very long, pointy weapons with ten 4-10 year olds made the danger of the military lifestyle seem very real.  Gratefully, no eyes were poked nor flesh punctured throughout the course of the evening.

Hello, Blue Eyes.

Target practice

Armed with a sheet of instructions, they were off to find the hidden stash of weapons.

They found them at the park and made it back to the house for all out laser warfare.

Get ready...

BATTLE!

Rather than birthday cake we roasted marshmallows and made smores.  And rather than lighting a candle, Cannon lit a marshmallow on fire and we sang happy birthday.   I'm telling you, real danger is very exciting to little boys.

As he was going to bed, Cannon did tell me we should have had cake, because he doesn't really like smores.  I told him I didn't really like smores either and next time we'd have cake.

I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of this United States Kid Army...

But I couldn't pick a better group of friends for Cannon to grow up with.

And a shout out to Abe for working a long day and coming home to put in a long evening of entertainment for the party.  He may be hoarse tomorrow.  It may not appear so, but Cannon's face is really saying, "Thanks for being so awesome, Dad!  You're the best!"

And I concur.

Hoorah!  Go ARMY!  Go Cannon!  Happy Seventh Birthday!