iPod Lessons

I am completely paranoid when it comes to electronic devices.  Our bishop once shared with me that we had a few kids in the ward with problems with pornography because they were given phones without filters.  So I investigated a lot before we let Ethan buy the iPod Touch.  I even changed our router so it's now filtering content that is allowed in our home by wireless devices.  (Super easy to do if you go to http://www.opendns.com/ and it's free!)

When the iPod Touch came I disabled everything, put passwords/codes on everything and basically made it so it would only play a few games.  But I didn't disable this little thing called "In Apps" because I had no idea what it was or what it did. 

Well, last week I was balancing our checkbook and was amazed that there were $73.00 worth of charges from the iTunes store.  I flipped out!  I called Bryan asking where the iPod Touch was because we take it away at night so he can't stay up playing.  I tried to figure out what he had downloaded but couldn't figure it out by looking at the device so I called iTunes and was told to go online.  After about 30 minutes, I got on a chat with a very nice man from iTunes who explained that "In Apps" are offers in games that, when accepted, are charged to the credit card on file.  These are things such as extra coins to complete a level or an upgrade to a helicopter in a flight simulator games...yup....$73 worth of upgrades. 

Since I was stupid and didn't know what they were, the very nice man reversed all the charges and walked me through the process of taking that feature off and blocking anything else from coming up.  That is the first time I was really happy to be completely clueless!

When I picked up Ethan and his friends at school, I told them, "Guys, I learned something today that I want to teach to you too.  Now, no one is in trouble but it's something you all need to know."  I then explained what I had learned about in apps and they were shocked.  It was actually pretty funny because they know how much money $73 is.  Now Ethan is really careful about how he uses his iPod Touch, so maybe something good came of it!!

In the beginning of July, Ethan decided he wanted to get an iPod Touch.  We weren't about to buy one for him so he brainstormed to figure out how he could make some money.  His bright idea was to ask Grandpa Oman if he had any work for him to do.  Now, these are not the paying parents that I had growing up.  Our lawn was HUGE and I had to mow it just because I was a part of the family.  Their lawn now is A LOT smaller and Ethan gets paid big bucks to mow it!

Anyway, so for a few weeks, I drove Ethan over to my parents house so he could mow the lawn, pull weeds, cut down trees, etc.  They worked him hard and in about 3 1/2 weeks he had earned enough for an older generation iPod Touch off of eBay.  But my dad still calls each week asking if his "lawn care servicer" could come and mow his lawn.  Ethan is in heaven!

He told us that he would actually mow our lawn for free if we would just get a self-propelled lawn mower like Grandpa because "this pushing thing is just too hard."  hahaha!

Ethan's Lawn Care Service

In the beginning of July, Ethan decided he wanted to get an iPod Touch.  We weren't about to buy one for him so he brainstormed to figure out how he could make some money.  His bright idea was to ask Grandpa Oman if he had any work for him to do.  Now, these are not the paying parents that I had growing up.  Our lawn was HUGE and I had to mow it just because I was a part of the family.  Their lawn now is A LOT smaller and Ethan gets paid big bucks to mow it!

Anyway, so for a few weeks, I drove Ethan over to my parents house so he could mow the lawn, pull weeds, cut down trees, etc.  They worked him hard and in about 3 1/2 weeks he had earned enough for an older generation iPod Touch off of eBay.  But my dad still calls each week asking if his "lawn care servicer" could come and mow his lawn.  Ethan is in heaven!

He told us that he would actually mow our lawn for free if we would just get a self-propelled lawn mower like Grandpa because "this pushing thing is just too hard."  hahaha!

Home Depot

On the first Saturday of each month we do parent's interviews.  Bryan and I switch off taking one child to breakfast and the other to ice cream.  We switch the next month.  This month it was my turn to take Ethan to breakfast and Courtney to ice cream.

Ethan needed to build something for a scout badge so we went to breakfast and then drove to Home Depot to meet up with Bryan and Courtney, who had ridden their bikes from our house to Home Depot.  They used the tag-along and had a great time!

Bryan then went to work for a bit while we painted and built!  It was a lot of fun.

Pack Meeting

We had Pack Meeting last night.  Ethan got a couple more badges (traveler and fitness).  He is working on a few more and should have his Weeblos badge next month!

They played a few relay games afterward and Courtney had to get in there and play with the boys.  It was hilarious.  Ethan and Courtney are good with each other.  Ethan is really patient and Courtney is really excited.

Here is Ethan getting his awards:

 Getting ready for the relay (notice that Courtney is the only non-scout playing):

Ethan's Swimming Lessons

Ethan had a choice this year whether he wanted to take swimming lessons or not.  He had already passed all the classes that the teacher offered but he wanted lessons again.  Like I have said, our kids love the water!

The teacher actually taught 2 classes to the students instead of just one.  Ethan was the youngest, by far, but he did really well and passed both classes.  She had them learn life saving and life guarding saving techniques.  So Ethan ended up having to jump in the water fully dressed (he had to wear Bryan's clothes because he didn't have any pants...it's summer!) and then inflate his shirt and pants to use as floatation devices.  It was fun to watch!

If he wants to take more swimming lessons he will have to wait until he is 12 before he can do the Guard Start program that is a pre-training for life guards.  We'll see how he feels next year.

Here is his front crawl:

Above is a picture of Ethan in Bryan's clothes before he jumps in.  He actually lost the pants before he could fill up his shirt with air.  He had to dive to the bottom to get the pants before he could inflate them and float.  It was hilarious!

Here is Ethan being rescued.  I never saw anyone so happy to pretend to drown!

Courtney's Swimming Lessons

Our kids LOVE the water and are little fish!  Courtney was so excited to be doing swimming lessons again this year.  We have an amazing teacher who has a great pool in her backyard.  It's about a 20 minute drive from our house (using a short cut through Snow Canyon State Park) but it's so worth it!

Courtney was supposed to work on her rotary breathing and she did a pretty good job.  She passed the level but her teacher recommended having her repeat it next year just to get stronger on the skills.  And she can't wait for next year!

Here is her front crawl:

Here is our cute mermaid:

 

 Falling asleep doing the back float:

 Diving: