I thought it would be a good idea to give the Super Beetle a little bit of a tune-up before we sent Skyler off to Utah this summer. So we bought some parts (points, plugs, wires, etc.) along with some other replacement parts that were missing when we bought the Bug (hello! who doesn't have visors in a car).
According to How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive we started with setting the valve clearance. OK, that went well enough. Then we started to pull the old spark plugs. While removing the #2 cylinder plug, Skyler commented that the plug was hard to remove. Trying to insert a new plug in the hole showed why: there weren't any threads left in the head to screw the plug into (what was left of the threads came out with the plug). We managed to wedge a spark plug in well enough to try the engine. As soon as we started the Bug, this loose plug shot out of the head with a sound like a rifle going off. Good thing the spark plug wire kept the plug inside the engine bay.
So I started reading about how to remove the engine from the Bug so we could fix the head. Then placed a parts order for a spark plug insert, a full kit of gaskets, a new section of rear engine tin and a whole bunch of other parts. Good thing parts are relatively inexpensive.
Isaac has already missed 25 days of school since January 1 this year! Most of these days at home were recovering from tonsillitis, strep throat, or fever. It usually takes several doses of antibiotics to get him healthy and back to school. The Ears, Nose, Throat doctor says it’s time to remove Isaac’s tonsils.
This morning about 8:45 Isaac had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy at the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, ID. He gave the nurses in the pre-op a run for their money with his questions. Thanks to his inquisitive mind, we learned all about adenoids. I guess all these days off school hasn’t dulled his intellect just yet.
The surgery went well—and quickly. His recovery is going great so far. After about an hour in post-op recovery with Ricki and I, the nurse caught Isaac playing a game on Ricki's iPhone. She said Isaac was ready to go home if he was ready to play video games. We were home in Moscow just after noon.
Our goal is perfect school attendance starting next week.
Isaac watching TV waiting for his turn in the operating room.
Skyler was invited by Emily Campbell to attended the Pullman High School Prom last Saturday night. They went with two other couples. The evening started off with pictures at Lawson Gardens. The group ate dinner at Banyans and had bonfire after the dance to end the full evening.
Skyler scored some sweet wingtip shoes, a new tie, and suspenders to wear with his black suit.
This screen grab shows the end of the Moscow High School lip dub video.
From the Moscow Pullman Daily News today. Hundreds of Moscow High School students catapulted themselves to Internet stardom this month thanks to a lip dub video they created to showcase their school spirit. During the video, nearly all of the school's approximately 600 students dance, lip-sync and otherwise strut their stuff through the hallways and classrooms they spend most of their time in each school day.
The video, which features students lip-syncing and dancing to the song "Pump It" by the Black Eyed Peas, has been watched more than 8,500 times since it was posted on YouTube on April 10.
Alaina Mullin said she got the idea for the lip dub from a similar video her sister was shown last summer. "We never really thought it would happen," she said. But when she and Caitlyn Faircloth were brainstorming activities for the school's annual Arts Fest, they decided to recruit some friends and start planning.
The five students who organized and filmed the video—Mullin, Chavez, Faircloth, Skyler Martin and Sebastian Mortimer - tried to prominently feature students from each MHS club and sport, but they said the school has so many extracurricular activities that some groups are represented in background shots.
They said they picked the song "Pump It" because it plays at just about every school dance, so it's familiar to most students, and the lyrics aren't filled with potentially inappropriate innuendo.
"It's a fun song that has a lot of different parts in it," said Mortimer, the project's "creative mastermind."
Mortimer said it was challenging to place students in their spots and direct them to walk at a certain, consistent speed during each practice run and the official take. "We filmed most of the practices just so we knew what it would look like," said Martin, the group's videographer. The final video features a blooper reel after the lip dub performance and credits.
Although any project involving hundreds of people is bound to have its occasional hiccups, the students said they were happy with the result and that it felt good to prove naysayers wrong. Students of different backgrounds and ages worked together on the video, even though many of them didn't yet know each other.
"I feel like we kind of united the school for at least one day," Chavez said. Faircloth said the students are thankful to their peers and the MHS staff for supporting them throughout the project.
"It honestly wouldn't have worked if people weren't excited," she said. "It made spring of senior year a lot better. Now I feel more sentimental toward the school." The students said they hope future classes of MHS students will create their own lip dub videos as a new school tradition.
Our family teen car is starting to act it's age. A 21-year-old Dodge Shadow with a sagging headliner is hardly inspiring so we have little motivation to invest money to keep it running. Skyler decided the perfect teen car would be a vintage Volkswagon Beetle. I figured why not—every budding gear head needs some experience with air-cooled VWs. [Who's the budding gear head here: Todd or Skyler?]
So, with a little tax return money, the search was on. We traveled far and wide to find reasonably priced Bug that wasn't a total basket case or rust bucket. I'm sure I enjoyed the hunt much more than Skyler. In the end we found this 1971 Super Beetle less than a mile from home (thanks to the miracle of craigslist.org). It even came decked out with Hawaiian-style seat covers, a rack, and a set of snow tires on rims.
Yes, it's got a few more bumps and bruises than I hoped for—but it is a teen car (as Skyler keeps reminding me). Yes, we're already buying a few parts to get it up to par. The local VW mechanic; however, pronounced our little bug as 'sound'. We've got a great VW repair manual to help us "keep it alive". We all enjoyed watching the old Disney movie "The Love Bug" last weekend. Consider us inspired—if not a little crazy.
What an adventure! Isaac and Ashton had parts in the local production of King Arthur’s Quest this week. These are some of the photos taken by Skyler of the Saturday evening show.
Ashton haunting King Arthur as the ghost of Uther Pendragon.
Our local arts commission brings in a two-person team from the Missoula Children’s Theater. Auditions are on Monday after school. Rehearsals start Tuesday and the week ends Saturday with two performances.
Ashton was selected to play the ghost of Uther Pendragon (King Arthur’s father) — one of the main parts that included some speaking lines and lots of screaming to go along with his haunting. He practiced from 4:00-8:30 every day.
Ashton performing his ghostly antics on stage.
It was a lot of fun to see Ashton running, jumping, and haunting the stage. We’ve long suspected that “drama” is Ashton's calling in life — this just proves our point. I think he really enjoyed the production and is looking forward to other opportunities to try acting.
Isaac was part of the “mini” cast. These younger actors came on stage when the giant and the dragon appeared to help these villains look larger than life. It's a cute concept. Isaac's one line was “Yes!”.
Dr. Seuss and I share a birthday. What better way to start off a great day than a hearty breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham (Sam I am)? Yep, that's spinach in the eggs for some natural food coloring. Ricki and I were the only ones who enjoyed the eggs, I think. Skyler took the photo.
“Bonjour, mon nom est Napoléon Bonaparte, le plus grand conquérant qui ait jamais vécu.”
Ashton chose Napolén for his 6th grade People Fair report. This big project for Ashton includes lots of research, a written report, and a power point presentation. He used a vintage book we inherited from Gammo & Granddad Martin to learn about the emperor.
Ashton’s costume was Ricki’s big project. She made the uniform vest with gold buttons and cord. The pants Ashton says he’ll wear as pajama pants now. I helped with the gold epaulettes (the best part of the uniform—if I say so myself). The hat is from Amazon.
Ashton delivering his People Fair presentation to classmates and family.
