Celebrations at CiCi's

Last night we had dinner at CiCi's, which is a great place to take a big family with lots of growing boys.  We went there for 2 reasons.  One, it was Grace's actual birthday, she likes pizza, pasta, salad, and dessert, and I was happy to not cook.

Two, it was an awards ceremony for Nathan's CAP drill team that participated in the National Cadet Competition the end of March.  Well, technically it was just a "regional" competition, since, due to the sequestration, they didn't have enough money to actually have the national competition this year.  Still this was the first year Nathan's squadron had entered a team, and most of the team was really, really young and low in rank.  It was a good building year.

They started practicing in January, and it was a huge time commitment!  I was so thankful for Lynnea, who shared the carpooling duties, since her daughter Helena was also on the team.  Practices on Tuesdays were especially crazy once Nathan started rugby.  He would get home around 5:43, Lynnea would pull into the driveway, he would leap out of the car and take a 1 minute shower, throw on his uniform pants and shirt, grab his shoes and whatever else he needed, then race out the door again so they could get to CAP at 6:15 to practice before the meeting.  Whew!

There were several aspects to the competition:  a volleyball tournament (they placed first), a mile run (they placed second), a written exam (2nd), standard drill, innovative drill (2nd), panel quiz (first), and a uniform inspection.  Overall, they placed second.   Last night Nathan was awarded the "most valuable cadet" trophy, voted on by the team!  He was their second place runner for the team, and he answered most of the questions for the panel quiz, leading the team to their victory there!

So it was a really fun night!  Drew approved of the food, for sure!