Home from Camp

Well, Dear Friends, once again a great time was had by all at Boy Scout summer camp. Except for a few sprinkles, it was a rain free week. Temperatures also co-operated with us. (Thank you, Lord).

The boys cooked almost all of our meals. They had to walk up to the commissary before each meal (that would be 6:00 am for breakfast) to pick up the meal supplies. The first breakfast was very slow, almost making them late to their first merit badge class. They did improve after that though. There were 12 Troops (250 boys) at camp while we were there and there were only 2 of us doing jambo (cooking our own meals). It's a great opportunity for us to spend some down time together as a troop. Talk about what everyone has been up to. Go over plans for the rest of the day. Watch the boys be complete goofs.

We shared a campsite with Walnut's Troop again this year. The boys seem to enjoy it and I enjoy learning from their Scout Master, Ron. It also gives us 4 adults in camp instead of just 2. Twice as many eyes to watch for naughtiness. LOL

There are platform tents on our site. They are basically a wooden platform with a wall tent on top. This means they are not fully enclosed...so bugs and critters can come in if they so choose. Believe me, they chose to come in my tent all the time! I'm thinking my platform had a mouse nest under it as I was visited by a herd of mice every night! On one particular evening, they pulled my make-up bag and belt out of my shower bag and then tried to take off with my cell phone!!

Ron, Walnut's leader, and one of his older scouts decided to help me with my mouse problem....they put marshmallows outside my tent and up the stairs into it. Their justification for this is that the raccoons would keep the mice out!!! I seriously laid on my cot not moving for almost 1 1/2 hours due to a raccoon invasion! Oh yeah, they thought they were real funny!

The boys learned to do a 'gravity check'. It involves running and jumping. If they fall to the ground, gravity is still working. They actually thought this was fun. So, if you know Austin, Terry, Trevor or Devin and see them, ask them to do a gravity check for you.

I'm very proud of my boys and their accomplishments. They all went to camp as Tenderfoots and left as 1st Class. They all earned their fingerprinting merit badge. Devin earned his archery badge while Terry, Austin and Trevor only need to catch and fillet a fish for me to finish their fishing badge. All 4 boys earned their Greenhorn and On my Honor rockers also. AND, they got a 100% on site inspection their first year there!! This is a difficult thing for jambo troops to earn as there is so much more to be inspected. Did I happen to mention how proud I am of them?!

Now that they have their first year of camp under their belts, they've already started making plans for next year. I'm looking forward to using some of the new ideas I got when we do our weekend campouts.

Is your son is scouting? If not, contact me and I can help you out with that. Cub and Boy Scouts is a wonderful organization that helps boys channel their energies into positive directions.