[christiejay]

Thursday, October 2

Joshua has learned the meaning of the handshake. One more checked off the list. I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but as the scout completes each item in the handbook there is a paw print that he can color in to mark his progress. Joshua may not enjoy coloring books anymore, but he sure does get excited about coloring in those paw prints! Funny what little things can excite them.

Joshua also learned the meaning of the salute. He has been able to do the salute for a while now, but we are just getting back to learning what it means. One more check, one more colored paw print.

I had intended for our chore to be doing laundry but I ended up only having one load to wash today so I finished that up while Joshua was still at school. However, the dishwasher did need to be unloaded, so that's what we tackled. Joshua put away the silverware, but that's all he could reach. He stacked everything else and handed it to me to put in the upper cabinets. Then we went over the questions about responsibility that went along with this activity and discussed the importance and meaning of it.

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Friday, October 3

Joshua never has homework on Fridays, so this was the perfect afternoon to sit down and go over the last of the eight requirements to earn the Bobcat badge. This was the one that dealt with all the safety rules that all kids should know, and that are such an emphasis in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. Things like stranger awareness, possible sexual abuse and internet safety. We didn't dwell on any of these for too long, but I did go over each example that was in the handbook just to make sure that Joshua had a good understanding of it all.

Joshua has now earned his Bobcat badge! When we have our next pack meeting all the boys that have earned it will receive it in a special ceremony. Until then we will continue to work on the Tiger requirements and electives. We just can't receive the beads for the activities until after the Bobcat badge is awarded.

Our campout is tomorrow but I don't really know what to pack so I guess I will wait until in the morning to get everything together. Then I'll see if Jay has any ideas of what I should throw into the bag.

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Saturday, October 4

We wake up and I get Joshua dressed and fed. He spends some time watching Playhouse Disney while Jay and I discuss our plans. First of all Jay tells me something that doesn't quite sink in at first. Last night was his last night to work the evening shift. Starting Sunday night he will go back to working the night shift, which is what he did up until about 2 months ago. My first reaction was, there goes our Sundays! But now that they are running three shifts he doesn't have to go in as early, so it won't be quite as bad as it was before. It was much later in the day until I finally realized - HEY! - Jay can start going to the meetings with us!!! Now if you remember when scouts started I was so bummed that I was the one to have to be Joshua's partner since I have no scout experience, whereas Jay who does have much experience was not able to participate. For some reason this never crossed my mind when Jay first said he was changing shifts.

But anyway back to the campout story! Basically we just threw some things into the back end of the truck. Tent, ground cover which Jay just bought yesterday (we had to use our old one to cover our roof damage from Katrina), sleeping bags and foam pads, crate of scout-related stuff that Jay has (hatchet, rope, etc.), picnic basket. I threw some clothes into a bag and put some snacks together just for the munchies. We filled up our water jug with ice and water and grabbed a drinking cup for each of us. I put a few overnight bag-type items in a small case, then put that and my wallet and a few essentials into my small backpack which would double as my purse for the trip.

We headed out a little past 9:00. Jay has worked at the camp in the past so we knew exactly where we were headed. Some people from our pack had gone down last night to claim a good campsite and were supposed to put something on the bulletin board up front so everybody else would know where to find them. But of course there was nothing posted. Nobody was in the administration building to ask, so we drove to where they had said their preferred campsite was, and sure enough there they were.

We put up our tent and unloaded the truck. Then it was time to register Joshua's car for the race. This was the annual Akela/Cub weekend for our district. The theme was Cub Annapolis. They had to build a racecar out of a cardboard box and decorate it however they wished. Joshua's looked sort-of like Lightning McQueen in color and decoration, although he was disappointed that they never did make him any eyes.

We registered his car. He was signed in as Tiger-03 and his car was placed into line. There was a section for each level of Cub Scouting. So far the Tigers only had about 6 entries, but registration had just opened. He was given a "registration bracelet" which I thought was cool until I saw it was just an advertisement for the Army. No offense to military people, but you gotta admit, it was just an advertisement. And for cub scouts? They've got a ways to go until they can serve their country in the Army!

Headed back to the campsite. There's a fire going and several boys are walking around with sticks that are smoking on one end. Somebody had come up with the great idea of making spears. It was a constant battle all weekend to keep the boys away from the fire. I was excited to hear that lunch would be coming up soon, but disappointed to find out that it was only going to be sandwiches. Speaking of food, I wrote out the check to cover our share of the food expenses.

We all sat around for a while and Jay got a chance to meet some of the other dads. They were all duly impressed that he was an Eagle Scout and had all that experience. Soon enough it was lunchtime. I had a turkey and cheese sandwich and some Doritos. We had some type of orange Kool-Aid to drink. Haven't had Kool-Aid in ages!

After lunch we didn't have too much free time. We had to report to the flagpole at 12:30 for the flag raising. On the way we stopped off at the Administration building so I could use the restroom. That was one good thing about the location of our campsite, its proximity to a decent potty! Other than that it was just latrines, which I did not plan to go anywhere near.

Flag ceremony was short and sweet. The flag was raised and we were very shocked to see how ragged it was. We definitely need to get them a new flag. We said the pledge and then they made some announcements. Because so many people were registering cars for the races they had to extend their registration time, which bumped the start of the races back from 1:00 to 1:15. Younger cubs would race first while the Webelos went to the shooting range, then the two groups would swap places. I got excited when I heard shooting range. I knew Joshua would like that, and at first I thought that his participation today might start counting toward earning the archery and BB belt loops. However Jay quickly put that idea to rest, stating that he was sure it was simply being presented as an activity, not anything official to earn points. And he was right.

Race time rolled around so we all went to the race course. They chose to let the Bears race first, so we got a good chance to see how things would work. They raced in groups of 4 so it took a long time for them to finish. I was scared they would call the Wolves next, but instead they called Tigers. And since Joshua was one of the first four vehicles registered he should be in the first race. He was, but due to the number of racers and how long it was taking they started racing them in groups of 5 instead of 4.

They had marked off a small race course in the grass. The boys had to go one full lap around, then pull into the pits which was on the back side of the course. The pit crew consisted of the boys' parents, or two adults if both parents were not present. As the pit crew, we had to: 1) wash the windshield - wipe the scout's face, 2) fill up the gas tank - give the scout a drink of water, and 3) change the tires - take the scout's socks and shoes off, turn his socks inside-out, and put his shoes back on. Once those tasks were completed, the scout could then run to the finish line.

We managed the water and face washing well, but turning the socks inside-out was quite a challenge. We went as quickly as we could, and Joshua ended up in second place in his group. He thought he had won because he received a blue ribbon. (The winner of each group got a red ribbon, everybody else got a blue Cub Scout ribbon that said "I Did My Best".) I gently explained that he actually came in second place. Maybe I should have just let him believe he won? But I didn't want him going around telling everybody he did when he didn't ... Anyway it was fun and that was the whole point of the race.

Did I mention it was hot? It was only in the mid-80's but we were in an open field so there wasn't any shade. We took Joshua's car back to the tent and got some cold water to drink. Then it was off to the shooting range with a stopover at the Trading Post. They didn't really have anything that we were interested in, so on to the shooting range. First we got in line for archery but they could only take 4 boys at a time and the line was hardly moving. We could see the BB-gun range from where we were standing and it didn't seem to be as crowded so we walked down there.

The line for BB-guns was not too long. Plus, they could take 8 scouts and there was a 5-minute time limit for each group, so the line moved along nicely. Joshua went in about the third group from the time we arrived. Jay went up with him since they were only providing supervision and not much instruction today. After Jay showed Joshua how to hold the gun and operate it, he managed to get quite a few nice shots in before he ran out of time. They got to bring home their target papers, so that was a nice souvenir from the day, unexpected as well. I'll have to add up his score and let you know how he did.

The only thing left to do this afternoon was archery. The line was still long but we joined it once again. A few boys got tired of waiting and left so we moved up a little bit. As we got closer we saw that it was taking so long because each boy was shooting 3 arrows, retrieving them, then shooting once more. Actually that was nice because the first round could be like a warm-up, then the second round they could try to improve. But ... after a couple more groups of boys went they realized how late it was getting, and saw how many boys were still waiting their turn, and decided that they could only let the boys shoot the arrows once. Joshua was pretty disappointed. If the line hadn't been so long when we left he could have got in line again.

When Joshua's turn came Jay went up with him to help. But he just doesn't have the arm strenth to pull the arrow back far enough. So all of his arrows landed in the grass about 1/3 - 1/2 of the way toward the goal. He was pretty frustrated but now he can say he has tried it, and maybe next time he will do better. We walked back to the campsite and grabbed a snack from my snack bag. Then we walked down to the lake to look around for a little while, then back to the campsite.

Supper was roasted hot dogs for the kids, and chili for everybody else. They even had Fritos and cheese so it was really yummy. Grape Kool-Aid to drink this time. Next up was the campfire program, and all the boys put on their uniforms and we walked down to the Council Ring.

Mainly the program tonight was to hand out awards. There were six awards handed out for the race for each division, based on the race car designs. Joshua did not win anything, but if they have this same theme next year we will know what to expect and can design the car accordingly. In between each group's awards there were skits and songs from some of the packs. Then at the end they called down (by age groups) all the scouts who were new to scouting and on their first campout to get their face painted. It was just a couple of stripes of paint on each cheek, but I knew Joshua wouldn't want any part of it. I finally convinced him, and he had it done. The program really dragged on and on, and while it was nice I think everybody was ready to get back to the campsite.

It was after 9:00, maybe even close to 9:30 so everybody was getting tired. We sat around the campfire for a little while but eventually we all headed off to our tents to get ready for bed.

So sorry but I have run out of time for today! I will be back soon to finish up about the campout!