Scout Camp 2013

Today was, once again, scout camp. We decided to go against the norm, and go on a Saturday, instead of a weekday. We all gathered together, and off we went.

We almost had all of our boys show up, the only one that didn’t is a newish boy, who I’ve only met once. After arrival, I registered the boys, then we did the opening flag ceremony, and then split into the groups that they’d put us in. First we did some rockets:

Which were fun, but as a leader, it is so boring to just sit there for 40 minutes, doing nothing but watch the kids do stuff. Then we went to the geology booth which was SO BORING so I was just counting the minutes until it was over. We moved onto archery, where it began to rain pretty heavily. The other leader and I took refuge under a tree to stay dry. Luckily, it stopped raining right as we were finishing up. After a lunch/dinner, we went into the boats, and this year, they let us leaders get into the boats, there weren’t enough kids.

I didn’t care for the boats, everyone was splashing each other, and I hate to get wet, so I was irritated by it all. After we did the boats, it was time for BB guns, and again, we leaders got to participate. I am going to say I shot well, even though in real life, I only hit the target like, 5 times, out of probably 6 million BBs. Finally, the day was over, and after the final flag ceremony, we were off.

All in all, a better camp than last year, and at least this time, we had a group of boys instead of just a couple that showed up that were tiny jerks. Ok, maybe they weren’t jerks, but I didn’t care for their attitudes. Anyway, the camp is over, and unless I lose my calling, I have a whole year until I’m back!

Scout Camp

Today, I got the opportunity to go to Scout Camp. Also known as Webelos Woods, but I only heard a couple of people call it that, so I can't verify the authenticity. It's held up Springville Canyon, in Jeremiah Johnson ranch. Since I've only been a leader for a few months, this was my first time ever going to a boy scouts camp. I don't know that I'd even call it camp, since to me, camping is when you have to at least spend the night. But thankfully, we don't have to do any overnighters with our boys. I'm grateful for that.
The camp started this afternoon, at 2 or so (and finished at 8), and had several stations the boys rotated through. There was archery, shooting BB guns, trekking with a handcart, canoeing, all sorts of fun stuff. To be honest, I wish I had signed up for this stuff too, I wanted to shoot and hunt and all that stuff. Maybe next year... Our boys mostly behaved. We had one that would jump into every river...lake...pond...body of water that he could, so by the end of the day, he was filthy. This same boy, when another scout leader dropped a bead, picked it up and ATE IT. That's right, he just randomly picked a bead off of the campground and swallowed it. What the heck? Luckily, those were pretty much the only trying times we had.
With all the fires happening around us right now, there were I think 2 that were right over the mountain of where we were all day. It rained ash on us all day long. It was all over the place, our hair, our clothes, everything. It just smelled of fire all day long. And when I got home, and sneezed, black ash came a-flying out of my nose. (You're welcome for that bit of too much information I gave you, and I apologize for it.) But soap and water has cleaned me up, and now, I'm just exhausted. Being outside all day in the sun, chasing after kids, and trying to make sure no one kills each other gets pretty tiring. Needless to say, even though its only nine, I'm ready to go to bed. The bright side of all this is, we don't have to go back for a whole year. :)