Tubing with the Boys Scouts

In March, Jack will be making the jump from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. One of the last things that he needed to do to complete his Arrow of Light [the highest rank in Cub Scouting] is attend one Boy Scout outdoor activity.

Jack, Tim, Chad, Cody and Johnny went tubing with Troop 59 to Tubes-R-Us at Cisco Grove. The boys had a great time. The place has a moving sidewalk to carry people and their tubes up the hill. Towards the end of the session, they started going down the hill as group all tied together.

 

 

 

 

November 2008 Cub Scout Pack Meeting

Jack and I went to the November 2007 meeting of his cub scout pack. The program included a tossing game, a presentation on water conservation, an awards ceremony and a Christmas card workshop for their upcoming trip to the retirement home.

Jack's den did the opening and closing flag ceremony and the opening prayer. There was a pretty good turn-out from their den, including Jack, Brandon, Johnny, Chad, Tim and David.

At the cub scout pack meeting

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At the cub scout pack meeting, originally uploaded by heringermr.

November Webelos #2 Den Meeting

After a Gunners baseball practice in the morning, I took Jack to the November meeting of his cub scout den. The boys worked on their Readyman Activity badge; this is requirement for the Arrow of Light. Requirements for the badge include: demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver and telling when it is used; showing what to do for serious bleeding, stopped breathing, internal poisoning and heart attack; showing how to treat shock; and showing first aid for cuts and scratches, burns and scalds, choking, blisters on the hand and foot, tick bites, bites and stings of insects, poisonous snakebite, nosebleed, frostbite and sunburn.

Although a couple of boys have dropped out in the last year, we still have six actively participating: Jack, Chad, Cody, Tim, Johnny and Brandon.

September 2008 Cub Scout Pack Meeting

After football practice, Jack and I went to the September meeting of his Cub Scout Pack. Jack is now a second year Webelo. He got belt loops in archery, BB gun shooting, geology and swimming and a patch for attending the resident camp at Boulder Creek in July.

Boulder Creek Scout Reservation Day 3

The boys were slow getting up. Jack commented that when he went to sleep on Monday night in the tent I was still up and when he woke up on Tuesday morning I was already up and gone. I bought a backpacking stove (Jetboil) and was getting up in the morning to make coffee and read my book while the camp was still quiet.

After Morning Colors and breakfast, Jack and the rest of the pack headed to their first session which included a short nature walk.

During Evening Colors the previous night, they announced that they were going to have an adult only redwood historical trail hike. Covering three and a half miles, the hike has 18 stations that weave the story of early California logging history. It included how early loggers cut, transported and milled the large redwood trees. The trail traveled by old logging sites, an old mill site, log slides and oxen bridges. I spent most of the morning on this hike. This hike wrapped around Mt. Radin and dropped into another valley behind the main camp. I had hoped to have a GPS plot of this hike, but much of the trail was in a steep, heavily wooded canyon and I was not able to keep a GPS lock on my Garmin 205.

By the time I got back to camp, Jack et al were in a Scoutcraft session. They worked on their map and compass skills. One of the camp staff people running this activity was a girl from the Czech Republic. She spent some time teaching the boys some Czech words and games.

We decided to make our own lunch at camp. The boys built the fire and we barbecued sausages and hotdogs. I also made some baked beans and a couple of ears of corn. Last year, we did this for one of the dinner, but the schedule is so packed this year that we decided to use the food we brought for a lunch instead of a dinner. Based on the feedback that we got from the other packs about lunch, it looks like we made a good decision.

Our activity for the afternoon was the pool. With temperatures approaching 100, the water felt great. The boys spent most of the session working on their aquatics beltloop. At the end, everyone played sharks and minnows.

We headed back to the camp and the pack worked on their skit for the closing campfire for an hour. Afterwards, there was a short free time. Jack and I stopped at the trading post to get his Nature Hike Patch and then headed to the BB-gun range. The range was almost empty and Jack had a great opportunity to shoot some more.

Following Evening Colors and dinner, we all headed to the closing campfire. Each pack did two skits.

The day was not done yet. They offered a star hike after the closing campfire. I took the three older boys and we hiked up to the top of Hermit's Knob with a large group. This was not an easy hike in the dark. The stargazing was not great; we really needed to be there an hour later. By the time I got the boys back to the camp, it was almost 10:30 p.m. Jack crashed hard.

Heading to the Closing Campfire - Boulder Creek Scout Reservation

Heading to the Campfire, originally uploaded by heringermr.

At the Pool - Boulder Creek Scout Reservation

 

Morning Colors - Boulder Creek Scout Reservation

 

Boulder Creek Scout Reservation Day 2

Up before 7 a.m., the kids gathered for Morning Colors at 7:45 a.m. After breakfast, the kids started into the program for the day. We have nine boys at camp: Jack and two other boys from his Webelos 2 Den and six boys from the Webelos 1 Den.

Their first program activity for the day was handicrafts. They spent an hour and twenty minutes making bird feeders or bird houses and painting them. Jack enjoyed it and actually said at one point that he wanted to come back during free time.

The next session was BB Guns. Last year was the first time that he had ever had a chance to shoot a BB gun and he loved it. He has been talking about getting a chance to do again for weeks. Oddly, Although Jack is right-handed, he is left-eyed and shoots left handed. He did very well and improved his scores steadily over five targets.

After a fire drill and lunch, we headed to the archery range. At this point, the day was getting pretty hot. Jack and several of the other boys were starting to wilt. As a result, Jack did not enjoy the archery range as much as he did last year. He also struggled with the finger guards that they made the kids wear this year.

Free time was next. Over the course of the day, the staff had been hawking their activities for the free period. Johnny, one of the boys in Jack's den, wanted to do the Nature Hike and convinced Jack and Tim to go with him. Philip and I also tagged along. This was a 2.5 mile hike with 34 different points of interest where the staff stopped and talked about plants. It was a reasonably challenging hike. I will post some maps in the next couple of days. I was very proud of how well the boys did; they hiked without complaint and paid attention with the staff was highlighting the points of interest. The hike took almost an hour and a half.

After Evening Colors and dinner, there was a Competition Night at the main campfire. Selected boys competed in a series of contests for "fabulous prizes," including water balloon tosses, whistling after eating crackers, pie eating, and ice potato.

This was an extremely busy day. By the time, we got the boys cleaned up and down for bed it was after 10:15 p.m. Jack crashed hard.

Philip, Bruce and I made a quick run into the town of Boulder Creek for ice and water.

Nature Trail - Boulder Creek Scout Reservation

 

Archery - Boulder Creek Scout Reservation

 

BB Guns - Boulder Creek Scout Reservation

At the range, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Handicrafts - Boulder Creek Scout Reservation

 

Boulder Creek Scout Reservation Day 1

Jack and I were scheduled to spent three days at the Camp Pico Blanco Scout Reservation on the coast north on Big Sur. With the fires on the coast, they moved us to the Boulder Creek Scout Reservation near Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz mountains.

With the budget process in full swing, I agonized about whether or not I could take time away from work. Additionally, Wallen's Dad died last week. The burial is Monday in Lake County and I would really like to attend the service. Given at this is Jack's last year in Cub Scouts, I made a decision on early Sunday to go with him.

Jack and I left Sacramento about 11 a.m. on Sunday with Philip, Tim and one other scout in a caravan with three cars. After a quick stop for lunch, the group got to the camp about 2:30 p.m.

Rather than a lake, this camp has a pool. After getting the tent set up, we took a tour of the camp and everyone including the adults had a swimming test.

The boys spent the some time exploring the area including a nice creek and runs north of the camp site. Unfortunately, this camp does not offer any fishing. Last year, the fishing at Camp Lassen was a huge hit.

After evening colors, everyone headed to dinner. The group includes about 50 or 60 cubs and parents compared to more than 250 at Camp Lassen last year. The dining hall is essentially a receiving line and some tables on a deck covered with a tent.

We finished the evening with a Songfest and Opening Campfire at the Campfire Bowl. The camp staff did a very nice job leading the kids in a number of songs, performing some skits and kicking off the next couple of days.

By the time we got all of the kids back to camp and settled down for the night, it was almost 10:00 p.m.

May Webelos #1 Den Meeting

Jack went to the May meeting of the Cub Scout den at Lichtenberger Park. The boys worked on their artist Webelos activity badge, including using clay to sculpt a figurine and making an art construction out of a variety of materials.

They are now second year Webelos and will transition to Boy Scouts in March 2009.

May 2008 Cub Scout Park Meeting

Jack and I went to the May meeting of his Cub Scout Pack. The Pack organized the meeting partially as a recruiting event to get some younger kids interested in joining for next year.

The afternoon included a number of activities. One of the dads is a chemist. He walked the kids through a number of experiments, including combining mentos with Diet Coke.

Next, the kids fired the rockets that they made at the April Pack meeting. The rockets were made from large soda bottles. Using compressed air, the boys were able to shoot the rockets as much as 100 feet in the air. Several of the adults attempted to a fire a model rocket for the kids, but could never get it to ignite.

The kids finished the afternoon with a water balloon fight.

 

April Webelos #1 Den Meeting

While I was winding my way back from a meeting at Glen Cove, Phil picked up Tim and Jack at school and took them to the April meeting of their Cub Scout den at Lichtenberger Park. All eight of the boys in the den showed up. They worked on the requirements for their scientist activity badge.

April 2008 Cub Scout Pack Meeting

Jack and I went to the April 2008 meeting of his Cub Scout Pack. After a few skits, some magic tricks and some awards, the boys worked by making rockets out of large soda bottles. The pack is going get together on May 18 for a picnic and launch all of the rockets.

April 2008 Cub Scout Pack Meeting, originally uploaded by heringermr.

March Webelos #1 Den Meeting

Sharon took Jack to the March meeting of his Cub Scout den at Lichtenberger Park. All eight of the boys in the den showed up. They worked on the requirements for their athlete activity badge.