Summer of Scouting

Scouting, of course, continues to be a strong tradition in our family. Justin and Christopher earned their Eagle awards, Andrew is "this close" (thumb and pointer finger about 2mm apart) to earning his Eagle, and Mark is also well on his way, being "this close" (again with the thumb and pointer finger thing) to being a "Life" scout (requirements done, just awaiting the time necessary between advancements) - one away from Eagle.

Mark has had fun with Boy Scouts this summer, starting with the week-long Boy Scout Camp at the end of June. Our troop camped at our local Ore-Ida Council's camp, Camp Morrison near McCall, Idaho, and all the boys and the leaders had a great time. I was also up there with them for a couple of days, and had a great time, as well.

Mark worked hard during Boy Scout Camp, earning 8 merit badges: Climbing, Shotgun Shooting, Wilderness Survival, Tracking, Camping, Fish and Wildlife Conservation, and Soil and Water Conservation (hmmm... I only count 7 but that's what he told me). I was up at Camp and witnessed Mark qualifying for Shotgun Shooting; he's a good shot! Mark didn't do any of the water merit badges (he's actually already completed most of those), and that's a good thing because so early in the summer with a little bit of snow still remaining up the mountains, the water temp in Payette Lake was still clinging to the low-50s. Brrr!!!

Then more recently (July 23rd), we had a really fun ballgame/camping outing where we went to a Boise Hawks (minor league affiliate of the MLB's Chicago Cubs) game versus the TC Dust Devils. Coincidentally, as a group we were trying to figure out what the "TC" stood for, and I think my guess "Tyrannical Chickens" was the group favorite. The game was an absolute blowout 13-3, and we were down 5-0 after the top half of the first inning alone! It was still a lot of fun, though, and they did a really cool fireworks show after the game. This was a special Boy Scouts night at Hawks Stadium, and ALL of the Boy Scouts in attendance were supposed to camp Friday night after the game in the outfield. Unfortunately, as the grass at Hawks Stadium is struggling, they wouldn't let us camp there. Instead, they were going to cram all of the Scouts in to a really small bullpen area just off right field. We thought, "Oh yeah... that sounds about as fun as getting a root canal."

So we bagged on that the field camping idea, and instead went camping at the farm owned by Scoutmaster Whiting's parents. They have a HUGE grass area, and we went and camped there, instead. We really had a great time! We slept out under the stars, braving the elements and the wild animals (the most ferocious of which was their cat "Tigger"). After a yummy pancakes and eggs breakfast (we were really roughing it!!!), the boys even got to feed the chickens and do some other farm chores.

We'll have a Court of Honor on August 11th, and I believe we'll have one more summer campout before school starts, but it's been a fun summer!!! Andrew, as part of the older "Venture" scouts and the Teachers Quorum in our ward (church) is on a "High Adventure" trip even as we speak. They're doing a 75-mile bike ride, and hopefully he'll get some good pictures for me to post later. I just hope he doesn't try to take pictures while riding!

Enjoy the pics posted herein; you can see all 98 pics from Scout Camp and the Hawks/camping activity, posted here on my Flickr account.