Gearing Up for Cub Day Camp

Last week was one of my few down weeks of the summer. Of course, we did still have some things going on, including visiting the Boy Scout Jamboree, attending our Pack's bike rodeo, and driving to Washington DC to check out the touring BSA Adventure Base 100 and some of the history museums. Oh, and hubby and I drove to Hampton Roads for outdoor concert to celebrate our anniversary (a week early, I'll be busy with day camp on the actual date). So yeah, it was a "down" week.

In this lull I've finally had time to work on my plan for Cub Day Camp. I am in charge of the Cub Skills station and decided a while back to have the boys work on the Hiking belt loop and pin awards. First, because it is a pretty new award and therefore many may not have it. Second, because its a perfect achievement to do at camp. And third, because its CHEAP since almost all of the activities require nothing that you can't find in nature. Score!

So all this week I will be elbow deep in 7-10 year olds that probably could care less about the rules of hiking ettiquite. It will be quite a challenge to keep them interested and engaged, and quite a test of my own skills as a hopefull future Outdoor Educator. I am not afraid to say I have no idea what I'm doing or how I'll do it, but it will sure be fun to figure it out!

In preparation for some of the activities I've made up two handouts that the boys will get on different days. The first is a sheet of simple trail signs (which I drew myself after not being able to find one I liked on the internet for download). I recall vividly how much fun I had in Girl Scouts using trail signs to make trails at camp for my friends to follow. The second is a Bingo type game to play while on the last hike of the week. I used plants and animals that I knew would be available in this part of Virginia, but this idea could easily be adapted for other places as well. I know my own kids get quite excited to have to find things while on the trail, so I'm hoping this does the trick for others too. Feel free to use these for your own Scouting purposes! (click the images below to download printable copies for your own use!)

Click image above or download here. Free Adobe Acrobat Reader required.

Click image above or download here. Free Adobe Acrobat Reader required.

I'll let you know how these and other activities work out with the boys. Wish me luck in my first full-blown Outdoor Education endeavor!

Summer 2010: A Dream Come True

Yes, Summer has officially hit its middle month. I can tell because I haven't had much time to breath, much less blog! Between Cub Adventure Camp and Fourth of July festivities and the pool and hiking and preparing for the Cub Olympics it has been a whirlwind the last two weeks. Not to mention initital stages of Project: Pack and Fly the Family to Yellowstone. Yeah, lets not forget to mention THAT piece of incredible stress that I'm trying hard not to get over excited about!

I had wanted to write a full post about Cub Adventure Camp, but every time I'd start one I would realize it was about to turn into a short novel instead of a blog post. I can sum it up in one short word: FUN. Fun for my son, who experienced his first time at resident camp, and possibly even more fun for me, who got to experience camp from whole new perspective and see all our boys having the time of their lives. I am so incredibly pleased with the quality of the program and the staff at camp. In many ways it was better for OS and myself than many vactions we've gone on. No plnning, little down time to be bored, and lots of friends to keep us both well engaged. Its something I am very much looking forward to doing again next year!

So this week, since returning from camp, we've been on a self-induced whirlwind schedule of outdoor activities and home preparation for upcomign events. I'm amazed when I remember past summers that I've looked back on and wondered where the summer went. That I recall thinking I really didn't get to do as much as I had wanted for that particular summer. At least this year I know that will decidedly NOT be the case. Instead I will be looking back in September, wondering how in the world we managed to fit so much into just a few short months.

I used to daydream about the things we'd do when my son was older. People always told me not to wish your children grow up too fast because time passes too quickly as it is, but I couldn't help thinking about the cool things that lie in store for my sweet baby boys. While its great when kids are little flailing and cute chubby monsters, I was definitely meant to be a parent of slightly older children. The realization of all those previous daydreams has already begun, and I am loving every speedily passing minute. From hiking out to search for beavers to learning about rocks while working on the Cub Scout geology pin, THIS is the reason I wanted to have children. Lucky me to have this opportunity to spend so much of this important year with my suddenly growing-up kids to really experience this turning point in their lives. It really is a summer for some of the closest dreams to my heart to finlly start coming true.

Camping at First Landing: When Plans Go Awry

This weekend we finally went to the beach! I can officially now believe that summer has started. It certainly was hot enough!

Unfortunately, very little this weekend went as planned.

I had planned that we would get to First Landing State Park quite early on Friday, preferably around 4pm when check-in begins. I knew that a good number of the campsites backed up to a very busy road that connects two sections of busy Viginia Beach, and I'm a light sleeper so wanted to make sure we got a site as far away from the road as possible. Well, we didn't end up leaving very early, and of course got stuck in all the rush-hour traffic leading to the tunnel, so it was nearly 7pm by the time we arrived. Suffice to say all the "good" sites were taken, and as I feared, our site backed up to the road. It was a really beautiful site nestled in the forested dunes and surrounded by beachy trees with lots of good climbing branches. If it hadn't been for the near constant roar of traffic, it would have been a little slice of heaven. But thankfully, it was not the end of the world, and we almost got used to the noise by the end of the weekend. I did sleep badly the first night with all the annoyingly loud bar traffic roaring through, but by the second night I was tired enough to not notice it as much!

Since I had planned to get to the camp ground early, I also had wanted to go to the welcome campfire program being hosted by the Rangers at 8pm that night. We set up camp as quickly as we could and then drove over to the visitor center to find the campfire. The description mentioned stories and I hoped to hear something about the area or the Indians or anything I might use for Scouts. We looked all around for the campfire. No luck. Sigh... Well, instead we went down on the beach and played around in the sand and water while the sun finished setting. It was a nice evening, even if I didn't get a new story to add to my repitoire.

Back at the campsite I lit a fire and started getting the kids ready for bed. I was thoroughly amused by the small group of teenages that walked hesitantly over to our site to ask how I got my fire lit. Apparently this was their first foray into the woods and they'd been trying for hours, unsuccessfuly, to light a fire to cook their hot dogs. A Scout is helpful, so while DH took the kids to the bathrooms, I went over and helped the next generation by showing them how to build a fire. They were nice kids, not at all rowdy as some teenagers can be, and very thankful for my help. I hope they have an easier time of it on their next trip out in the wilderness!

So, the next morning I had planned to go on the "Swamp Stomp" hike being led by park interpreters at 11am. It sounded really neat, with the kids scooping up buckets of swamp water and looking for bugs and animals that lived there. It figures that 7am found me scrambling to get the tent unzipped before OS threw up all over the blankets. He hadn't shown any signs of being sick, it was a total surprise. He seemed to feel better after that, so we started our long walk over to the bathrooms and he got sick again on the way. Ummm, no Swamp Stomp for us that day. Bummer. After making it back to the campsite, my poor sick boy crawled back into the tent and went back to sleep for a few hours. At this point we weren't sure if we'd end up having to leave, but we figured for now he was probably more comfortable in the tent than he would be in the car. DH took YS to the playground for a while, then I took him on a bike ride up to explore the visitors center. Miraculously, when OS woke up late that morning he seemed to feel much better and kept down a small amount of food and water. But then he had issues with the other end of his digestive tract, if you know what I mean. Note to self - pack even more emergency underwear for the kids next time.

Well, by 4:00 all the odd sickness seemed to have passed and OS was happily running around the site and swinging from the rope swing that some previous camper had strung up over a pit formed from the bottom of several dunes. So, finally, we got to head to the beach for a little while. The kids had a blast, they love the shallow water and small waves of the Bay. I was very thankful that my big boy got well fast enough to enjoy some part of the day!

After a super yummy dinner on the grill - steak, corn on the cob and garlic bread - I decided to make up for the missed Swamp Stomp hike by going on the interpreter-led Night Hike, which started at 8:30pm. I knew it would be a streatch to have YS hike that much when it was already past his bedtime, but I was determined to get at least one good hike in. I'm so glad we did it, hiking at night was a new experience for the boys, and the interpreter was fantastic with the kids. We listened for different kinds of frogs and owls, watched for bats, and got to test our night vision with a neat experiment. Even though I ended up having to carry YS back on my shoulders, it was a great way to end what had started out as a questionable day.

We woke up late Sunday morning to a stifling heat. The weather on Friday and Saturday had been hot, but tolerable in the shade, and at night it was pleasently cool. Sunday decided to bring on all its heat and humidity with full force. We were already drenched with sweat before we even got out of the tent. Of course, I had thought we'd be up early and take a hike before the heat really set in, but who knew we'd all be so tired we'd sleep in that much? Ahh, but that didn't stop me from making pancakes and bacon for my hubby's Father's Day breakfast! After loading up on the carbs, we decided to try a bike hike instead. We got on our bikes and headed out of the campsite and across the road to do some biking on the Cape Henry Trail. Even though it was hot, the breeze while biking made it a little more tolerable. I'm so very glad that a Scout aquaintence of mine lent us her bike rack for the trip! I'm not sure what we would have done without the bikes there, it really made a big difference, especially just getting to and from the distant bathrooms! I have no idea how far we biked on the trail, but I know my legs and rear end were screaming for mercy by the time we were back at the campsite! It was a good ride.

After the bike hike we hit the beach again for a little bit and then packed up to go home, thouroughly exhausted. Considering we weren't even sure if we'd be able to stay the weekend, I think we had a great trip and still managed to fit a lot of fun stuff in. The kids both kept saying how much they didn't want to leave (they obviously don't long for air conditioning as much as we adults do!), and in the car, just before he fell asleep, YS let out a big sigh and said, "I love our camping trips." Those five words alone made all the stress of plans gone awry completely worth it.

Ode to a Busy Summer

Oh Calendar,
How I love to see thee
With almost all your days filled in.

How I love to see
All the fun we will be having
before the summer draws to an end.

Be it camping trips
Or amusement parks
Or hiking to see what we can see,

Or Scout adventures
And long vacations,
Its all good times with the family.

Some may protest
And think that summer
Should be a time of rest and lazy days,

But as for me,
I've always found
There's no happier time than when we 'play.'

And it seems to me
The more you have written
On your perfect squares, so white,

The less my children
Whine and complain,
And sleep all the better at night.

And so,
Please forgive me
If I stare so happily at your pages and grin,

And don't you cringe
Or roll your eyes
When I look for even more fun things to pencil in!

The boys at Pamlico Sound on Hatteras Island, summer 2009.