This isn't exactly our regular style of camping but I thought I'd share how this event went.
If anyone didn't know already, I am a den leader. My son is a Bear. I am also the Camping Committee Chair and got to orchestrate the chaos of events planned this past weekend. The event was at our local Scout park. We had about 25 scouts, 25 siblings and 40-50 parents. Of those who attended, about 40 camped over night. The day started with an outdoor flag ceremony, then my guided nature hike, baseball, basketball, lunch, leather craft, ultimate football, fishing, communication belt loop, dinner, free time, and the camp fire program (complete with metallic gift wrap tissue faux fire). I assisted with the crafts, fishing, and facilitated the camp fire with the cubmaster assisting me.
It was rewarding to see how much fun those families had together that day. About half of the families were new and had never been to an event like that. Many did not want to camp out for what ever reason but we still wanted them to come, if only for the day. Most stayed until the end of the camp fire. I prepared note cards with jokes and funny stories that our cubmaster and I could tell between each skit. The campsites were assigned by rank. Each campsite had to perform at least one skit or song at the camp fire. The group of siblings also performed the chicken dance for us wearing masks they made earlier in the day. We know which kids are bold and love the attention of being on stage, but I particularly enjoyed the new kids who raised their hands to come tell jokes once the skits were done. I just had to point out to the parents what a life skill this was, teaching young men to feel confident speaking in front of large groups. The boys played with their den mates and others, building friendships, practicing teamwork, and getting in plenty of trouble.
The most embarassing moment was during lunch. All the families brought a picnic lunch, and had spread out at all the tables around the fishing pond, and under the trees by the pool. The large grassy area had small kids running around chasing each other while others were on the fake pirate ship along side of the "lake". The lake is a rectangle shape, only 2/3 full, with 1/3 of the lake bottom exposed. Mud, like sticks and rocks, is very tempting for young men. The little brother of one of my kids got stuck, up to his knees in the mud. By the time someone got to him, he had fallen forward, and was now stuck by his hands too. The brother, came to rescue him, but got himself stuck deeper, losing his shoes to the quagmire. Both were freaked out by how dirty they were and , well, I can't describe their reaction any better than freaked out. The poor mom, not just any scout mom, but the pack chairwoman, who is in charge of the pack, had to calm them down, and drive those stinky, muddy kids home to clean up. If I were her, I would have had a valium or something once I got to the house, HOLY COW! What drama. I'm sure every boy there had mud on their shoes. Oh, we did rescue the shoes. We used a hiking stick, a 2x4 and a Tiger cub held by a dad to reach the shoes. TEAMWORK.
The boys played hard and were sleepy before 8. Once we returned to the campsite from the camp fire program, the kids wanted to go to sleep. Not mine. We went to clean up for bed and the Webelos asked him if he would like to go on a hike with them. OOOOOH, that's pretty special. They returned about 11 and he fell fast asleep. His den dudes were asking why he wasn't up yet, for breakfast ( it was about 8). I told them about the hike and they were jealous. But soon got over it by eating all the good cereal, leaving nothing but the raisin bran.
Many families left after they had eaten. We stayed with 2 other families until noon, then, once we all got home and cleaned up, gathered at one of the houses to grill out and chill out. I mentioned the reservations I have for this weekend and invited them, looks like they are going. Should be fun, with better food, better beverages and much less drama!
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