Family Camping

The Cub Scouts had their annual family camp-out this weekend. I have a terrible cold and we did not manage to get ourselves packed with energy left to join the gang Friday night. We opted to let me sleep a good night's sleep in my own bed, then head out to join in on the fun on Saturday with the hope that all would be fine to spend the night Satuday night. We got there in time to join the stations that were going on. (There were 400 people at this event, including at least 100 Japanese scouts.) The first station we joined was origami. Michael made a crane. I have not taken a picture of it. I didn't have the camera with me because Michael and I just ran to join in while Daddy and Erika unloaded the van and set up camp. The plan was to take a picture of it later, but I think it got smooshed as we carried it around through the next several stations. I think we will have to make another one, then take a picture. The next station was balloon battles. Again, no camera, no pictures. But this was great fun! The kids had to learn to blow up a balloon, knot it, then tie a string around the balloon so they could tie the balloon around their ankle. Then, in a big free-for-all great boy game, they all were trying to stomp (and pop) other's balloons without getting their own balloon stomped. The person with the last balloon was the winner. Pretty funny! Michael didn't last long, but he had fun. After this station, we had lunch. Good thing, because I was melting and was ready to find some shade. It was 86 degrees with very high humidity. And, of course, I forgot my hat. So, standing in the direct sunlight was torture. But a boys lunch of hotdogs and chips was a good pick me up. Then we had some more shade as our next station was to make cards for service men. The last station was working on earning their soccer belt loop. Here are 2 movie clips taken with Greg's birthday gift, a new digital videa camera.

Of course, the best part of camping with scouts is the outdoor cooking. Our pack agreed to work together to make dinner for all. We used dutch ovens to make chicken and rice. We used sterno to heat up canned vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, and corn.) The sternos kept blowing out, so we had to use a couple coleman stoves, but the boys loved it. We also made a caramel apple dessert in the dutch ovens, but we never got to eat it. We left for flag ceremony, then the campfire. Just as we got the campfire going and had a nice welcome ceremony given by the Order of the Arrow, the storm that was brewing caught up to us. We had quite a light show with the lightning off the coast, but then all at once, it changed for the worse. We had 2 bolts of lightning hit ground very near to where we were. At that point, the head scout master told everyone to get packed up and to go home. So, quickly, in the rain and with lightning flashing all around, we quickly dismanteled our campsite and went home. It's probably a good thing we did. It could have been a long night. It rained for over 14 hours straight, then continued on and off for the rest of the day on Sunday. So, it wasn't quite the end we had anticipated, but at least we had a great day up till that point. Here are the pictures (Cub Scouts cooking and Jessy camping.) In the first Jessy picture, you can see the very small tent behind ours. That is the tent that Grandma and Grandpa Rupp bought Erika several years ago for Christmas. The kids were both disappointed that they didn't actually get to sleep in it. At least there is always next time!