Scout camp 2018- Camp Crooked Creek (KY)

Sunday, 15July, we said goodbye to the boy as he headed off to scout camp for the week.  As this is his third year in scouts, he is one of the older scouts for the week as the older boys (14 years and older) are away at Northern Tier- a high adventure camp in the boundary waters between Canada and the US. 

So Rocket and his buddies as in coming 8th graders are the patrol leaders this time around and one of the older boys (15) is the senior patrol leader.  This year the troop is going to a camp 2.5 hours away in Kentucky.  It is a little scary putting him on the bus, but I know he will have a great time.  We are going down to see him on Friday for Parent's night and then he will be home on Saturday before noon.

 Making sure they have everyone accounted for before leaving.

 the required picture in front of the bus.

 the 4 patrol leaders- all boys going into the 8th grade- friends since kindergarten.

 one of the moms went on the trip and she took this picture of the boy out on lake kayaking.  He worked on Kayaking and Archery for his merit badges.

The second part of the day, he did COPE (it is a challenge/personal growth course). Think high ropes, 10 foot walls to scale, team building, etc.  He had a great time.  He did tell me when he got home that he fell off the wall.  He gave me all the details like blacking out and then finally told me that he only fell 2 feet.  My heart was racing, but his doctor is the scout master on the trip, so I was confident that he was checked out and found to be fine.

one of the closing ceremonies during the week.

the boy

playing GAGA ball with his troop- Rocket is coming into the picture on the left side.  See that blue shirt, apparently that was all he wore from Wednesday on.  OMG the stench was foul when get he got home on Saturday.  Into the wash with all his stuff and he was sent to the shower.  I think he still needs a few showers to recover from camp, but that is the just the boy smell now.

arriving home on Saturday- Mom- no pictures.  stop now.

completely worn out

notice, they are not bunching together.  Rocket was not the dirtiest of the boys by a long shot.

 

He came home, emptied his pack, took a shower and slept for another 3 hours.  He got up for dinner and then went back to sleep for the rest of the night.  Sunday, he took another nap and still went to bed early.  He slept until 10 am today.  He has a swimming party tonight and I think he will be sleeping late tomorrow too. 

 

One of the best things since he got home is how he just jumps and does things without me asking- putting away stuff from dinner, helping with dishes, just doing his chores and his other household tasks.  I like this growing up Rocket. He is becoming such a cool young man.

 

love and hugs,

Deb

A busy week

Little man continued basketball shooting camp Monday- Wednesday last week. Tuesday - Friday he also had a sports Fundamentals camp in the morning.  We were constantly on the go. 

I have a friend, SB, who blogs her schedule on a regular basis and I read and think "I would go crazy if that was my regular schedule" but she thrives on it which goes to show everyone is different.  Well last week I thought for sure I was living her life.  This was my schedule last week

5:30 am - wake up and start work (the benefit of working from home)

8 am - get the little man up, get him dressed and fed

8:30- leave the house to drop him off at sports camp, while listening to a work meeting

9 am- home from dropping him off, back to work at my desk

1:45 pm- go pick up little man

2:15- back home and get him started on his home activities (reading, doing a chore, practicing piano, etc)

4 pm - work ends for me

4:15 pm (Tuesday) - Piano lesson for little man, I read in the car

4:45- piano lesson ends, back home to make dinner

6 pm - finish dinner, leave for basketball shoot camp

8:30- camp is over, come home, get showered and ready for bed

9:00-9:30- bed time for him

 

I was so excited for shoot camp to be over on Wednesday night, just so we had some time in the evening for him to play or just watch TV.  It was a hot and humid week last week, so he would come home exhausted after sports camp.

 

We have a rest week this week- nothing until Thursday when basketball summer league starts (only 6 days of games).  Then the week of the 20th, he will be at basketball camp all day- camp from 9-1:15 and then basketball league from 1:40-4:30 pm.  I expect he will be very tired next week.

Practicing his shooting

One night, the ice cream truck came through the neighborhood.  We both got an ice cream. 

Saturday, little man worked on an Eagle Scout project for 3 hours.  I worked on cleaning out my closet.  this is one side.  I can't find anything.  I am a pack rat.  I am trying to figure out why I have become like this, I used to be quite organized. 

While cleaning, I found this "all about me" from 1st grade.  I knew it had to be thrown away so I took a bunch of picture of it so I can put them in his memory book.

this is what the closet looked like after about an hour of work- at least the one side.

this is the other side, which I started on immediately

I found the poster board from the baby shower right after I visited for the first time.  Look at that cutie little baby.  I could not throw this away.

the timeline I had on the poster.  Look at the last line- HAHAHAHAHA, clearly I need to write a post script that it was June 2007 before he came home. 

this is closet after I cleaned- I know it looks like a mess still but it is not.  I feel much better after cleaning this.  2 garbage bags of trash, 6 bags to donate and things consolidated (like all wrapping paper downstairs with all the gift bags).   While cleaning, I culled my closet too.  I have clothes going back 10 years and they look it.  So out with them.  Sunday I was able to buy a few more summer clothes as that is what I did not have.

 

Little Man came home exhausted from working - they having a car wash to raise money for the new landscaping they were putting in.  I went up to pick him up and got my car washed.  Best car wash team in the city.

 

 

Sunday, Bug went back to help for 2 hours putting in the new landscaping. He volunteered 5 hours over the weekend and was pretty worn out on Sunday.  Of course he refused to rest/nap on Sunday, so his behavior got worse and worse as the day went on. 

 

One benefit of sports camp and the eagle projects he is helping on, he is getting stronger.  Yesterday we mowed the lawn and he had no trouble with the lawn mower.  He and almost finished at the same time!!!  I love it.

 

Love and hugs,

Deb

Summer camps starting up

Monday, I took a vacation day so Bug and I could have some time together.  He slept until 9 am!  I had one thing to do in the morning for PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) and then we  headed out to the main library downtown.  Originally I thought we would go to the zoo, but it was kind of warm, so we decided to see the library.  I have not been to the downtown library since I was in high school.  Bug went when he was kindergarten, but he does not remember being there.  Our library is huge! It covers 2 city blocks.  When we arrived, there was a display of Star Trek memorabilia and he had a good time looking at everything. We have decided that we need to start watching the old TV show (yeah!). 

There was a used book sale going on when we arrived, but he refused to allow me to shop. That could be a good thing, but I think I missed picking up some books for the house.

 

As we went upstairs, there was this stained glass display and he wanted a picture for his teacher.  We had to go up stairs to take the bridge to the other building- for the fun of being on a bridge.  We also saw the "maker space" where you can reserve different machines to work on projects- like a sewing machine, a button making machine, template cutter, laminate sign making machine and a 3-D printer!  We are going to think of some crafts to make there and come back later this year.

Outside the library is this wonderful waterfall.  I love this statue/waterfall display.  I think I need a small replica in my backyard

He is happy, just tired.  We had lunch downtown and then headed back home. We did check out some books in the library, so we are set for reading this month.  We had to stop at a friend's house to drop off something for the mom and while there, Bug was invited to stay for a few hours to play.  I went home and finished up his Quilt top (pictures later this week).  I do need to add an extra border to make it big enough for his bed.  He is very excited about the quilt and so am I.

Monday night started summer camps.  Bug is doing some sports camps at one of the local high schools to start the summer.  Monday night was basketball shooting skills camp.  He was unsure at first, but he warmed up quickly when he found some kids he knew.  I was sitting at the opposite end of the gym, so the pictures are pretty blurry.

The guy in the red shirt is the head basketball coach at the school.  He was working with the older players down me most of the night.  it was interesting to see him taking notes on players (all are not in high school yet).

Bug was closer to me here, waiting to be part of the P-I-G game.  If you make a shot, the other person has to make it too, if they miss, they get a letter. Once you miss shots to spell the word, you are out of the game.  In this case, based on the number of kids, the first night took out half the kids and the game will continue on nights 2 and 3 with the overall winner announced on the 3rd night.  Bug went out in the first round/night.

 

But, he was practicing his shooting on Tuesday after the morning camp- Sports FUNdamentals. The emphasis on FUN. 

The morning camp runs through Friday and they try different sports each day.  On the first day, they did track and basketball.  Bug was not too happy with track but he liked the camp.  In the morning camp, he will get to try football (north American football).  It will be no tackling and no pads, so I am ok with it. He is super excited for football.

 

He has some more camps through out the month- a basketball league and a basketball skills camp.  After this month he is back to YMCA summer camp with one week off for Boy Scout camp.

 

he has a busy summer.

 

Love and hugs,

Deb

cub scout camp and rain gutter regatta

Bug spent this week at cub scout camp (during the day, no overnight camps for him yet).  The theme this year was "Space Camp".  Bug was with 3 of his friends for camp.  Here is Bug with L. being silly before we headed to kickball.  I wen out on Friday after work to see the end of camp presentation.

Bug's den (cub scouts from many different packs from our city), getting instructions on kickball.

Since camp was space themed, the dens had different things to carry with them.  Bug's den had this alien guy.  I think this alien was very abused with these boys.

Bug and his 2 friends were in the Apollo 11  den.  they had to learn some facts about their den name and present them at the end of camp presentation.

Playing kickball.  Bug and his 2 friends ended up on one team and eventually I ended up on the other team because the other team had so many players who decided to sit out.  At the end only 2 boys were playing and I was with them in out field.

This is P getting ready to kick

Bug kicking and then running to first base.

L kicking

Bug scoring a run, his team went up 5-0 immediately and ended up winning 17-8.  It could have been worse, but the den leader invoked the mercy rule since the other team only had 2 boys playing (they started with 8 boys).

Bug got a chance to pitch

Apollo 11 Den

Our pack had some other boys present, this is the wolves (2nd graders).  We had 3 boys and a leader in this group.  They were in Den Pluto

This is the bears (3rd graders), we had 1 leader and 2 boys in this group.  They were in Den Discovery

Bug's den with the medical officer for camp (our tiger den leader).

One the way home from camp, I treated Bug to an ice cream at the Goode Shop.

Saturday, the boy scouts in Troop 660 held the rain gutter regatta for the cub scouts in Pack 660

the end of the rain gutter regatta is the water balloon fight.

The tent in case the rain arrives (it never did)

Listening to instructions

designing boats- foam pool noodles, cut in half, coffee stirrers, index cards and a straw.  all the items needed for a rain gutter regatta.

You can add in markers, crayons and color pencils for decorations

siblings and he boys scouts also got involved.

The rain gutters, capped and filled with water, ready to go

some of the kids did not want to use straws so they blew their boats down the gutters.  This only worked a few times before the kids using straws started winning.

We had to change ends due to the wind, but it was all good.

N and J racing, N ended up winning against all the other boats in the regatta.

Bug decided not to use a sail and that proved to be the mistake in his boat design.  He could not generate enough force to push the boat down the gutter.

Once the cub scouts finished racing, the boys scouts got into the action.

brother against brother.

And then the sibling winner raced the boy scout winner. 

Finally, time for the water balloon fight.

 

the balloons were gone in 10 - 15 minutes, most everyone got wet, except Bug.  Bug some how stayed completely dry. 

 

After the rain gutter regatta was cleaned up (picking up all the pieces of balloons from the grass), Bug and I headed out to buy some school uniforms.  there are 3.5 weeks until school starts for Bug.  He needed some new shirts and some light weight pants for the Fall and late Spring.  So off to the consignment store to buy these.  He got 5 shirts and 4 pairs of pants for $30.00.  He needs a new pair of shoes and some socks and that is all to get this year.

 

We have a busy few weeks left before school starts, including finishing up our spare bedroom for the student from Japan who will be staying with us for the school year. 

 

Love and hugs,

Deb