Hello everyone!

Now that day one of Day Camp is done and I’ve had a few minutes to relax, I thought I would give you guys some info on the program.

This morning, our boys took care of the Kansas flag for the opening ceremony.  Our first actual event was “The Canyon Crossing”.  This was learning about knots and climbing rope bridges.Unfortunately, this year was different than last year and there was no staff member at this station.  Because of this, our boys didn’t get to climb the rope bridges.  I didn’t realize it wasn’t going to be staffed.  On a brighter note, we have free time throughout the week and I’ll be swinging by there every single one of those time periods to see if I can get them in there.

After the knots and ropes, we came back to our site and the boys ran around squirting each other with water bottles.  They seemed to have a pretty good time with this, although I don’t think lunch could come soon enough for some of them (OK,I’m in that group too).

After we ate, we went to “Prairie Dog Pete’s”.  Here we learned about several different types of snakes.  The boys also got to make a strange little device that has screens on it so they can catch and keep bugs.  You’re welcome.

Next on the agenda was “Homemade Simple”.  Here, the boys made some crafty stuff out of empty plastic bottles.  The next half of the stop, they made a game of some sort that I still don’t quite get myself. 

Finally, we all came to the closing ceremony and hopped back on the bus to come home.  It was eventful and a lot of fun. 

A quick summary for the rest of the week:

Tuesday, we will be doing the T-Slingshots, the egg drop, a science station and the bull ride. 

Wednesday we will start with the daily morning weather report, have the obstacle course, we will go to the trading post, we will shoot BB guns and finish with the cooking area.Also, Wednesday night is family night and you’ll be allowed on site at5pm.

Thursday we have the zip line chair, a free period (ropes maybe?) we will go to the archery station and finish up with leather working. 

Friday we have the game station first, another free period,then slingshots and a hike through the woods.

A note for the trading post: If you would like your son to be able to purchase something at the trading post, please give me and only me$5 before we leave Wednesday morning. I have an envelope with everyone’s name on it.  Don’t let me take your money without marking you on the list.  See you soon!

Clint

Hello! 

It’s been a hectic week at Day Camp.  There has been so much fun to be had that I haven’t really been able to write about it until now.  Let’s get into it shall we?

Tuesday we started off the day at “Wylie Coyote’s Acme Cannonballs”.  This is also known as the T-sling.  Basically it’s two posts stuck in the ground with some bungee cords attached to shoot tennis balls at a giant board.  The boys had a blast.  While some were doing that, the rest of the group went over to do some fishing with giant plastic fish.  Then they switched places. 

After that, we had some free time.  For free time the boys played “Human Foosball”.  Picture an orange roped off area where the boys hold onto ropes and basically play soccer while they are stuck in one small area.  It’s just like foosball.  Only with boys.  Hilarious.

Next up was lunch.Obviously the boys were giddy when I told them that.  They were HUNGRY.  Next we went to “Calamity Jane’s Calamity”.  Here is where they learned about science and everyone that participated will get the Science beltloop when scouts start back up.  They learned the scientific method and then tested a hypothesis.All of the boys seemed to have a really good time.  Yeah, it surprised me too! 

The final part of the day we went to “Bronco Buster’s”.  This is a bull ride.  Since there’s no electricity out there, it’s a barrel on 4 large bungee cords with a saddle on it.  It worked out well.  All the boys had fun.  The funniest part was Riley.  He’s going to be a Wolf this year and when they tried to knock him off, he just held on.He was mostly upside down and had a grip on that thing laughing his butt off.  When we were leaving we made it back to the ropes course.  I knew we would.  The boys really enjoyed that so I’m glad I was able to get back down there for them.

Next up is Wednesday!Wednesday we started late because of Family night.  When we started, we went up to“Stampede!”  This was an obstacle course.  They ran through tires, swung on a rope, ran across a balance beam, and then crossed the monkey bars.  The second station was the 3 man ski races.  The final part was horse shoes.

Or next stop was at “Myrtle’s Mercantile”.  This was the trading post.  While some of the boys were waiting, theywere given the task of chewing on 2 crackers for 5 seconds then whistling.  I realized two things at this point.  One, it wasn’t easy and I’m not sure if anyone succeeded.  The second thing I learned was that I was covered in cracker dust.

It was lunch time again at this point so the boys were again happy as can be.  Right after lunch, we went to “Dead Eye Gene’s”.  Boys and BB guns.  Need I say more?

The final stop for Wednesday was “Clem’s Chuck Wagon”.  Our good friend Paula was running this booth and the boys made apple pies and kabobs.I’m going back to the whole “Food and boys” thing with this so I’m pretty sure you can guess how this station went.

Of course after close on Wednesday we had family night and I saw almost all of you there I think.  Of course by this point I was on autopilot and just grilling as many hot dogs as I could.  I must say I had a blast with the family night gig too.  I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

Finally, we are to Thursday.Our first stop was “Rattlesnake Ridge”.  This was the zip line chair.While some of the boys were riding the zip line, the rest of them were making rattlesnakes out of old neck ties.

Next up was some more free time.  This time, they played Frisbee in the field.  Some of the boys tried out aversion of Frisbee golf.  As a side note,if anyone is interested in learning how to actually play Frisbee golf, I can explain it and the different types of discs.

Lunch came next.  As always, there was a “noontime surprise” right after lunch.  Today it was a firetruck!  They came out and sprayed us all down quite a bit.  That’s a lot of water, really fast.  The boys were going nuts!

Once they were done with this, we went to “Little Brave’s Bows”.  Boy and projectile weapons never gets old.  They love it, and we love watching them try.  While some of the boys were shooting, the rest were hanging out in the shade and learning a bit about history and archery.

Our last stop was “Chip’s Chaps”.  Here they made a leather medallion and a small teepee.  With the leather they had several stamps to choose from.  Wooden mallets and metal stamps make for loud and happy boys.  For the teepees, they had a sign up so the boys could see Native American pictographs and if they felt like it the boys could draw a story or just a few words in pictures.

We finally brought the day to a close and headed home.  Now it’s the final day for this year.  We still have the Hike, the slingshot and the game station and then we’re going to break down the site.

I hope you all have a fantastic summer.  There are a few more activities throughout the summer.  Please check out merriampark.scoutlander.com for details on the upcoming events.  Also, if you are interested I’m going to try and have the recap for Friday on the site by Saturday evening. 

On a final note, feel free to contact me if you need something or have ideas for things we can do.913-568-3909 is my cell number and my email address is clint.colbert@gmail.com

Have a great summer!

Clint

Here’s the final installment of your day camp newsletters.  It’s been a long fun week.  I’m sad it’s over even though it was a lot of hard work.  You better believe that I’ll be back for it again next year if it’s at all possible.  On to Friday!

Friday morning, after the opening flag ceremony, our first stop was “The Farmer and the Cowman”.  This was a game station where the boys practiced throwing “Cow Chips”for distance.  They also tried their hands at working a lasso.  The final game they played was a relay race.  The goal was to run as fast as they could with an egg in a spoon and not drop the egg.

Next up we had free time.We started out squirting each other with water bottles but the boys were pretty much done with that by this time, so we played a game of kickball instead.  That got them going.  We had a blast.

After lunch, it was time for the slingshots.  While some boys used the slingshots, others used a Nerf bow and arrow.  The third thing at this station was coming up with a game to play using rings.  They made their own rules and had a good time.

The last part of the day was a hike.  They went out in the woods and looked around at all the plant and animal life.  They looked for poison ivy, but I don’t think they found any.  They were also keeping their eyes open for different types of bugs and snakes.

When the boys loaded up on the bus we really started tearing down the camp site.  It made me a bit sad.  We won one of the awards for best campsite and it was a shame to get rid of it all.  As of now it’s all being stored in my garage.  Maybe we’ll be able to use it again in the future.

I hope you all had as much fun reading these newsletters as I had writing them and hanging out at day camp.It’s one of the most exhausting experiences I am involved in with scouts, but it’s also one of the most fun.Even with the heat and tight schedule and of course the boys getting tired and frustrated at times, it’s still one of my favorite times of the year.  I truly hope I have the ability to be there all five days for the next two years.

Goodbye for now, and I hope to see you all at one of the other events we have this summer.Remember, only three are needed to get the summertime activity award!

Clint

Bear Camp is done.Wow.  That was a whole lot of crazy.  I understand now why the parents need to go.  It takes that many adults to wrangle that many kids.  Still, it was a blast.  Here’s what happened…

We all met at the school at 8:45.  We made any last minute stops and headed out to Camp.  The line was fairly long.  It took about 10 minutes to get in and get parked.  We didn’t make it to our campsite until about 9:40.  At that point, most of the tents were already taken but we still found 3 that were next to each other.  Unfortunately the boys missed out on getting their bear necklaces.

The opening flag ceremony was at 10:15.  We showed up at about 10:00, I checked us in and got our shirts and mugs.  Everyone was wearing their class A uniforms and we listened to what was going on and met the staff.  After the announcements, we hit lunch.  I had the boys change into their Bear Camp shirts at this point when they went to wash up. 

Lunch was a little on the light side.  If you eat quickly, you MAY have the opportunity for seconds.  We learned a little later that we might as well grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the end of the line anyway. 

As soon as we were done with lunch it was right into the shelter for an emergency drill.  That really only took a minute, then we were off to the range for BB guns.  This is a little different than Day Camp.  They were broken up into 3 groups and one got to fire the guns while the other two went to other stations.  Then we rotated around until everyone got to fire the BB gun. 

Right after that, we went to the water park.  The boys had a really good time.  Well…mostly.  Just a little advice here, have them wash their face before they go there.  The bug spray and sun block really stings when it gets in their eyes.

After this, we went to the Stockade.  Here, they made some seriously stout toolboxes.  It was fun watching them and helping them.  When that was over, they went upstairs and helped make some rope.They loved it.

After the stockade, it was on to the castle.  At the castle, they played some games.  It sounds simple enough, but everything they do fills some requirement in the book.This is where I realized that I REALLY REALLY should have brought a camp chair.  Some people got to take a quick nap while others simply stood around and baked.

After the Castle, we went back to the flag mall and had the flag lowering ceremony.  That didn’t take long at all and we were off to dinner.  Again, dinner was light, but there were PB&J sandwiches on the side if you thought to grab one.  After dinner was the Order of the Arrow Dancers.  Some of you may remember them from our Blue and Gold Banquet this past February(Thanks again Amy!). 

Next was some free time from 6:30-7:30.  The pool was open for us from 7-7:30 so we spent the first half hour at the trading post where the boys somehow managed to convince us that we should all buy over priced sticks with a bear head on them.  That may have actually been the highlight of their day.  At least, it was right at that moment.

After our free time was done, we met up at the flag mall again to go to the campfire and take the group photo.  I have got to say that this was fantastic.  I know the boys had a blast and at the end, they retired a couple flags.That part really got to me.  I think I had some smoke or dust in my eyes though, because they kept watering.

Finally, we made it back to the campsite at about 10 just in time for lights out.  It was still pretty darn hot, so the sleeping bags were not needed.  I kept the flaps on my tent open all night.  I wish I would have thought to bring a battery powered fan.  Luckily I brought sandwich stuff in my cooler so we all had a snack before we passed out.

On the schedule it says “Day 2 7:00 Reveille/good morning”.  That didn’t happen.  People started getting up with the sun and by about 6:15 or 6:30 it was almost impossible to sleep.  When 7 rolled around the staff came to our site singing a merry song about waking up.

We went on down to the morning flag ceremony and then had breakfast.  Again, it was a little light, but they had eggs, sausage, cheese, salsa, a tortilla, cereal, OJ, and milk.  Most importantly, there was coffee.  Bring your own cup.

When this was done, it was off to the lost mine to hunt for gold.  I believe they found quite a bit.

Next up was the Indian village where they rotated around and did some small projects and learned about Native Americans.  The boys were getting a little tired by this time and it was only about 10:45.  Luckily up next we had…

WATER PARK!  This was needed.  Not just by the boys, but by the adults too.

After splashing around and getting buckets of water dumped on us from above, we went back for lunch.You guessed it, small portions.

At 1, we went to Archery.  The boys enjoyed that and then rotated around like they did with the BB guns and learned stuff while working on electives and achievements. 

After archery, we had free time again.  Because of the oppressive heat, they let us go to the water park again, but we decided to work on some belt loops.  They boys got their whittling chips and played chess.  Many people started leaving at this point, but we stuck it out.

At about 4:30, they started the closing ceremony.  Our pack got second place for the scavenger hunt and then after the flag was lowered, they all got their “Bear Claw”.  Finally it was time to go.  We were all hot and tired.  While the boys were doing belt loops, the adults took turns emptying out their tents and putting stuff in the cars. 

It was a very fun and productive time.  Two days that were so packed full of stuff it was unbelievable.  We got to see how other packs do things and make some friends.  A good time was had by all. 

Now, I need to mark down all of the things we did in the bear book.  That could take a little time.