Sound Bites & Snap Shots

This weekend was our last Cub Scout campout of the 2015-2016 school year.  If these campgrounds look familiar, it’s because we camped on the field behind St. John School and Church. 

While Walker and I were racing yesterday, Bill was setting up the campgrounds.  All scout campouts are made better with a campfire so build one Bill did.  This is not the first one he had built on the school grounds;  he just built the fire for the Easter Vigil.

Bill gave his opening remarks after Mason ignited the fire with some of the consumable workbooks that he had finished from the school year.  Book burning on school grounds, imagine that!  Then each den had an opportunity to share some of their latest accomplishments and cross over the bridge to the next scout level.  The den presentations were rather comical because the scouts were a squirrely bunch.  It was hard to stay focused with the playground behind them and the fire in front.

Jeff is the Tiger leader and has volunteered to take on the role of cub master.  These guys will become Wolves.

Ryan presented the Wolves becoming Bears.

Charlie introduced the Bears becoming Webelos 1.

The Webelos were next with their leader, Steve.  They will cross over and become Webelos 2.

Finally, our newest leader, Andy, wrangled the kindergarteners. They walked over the bridge to become Tigers.

One of the reasons we opted to camp at school was to allow the parish to see the scouts in action.  We spent the afternoon playing field games, went on a bike ride along the river and prepared dinner over the grills.  We timed everything so that when the 5 pm mass ended, we were roasting s’mores.  We invited all of the parishioners to join us for fireside fellowship and a treat before heading home.  Father Anthony (in the back row above) popped over.  He hails from India and has been at St. John for about two years.  His tenure at St. John’s and in the Midwest, for that matter, has brought a lot of firsts.  Tonight he learned how to make his s’more and he liked them!

Because the field was really muddy and soaked from all our rain, the families opted to camp in the school cafeteria.  We watched a few movies on a projector in the gym and then everyone got to bed.

In the morning, we made our traditional camp breakfast and quickly dressed for 7 AM mass.  The scouts in uniform and their families filled many of the front pews at church and then everyone tore down their “campsites” and headed for home.

Although the setting for this campout was somewhat non-traditional, it worked really well.  The families had lots of fun and many voiced a preference for more low-key gatherings like this in the future, with or without camping involved.