Cubscout Camp

Tucker was looking forward to cub scout camp for a week and it did not disappoint.  He had a blast.  Some of the pictures other leaders took and some are from the day Bob went with Tucker.

On the last day we came for a picnic dinner and the closing awards.

Tucker got first place in archery.

I thought their skit was pretty funny.


And their cheer.

Pinewood Derby

 Every year the pinewood derby seems to be a big deal at our house.  This year they said siblings could make cars and unofficially race them if they want.  I was really on the fence if we should do that or not because we are so busy but Bob thought it was a great idea.  He asked the kids who wanted to make them and of course they all did.  So Bob and I ended up helping the kids make four cars.

Bob was finishing up making his CNC machine so he "helped" the kids by cutting out their cars on it.  The kids got to design their cars on the computer and then watch the machine cut them out.  They then got to sand and paint them.

 I helped them with coming up with their ideas of how they wanted their car to look.

Bob helped the kids with the weights.  I said we shouldn't bother with them because I just don't care that much about the outcome of the race but once again Bob asked the kids if they wanted their cars to go fast and they all shouted "yes."

Tucker's car.  His is the only one we used the official pinewood derby kit to make.  The rest were made out of wood we had around the house.

 Penelope's shoe car.

 Scarlett wanted one that looked like a car with the number 5 on it.

 Leon had the hardest time picking a car design.  We looked up ideas online and he pretty much wanted everything.  He finally settled on fire, but I had to force him to make a decision.

 It was kind of funny because last year Bob and Tucker were really into making the car as fast as possible.  They talked a lot about aerodynamics and many youtube videos were watched.  This year bob just helped Tucker make it how he wanted and didn't worry about speed very much.  The funny thing is that his car turned out faster this year than before.

 The kids always get so excited to watch the races.

Tucker got first place!  There was a mixup with the scores and a glitch in the computer so we first thought he got second, which was fine.  Once everything was recalculated we realized that Tucker got first in the Bears and first overall.  He was thrilled and got to go to districts.  I thought I might be having the baby around that time and wouldn't go.  Unfortunately, districts have came and gone and I'm still pregnant.

Tucker was so excited to race at districts.  He didn't place but I was really happy with how he managed to keep a good attitude the entire time.  It was long for everyone else and the other kids were getting restless.

We have one more year of the pinewood derby and then a break for a few years until Leon turns 8.

Marble Shoot

Tucker's cub scout group did a marble shoot last week.  We were out of town for it last year so it was his first one.   They boys were all excited and it was pretty fun.  Tucker had a hard time shooting the marble hard enough to push the other marbles out of the circle.  He didn't win any games but he did get better as the night went on and he was a good sport about losing.

Maybe we will practice a little bit before next year.  I like the game, it is kind of a classic calm game.  They talked about how it is a really old game.  Maybe I can get my kids interested in playing it with each other at home.  I don't ever remember playing it growing up, I wasn't even sure on how to play until the marble shoot.  I'm  not sure if we have the right kind of floors in our house to play it though.  We have either wood floors where the marbles would roll like crazy or more of a short shag carpet where I think it might be hard to get them to roll at all.  I'll have to try it and see.

Here you can see Scarlett getting hers lined up just right.

Cub Scout Camp

Ok, so cub scout camp was a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting about it.  That is what happens when your husband takes the pictures on his tablet and you don't know how to get them off the tablet and onto the computer :)

Tucker had a blast at cubscout camp!  He was so excited to go and I'm sure it lived up to his expectations.  Five days of outdoor activities with other 9-year-olds, what could be better?

They did crafts.

Shot BB guns

Built things.

Practiced archery, this was Tucker's favorite.

And did an obstacle course, I guess this was also Tucker's favorite.  He continuously got faster and faster times throughout the week which is what we told him to go for.

On the last day the families were invited for the awards and outdoor program.  I think we waited about 2 hours before it started, so the whole thing felt ridiculously long and boring for the kids.  But we were there to support Tucker and the other leaders.  

I'm thankful for all the work that people put into making this possible.  It takes a special kind of person to be a cub scout leader.

Zion's Camp Day 2 & 3

While camping we spent a couple hours on their ropes course.  I wish I had more pictures but this one of Scarlett is it.  The kids and I did it first and then we all went back later with bob.  There was lots of climbing and balancing on ropes and beams.  The three younger kids needed help with almost each obstacle so you can imagine this took some time.  It was pretty fun though.  Made me once again wish I had a huge backyard where Bob could build fun things like this for the kids to play on.  The picture might be a little deceiving, Scarlett is about a foot and a half in the air.

Tucker also worked on the fishing badge.  This meant we spent about and hour learning about the local fish and fish laws.  Then some time learning about fishing poles.  Then over an hour trying it out and fishing.  I think we had five poles but no one caught a fish.  I'm ok with that.  I don't even know what we would have done if we caught one.

At one point during the hour I took a nap on the dock in the sunshine.

Camping can seem like a lot of work because of all the gear we need to bring.  Click the link to read an article about different camping duffle bags.

Both nights we were there we spend telling stories around the campfire.  Some were silly and some were serious.  S'mores are a family favorite!

At one point things got a little out of hand while I was telling reading a story of the internet.  I should have pre read the stories.  The kids were begging me to stop and Leon was even crying.  I really wanted to get to the end because I thought it would have a funny/ not scary ending.  And everyone would laugh and not be scared anymore.  I was wrong.  It had more of an open ending and all the kids were scared.  Tucker was especially scared and couldn't sleep well that night.  The pleaded with me the next night not to tell stories.  They said only dad can tell stories.  His are funny.

Leon tipped his lovingly named "Monkey Business" chair backward.  I think he was embarrassed because he didn't cry or anything.  He just laid back for a couple minutes half smiling.  Because he was just sitting there it was pretty funny for everyone else.  I helped him up and he didn't seem to care that everyone laughed.

We made sure to read the scriptures every night.  It just feels different reading them outside in the woods.

Our last morning we got up, ate, packed, cleaned, and went to archery.  I learned that I'm pretty bad at it.  Most of my arrows missed the target completely.  The kids even learned to ask dad for help instead of mom.  Tucker was on his own.  But for the other kids we did two at a time so Bob would help one child and they would do pretty well, while whomever got stuck with me helping happened to miss.

Then when the weather warmed up we went to the lake again.  This time I tried out paddleboard yoga.  Holy Moly it is HARD!

Tree pose I think is one of the easiest balance poses but I couldn't get it.  It took me a while to get this next picture and I was not holding still.  I probably had my leg up in that position for about half a second but somehow bob got the shot.

We had a great time camping.  I enjoyed it much more than our last trip this summer.  The weather made all the difference!