See the big grin? He's happy to be home. But is the dirt visible? How about the smell?
Dante, barely home from Silver Moccasin Scout Camp.

This has been another summer full of scout camps. Moni left for Bear Lake on June 13. She was excited to go, even though she didn't get her job back in the trading post. She really liked that, but she did get hired to work in Handicraft, or Handicrap as they so lovingly call it. That has been kind of a different one for her, but she did really well on the baskets, so that was her job. I think she liked leatherwork a little better, but oh well, you just don't always get what you want, right? Now, as of last week, she's working in Nature. I'm not sure what all merit badges are in Nature, except I do know there's Soil and Water Conservation (how boring can that be??) and Astronomy?? I think? I do know that the guy who was doing woodcarving got moved to baskets, a guy from Nature got moved to wood carving, and Moni got moved to Nature. Evidently there were 3 or 4 kids who had to go have stitches in just a couple of days and they were trying to prevent more stitches. Hmmm.

She has come home happy each weekend and ready to go back. I know in a couple of weeks she gets time off to go to girls camp. That will be different after all those boys. Well maybe it will be. Just a different set of hormones, but at least no 12-13 year old boys falling in love with her. I think that's fun, though.

On the 14th of June Dante left for a week of Silver Moccasin Junior Leader Training Camp. He loved it. There were three other boys from our ward who went, but they all got split up at the camp. This is not a merit badge camp, but a leadership training deal. Dante came home very happy, very dirty, wiser regarding how people behave, and very stinky. I'm sure the fumes are emanating from the picture--brings back stinging in my nostrils.

Then this month Dante left for a week-long merit badge camp on the 12th. They went to Camp Steiner, in a beautiful mountain setting. He complained about the heat when he got home--said it was 40 degrees at camp that morning. I'm ready to move. He earned several merit badges: Basketry, Woodcarving (no stitches for him), Bird Study, Indian Lore, Forestry, and Leatherwork. He was supposed to finish Camping, but I guess they ran out of time? He has a tiny bit left on that one, basically just pass it off to his leader. And Fishing. Well, he got all of that except for the part where you're supposed to catch a fish. We have plans for that one, though! Oh, and he earned two others. These are cool because they are discontinued merit badges but have been brought back for the 100 Years of Scouting thing this year--Tracking and Signaling. That's cool. He said the signaling was kind of hard. They had to learn a bunch of different code things and do the semaphore signals. Nice. He also got the kit, again, for Pioneering. He did everything last year for that one except for finish the dumb monkey bridge. It kind of boggled my brain when I saw it, so I certainly don't blame him. He decided to do the tower this time--not sure if it's for monkeys, too.

After he finishes Camping, which I hope will be soon, he'll have only one more to finish for his Eagle. Then just the project. I'm ready for this to be done. Then I only have one Scout to worry about. On the same day Dante left for camp, Jake and I went to Cub Scout Camp--Superhero Camp. The second day was Jurassic Journey, but I didn't attend that day. Here are some pictures from that camp. Look for more dirt. . .

At the shooting range, next to his friend Jayk.

Wow--there's some serious dirt. This is the end of the first day of camp. Cubs don't get to spend the night, but we drive up the canyon, have a day of rolling in the dirt, climbing rocks, learning new things and having a blast, then we go home, hopefully shower and wash those clothes, then get up and do it all again! The boys love it. I love it. This is a great time for these boys. I love how everything is geared for them--their age, the things they love to do.

The whole group.

Jake and Jayk shooting.

Jake doing his victory dance when he won "travel" Bingo. They were learning about maps and had a Bingo game to do with map and road signs.



And here's the result--Jake earned his Bear this last month. My Scout Mom ribbon is getting filled up! I will only have two more Cub Scout pins--Webelos and Arrow of Light. Wow. Jake turns 10 next month and will be in Webelos and that's his last year of Cubbies. Kind of makes me sad. I love Cub Scouts!