Homeward bound

Nathan for one is ready to sleep in his own comfy bed. The rest of us
are ready for Nathan to shower in his own comfy (and bug free) shower!

Good morning!

We found this guy in our tent this morning. We think he was helping
us bold the flaps shut.

One last free time

Everyone got their last two hours of free time today. Nathan and
Tristan whipped their dads in rifle shooting to earn some ice creams.

Made It!

Today was the day to finish up the incomplete badge skills. Brandon
had to get his 'hockey stop' skill done. He had been trying for three
days. After 30 minutes we walked up to find this:

High Nutrition

As you might tell from this picture, we have enjoyed our unlimited
cereal mornings.

Cool Down Time!

We generated quite a buzz this afternoon when we unveiled this little
setup. We may end up renting the tent out for parties or something.

Crawlies

We found this guy wandering around last night. That's a quarter we put
down for scale.
Nathan made it to the archery top 10, but lost it from there. He was
very proud for a first year to make it that far.

Doin' Fine

Brandon even took seconds at breakfast today! We were the most excited
that he finally had a shower...

Swimming

This is apparently how you save yourself if you have long sleeves on.
Some of the boys think they look that 'buff' already.

The Lake

This is what the view looks like from the lake house. Pretty nice
stuff to try out.

Look Out Below!

Colten has been trying to land his simulator in order to complete his
aviation badge. Several other scouts tried their hands at it, too.
(Imagine a landing field full of smoking craters.)

The good news is that he did finally land safely on Wednesday morning.
I'm still not going up with him anytime soon...

Robin Hood

More archery

Free time archery

Three of the boys tried their hand at archery Tuesday night. Nathan
won the chance to represent the troop in the Wednesday evening camp
contest.

Wave hello

This move is apparently called the oklahoma wave.

Camp requires snacks

'nuff said.

More whittling

Tristan and Brandon chose the canoe as their project. So far, so good
(translation: all fingers still accounted for, and attached).

Sweat shop whittles

During our free time the boys all decided to earn at least one extra
badge, so we're working on woodcarving. Each boy will come home with a
project or two that they have shaped.

Campfire

Skits were performed by the staff this time. Friday is the scouts
turn. Probably about the same caliber...

Flag ceremonies

Each day begins and ends with a flag ceremony. This is what about 800
scouts look like. Ours are directly between me and the flagpole.

Merit Badge Classes

Calvin learns to save drowning scout (who secretly wishes he could
just stay in this nice cool water).

First classes done

We made it through our first two classes of the day and now get a much
deserved lunch break in the air conditioning. If only it wasn't hotdogs!

Chow Time!

The glop for breakfast was a hit. Potatoes, eggs, sausage, and white
gravy casserole on a tortilla (some added salsa, too). We're off to
our first classes!

More chess

Chess! A man's game!

After dinner we tried our hands at the big set.

Hot Stuff

Brandon and Tristan came up with this two tier fan contraption in an
attempt to cool off...I think the lake may work a little better!

Made It!

After a thankfully uneventful trip we arrived at the end of the really
long dirt road that leads into Camp Hale. A week of running around in
the 90's should slim all of us down a wee bit.

Bring on the Crackerjack!

Tiffanie and the symphony are playing at the ballgame tonight (with
the fireworks, too) so we got some comp tickets - sweet! General
admission was just fine by me.

More for Mema!

Just leaving you some proof that we were here first...

Happy Birthday Mema!

And happy retirement, anniversary, mothers day, thanksgiving,
christmas...

Happy Summer!

Each summer we come up with some crazy experiment to try. This year it
was a root beer tasting contest. We found ten different flavors and
ran them head to head (no pun intended) for flavor. Stewarts and
Shasta garnered the most praise. Mug and Sprecher were pretty high on
the list, too.

Nary Contrary

Our garden is doing great this year!