Scout Camp

The four oldest boys, along with Corey, recently went to Boy Scout Camp. For the twins and Timothy, this was the third summer in a row that they were able to attend. For Joshua, this was his first.

Because Joshua was a rookie, Corey spent most of his time with him. Shooting, horseshoes, games, swimming, hiking, and earning merit badges was how Joshua spent his time.

The twins are both at the Life rank and are just starting their Eagle Projects so they had more freedom at camp this year then in years past. Meaning, they only had to earn the Lifesaving merit badge to finish up all their merit badges for Eagle. All their other time at camp was left up to them, they could do whatever they wanted to do. They chose the Canoeing and Rowing merit badge classes and then played lots and lots of the board game Risk with friends because I like to pay big bucks for them to go to camp and do things that they could do at home.

Timothy wanted to get into the Climbing merit badge class so he submitted his name into the lottery system that they had in place to choose the participants. Luckily, he was chosen and he also earned his Lifesaving merit badge. He also did snorkeling in the very, very cold lake which I was okay with because as far as I know, there are no sharks in the lake.

Every year at camp, one of the activities is the mile swim. Each scout that participates needs to recruit two adults to help, one a spotter and one to row the boat alongside. Michael earned his Mile swim patch a couple of years ago and because he can't stand to be out done Joseph decided that he would brave the icy cold water and earn his.

He was told that he had one of the fastest times that the camp had ever seen. Rarely do they have someone that can swim it under 30 minutes and Joseph did it in 28. Corey said that at the end, when Joseph poured on the speed, he could hardly keep up with him in the boat. Way to go Joe!