Living in the Moment

When Nick and I were Cub Scout camp, I had the opportunity to observe two kinds of parents - those who participated as little as possible and those who threw themselves into the mix and had as much fun as the kids. (There was even one disagreeable fellow who went so far as too tear down every activity as being lame and not very fun. [Never mind that his son was having a great time with all of these "lame" activities.] Fortunately he was an extreme case.)

It was really interesting to see the contrast between these types. It was pretty clear who I wanted to hang out with - the guys who were having fun and getting dirty. So that's what I did and I had a great time. When it was over, some the other active dads and I were talking about how we wouldn't mind a few more days of this. The non-participants, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get home.

Don't get me wrong. It was great that these parents took time to bring their sons to camp. However, by holding back, camp became a job or a chore that had to be done. Instead of counting down the hours to departure time, they could have been out there having a great time themselves.

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Summer Camp Report

Summer Camp 2009 has come and gone. Here are the highlights:

1. We arrived around 6pm on Friday evening. Our pack had apparently offended the Cub Scout bureaucracy, because we found ourselves assigned to the campsite farthest from everything. This meant a pretty long hike to meals and to our activities.

2. After check in we hit the pool for the swimming test. If you've been reading my blog, you I've been working hard to improve my swimming skills so I could pass the swimmer test at camp. Well - I passed the test. Nick's been working on his swimming this year and he was able to pass the beginner's test, which was a surprise to me. I was very proud of him. The downside to the swimming test was that it was cloudy and about 60 degrees - brrrrrr.

3. With the swimming test complete, we settled into our campsite for the night. The boys played games with the some of the camp staff while the adults hung out. Due to the drought, we were not able to have a campfire, which was a drag.

4. Activities started early on Saturday morning. After breakfast we went to the corral for pony rides. Nick had an awesome pony named Toppy. He loved it. A scout from another pack was thrown off of his pony, but fortunately wasn't injured.

5. The next event was the swimming pool. Well, it was another cold day. I doubt it was 60 degrees when we swam. The pool was well-heated, but getting out really sucked.

6. After swimming was boating. We paired up with another father and son for a row boat trip. It was chilly and windy (see above), but we had a nice time.

7. Next up was lunch and free time. We should have rested during free time, but the kids played games and some of us dads threw a football around.

8. After free time we went to the archery range. We determined that Nick is right-handed, but left-eye dominant. (Just like me.) I had him shoot left-handed. He did well with the aiming and shooting, but the poor kid really struggled knocking arrows and getting ready to fire with his wrong hand.

9. Next was the BB gun range. Nick was probably the most excited for this activity. I had him shoot left-handed again, but the results weren't as good as with the bow. Fortunately he wasn't discouraged and is eager to try it again.

10. After BB guns was yet another trip to the pool. Sadly it wasn't any warmer this time than the two previous trips to the pool. However, like all good scouts, we refused to let a little thing like frigid weather ruin our swim.

11. After dinner the camp staff put on a campfire and show with lots of skits. They put on a great show and it was a lot of fun.

12. Upon returning to camp, the kids played more games with the camp staff. Some of us dads were dragged into a game called "Army/Navy" which was advertised as not involving a lot of running, but actually consisted of nothing but running and diving on the ground. The fact the guy running the game was a sadistic 15-year-old Boy Scout didn't make it any easier on us old guys. I have several bruises on my knees from the game.

13. Sunday morning consisted of crafts, skills, and a nature walk. For crafts, Nick built a cool rubber band powered paddle boat. For skills, he learned to tie some knots and casting a fishing rod. During the nature walk he learned to identify some plants and played a live action game of Oregon Trail (remember that computer game?). The kids were all dragging by this point, but they had fun. I should mention that the weather on Sunday was sunny and warm. Were we schedule to use the pool? Of course not. Sigh.

14. Before we could have lunch we had to clean or campsite and get ready to leave. The same sadistic Boy Scout from the Army/Navy game was in charge of inspecting our camp. We eventually were cleared for lunch and departure.

15. We got to do free choice events before we left. Nick and his friend Henry chose to ride ponies again. I was happy to see the sadistic Boy Scout off doing some unpleasant looking stable cleaning chores. Karma, dude. Karma.

So that was camp. It was a great time. I would have happily stayed for a couple of more days (particularly if they were sunny and warm) and Nick would have been happy to move in permanently. I have a lot of admiration for the staff and they really have inspired me to try some things to become a more effective Cub Scout leader.

I didn't take many photos of just Nick, but here are two:

Nick riding a pony on Sunday afternoon. Notice the blue skies.

Nick showing off his rubber band powered paddle boat:

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Summer Camp!

Nick and I leave for summer camp in a couple of hours. I think I packed way too much stuff, but unusually cold temperatures plus a chance of rain means I'd rather be safe than sorry. Besides, it all fits in the giant duffel bag I purchased!

I'm not sure if I'm ready for the swimming test or not. I doubt I'm going to feel much like jumping in the pool tonight given the cold temps, but I'll give it a shot. Even if I don't pass today, I've made dramatic improvement in a short time, so I think I can be satisfied with that for now. This morning Nick asked me if I thought I would pass the swimming test. I said that I didn't know. His response? "I don't think you will because you aren't a very good swimmer." Gotta love the brutal honesty. Apparently the "my dad can do anything" phase has passed!

Anyway, we'll be gone until Sunday. Hopefully there will be good stories and pictures then.

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Swimming Test

Nick and I leave for Cub Scout Summer Camp on Friday. It should be a great weekend filled with tons of fun activities: swimming, boating, archery, BB guns, pony rides, campfires, skits, and flag ceremonies. Nick, like any red-blooded American boy, is most excited for the shooting activities. Yesterday he asked me if things "blew up" when you shot them with a BB gun. I had to break the bad news to him - no explosions, just tiny holes in a piece of paper. He took it pretty well, though I imagine a small piece of childhood died on hearing it.

The first activity of camp is the swimming test for both adults and kids. Now Nick isn't quite ready to pass any of the tests. Next year he should be able to pass the first level. My goal for this year is to pass the swimmer test.

Now I should probably include some background here, because passing the swimmer test is probably not a big deal for most normal people. Unfortunately I am not a normal person. The Scout swimming test was the bane of my scouting existence when I was a kid. Why? Because I just couldn't swim and I hated the water.

I was always uncomfortable in the water for some reason and I remember HATING swimming lessons. It might have helped if I hadn't been sent to a freezing outdoor pool at some ridiculously early hour for lessons. It also might have helped if the teachers were not graduates of the Wicked and Cruel Swimming Teachers Academy. What chance did I have? (OK - in the interest of fairness, the pool was probably not that cold, it probably wasn't that early in the morning, and the teachers were probably more patient with me than I deserved.) Worst of all, Mom and Dad didn't force me to stick with it.

Anyway, I've never swam well. As an adult I've developed enough technique to get by without drowning in hotel pools. I can swim on my back decently.

This upcoming swim test has motivated me to get my butt in the pool, swim decently, and pass the frakkin' test. I intended to start practicing for the test back in June, but I procrastinated. For the past week or ten days, though, I've been hitting the pool pretty frequently.

I've made some real progress with my front crawl. I still struggle with getting a comfortable breathing rhythm and I use my arms too much. However, I'm pretty close to the point where I think I can pass the test. I'm also liking the workout that I'm getting from swimming, so I'd like to make it part of my routine as a break from running. I still hate swimming, but for some reason I'm enjoying making myself go to the pool. (Apparently the difference between Kid Chris and Adult Chris is that Adult Chris is a masochist.)

On Friday evening I'm going to hit the pool and see if I can exorcise some childhood demons. Wish me luck.

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Pinewood Derby 2009

Pinewood Derby 2009 has come and gone.  I had one goal for this year's Pinewood Derby: I didn't want our car to finish dead last.  In this, we were successful.  We finished second to last.  Nick, I think, was just happy to be there.  He was just pretty excited about having built something.  If nothing else, our car looked pretty cool.  It had lots of cool stickers with flames and stuff.  Awesome.  I was far more concerned with how our car would do than Nick was.

Xander was less excited about the event, although he did enjoy the food selection:

Here's Nick showing off his car:

The real problem with our car was axle alignment.  I knew it was going to be a problem going in and after talking to some other Dads I have a better idea of what to do next year.

Here's how our Pinewood Derby worked.  There were 30 kids entered this year.  Our track has six lanes.  We randomly seed 6 cars for each heat.  The last car in each heat gets an 'X' on the big board.  Three X's and you are out.  Last car standing wins.

The format is tons of fun and it was non-stop action.  I was responsible for putting the cars on the track and starting them.  Let me tell you, I was busy.  By the time we got down to the finals, the two top cars had no X's.  They each won two races, so it all came down to the final race.  Very exciting.  I think everyone had a great time.

I tried to absorb as much as I could this year as I am going to be responsible for the event next year.  Hopefully I will remember how to put the track together...