And We're Off!

July means many things to many people. At this house, July means cub scout camp during the day, and Checkered's, "My back hurts" backyard sleep-outs at night. All this is augmented by Caution's, "I am NOT leaving my bed" attitude. This is how it goes.

For the next three days, all the cub scouts at our neighborhood school will congregate at a local park. There, they will do crafts (boo, hiss), a field game, a water game, and then the REAL stuff: bb guns, fishing with cane poles, bows and arrows. It is a cross between the greatest den meeting ever and a day in the life of "Little House on the Prairie" without the chores, girls, or outhouses. The really mean schoolmaster does tend to be there in the form of some of the volunteers (but how do you complain when they are volunteering???) My boys LOVE day camp beyond description. It's physical, it's with their buddies, and it's what scouts really is all about (again, without the community service/let's do something for others annoyance.)

I especially like day camp because I get to spend the days with my daughter (who happens to be a girl and therefore, ineligible for cub scouts.) HOWEVER, there was a planning glitch this year and I am a little annoyed. You see, the powers that be like the boys to move through the camp in age group cohorts. What that means is that a dad like Checkered (who has three boys attending who were born in different years) must run hither and yon among his boys since they are not in the same group.

The problem with that is that the parent will miss something life-changing with son #1 while watching son #2 paint his craft, and while that is happening, son #3 will have some kind of physical trauma.

Our solution last year was for ME to attend along with Checkered. I enjoyed a bit of flirting with some dads standing around in the sun cheering my son on in each activity. Then Checkered thought I might be having a bit too much fun and my daughter conveniently had a massive asthma attack at home, so I had to abandon camp.

Last year we had two sons attending. This year we have three sons, one father, and one mother attending. Our daughter has been carefully instructed to breathe without asthma. I have carefully instructed myself to flirt only with Checkered.

It's just three days. Three little days. Three opportunities to see my sons grow. Three days...

Tomorrow's post: Is Checkered still able to move after one night on the ground in the backyard? (do not misread that as IN the ground!)