$$$$

Our scouting year always includes a banquet called the Blue and Gold. It's a time to celebrate what the boys have accomplished during the year and to simply have time to enjoy the friends we've all made through scouting.

This year the banquet was in a truly lovely facility very close to home. That the banquet facility overlooks the Burger King drive-through was just an added bonus for some.

The scouts don't have to pay for their banquet tickets because that is covered in the $$$fees$$$ we pay to our pack for other scouting-related expenses. Parents must pay for their own $$tickets$$. But the event represents tradition and we enjoy it.

Like most banquets, there are raffle baskets and EVERYONE $$participates$$ and dreams of what he or she will do if they win one of the really good baskets such as the Family Fun basket with the board games, the restaurant gift cards, the ice skating gift cards, the football, and the snacks.

During the Blue and Gold, without warning after dinner (during which my friend's husband discovered a very long hair in his mashed potatoes), a raffle ticket number was called and no one answered. Without much hesitation, the emcee called a second ticket number and that is when my son raced out of the restroom waving the first winning ticket. Some quick thinking on the part of the emcee left my boy with his dream basket: yes, he won the Family Fun one.

We played two house rules games of Monopoly today (on the new board even though we already owned one) and a couple of games of Chinese Checkers. We LOVE Chinese Checkers, but have learned the board we got in the raffle basket is too flimsy and easily ruined when five or six people play. Not to worry though. I've already $$bought$$ a new Chinese Checkers game because we can't let the enthusiasm die, can we?

What a $$bargain$$ that banquet was !! I don't regret a single $.

Have you ever won a raffle before? What did you win?

Z - A Mondays: Uniform

When my oldest boy joined Cub Scouts, he was quite focused. He didn't much care about the badges, experiences, or even the community involvement. What completely captured his imagination was the UNIFORM.

Since then, he has begun to climb through the ranks and has learned more than we ever dreamed. He has been given opportunities to laugh, to build his confidence, to help others. He has formed great friendships and met wonderful adults.

We don't regret anything about Scouting.

The adage says, "The uniform makes the man."

Maybe there is something to that afterall.

Link over to Jen's and meet more A-Z or Z-A bloggers.

Caution Ruminates About Cub Scout Camp

Today is the last day of Cub Scout day camp!!! The boys have fished, shot bb guns and bows and arrows, used tools to make stuff, had to work as teams to build walls, and so forth and so on. My role has been to carry my little camp chair around and engage in witty repartee with the other parents. It's been exhausting.

I've learned some things, though.

1. The tops of my calves (legs, not animals) sunburn ever so easily.

2. Why do so many people overlook quiet kids?

3. I need to lose 5 20 pounds.

4. I've invested too much time growing outward. Maybe I should try to grow upward another two inches. I'm tired of looking into people's nostrils when we talk.

5. Even when police officers are off-duty and at an event as a parent, they can pull rank.

6. People who have lost 100 pounds since the last camp are really happy.

7. Maybe it's not a good idea to have people park in a field where horse shows have recently been held.

8. Some dads take the fishing pole from their kids, hook a fish, and then think their sons will be excited about "catching" a fish.

9. Next year, if I set up a little business selling ice cold beverages just outside the park, I will be a millionaire the very first day.

AND

10. An adult with serious ADHD is not necessarily the best person to teach boys how to use saws. "Whoa! Look at that! While I was walking around not paying any attention, you cut right through the miter box!"

I Really Can Survive Through Wednesday

Goodness gracious, but it's a hot, dusty week for me to be at Cub Scout day camp.

I am quite proud, however, of the enthusiasm and cooperation I've been demonstrating.

One day down.

Two to go.

Happy news?

I got a free camp shirt for some work I did coordinating some enrollment paperwork.

The bad news?

If I put it on, people will think I'm working at the camp.

The happiest news?

The a/c in the van is now fixed.

Life is pretty good after all.

Racing to the Checkered Flag

My kids don't care much about their dad's job. That he has one and gets paid is enough for them. Of course, Checkered is a very popular presenter at the school career day, and that is quite cool. But then it's back to "whatever."

And then March arrives. To other families, March means basketball and spring. To us, it means Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Thus, it is in March when having a dad who works in automotive design is a very good thing.

Presenting the Flag boys' derby entries for 2009:

Son #1: Bobsled/Soapbox racer

Son #2: Speed Racer

Son #3: Space Shuttle

And the mom of this family? She's still stuck on being grateful that Checkered has a job at all.

Postscript: We've been notified that two of our boys will win design awards. One will NOT. You know, I am against the design awards altogether. My plan? Take one meeting. Hammer some wheels into a block of wood. Send the cars down the track. See which cars still have wheels at the bottom of the track. Go to Dairy Queen. The End.

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!)