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| Camp Daniel Boone this morning |
Most of us slept well after the thunderstorm of Sunday night and we started the day off right with a hot breakfast containing a "folded" egg, sausage, biscuits, and gravy. Also available was a cereal bar, orange juice, milk and fruit punch. After breakfast, we headed to the flag ceremony where the American flag was raised and announcements were given. Camp Daniel Boone uses two shifts for dining since everyone cannot fit in the dining hall at once. We have the first shift which eats before both the raising and lowering flag ceremony each day.
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| Whit trying to catch some trout in Lake Allen |
Once the flag ceremony ended, our boys took some time to familiarize themselves with camp before heading to merit badge classes in the areas of ecology, handicraft, leadership, scout craft, shooting sports, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and lifesaving. All 17 of our scouts took merit badges in the morning in these areas and are making progress towards 51 merit badges between them. Everyone did a great job of finding their classes and participating, which gives them a great start on earning the badges. If the week finishes well, we'll award a lot of merit badges at our next court of honor!
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| Gideon, Olen, and Will enjoy their lunch |
After the morning session of classes ended, we all took a break for lunch that included a ham sandwich, broccoli, potato chips, and some type of fruit/jello concoction. Of course, also available was bug juice, sweat tea, milk, and water. Once lunch concluded, there was a friendly and competitive game of ga-ga before heading to the afternoon sessions of classes. The trading post has made some money off of our scouts. One of the most noticeable purchases have been some skunk hats worn by at least three of our scouts. Time will tell how many skunk hats will be purchased by our scouts before the week is complete. Perhaps that will be a new patrol name.
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| Benson, George, and Whit sporting the skunk hats |
In the afternoon, the first year scouts attended the Goin' Great program, which will help them earn the requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class. By all accounts, their first day was a success. The other scouts headed to classes in the areas of climbing, handicraft, leadership, scout craft, shooting sports, and STEM. There was some free time before a fire drill where scouts took the time to participate in a variety of activities around camp.
After the fire drill, we enjoyed dinner that consisted of a macaroni pasta, garlic bread, and coconut cake. Then, we participated in the flag lowering ceremony for the day before heading into some more free time before the "opening" campfire. Since the opening campfire was canceled from the night before, they rescheduled it for Monday night and it was a special campfire! During the free time before the campfire, a few of us saw the bear that has been roaming around camp. At first nobody believed Luke when he causally mentioned "There's the bear". Mr. Stanford was able to get a picture of the bear, although not a good one. (Looks sort of like a Bigfoot picture.)
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| Black bear passing by our campsite |
After the campfire, the scouts headed back to camp to take showers and enjoy some snacks before heading to bed. The weather on Monday was really wonderful. It was overcast most of the day, but it was not hot and we didn't see a drop of rain.
The scouts have done an excellent job of taking showers and proving to be a very clean bunch overall. One of the reasons is because we have a very nice shower house near our campsite. All of our noses are thankful for that.
To see all the pictures from Monday,
follow this link.
