Cold Scout Camping Trip

Lukas, Lennon, and myself went camping for the first time this weekend at Lake Ray Roberts with Lukas's cub scout den/pack.

Here are some random memories.

IT WAS COLD. 

The thermometer was at 35 degrees when we got up on Saturday morning, just 3 degrees off from earning them their "cold weather camping" badge.

One of the popular activities nowadays is launching bottle rockets up into the air. The rocket is made out of a plastic bottle which is filled about 1/3 of the way with water. Then it is pressurized with an air pump before being released. The fins are hot glued on, and appear to be more for fun than function.

Lukas's den leader Paul, set to launch with his son Andrew.

Here you can see Lukas's rocket breaking up on ascent. A tragedy that will not likely ground the cub scout rocket program, since just about every rocket breaks up on ascent...

After that we hiked along the beach- discovering shells, drift wood and deer tracks.

Hat + bed = crazy hair.

Lukas's den went fishing. 

They didn't catch a fish, but that was probably a more authentic introduction to fishing than if they had caught a bunch.

A giant mushroom was discovered on one of our nature hikes...

along with cicada husks.

Lennon always loves a good map.

Here are the boys retiring a flag. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it ended up being a real touching ceremony. First it is hoisted up a pole and one last pledge of allegiance is said to it. Then the blue patch with the stars is cut out, and all of the stripes stripped off. The fabric is folded neatly, and later placed on a fire during a moment of silence.

More nature hikes. We did a lot of hiking...

After walking for a bit Lennon complained about how desperately he needed to take a #2, so we scrambled along different paths trying to find a bathroom. 

We finally double-backed to the campsite and when we got there Lennon said "I don't have to go anymore.".

At the beach. 

I could not keep up with the boys in the sand, so of course they always ran into it.

Here we are at the campfire, getting some cub scout camping rules from Paul.

On the last night we were invited over to another campsite for a fish fry. 

They were a pretty hard-core camping family. We ate the fish (all caught by them, of course), home made chili, roasted hot dogs, and smores. The father was playing guitar and the kids were running around playing flashlight tag. Not so great pictures, but definitely a great memory.

Lukas carried the flag on the way to the morning flag ceremony.

The boys dressed up for the weather. 

They would pretty much stay like this the whole time, even though Iria packed about eight days worth of clothes for an overnight.

Paul and Andrew.

The boys had a lot of fun around the campfire, and smelled nice and smokey by the time they got home :)

One last trip to the beach.