Arrow of Light

Isaac earned his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts and it was awarded to him last night.  For the non-Cub Scouters out there, the AOL is the top award in Cub Scouting and the only one that can be worn on the Boy Scout uniform.  There are all sorts of achievements along the way that Isaac has got through with the help of Mike and Steve his Webelos leaders.

Here he is getting the patch pinned to his uniform.

Here is the awesome plaque that Mike and Steve made for him. It has his initials, that year, pack number, and everything, including a real arrow.

Thumbs Up for Isaac's Arrow of Light..!!

Pinewood Derby Car 2012

This is Isaac's last year of Pinewood Derby.  I figured the he better have a bigger part in the construction.  So, I set him up with the band saw, drew some lines on the block and got him started.

 We only had one broken saw blade and look at that sweet truck body.

 A coat of primer...

 A coat of red...

 In the rush I still don't have the 'photo shoot' pics of the truck yet... But here is Isaac at the race.

 Setting the truck on the track...

 That race was a squeeker...

The truck didn't do so well on the track.  It raced out pretty well, but I didn't take the time to set up the axles the way I have in the past.  I am certain that if I'd spent the time he would have done better.  Overall good experience.  Check back for more pictures of the truck.

Pack 193 Blue and Gold 2012

The Blue and Gold banquet for Pack 193 was last Wednesday.  We were even late for hockey practice to make sure that we stayed for the whole thing.  This is the third year running that there was a taco bar for dinner.  

My how things are different at Scouts.  He is a picture of Isaac and Paul sharing tricks on iPod video games.

Here is a picture of a welcoming ceremony for a new Cub.  This picture looks a bit demonic to me, but it was nice.

Isaac got a fist full of pins and belt loops.  Thanks Mike for helping him earn them all...!!!

Here is the young man with his bag of goodies.

Isaac got some Cub Scout Beltloops

Isaac set a goal of earning 10 Cub Scout Beltloops over the summer. For those of you unfamiliar, it's like merit badges for the younger boys. There are two main categories, Athletic and Academic. Well, he earned 14.
He got: Baseball, Softball, Bicycling, Communication, Family Travel, Fishing, Good Manors, Hiking, Hockey, Pet Care, Reading and Writing, Swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, Video Games. (He wanted to be the first one in the Pack to earn the Video Game Beltloop, it is new this year. No one else in the Pack has earned it yet.)

He also earned he also earned 10 pins, which are continuations of the Beltloops. The boy has to earn the belt loop and complete 4 or 5 more tasks in the same subject.

He earned his Whittling Chip Card, which allows a Cub Scout to carry a pocket knife to Scouting functions.

AND, two Silver Arrow Points to go under his Bear rank.

It was quite the night for him, that is a lot of awards. He call Trisha on the ride home to thank her for all of the help this summer meeting his goal. (Me too, THANKS Trisha..!!)

We do have more pictures from Pack Meeting, I will have to post them later.

Cub Scout CampOree...

I took Isaac and the other cubs to the Buckskin Council CampOree on Saturday. They had a bunch of fun. We had about half of the boys that made it.

They started off looking through the mountain man camp. They had old tents, they were cooking over the fire, and one fellow had some sweet old rifles. He had one kind that I had never seen, it was a trap door rifle. He told us that they were mostly conversions from standard black power rifles. They would cut a door in the top of the breech where a cartridge could be placed in the chamber, then the trap door was locked into place, and fit could be fired. It was quite interesting.

Here is a picture of the boys and their guide from the scaffold maze. It was set up with Cub Scout questions and if they got the answers correct they took a short cut. You can also see that they each got a bamboo walking staff. This one was a little scary. They had on boy sit on a cart, like from under a garage can, while the other one pushed him around a loop in the sidewalk. I am surprised that there were not more skinned knees.

The rock climbing wall was a big hit with the boys. Isaac made it to the top, he was stoked. He told me that he used his legs a lot more that his arms this time and his hands were not nearly as sore. The WV National Guard was running the climbing wall, the guy strapping on the harnesses saw Isaac's 'Recruiter' badge (from inviting David to join) and had him tell one of the other guys that he was a recruiter. I caught wind of the conversation and had Isaac tell both of them that he was too honest to be a recruiter. They enjoy the joking.

Isaac found the pogo sticks. Most of the boys there had trouble with them, even the Boy Scouts, probably because they have not used one before. The guy tried to help Isaac get started, Isaac took off with it and ended up having a bunch of kids stop to watch him ride the thing.

So, the is a quick overview of the CampOree. Thanks to Matt and James for helping me herd cats... aaaa... I mean the boys.

Pinewood Derby

Tonight was the Pinewood Derby. Pretty wild, lots of yelling... And the kids were loud too. Here are the pictures.

Isaac and his car.
Here is the line up. There were 12 cars.
The track was borrowed from another Pack in the area. I was a nice two lane track made for some good racing. Isaac had some good runs. When he won he was stoked.

The big winner of the night was.... David. He took the top spot.

For those of you that don't know, David is Isaac's friend that lives up the street here at The Ridges. Isaac invited him to go to scouts in the fall and he joined and has been going ever since.

Isaac's Pinewood Derby Car

Isaac chose a Lamborghini design for his Pinewood Derby car. It took some doing. Lots of gluing, cutting, sanding, painting, and fussing. Here are the pictures.