MaeLyn's Musings

The day was May 5th. The time: 6:30 pm. The event: The Pack 124 Pinewood Derby Peter was excited about his car. After debating several different ideas, he had finally decided he wanted a hamburger riding a skateboard. He developed the design, and helped saw the block of wood in half. His Dad helped with the shaping and the sanding. I helped with the shaping of the "hamburger buns", and then Peter painted it. Steven attached the wheels and added the weights inside the hamburger bun. (We were contributing our digital scale as the official scale for the race, so we were able to get the weight exactly right before we arrived, which was nice.) Before the official race, while some of the boys were adding weights to their cars, others of the boys, including Peter, had some practice races. Peter won most of those, but I think something happened to damage his car, because when the official races began, he consistently came in last place, much to his devastation. No amount...

This summer, the Boy Scouts of America changed the Cub Scouting program . They got new books, new requirements, new awards. This was about the same time that Peter turned 10 and joined the Webelos Den of which I'm the Den Master. We currently only have two boys, Peter, and his friend Brian. Since June, we've completed Cast Iron Chef (cooking), First Responder (1st Aid), Stronger Faster Higher (Fitness), and this past month our project was Webelos Walkabout (Hiking). To complete this achievement, we went on a 3 mile hike on Saturday. We met at our house and packed lunches and trail mix. Then we piled into the car and drove to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge . Peter was the trail leader, so he had the papers with the trail map. We parked in the parking lot by the Visitor's Center, then hiked the Legacy Trail around Lake Mary and back. We ate our lunch at a picnic table near Lake Mary, and picked up some trash around the picnic area. The boys ta...

Tuesday evening was our pack's Pinewood Derby. Peter designed and painted his car. Steven helped with the cutting and attached the wheels. The racing was a lot of fun. Steven was awarded the responsibility for determining the racing schedule, making sure all eight cars got a chance to race against each of the other cars, and on each of the four tracks. Peter mostly came in 2nd or 3rd, but he did get 1st place in one race.  After the racing, each of the boys received a small award (a gold car on a block of wood, it actually looked kind of cool.) The line of boys during the awards. Peter was at the end of the line, in front of the boy in red.

Peter adds his Bear mother's pin to my collection. The old saying is that the third time's the charm. With my third son, I finally feel like I know what I'm doing when it comes to cub scouts. With John, I sent him off to scouts each week and attended pack meetings once a month, but rarely looked through his book, or tried to do anything at home. I pretty much left everything to his den leaders. With Josh, I was a little better about finishing requirements that weren't completed at den meetings, but with both of them, we were scrambling the last week or two to finish up requirements before their birthday and they "graduated" from their den. (It's an LDS pack, so they move up on their birthday, rather than the end of the school year like other packs.) Peter and me with Cub Master Rob Mussack With Peter, I looked through his book more frequently, stayed on top of finishing requirements that needed to be done at home, and we even completed a couple r...

Last night we had our ward pack meeting. This month, my Webelos have been working on the Showman activity pin, (puppetry, music, and drama) so as part of the agenda, they got to perform a skit that they had written themselves and rehearsed. It reflected their interests: football and rugby. Because we only have two Webelos, Peter and one of the Webelos' little brother also got to participate to round out our cast a little bit. Also during the meeting, the two bears (Peter and one other boy) ran in at random moments with short run-on jokes like: "It's all around me! It's all around me!" "What is???" "My belt!" Our family was also responsible for coming up with a game for everyone to play. I had them play a charades relay. I divided the group into two teams and had them face in opposite directions. One person from each team ran to me (in the middle) to get a word, then went back to their team to act it out. When their team guessed the word...

Last night we went to Pack Meeting. This was our first pack meeting since our ward broke away from combined cub scouts with another ward, so we were still getting the hang of things, but I thought it went pretty well. We had a gathering activity, a word find with cub scout related words. The boys seemed to enjoy that. Peter offered the opening prayer and the boy scout troop did the flag ceremony. Then the boys were given an opportunity to share some of the things they've been learning. I was amazed at how much the current Webelos remembered about the activities we've done this past month! The two boys who were receiving their Bobcat got to act out a little skit, of going camping and leaving on a hike, and having a bobcat come and fall asleep in their tent (I was reminded of Goldilocks...) and coming back and wrestling with the bobcat and coming out of the tent with their bobcat badges. It was fun for those participating, and for the watchers. Other awards were passed ...

Tuesday felt like a busy day. As usual, Steven got up and was on his way to work before 7am.  Around 8:15, two cars pulled up in front of our house. The four kids climbed into one to  a friend's house to play. I climbed into the other and went to join some of the Relief Society sisters in a trip to the Denver temple. We arrived at the temple by 9:30, and attended a 10:00 session. Afterwards I joined some of the sisters for lunch at Cafe Rio, and enjoyed the time  with friends. I didn't get home after 2:30pm, and the kids were still at their friend's house. Enjoying the quiet, I made hoagie rolls for dinner, and did some other chores around the house, but I had a headache and didn't feel like doing a lot. Steven and the kids returned home within ten minutes of each other, around 6pm. We had hoagie sandwiches for dinner, then set off to go to a cub scout pack meeting. Our summer cub scout attendance is very, very low. There were only about four or five families at the...

I just waved good-bye to Joshua and Peter as they set off for their last day of Senior Boys' Day Camp. Dressed in T-shirts and jackets against the cold weather they hopped in our friend's car with their water bottles and lunches. They have enjoyed their last two days, and are excited to find out what they will be doing today. I love seeing that kind of enthusiasm!   In past years, our boys have attended the District Cub Scout Day Camp, which traditionally involved five days of rotating between six stations in a huge mass of boys, indistinguishable in their matching shirts and hats, with only a different colored bandana to tell which group the boy was supposed to be traveling with. Three days into the camp, our boys were tired and exhausted, sick of wearing the same stinky shirt, moaning about having to attend one more day. This year, frustrated with the official scout bureaucracy and the high costs, our stake decided to break away, and have their own day camp for the cub s...

Of the three kinds of derbys that our cub scout pack participates in, I think the Space Derby is my least favorite. Like the pinewood derby, each scout is supplied with a kit consisting of a chunk of balsa wood, some suggested building instructions, and a small bag of odds and ends to be used to make the propeller and the rubber bands that are the motor. Our boys brought their kits home from their den meetings last Wednesday, and the Space Derby was held last night.   The difficulties we experienced this year are probably my fault. I forgot about making the rockets until Monday morning. Remembering as we were eating breakfast, I found Steven's wood glue and glued the two halves of each rocket together while simultaneously trying to get the boys packed and ready to leave for school. When they returned home that afternoon,  I handed Josh and Peter each a sheet of sandpaper and told them to start sanding. (The balsa wood is supposedly soft enough that it is supposed to be shape...

Last night was our Blue and Gold Cub Scout Celebration. The tradition in our pack is that all the cubs and their dads make cakes. (No women are allowed to help.) Steven and the boys baked the cake Monday evening, and then decorated it last night after Steven got home from work. Luckily he was able to get home earlier than normal so they had plenty of time. They decided to make a dalek, which is a robotic looking alien from Doctor Who.

Last night, Josh and Peter participated in their pack's Pinewood Derby. (And I actually remembered to bring the camera!) Here is Josh with his LEGO car...  ...and Peter with his banana car. We arrived around 6:30, and had to do a bit of work to get the boys' cars as close to the weight limit (5 oz) as possible without going over. Below, Steven drilled holes in the bottom of Peter's car in order to insert a lead weight.  As Assistant Cub Master, Steven got to man the computer program which kept track of whose turn it was to race. They did the race in three heats, one for each den, and then the fastest two cars from each den raced at the end. Josh's car got second place for the Webelos, and I think someone said he got 4th place over all. Peter's car won third place for the Wolves. (I think when I took the picture, he was disappointed that he wasn't in the top two and wasn't able to be in the final set of races.) It was a great oppor...

Last night was our pack's raingutter regatta. When we arrived, there was a bit of a panic because they couldn't find the rain gutters that they've always used in the past, and what is a raingutter regatta without any rain gutters? Anyway, they found something that would work instead (the light covers to the outdoor pavilion we were meeting in) and the meeting began. By tradition in this pack, the boys make the boats at the pack meeting out of simple materials - a Styrofoam base with a wooden dowel mast and a cardstock sail. They were simple, but they worked. The boys lined up at one end of the gutters, blew their boats to the end, then ran around to get back in line to race again. Steven served as assistant cubmaster, telling them when to start. ("Ready, Set, Blow!") Each of the boys made a boat and raced it, while Hannah staked out the dessert table, and helped take pictures. I watched and took a few pictures myself.  Here are some of the pictures we took: T...

Josh and Peter had their 2nd day of Cub Scout Day Camp today. (Yesterday was cancelled due to precipitation. Today was sunny and warm.) I got to come and hang out with them today. I didn't take many pictures, but here are some that I did take. Joshua Peter standing in line at the BB gun station. Josh shooting his BB gun Peter loading his BB gun Peter listening to a first aid instructor. Josh applying a tourniquet. The boys also made wind vanes, made leaf pictures with photo sensitive paper, played capture the flag and sharks and minnows, built bird houses, and got to see some search and rescue dogs - all today! By the time we got home, I was exhausted. (The kids - not so much.)