Visiting the ABC'S

What the heck does "visiting the ABC'S" mean, you ask? Why of course it refers to my recent visit to see Albuquerque, Ben, Carrie, & Scott.  I know, it's a bit of a stretch, but I liked it :)

I had a wonderful time seeing my sister and her family, and meeting their new baby Ben.  He is such a handsome dear fellow (see above picture and below pictures)!  The weather in Albuquerque was perfect - low 80's, sunny and arid, so we were able to enjoy some pool time (Ben opted to take a nap).

I admit I was a bit of a baby hog while I was there, but Ben is such a sweet, snugly, sleeper that I couldn't help myself.  He even amazed me with some sweet smiles.

Ben loves to lay on his Neptune mat and watch his friend the octopus.  He gets so excited when he is able to reach out and touch the octopus and make it swing! I'm sure I'd get excited too!

He's such a little sweet pea. . .

And he really enjoyed story time.  His mommy found him the most delightful book called Giraffes Can't Dance, which we all really enjoyed!

Cub Scout Twilight Camp - Part 2

The theme for this year's Twilight Camp was a fun one - C.S.I. which stands for "Cub Scout Investigations."  Each walking den (we were walking den 19) made a camp flag to carry with them throughout the week.  Here's a picture of our boys making their flag.  The big swirly stencil is of a fingerprint.

Here's what it looked like when it was all done.

Speaking of fingerprints, the boys had a station run by a real C.S.I. from Collin County.  She taught us all about fingerprints and crime scenes.  The boys got to dust for their own prints.

They also had a woodworking class

Leather class

They built campfires and made chili (nothing like a hot bowl of chili when it's 100 degrees outside :)

And played lots and lots of games!!

Other memorable moments included a win for best Swap'em for Harrison on Monday (out of 350 scouts), and I won for best Swap'em for leaders on Wednesday (out of 50 leaders).  This is my Twilight Hat with my swaps.  Harrison's swap is the little evidence vial with the "bloody swab"  inside.  My swaps are the "Wanted by CSI" character trading cards.

Harrison also had a blast on the Friday night overnighter.  Darren came up to camp and helped him set up a tent and they slept outside.  I'm informed that at night it only cooled down to 85 degrees - sounds comfortable huh?!?!

It was a fun year at Twilight Camp.  Next year I get to do it again with Ryder since he will be old enough to attend with his Wolf Pack.  I can't wait?

Cub Scout Twilight Camp - Part 1

This past week Harrison and I spent our evenings at Twilight Scout Camp for Weeblos.  It was extremely hot (think 100 degrees and humid), but we managed to have a great time anyway!  Harrison had a chance to do some archery

and BB guns

They built some really cool model rockets

Which they then planned to launch if not for some bugs getting in the way of the launch sequence

That is a real dragonfly on top of the launch pole - scout's honor.  Cool huh?!?!

But eventually they were able to blast off!!  Unfortunately, Harrison was in the very first group to launch their rockets.  It sounds great, but what it really meant was that they were the test group and due to the angulation of the launch poles, Harrison's rocket ended up in the lake.  I guess that's what's called, "Goin' down in a blaze of glory!"

At the end of the first day our "Walking Den" won the Spirit Award for doing the most chanting and singing as we moved from station to station throughout the evening.  As a reward we got to be in charge of raising the flag during Opening Ceremonies the next day.  The boys did a really great job!

                

Of course the best part of all was that they got to just chill (maybe not the best word considering the weather!) with friends.