Testosterone Overload...

This weekend, Joey and I went on the Webelos Woods camping trip with the Webelos 1 and 2 from Cub Scout pack 200 and the scouts and leaders of Boy Scout troop 200.  There were approximately 80  scouts/leaders from the troop and about 45 cubs/parents/siblings from the pack on this camping trip.  You could practically smell the testosterone wafting through the woods.  I was one of two females there and the other one was only 7 yrs old.  Despite claims by anyone that they received text messages to the contrary, I actually had a very good time.  Since Webelos Woods is a camping trip that introduces the boys to boy scout style camping trips, the cub scout parents got to hang out around camp, chat, read books, crochet (YAY), watch the football games (yes, really) and generally relax.  When the cubs weren't with the boy scouts, they had a raging war game involving  hostages and big stick weapons going on through the woods.  I think the only times we really saw them were  at meals and bed time.  It was actually a pretty fabulous time.

I learned a few things on this camping trip.  One, 50 degrees is freaking cold when you are sleeping outdoors.  Two, after years of lifting stretchers and riding horses, my lower back is not very tolerant of sleeping on the ground.  Three, you can't find a camp chair anywhere in the teeny, tiny town right next to one of the biggest boy scout camps n the state in October but you can find a Chewbacca Halloween costume and an aisle full of artificial Christmas trees.  And, four, despite two nights of not so good sleep and a really sore back, you can still come home in a pretty damned good mood.

There were a lot of cool little things that happened on this camp out.  The
boys got to build catapults with the boy scouts. They were divided into two teams and competed to see which
team could hurl a projectile the farthest. Joey's team won and he was so truly thrilled.  After they finished with the catapults, the boys got to beat the crap out of a couple of pinatas. They scarfed down the candy they got from the pinatas and then bounced around the woods on a sugar high until dinner.  Hmmm, maybe that's why their war games were so wild?  The cubs got to fill one of their many requirements by helping to prepare dinner and cleaning up after.  The adults did the prep work for dinner.  Somehow we didn't think arming a bunch of boys on a sugar rush with knives and telling them to chop up veggies would be a good idea.  Once the prep was done, we set up an assembly line and the boys put together their meals.  They got to wrap up all kins of veggies and huge burgers in foil pouches.  We  cooked the meals  right on the coals of the fire pit the manly men dug earlier.  It's surprising just how delicious a simple meal like that can be.  The day was  wrapped up with a truly unique experience.  The cubs got to participate in a flag retirement ceremony.   None of the boys had ever done that before and it was so cool to get to experience that with them.  Joey came back from this weekend excited about getting to be a part of that boy scout troop in the not to distant future and I came back very tired but very, very thankful that I had got to spend that time with my middle son.

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Once I wrote this post, I realized how absolutely perfect it was for Perfect Moment Monday but, regrettably, Perfect Moment Monday is on hiatus.  I decided to recognize that aspect of it anyway.  Thank you Lori for helping me to always stop and recognize those moments in my life.