12 October 2008
BSA & Cubs: Life Is A Picnic
Posted by admin under: advancement .
Today was the annual troop picnic and court of honor. I hate sewing. The event usually starts mid-morning and we have the families bring their food and eat while the kids scarf it down and run away to play. I really hate sewing. My son, being the SPL, needed to go a little early to help set up and he needed to change out his old Assistant Senior Patrol Leader patch which has been on his uniform for the last six month improperly for his appropriate Senior Patrol Leader patch. I’d rather pop out my eyeballs with a rusty spoon than sew. I know how to do it, though, so while he was getting other things ready I changed out his patch. I just couldn’t have him show up with the wrong patch to our biggest court of honor of the year.
I’m not so lucky, though. I don’t have all the patches on my uniform which I consider terrible, but I’m just so bad at sewing. Since my wife does about 10 times as much stuff as I do I wasn’t about to saddle her with a responsibility that is all mine. By the time I was ready to go to the picnic I was too late to eat there. On the positive side I didn’t get any of my blood on my uniform. 
My Tiger son was raring (or roaring) to go see his friends at the picnic. Cubs were invited by the troop to develop that bridging up bond. Also, the Scoutmaster and Committee Chair have boys both in the troop and the pack so it was a done deal. We got there in time for the games and he went off with his Girl Scout big sister while I went to sign advancement cards and take pictures.
All of the games were fun, but the biggest hits were the sled races (wooden panels with Cubs on them pulled by Boy Scouts) and the balloon stomp where everybody has a balloon tied to his ankle and then tries to defend his balloon while stomping on everyone else’s.
After the games we had our court of honor which was fine. Some of the presentations were serious. Some were silly (that was me). My son was presented with his Life rank. We had raffles and my Tiger won a Rubik’s cube. In fact so did another Tiger in our den. What a coincidence!
Although the wind blew down our flags a few times until we had someone literally sit on the flag stand the court went fairly well. We had most of the families there and a good number of Cub stuck around to see the awards, too, which is unusual.
As we were leaving I saw my son’s partner in next weekend’s outing and told him that if they were serious they needed to get things finalized and call everyone to ensure they knew all about it. Then I went home and gave the same message to my son.
My wife was present for the rank advancement, but had to go home to prepare for the Girl Scout meeting which is going on right now! It was a beautiful day at the park and there was fun and laughter shared and boys recognized. What could be better?
- BSA: Picnic and Learn
- Clarifying President Obama’s Policy Regarding Boy Scouts of America
- Cubs: Dad and Me Time
- New Boy Scout Rank Requirements
- Can My Daughter Be an Eagle Scout?
