Once upon a time Chuck was in a bit of a pickle and needed a second adult leader to accompany him to Scout Camp for a week. The qualifications were someone who could abandon their job/family/responsibilities for that particular week, someone who was Youth Protection Trained, and someone who wouldn't be a terribly annoying co-leader up in the mountains. I fit the first two, so he let the third slide ;).
And that's how I was recruited for Scout Camp! We drove up late Sunday night, pitched tents in the dark and woke up to beautiful deer welcoming us the next morning:
Well, technically I slept in so all I saw were the pictures of the deer welcoming us. Basically the same thing though.
Chuck ditched us to go down and iron out all the boys' merit badge class schedules (we had four Scouts with us, along with another dad - 11 year old Scouts can only attend camp if a parent accompanies them... Clyde just got lucky to have two haha!) and then we all met up at the Water Front as part of our tour with our Scout Friend. Chuck and Clyde both hopped in the (freezing!) water and completed their swim checks. I stayed far away from the water.
Classes started Monday after lunch, and we let the boys do their thing. Chuck walked around the first couple days to make sure they found where they needed to be, but otherwise we opted to give them space - although we did happen up on Clyde in First Aid doing carries one afternoon and got a pretty good laugh.
Part of Chuck's recruitment strategy was to promise me TWO camping pads to sleep on and a comfy chair and plenty of time to read. I think I ended up finishing three books through the week?
I also took time to pose with a deer and around camp adorably in an effort to seem outdoorsy.
Honestly, hanging out with Chuck for a week is the best - even at Scout Camp! He's cute.
Camp Morrison hacks: send your Scouts mail! They get called up in front of everyone and it's adorable. Also, if you forget and/or break your sunglasses, you can buy some for $5 in the trading post. I ended up with orange (duh). Also, sign up for KP (Kitchen Patrol) duty on Monday night after dinner. This was Chuck's... seventh? ish? year as a leader up there so he knew all the secrets. Monday after dinner is the best, because that way the boys aren't late to their classes like they risk with a breakfast or lunch KP, and there isn't cool free time you'd miss because it's the first night.
And the funniest trick to remember: if you think you see one of your old Cub Scouts... like, you keep doing double takes and are seriously alarmed at how much this staff kid looks like one of your old Cub Scouts... um, it probably IS one of your old Cub Scouts. I seriously awkwardly started at Ethan alll day Monday and then Tuesday morning said something to Clyde and he was like, "yeah, that IS Ethan." So we took a selfie to send to his mom haha.
With such a small troop, we ended up sharing a bigger campsite with another troop - our friends from the 18th ward! It was nice and spacious so everyone had room:
Aaaand the only real awkward bit was the latrine facility - right there, fairly close to the campfire so when you're sitting around relaxing you're also staring at the ankles of whoever is patronizing the joint at that particular moment haha. Everyone was super patient and respectful with having me in camp - Chuck rigged up a cool rope thing for me to put up whenever I was in there to assure a slight amount of privacy. Ohhhhh drop toilets. Good times.
Tuesday morning dawned bright and early with a lovely walk down to the waterfront - Chuck and Clyde did the polar bear plunge! To lessen the shock risk, they have everyone run in their ankles, back on the sand, in to their knees, back to the sand, in to their waists, back to the sand, in to their shoulders, back to the sand, and finally all the way in. And then they make them stay out there and do the hokey pokey and splash each other haha. I'm not going to lie; it was pretty entertaining!
Random pictures from around camp - the fire bowl the first night was awesome; I'd say the Raisin Bran skit was my fave.
We didn't overlap with our campsite buddies a ton; we ate separately and only had a few classes together, but we enjoyed time together each evening by the campfire, usually combined with treats and some night games:
And one really fun aspect of camping together was figuring out some connections with Brother Blackhurst! Turns out I go to workout class with two of his amazing daughters, and he grew up in the same area as my dad and went to school with my aunt Diane! He had some really fond memories of my Grandpa Pat which always makes my day.
Oh man, the rocks up at Camp Morrison are one of the highlights for all the Scouts. This rock was a 'wall challenge' that our troop loved to tackle:
It's hard to see, but Clyde and Chuck have basically the same smile in this picture and it kills me.
Clyde did the archery merit badge class and loved it; we ended up there a lot during free time.
Clyde also did the chess merit badge one evening, and Chuck did some archery too.
...which obviously meant I ended up getting talked in to trying it out. Thanks to careful coaching and instruction via Archer Extraordinaire Basitan (pictured with me below) I actually did all right!
Wednesday we took some of our boys down to the Water Front for open swim and I finally braved the water and attempted my swim test. I did two laps and called it a day, perfectly satisfied to have only earned my red 'beginner' swim status haha.
I also gave in to a great deal of peer pressure and agreed to do the Polar Bear Challenge the next morning - so I made the boys do a practice run with me haha.
And thus Thursday morning found us back at the dang water front again - have I mentioned it's like a twelve mile walk? or maybe like a one mile walk. Either way, it's super long.
I think this was my face when I really realized what I'd signed up for and that they weren't going to let me back out....
So in we went! Clyde was a good sport and did it again with me, and Brother Blackhurst joined in as well. OH MAN it was cold. I wanted to cry. And run away. I love my shocked expression after coming up out of the water. SO COLD!!!
Yay for towels and the fire and warm dry clothes and heading back to bed after breakfast haha.
Um, one of the coolest parts of Camp Morrison is the outdoor showers. I mean, you're obviously within some walls but there's no ceiling and the trees are beautiful and the water's nice and warm and it was SO refreshing. Also we had to switch the sign to women and have Chuck hang out as guard outside. There were lots of female staff up at camp, but I was the only female leader there all week with a specific troop.
Instagram caption: Ohhh man I love this wee Boy Scout ⚜️. As wary as he was of having BOTH parents as leaders this week, I think it’s gone pretttty good- an early compromise was forged that I can’t kiss him or try to hold his hand but I CAN sling my arm around his shoulder when we walk down to eat. I’ll take it! 🙋🏻♀️🙌🏼😎
Thursday evening there were Scoutmaster competitions for all the shooting sports, so Clyde took on both of us. First he totally schooled me in archery:
And then Chuck avenged my honor by schooling him at rifle-shooting! Chuck and the rifle range master Calvin go way back so it was really fun to meet him and watch Chuck get a killer grouping on his target!
Um, also did I mention how beautiful it was? I love trees and treelines and blue skies and sunlight. Enough to put up with drop toilets ;).
Instagram caption: 21 years ago I came here for girls camp and got reprimanded (unfairly, I maintain) for fraternizing with the boys on staff. I’m making my triumphant return to Camp Morrison this week for Boy Scout camp and (spoiler alert) this time around I’m sharing a tent with a boy 😳👀⛺️🙌🏼 #winning #upgrade 💃🏻💁🏻♀️😂 Special thanks to my awesome in-laws for finding this cute Scout shirt for me and sending it up in time for me to wear it here!!
Couple more photo ops:
After years of sending Chuck up as a scout leader with other boys, it was really fun to watch him get to be a leader with one of our boys.
The week honestly went by fast - Friday the boys had their final classes in the morning, followed by us bidding farewell to a couple of our boys (Brother Chappell, Nathan and Hyrum headed home early) and then came Friday afternoon's entertainment: the Bull Run. It's a crazy Scout skills competition that involves the Scouts running all over camp and earning points, all ending at the Water Front. Clyde and Michael combined with our neighbor troop and then grabbed a few miscellaneous boys from other troops who wanted to participate and here they all are:
I got dragged down to the Water Front because teams are offered bonus points for every one of their leaders that will do a belly flop. Fun fact: the belly flops are done in the deepest section of water THAT I WAS NOT ALLOWED IN AS A BEGINNING SWIMMER. So, to participate in the belly flop challenge I had to first do the swimming test - from the beginning. I looked Tristan in the eye and said, "So... in order to do something I don't want to do, I first have to do something else I don't want to do?" And he said yes and I said GRRR and then I did the dumb swim test and passed, finally earning that coveted blue sharpie on my buddy tag.
And then we quickly learned that I suck at belly flops. My self-preserving instinct steps in and I bend and curl and move and just jump in haha. Tristan made me try a few times, even joining in at one point:
Finally they counted this one haha. Oh man, it hurts just looking at the pictures again!
I did make Tristan take a picture with me later to commemorate how difficult I made his life at various points during the week. He's the best!
And here was the whole Bull Run team, complete with leaders! I think they ended up placing 5th in the whole camp, which is pretty awesome!
Here's our Troop 101 gang. There's a lot of bonding that can only be completed in this kind of setting, and I was really grateful for the chance to join in this week:
These four were pretty excited for their reunion Saturday morning! Grandma Pam took excellent care of the younger three in our absence and as always we are so so grateful.
Scout Camp was fun, although I told Chuck over and over it was a one time thing. Spoiler alert: it wasn't ;).
