Salt of the Earth

We went camping this weekend with the Boy Scouts. It was a really fun time. Saturday morning started a little bit of a frenzy- as always before a trip. Mick and Thomas made it out the door on time- on their bikes, plenty of water and ready for a VERY long bike ride. Graham and I left a few minutes later with all the gear and a lot of excitement. We watched the boys take off on their bikes-and then took off shortly behind. It was so awesome to see all them biking a long Halsey. A few of the boys were just spinning instead of shifting to a different gear…. Thomas had his bite value to his Camelbak in his mouth the entire time. It was awesome. Graham and I were listening to my iPod on the way there and he picked different songs for us to listen to. One of the songs was Young American by David Bowie. Graham asked me why it was one of my favorite songs- i told him because I had good memories of listening to that song. He asked me about the memories- I told them they were from college when Isamu was still alive. He then asked me how Isamu died. We talked about it in length- up until the day of his death and how I found out he had actually died. Graham said ‘that’s sad’ and I agreed. Then we talked about Kim and how he died. Graham always knew that Uncle Kim died- but up until now he didn’t know how or why. It was a pretty deep conversation for a little boy.

When we got to camp we started setting up the tent and and all. We got the tent pitched and were working on the bedding when the boys started riding in. It was so awesome to see them on their bikes. They were so tired- 13 miles is quite a ride. We fed them and then they set up camp- away from the adults. After a few hours of just hanging out the older scouts started stations where they taught the younger boys different things in preparation for the big Camporee coming up. After that the boys went for a hike and Graham and i played some cards and then headed for a walk to the beach. It was SO beautiful. We sat in the sand and watched some guys fly fish for awhile. It was my most favorite part of the weekend.

We headed back to camp and the boys started cooking dinner- and Mick and G and I headed over to the adult camp where they had made a pot roast in a dutch oven. We had a taste then decided Mick’s steaks sounded much better. Thomas patrol made spaghetti, green beans, and garlic bread. Graham made Ramen noodles and ate it in his mess kit. We all just hung out and visited for awhile- then the troop had campfire where each of the patrols had to come up with 2 skits and a song. We all enjoyed it and laughed a lot. Then we ‘retired’ 3 flags over the fire. We ended the night with Vespers. It was so cool. We were all pretty tired and headed to bed then. It was pretty cold but my new mummy sleeping bag kept me so warm and snugly. I think it took Graham all of 7 minutes to fall asleep.

The next morning we woke up around 7:30am and had breakfast. Mick cooked eggs and bacon for us. We broke down camp then and started getting ready to head out. The scouts headed off to chapel and Graham and I roasted marshmallows and made mid morning smores since we didn’t get to the night before. We left shortly after and followed the boys on bikes for a bit. Mick was the only adult left to lead the boys on bikes. It was a bit nerve racking for him- but he did a really good job and everyone made it back- and safely!

We ended the night by going to Calamity Jane’s for dinner. It was awesome and one of the best weekends.

Graham started a blog- he said he might blog his experience.

More later-
T