a million and one scout camp pictures

The boys left on Saturday morning, since it's a full day drive to camp Buck Toms in Tennessee. Official check in was on Sunday, so they had to make tinfoil dinners the first night. Those cabins had so many spiders, Ethan said the boys went on a "spider massacre" to kill hand-sized daddy long legs and other creepy spiders. He said he didn't really kill any because they didn't bother him. He is obviously not my child...(Ethan says "that's mean.")

The boys all headed to church on Sunday. I was surprised when they said they only had to drive about 15 minutes to reach the nearest LDS branch.

Ethan said they only had to wear their scout shirts to the mess hall for dinner each night.

Opening ceremonies. Ethan loved the funny skits (go ahead, google Falling Rocks. Apparently it's a popular skit in the boy scout world...).

They had to move to a different camp ground because someone put them in the wrong one on Saturday. This one is smaller (He said they were the smallest troop there that week, with 6 boys and 2 adults). And it rained as they carried their things to the new cabins.

This is Cardiac Hill. They had to climb it three times a day to get to the mess hall because their cabins were the farthest away from the main section of camp.

Shooting riffles, which Ethan enjoyed but said he wasn't very good at it.

"Waterfront!" That's what you have to shout every time you talk about the lake (at least, if you're in a skit).

It's also where Ethan took the BSA swim test, when Ethan learned you aren't allowed to doggy paddle or put your head under water (not because the water was dirty and green, but so they could talk to you while you swim). He said someone called out at him to stop doggy paddling even though he claims he wasn't.

Ethan carved Troop 500 into this piece of wood, which was then used to roast marshmallows.

Brother Jolley showed off the most perfect marshmallow ever roasted in the history of roasting marshmallows.

Ethan shot at a watermelon. If he hit it, he got to take the melon back to camp.

He hit it twice! One arrow went completely through the watermelon and into the target.

Unfortunately, they waited a few days to eat it, and because it was punctured, it was rotten by the time they tasted it. He's still talking about his rotten watermelon.

You can see that Chris is a total party animal in this picture, so I had to put a party hat on his head :)

Ethan liked shooting the shotgun, and hit 4 out of 5 clay pigeons.

The boys also went rappelling on a 50 foot tower, started fires, and watched fireworks going off on the other side of the lake on the 4th of July. Our troop is small, so pretty much the boys appreciate each other despite the age differences (from 12-17). It was a great experience Ethan said he'll remember forever!