Rain and Cub Scouts

Brandon and I will be heading to Camp Baker for Fun with Son this weekend. Its a two night campout for Cub Scouts with the usual array of scout activities: bb guns, archery, knot tying, leather craft, sling shots, boating, a treasure hunt and so much more.

We went to Fun with Son for the first time last year. It was held in October on a weekend much like this one - wet and chilly. I must admit I was skeptical about how much fun it would be. Brandon and I drove down to camp, about 10 miles south of Florence on the coast, late on Friday evening. It was dark by the time we arrived. I had no idea how primitive the campsites would be. All the campsites I have been to have had some lightposts to guide the way. Luckily we were guided to our campsite by fellow scout leader Tom. It was DARK in the forest. Although our campsite had Adirondacks (3 walled huts with bunks), Brandon and I had decided to bring out 4 man tent. The first challenge was finding a flat spot to setup a large 4 man tent. The second challenge was remembering how to setup a tent we hadn't used in quite a few years. We managed, although we would later find out that our location choice was not the best - not the worst - but not the best. On the second night it rained pretty heavily and we apparently setup the tent where the rain water flowed down the hill. I woke up very early in the morning to find our entire floor soaked with flowing water. Brandon and I were ok. We had sleeping pads underneath us that supplied a barrier between our sleeping bags and the water. I, however, had to keep waking up to make sure Brandon stayed on his mat. He has a tendency to move around a lot. It did not help that our tent is quite old now and is not the most water resistant anymore. After a morning filled with rain showers while we packed up the soaking wet tent, Brandon and I decided that we would sleep in the Adirondacks at the next Fun with Son.

Brandon had a blast doing all the activities. He was exposed to most of them for the first time and loved it. We came away from the weekend with the insight that Brandon was a natural at archery but not so much at bb guns. Overall, the weekend was a blast. We left camp on Sunday morning knowing that Fun with Son would definitely be on our calendar in 2008.

Which brings us to this blog post. The forecast and the current conditions say one thing - RAIN. We don't care. We know that Fun with Son will be a blast. This time we will sleep in the Adirodacks. Brandon has come a long way in one year. He attended Scout Day Camp this summer and had improved greatly with his archery and especially his bb gun skills.

Scouting has opened up new opportunities for Brandon since he joined. He's excited each time he puts his uniform on and he really looks sharp. It has given him a sense of belonging. He's pretty proud of scouts and his accomplishments and so are we.