Webelos Award

Tonight both Benjamin and Nathan received awards at the cub scout Pack Meeting. Benjamin received a silver arrow point for his Wolf.

Benjamin leading the "cheer"

Nathan received his Webelos award! His birthday is in a few weeks, and he is so excited to start 11-year-old scouts. (A lot more excited about boy scouts than he was about finishing up his Webelos requirements, but he got it done anyway!) As part of his award, he got to put his hands in paint and leave his hand print on a canvas that the pack displays at the meetings.

Wolf Teeth

Benjamin has loved being a cub scout and has worked hard on his requirements. Tonight he received his Wolf award and his Gold Arrowpoint!

They gave him some plastic "wolf teeth" to wear. He had to hold his award card with his teeth, even when the Cubmaster tried to pull it out!

putting the Wolf pin on Mom

Congratulations, Benjamin!

Cub Scout Day Camp

On Monday Benjamin went to his first Cub Scout Day Camp. He came home with many fun souvenirs he had made and a big smile on his face! I was not able to go, but another mom who chaperoned took pictures and sent them to everyone. They got to do many different activities throughout the day:

archery

BB guns

pulling a handcart

rowing on a raft

silly boys eating lunch

Down and Derby

Tonight was Nathan's last cub scout Pinewood Derby, and Benjamin's first! The boys and Ryan worked hard on the cars . . . the boys on the shape and paint, and Ryan on the little details that might help them go faster. The last two derbys, Nathan has not done too well, and Ryan really wanted to help him have a car fast enough to get in the top 3!

Benjamin's car is the green/yellow #77, Nathan's is the solid red one

Nathan's red car is in the lead, and you can see him standing there watching

 Benjamin's car is on the right, in 4th place

Elizabeth insisted on wearing her cheerleader dress-ups! "Go brothers!"

Benjamin came in last place overall, and Nathan came in 4th -- he missed 3rd place by about 3 thousandths of a second. (The track is all automated and times the cars and averages out all of the races.) Ironically, it was Benjamin smiling at the end, and Nathan was in tears for a few minutes when he learned he was not in the top 3. I found it funny that Ryan helped both boys with their cars using the tips he had learned, and they worked for one car and not the other! The good news is that Nathan ended on a high note, and Benjamin still has two years . . . and he can only improve!

Crafty Cubs

Tonight was the cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet. The kids had fun making puppets. I think it is so cute that all of our kids look forward to pack meeting every single month!

Nathan received a belt loop, and Benjamin received his Bobcat award!

Bear Scout

Nathan received his Bear Scout award and his Gold Arrow Point at pack meeting last week. And not a moment too soon, since his birthday was less than 2 weeks away!



He got to "be a bear" and eat "dirt". He loved it!



I always feel funny receiving the pin -- I really don't do that much work. In fact, this time I feel that his scout leaders deserved the pin. They were really on top of things, and he did most of his requirements at his den meetings.

Pinewood Derby

Yesterday Nathan participated in the Pinewood Derby. The inspiration for his car was the Bullet Bill from Mario Kart. He had a lot of fun the last few weeks getting his car ready!



Ryan took Nathan to scouts while the rest of us stayed at home. When Nathan came home, he was so upset . . . our competitive child was not happy about never placing 1st in any of his heats. We'll have to have Ryan study up on all the tricks of the trade for next year!

Nathan is in the very middle of the back row

(Thanks to Andrea -- I swiped this great pic off your blog!)

Wolf Badge

Nathan has been working hard these last few weeks to finish up his Wolf Badge for Cub Scouts. We've been working on it all year, but he lost the desire to really do much for a while in the middle there!


This week was Pack Meeting, where he was presented with 1 belt loop (for kickball), his Wolf badge, his Gold Arrow Point, and 2 Silver Arrow Points! He had really wanted a total of 4 Arrow Points, so he is working this last week before his birthday to earn that 4th one.

Ryan ended up conducting the Pack Meeting, so he was the one who presented Nathan's awards to him.


It is fun to see him so excited to work on projects and goals. Hopefully it will continue when he starts earning his Bear, and he can earn it well before his birthday!

Pinewood Derby

Tonight was Nathan's first Pinewood Derby. (Benjamin insists it is called the "down and derby", thanks to a cute DVD we have with that title!)


Ryan let Nathan totally decide the shape of his car. They penciled it out before cutting, and it was going to be cutting off quite a lot. Ryan told Nathan this and let him know that heavier cars will be faster in the race, but Nathan decided he wanted to keep it the way he had drawn it.

He had a lot of fun painting the car. It is silver, with gold writing on the top that says "good luck". He saved the wood piece that was cut off when making the car, and he painted it bright blue. Sometimes he uses it as a "cover" for his car, and other times it is a stand the car rests on.

We got to the Derby and when he weighed in he was told that he would need a LOT of washers attached to the car to make it about the same weight as most of the other scouts. He declined. Then he did a few trial runs before the event started and realized that his car was not as fast as a lot of others, so he went back to get some washers. They were all out and only had coins left. He reluctantly taped some money onto the car. (I think a few tears were shed on and off during these 15 minutes or so.)

Nathan's car is on the right

The derby track was state-of-the-art. The races were all timed with equipment that was part of the track, and the results of each heat were displayed on a projected computer screen just a second or two after the race finished. Each boy got to race 4 times and then the computer averaged out their times to determine the winners. On his heats, Nathan got 4th, 4th, 2nd, and 4th. After the first heat, he took some of the money off of his car. He took the rest of the coins off after the second heat and attributes his better results with that choice.

Nathan's car is 3rd one from left

Even though he didn't win, Nathan had a great attitude at the end. All of the boys received a pinewood derby kerchief slide, a ribbon, and "spare tires" for the treat (mini chocolate donuts). As we were leaving, Nathan told me he wants to save his car and use the same one in next year's derby. Glad to see his tears replaced with smiles by the end of the night!