Kermit is King: #22 - More camping goodness

Today I woke up with the sun and promptly tried to go back to my fitful sleep. It worked for a bit, but I could only put off getting out of the sleeping bag for so long.

I found the boys awake and over at another brother's fire, roasting marshmallows. I had told them they could - it wasn't fair to make them wait until a late breakfast. The rain had given way to sun - my phone told me the forecast was 80 and sunny. So I set the sleeping bag, rain fly, bed roll, etc, all in places where they could dry, and chatted with the boys. The campout has a second phase, which is a service project at the campground. Today's projects were to remove and rebuild the roof of an outbuilding at the camp and to demolish and clean up a huge gazebo. The men were to do the work with help from the teenage boys, and the younger boys were supposed to play. So Christian and Jake helped me for a few minutes, and then they went off.

And here I must comment on their maturity and growth. When the boys are together in a setting where they have to rely on each other, they do really well. Christian and Jake stayed together, had fun, and were kind. I didn't have issues with Jake doing crazy things or running off. He followed directions, and he followed Christian. And Christian didn't run too fast. Christian has his moments where he is overwrought about some minor thing, but he is a very sensible, responsible, respectful, helpful person. He is a genuine pleasure to be around. I think being with him is what excites me the most about scouting. We're going to get a lot of stuff done together.

I worked on the gazebo, hauling large and heavy pieces of wood down a hilll to a huge dumpster and then trudging back up the hill. My legs were fine, but my arms tired quickly. I sweated up a storm, and when I couldn't safely lift things any more, I cleaned up our camp site. When I went back to help, the job was largely done.

The boys had explored the whole place, found where the frogs were hiding, gone swimming, and wanted to get in the canoes. The lake was amazing. I got in with my cargo shorts. The water was warm, there were fish swimming around, and the area is large enough to really stretch out and enjoy. Plus the bank is sandy, not rocky. Perfect. By 1, we had done the canoe thing and the boys were toast. Jakers went to sleep in the back of Gortja, and Christian and I hung out. Sometimes together shooting hoops in the gym, sometimes separately with me reading. Eventually the girls showed up without swimsuits. I took them out on the canoe, and we had a great barbeque. It was a great experience, but I'll have to write about it separately.

Then I took off and caught the train to Grand Central. I got to Tim's place about 9:30, we talked until 11 or so, and then I went to sleep. The morning found me all too soon.

Here are a few pictures of camping.