We've been busy busy busy, so this blog entry may be short. I will concentrate on words and try to get pictures up later.
When we left off, it was Tuesday night and all was well. Wednesday morning came bright and early. Some of you may remember that because of the poor condition of the "road" leading down to our campsite, the food truck drops our food off up at the Voyageur Lodge. Several of us try to drive up and meet the food truck before every meal, to help Wayne (our truck driver for several years now) unload the full bins and load up the empties. Because we help him with the truck, he often will reward us with a tray of rolls, made by Granny up at the Buckskin dining hall. Monday, we let some boys from another troop that helped take the rolls that were available. Tuesday there weren't any rolls because the power was out, but Wednesday morning, we got a great big tray of rolls, that were meticulously divided amongst all the scouts in the troop. It was a great treat.
We had eggs and hash browns for breakfast, but since we have bread in the staples and left over syrup from Tuesday, many of us made French Toast again. After Morning Assembly, the kids were off to merit badge classes for three hours and back for lunch at 11:40. Tomato Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Wednesday is a complicated day, and we made it even more complicated. The scouts have their usual three hours of troop activities; Survivor Man, Climbing Tower, and Water Activities, then they have an hours of troop free time. On Wednesday, (almost) all of the First Class Adventure scouts go on a five mile hike for one of their rank requirements. This year, Mr. Devitt bravely volunteered to go on the hike with them. It took four and a half hours (and six stops) to complete the hike but they made it.
The rest of the scouts head off to their fourth hour class and hour later than usual at 5:00. Then they head to the beach at 6:00 for the annual Beach Bash. The late fourth hour start and Beach Bash are a cleaverly designed activity to allow (almost) all of the adults to attend the adult volunteer appreciation dinner at the Buckskin Dining hall. Mr. Devitt went on the five mile hike (but made us promise to bring him back some Granny Bread), and Mr. Fischer stayed behind to supervise the older scouts preparing for the troop campfire. Mr. Oen, Mr. (Jesse) Jones, and I attended the dinner of pulled pork, cheese potatoes, cole slaw, granny bread, and desert. Clearly they want to adults to come back next year. They introduced the staff, talked about the new things for this year, and the new things for next year (including a new shower house at Voyageur!!!!).
We got back about 7:00 and the scouts at the beach bash were free to head out to free time. The scouts at beach bash had riblet sandwiches, chips, and fruit. One of the things that we did, which made Wednesday more complicated, was to move the troop campfire. We usually have the troop campfire on Thursday night. However, this year, they scheduled all of our Flintlock overnight slots for Thursday night. We have quite a few scouts headed off to Treehouse Overnight and Huck Finn Overnight and they did not want to miss the campfire. So, we moved the campfire to Wednesday night. Unfortunately, this gives the scouts one less day to prepare the fire. Wednesday night is merit badge round up at 9:00, were I meet with all the counselors to findout how the scouts are doing, so the staff and I missed over half of the campfire. Also, since everyone was up very late on Wedneday night, even fewer people than usual did the Polar Bear Swim Thursday morning. I think that is the LAST time we will move the fire to Wednesday night. Hopefully the adults arriving today won't be too disappointed they missed the fire.
The older scouts spent all the free time they could (including some they shouldn't have building their log-cabin fire. I guess they didn't realize that log-cabin fire is just a description. It doesn't really have to be the size of a log cabin, but try to tell them that. We were pretty sure that all the cars got moved, but based on the size of the pile, we weren't there wasn't one in there somewhere. Needless to say, when it was lit, it was pretty impressive.
A number of skits were presented (perhaps more than there was good material for). The old south commisioner's camp (the front lawn of wich we hold the fire on) has been converted to Two Harbors Campsite. This year, Troop 99 from Elk River is staying there, so we invited them to attend the campfire also (always invite the neighbors to noisy parties). After the Merit Badge round-up (well after 10:15) and number of staff 
members were able to join us, including Taylor Scharf, Nick Yearous, Radar (from last year), and several other staff. One staff member filled in for Mr. Broberg and told and good campfire story before we wrapped it up. The campfire finally wrapped up at about 11:30, but it was well after mid-night before everyone settled down. Several of the older scouts pulled their cots out and slept by the fire to keep an eye on it. By this morning, beleive it or not, it had pretty much burned down to just a few larger logs.
members were able to join us, including Taylor Scharf, Nick Yearous, Radar (from last year), and several other staff. One staff member filled in for Mr. Broberg and told and good campfire story before we wrapped it up. The campfire finally wrapped up at about 11:30, but it was well after mid-night before everyone settled down. Several of the older scouts pulled their cots out and slept by the fire to keep an eye on it. By this morning, beleive it or not, it had pretty much burned down to just a few larger logs.Thurday morning is the traditional Polar Bear Swim. Several of the staff members act out the story of Polar Bowlarinski and his adventure in Alaska with a Polar Bear that causes him to run into the water several time to escape the bear. Needless to saw, when he runs into the lake (in the story), so do we. And each time we do, he yell out "POLAR BEAR" to a different part of the lake to wake everyone one up. With the late night, the night before, attendance was down to two adults (Mr. Devitt and I) and a handfull of scouts, including several new scouts. We got back, collected the food (a bit late). Between the late food and the late night, everyone was dragging a little late this morning.
Breakfast this morning was pancakes, sausage, and grape juice. After Morning Assembly, they headed out to the morning merit badges classes. After our daily morning meeting with our commissioner, Mr. Fischer and I headed up headed to the admin building to update the blog and complete someother computer work. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Olson headed home (thanks Craig for helping organize everything) and Mr. Hauge arrived to take his place. This afternoon, three or four more adults should be arriving, and several more tomorrow. Mrs. Linde, Mrs. Dierauer, and Mrs. Modi have been staying Family camp and offering driving to get scouts to Flintlock and Ten Chiefs for the high adventure and Lifeguard programs as well as providing other logistics and moral support. A big thanks to ALL the adults that make this possible.
That brings us up to date. The scouts will have troop activities this afternoon (Rifle and Sailing), fourth hour class, dinner, and free time. A dozen or so scouts will be leaving tonight for Huck Finn and Treehouse overnights and 20 scouts will be attending Flintlock day programs tomorrow. I will try to get in at least one more update this week and send out an email when the scouts leave on Saturday.
We will be having about 16 scouts all next week, and 5 adults, with various adult guest early and late in the week. Mr. Elliott and Dr. Hoffmann will be making a visit on Saturday and Sunday, flying into Detroit Lakes and driving to camp.
That's all for now from Many Point Scout Camp...Jon Yearous
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