This year for summer camp we went to Tesomas Scout Camp. It was very fun. All of the boys liked it and at the end of the week we decided that this would be our new home. It has lots of activities to do during free time (3:00-5:00) and some after dinner. Speaking of dinner there is a dining hall. The food is good for scout camp. Back to the activities, there are about 5-6 before dinner and 1-2 after dinner. They are very fun and some examples are: making a big fort out of cardboard boxes or having fake sword fights. There is also a camp theme for the year and stories to go with. This year it was lost at sea. I liked the stories a lot.   

Camporee 

I went on the Camporee with Boy Scout Troop 208. We left at 6:00 PM on October 14 and came back October 16 around 11:45. I was ASPL (Assistant Senior Patrol Leader) and Zeno was SPL (Senior Patrol Leader). For the first time in a year we had some Webelos 2’s camping with us. There were some big disappointments that annoyed everyone. However the camp out had some very good points.

I enjoyed the part of the camping weekend when we were working with pneumatic rockets. I got to pump up the rockets because the two 9 Volt batteries didn’t have enough power to release the pressure. My dad, who was also on the trip, was sitting next to the launcher and his job was to release the pressure. Once he found out about the batteries not working he had volunteers pump it up. I was the only volunteer. The good part in this was I got to pick how far the scouts had to run to retrieve the rockets.

Another great part of the camping weekend was the movie night. The movie was The Martian. The book and movie were all about the story of Mark Watney, an astronaut who got stranded on Mars. He was a botanist and engineer. He used his botany skills by growing potatoes so he could survive until he was rescued. He used his engineer skills to fix everything that broke because most of the things with him were needed to survive. I think the book was much better than the movie. The book was filled with more crisis’ and colorful language.

The biggest drawback was not being able to go up in the planes. At the SPL meeting I secured my troop some early flight tickets. We had planned on going up in Cessnas in groups of three. I organized the entire troop’s tickets at the SPL meeting. However, all that organization was for nothing because we were grounded due to weather conditions. The weather for that day was low fog. Almost everyone was disappointed that we didn't get to fly in the planes.

There were two interesting choices for merit badges: space exploration and aviation. I completed space exploration, and I think it was the better choice because it only took up the morning. In the afternoon, I was able to check out all the other special activities, like paper airplanes, hot air balloons, and drones. However, with space exploration, I had to finish the requirements on my own, before the Camporee. The people who took aviation had to go to several different stations throughout the entire day to complete the merit badge. I think everybody liked the merit badge they chose. But I got to shoot off a rocket with my merit badge!

All and all, I was really glad I went on the campout. We had fun playing with the pneumatic rockets and watching the movie. I think camping was a great experience for the Boy Scouts. I enjoyed the time talking to my friends and working on my merit badges. I hope next time we will get to ride in a plane.

Last Saturday some of us participated in the Robotics merit badge event.  I personally though it was lots of fun.  

We built a LEGO robot and programmed it with a computer.  We also had a competition with our robot against other groups.  Our robot placed first out of all the other groups in both challenges. 

 We got to eat lunch there too.  It was delicious.  I had chicken tenders, French fries, and ice cream with an extra waffle cone.  

There was a boy there that earned his Eagle Scout award and he was only 13.  He also had five of his friends that earned their Eagle Scout award too and they were only 13.  

All in all, it was a very good event to go to, I had a very good time.