It's only the middle of the first month of the summer and I feel like I've crammed more stuff in to these few weeks than I usually do. Here's what's happened.
I want to ride my bicycle.
I want to ride my bike.
I want to ride my bicycle.
I want to ride it where I like.
Queen, Bicycle Race
I have a new mountain bike that I've become a fan of riding. Bethany and I have taken the kids on a few rides. Johnny and Sabrina usually hang out in the bike trailer I can attach to my bike. For our first ride, we went all the way to the skate park and back. The kids thought it was fun, except for Belle who wanted to stop about three quarters of the way there and just sit on the path and wait for us to come back. We revoked her agency and made her come the rest of the way. We heard about how bad we are as parents for making her do it. I'm sure this was in answer to a prayer long ago when my parents were raising me and asked that I be duly rewarded. What a hoot!
Youth Conference
We have some excellent youth in our ward. Some of them are funny, some are athletic, some can pack the food away, and some are a bit reserved. I had a fantastic time with them. We did baptisms for the dead, had pizza for lunch, spent part of an afternoon learning about the tabernacle from the Old Testament, played dodge ball, had a barbeque, played ping pong, watched The Chronicles of Narnia, hiked a few miles to a waterfall and had a testimony meeting around a campfire. Seeing the youth interact with each other in these various situations is so interesting. A handful of them shared touching and impressive testimonies. The older ones looked out for the younger ones and encouraged them on. Seeing them have fun is so satisfying as one of their leaders. I wish it could have gone on longer.
For the presentation on the traveling tabernacle, I put together an imperfect replica of the ark of the covenant. It was a wood and cardboard box painted gold. I didn't have time to fashion two cherubim or a mercy seat so I had Sabrina's stuffed Mickey Mouse and teddy bear be stand ins. The kids got the idea.
Cub Scout Day Camp
It finally came! Isaac and I got to go to day camp at Camp Jeremiah Johnson. The boys had a blast even though it rained. Isaac was Branson's buddy for the day and so they did most of the activities together. They shot BB guns, sling shots, and bows, panned for gold, made rope and built a little covered wagon. We learned that Isaac is not a great marksman (yet) but he enjoyed the activities. While we ate lunch at the pavilion, we noticed a small dark mound of dirt that was growing before our eyes about 30 yards away on the field. We wandered over to it and watched a prairie dog dig up through the ground. A few of the scouts cleared away some of the dirt to get a better look at it. I thought it would be scared off but it didn't seem to mind the boys watching.
At the end of the rope-making activity, the boys wanted to have a tug-of-war against the leaders from our pack. A few of the leaders grabbed one end of the rope and the boys eagerly grabbed the other end. What made it funny was that they tied the very end of the rope to Jacob's turbo-charged wheelchair. Nobody won but it made for a great memory. Fun stuff!
4 comments:
I wish Ron had blogged back when he was in scouts. He always had fun stories to tell when he came home.
What a good wife you have to go on bike rides with you! I wave at Ron when he leaves on his adventures.
Wow, you've been busy! I feel your bike-ride desires. Sounds like you're there as a youth leader. What great opportunities for you!
I always enjoy reading your blog.
PS Had to return to comment on the gorgeous waterfall lunch setting!! (I went back and enlarged photos)
Youth conference was a lot of fun. I loved the dodge ball the best. I was feeling a little sick for the hike though, but i still had fun. Thanks for all of it. All the youth loved it.
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