This is the cabin we stayed in last night. Its all cleaned up now but only an hour ago it was full of Cub Scouts and their parents waking up, eating and cleaning up.
I arrived first to check our Pack in around noon yesterday. The Cubbies slowly trickled in over the course of the afternoon. As they arrived, they claimed their bunks- mostly the upper ones because those are the ones that make parents nervous. There were 3 rooms with bunks which I decided would be for parents only. It worked out well.
There was a lopsided snowball fight to start things off- me against the kids. They never stood a chance- their aim stunk. Their main asset was my fatigue level and a bum knee. At one point, I realized I was experiencing my own personal zombie plotline- they just kept coming.
I took my fair share of snow, but overall I gave as good as I got. One of the younger Scouts kept fashioning basketball sized snowballs and trying for a frontal assault. I kept relieving him of his ordinance and dropping it onto his head. No sense letting him get away with such poor strategy.
From there, we moved on to sledding.
Sledding is always good fun.
With roughly 15 adults and a similar number of kids, dinner was an event. We feasted like kings though- boiled hot dogs, cole slaw, salad and some pasta dishes. The cabin is outfitted with a stove and fridge and we took full advantage. A bunch of kids tried roasting their dogs over the campfire. One lost his to the fire, another dropped his after it had cooked and refused to eat it. Some parents helped a couple others attain success- as is usual at this age.
Stories around the campfire were fun if not predictable- everybody died. If they were lucky, they died quickly. If unlucky, they were horribly mauled prior to death. A marose group of story tellers the Scouts are. It could have been worse though. There could have been copious quantities of burping, farting and pooping prior to death.
After lights out, we tried for a little scare tactics. I climbed out the window in our room and started tapping on windows and scraping the outside walls. We had a couple of Moms get captured with blood curdling screams. We had them going, until I was spotted before we could complete the game. If nothing else, we’ll know what to do next time.
The morning was full of the bustle of breakfast, packing and cleanup. Eggs, sausage and breakfast cereal got the day started out right. And coffee. Lots of coffee. We’d lost an hour of sleep due to DST today. Of course, there wasn’t that much sleep to be had so no great loss there. It’s all good though- all in the name of entertainment.
The best part of the camping is the absence of electronics. Sure, some parents had some phones and tablets. But the kids busied themselves with impromtu games involving flying platypuses, Legos and whatever else they could come up with. They didn’t miss the electronics at all. Heck, even the parents were reading dead tree based material or playing cards.
The cabin is empty now. But we left full of memories.