Scout Cedar Badge 2014

This past weekend we drove to Treasure Mountain, Wyoming to attend Connor's graduation from Cedar Badge, a week long Scout leadership course.  This year was a little different however.... 

Connor was a part of the leadership staff this time which is what the red barret signifies.  He was now helping teach leadership to other scouts.   He was also a medical assistant.

To become part of the leadership staff for this summer, Connor had to go through several interviews back in November.  He was asked a variety of questions.  The interviewers must have liked what he said because he got a call letting him know that he was chosen.  We are super proud of him for taking such initiative and interest in such a worthy endeavor .  

Cedar Badge Graduation Ceremony

What a handsome fellow.   :)  I sure missed him this past week.  Our home just wasn't the same without him.  I'm very glad to have him back!

The boys were separated into troops during their week of scout camp and each troop is given a name.  This year Connor was a part of:
Love the quote - George Washington was an inspired man in so many ways.


Connor's troop was led by Kelby Dye.  Kelby was the one who chose Connor to be a part of his troop.  Here he's announcing his troop...first starting with his leadership assistants:

Walking up as their names are called.

Shaking hands with the rest of the Cedar Badge Leadership.

Along with a few hugs.

These boys get pretty tight over the week.

Here's to Connor's group - Troop Washington!!!!  (You'll have to scroll to the right to see Connor...it's like the game Where's Waldo...can you find him?)




After all the Scout troops had been presented, they retired the flag and had a final salute to finish off the ceremony.

Logan, one of Connors' buddies from his church ward, attended under Connor this year.

Even though I had no idea what Connor was saying to Logan, just watching these two during this particular moment was quite touching.

Connor, Logan, and Brigham.


Our whole family came up to see Connor.  Ronin has been on a crazy streak lately, poor Aubrey gets to deal with him quite a lot, lol.

You're looking at a future scouter right here:

Connor is growing into a fine young man and I love that the Scouting Program is helping him develop any character trait that is good and worthy.

Connor was pretty tired...he says he didn't get to sleep until 1:30 that night and was up by 6 AM. 

After the main ceremony, the troops separate and head to their own campsites to receive their certificates of completion, pick up their personal gear, and say their goodbyes.  Connor really enjoyed working under Kelby.

Exhaustion finally took over on the way home.  Funny, I have the exact same kind of picture from last year. 

Connor's highlights from the week:
* It snowed the first day.
* It hailed the second day.
* Noodle sword fighting was very popular.  Out of the whole troop, only two noodle swords survived.
* Having to wake up earlier than all the other scouts due to being in leadership.  (I bet he loved that.)
* Ribs for dinner on the first night.
* A whole lot of fun!

Arrow of Light Award

Ronin has been actively participating in Cub Scouts since he was 8 years old but recently outgrew the program once he turned 11 years old.  However, he went out with a bang by earning several awards at his last pack meeting a few days ago. 

The biggest award he earned that evening was the Arrow of Light Award....it is the highest ranking award a Cub Scout can earn in the program.  It is also the only award that is allowed on the Scout uniform when he turns twelve years of age.  

A special ceremony was performed for Ronin...it was pretty cool.  Chief Akela with his Guard, Guide, and Medicine Man showed up to do the honors.  ;P 

During the ceremony, Ronin was given a small leather pouch with a feather in it to symbolize the feather of an eagle. 

In not so many words, the Indian said:
"This pouch with the eagle feather symbolizes that which had been given to eagles since the time of our ancestors, and it is perhaps the most difficult to understand. Like freedom, the eagle had to soar and survey the land beneath him; so too will you have the freedom to choose the goals in your life and pursue them with eagle's courage. Know who you are, where your powers lie, and use them to achieve your goals. You are to soar with the eagles."

 
The Indian then presented Ronin to the Scoutmaster....which position just happens to be held by his very own dad (who also happened to be working on duty at the time.)  So when Ronin joins the older Scouting program, Jed will be his new leader.  Pretty cool.  :)  

  We, as parents, were both then given the opportunity to present Ronins' awards to him personally.

The seven rays of the Arrow of Light represent wisdom, courage, self-control, justice, faith, hope, and love.

 

We are very proud of this young man!  Congrats, Ronin!

Connor's First Scout Camp - Treasure Mountain

Hey.  This is Connor.  I'm writing about my first year going to Scout Camp at Treasure Mountain in Island Park.

 When I got to scout camp, we started humping our stuff up to our campsite.  I had invited my friend, Zack, to come with me to scout camp.  We were camp buddies the whole time.  We got our tent and stuff setup by ourselves.  My dad is our Scoutmaster so he was there too.  Later, my dad had to go to a leader's meeting so Zack and I put up my dad's tent.

 

The first thing we had to do was pass a swim test at the lake that afternoon. For our test we had to swim seventy-five yards.  Four-fifths of the way was with the power stroke then the last part with a resting stroke.  I passed!  After that we went back to camp and relaxed.  When we got to bed it rained during the night (and all the other nights too.) 

We had flag ceremonies every morning and evening.  Every troop was given a name, ours was Red Cloud.  We did a lot of songs and chants.

During the rest of the week,  I worked on my canoeing, kayaking, leather work, and first aid merit badges.  My favorite one was first aid.

Here we were doing the "Battle of the Tetons" where we try to swamp the other teams' canoes.

I really like this scout hat my dad bought for me.

Later in the week we hiked Table Rock, which is located in the Grand Teton mountain range on the Wyoming side. It was a hard hike!  One of our leaders, Mr. Moulton, had a great time teasing us on the way up and back.  We stopped and took a break every now and then.

It was an awesome view when we finally reached the top.  Below: me and my dad with the Grand Tetons in the background.

Our scout troop.

Altogether, the hike took 7 hours. Before we went home home my dad said he was proud of us. All in all it was a fun week and I am glad that my dad is my leader and that my friend, Zack, came to camp with me.

See You at the Finish Line! Pine Wood Derby Time

Ronin participated in his very first Scout Pine Wood Derby this week.  :)

Ronin's "wolf" car. He came up with the car's cut, design, and look all on his own.


This year the derby was done much differently.  There were two church wards participating together instead of just one, which meant a whole lotta scouts and family members attending!!!! 

First half of the room:

Second half of the room:

There were a total of 21 cars racing that evening - that's one very large and tough competition!


This year was also different because we were using a new race track!


This new track was set up electronically so that it would automatically show the results and race times as the cars passed the finish line. Not only that, but the data was sent to a computer where the results for each car were stored and flashed up on a huge white screen. It would also automatically call up the next cars for the next race.  Each car got to race eight times.


Let the races begin!

The derby was fast paced, so the kids were always keeping on eye on the screen to know when they were up next to race or to view their results:

Check out the Angry Birds car.

Ronin's car is in the number two spot (second from the right.)

 It's a fast track!  The computer also recorded the speeds too - average speed for the derby cars was 190 miles/hour.  I had to look at that twice - really, those little cars go THAT fast?!

Ronin's car did very well . . . he came in first place six times out of his eight races.  The other two races he placed in second and third. (Below: showing another first place finish for Ronin!) 

The results were calculated automatically by averaging the racing times.  Ronin took second place in our ward! (Each ward's results were separated from each other.)

Getting high fives from his fellow scouts.

Now for the final raceoff!  The top two cars from each ward were raced for the final top spots.  Good luck, Ronin! 

Each car was raced four times.  Ronin came in first place twice!  The other two times he came in third and fourth place.



 The final overall race times were averaged and Ronin ended up coming in first place! 

Great job, Ronin!  Not too shabby!  A second place for the individual ward competition and then coming in first place in the final overall competition! 

Our crazy, little scout, whatever are we going to do with him?