The second weekend in November our Boy Scout troop hosts an annual Competition Campout. The competition part of it includes building a fire, first aid, orienteering and being judged on the appearance of the campsite and the meals that you cook. This is a highlight of Scouting year for the boys and I guess it doesn't get much more manly than roughing it for two days with no showers (one of my scouts didn't even remember to take a tooth brush), and competing in all sorts of wilderness survival skills.
In addition to the three different patrols from our Boy Scout troop, the competitors include Boy Scouts from other troops and one patrol of the oldest Cub Scouts who are being recruited to join Boy Scouts in February.
So this year Bute1 was competing as part of his patrol (christened with the very retro One-Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eaters as their name) and Bute2 was competing with his den of Cub Scouts, who will be ready to join Boy Scouts in a few months.
The victory pennant went to a visiting Troop again (the same one as last year), but Bute1's patrol took second and Bute2's patrol took fourth out of five, which means they had the distinction of beating at least one of the Boy Scout patrols.
Big Bute (Jeff) enjoys going along, although this year he was too late to sign up as one of the meal judges, he got to be part of the chocolate chip cookie baking project.
Normally I try to have the boys post their own posts about their activities, but last week the components for their new computer arrived and they were unable to begin building it until this afternoon. It was enough of a struggle to get them to put away their camping supplies before diving into their "high tech" challenge for the weekend, so I thought I'd go ahead and post about the highlights of the campout.
I know that we as parents are supposed to have a bittersweet feeling about our children growing up and becoming more independent. And yet I find that I feel so proud of the wonderful young men that they are turning into that it is hard to miss the little boys that they used to be. It is so humbling to watch the process as they suddenly begin to unfold their own identities and take ownership of the things that really matter to them. Bute1 is determined to bring home the victory pennant next year and is already scheming what he needs to do to make it happen
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