National Jamboree

On July 23rd, Troop 437 left Sherwood Island Park to leave for Virginia. We drove twelve hours and set up camp that night at Fort Eustis. The next day we spent at Busch Gardens, an amusement park. We went on all the roller coasters, including GRIFFON and ALPENGEIST, both going hundreds of feet up and going about 100 mph. Sunday we toured some U.S. Navy ships and met some pirate hunters.
This is a military hummer we saw at a museum on our way there.
This is the first medical copter.
This is the pentagon.
This is the navy ship we toured. It was the biggest ship there and it had a 5" round cannon on it.

This is my friend Spencer and me on the ship. I am wearing a Kevlar helmet, it's not pigtails!
Here are Spencer and Rhodric, two of my buddies, on the bus after leaving the ships.


This is Clayton, our SPL (Senior patrol leader):
Monday, we left for Fort A.P. Hill. That day we set up camp. Tuesday we walked around and got familiar with the site.
Other activities I did during the week were:

-Buckskin Games, where I threw knives, tomahawks, and met Shaun White (he is in the black t-shirt)
-Pioneering, where we used swings, see-saws, and bridges made of wood and rope
-Motocross, where we raced BMX bikes
-Shotgun, where we shot clay pigeons (on my first try, I got all 6)
-Snorkel, where we snorkeled in a pool with 2 logos on the bottom
-Archery, where we shot bulls-eyes

Me at the Armed Forces Adventure Area holding a bazooka.
-Rifle, where we shot more bulls-eyes
-Bikathlon, where I biked then shot, biked some more and shot some more, the biked again
-And Rappelling, where we slid down fifty foot walls
My friend Merrick rappelling.

Pix from the arena shows (there were two of them):



These are pictures of Honor Society and Switchfoot.
This is Vocal Point, the BYU mens a cappela group.
I also went sailing and canoeing. Saturday night, we went to the Arena show, where Eagle Scout Mike Rowe talked to us. We saw a lot of fireworks.


This is Mike Rowe, star of Dirty Jobs.



The Fireworks.

One of the big activities is patch trading. I got around 40 patches. This is a picture of the Star Wars set from the Occonneechee Council. I didn't get these ones, they were very popular so they cost a lot of patches in return.

I got an Eragon book signed by Christopher Paolini, and a Daniel X book signed by James Patterson. I am now CPR certified for the next two years. Jamboree was really, really, really fun. I want to go to the next Jamboree in three years (held at a new high adventure base being built in West Virginia).


This is a cool racing car at Subcamp 8.

This is our troop's gateway. We were the Comanche Troop, so we had a Comanche gateway. The gateway was the entrance to our campsite we got in trouble for not using.

Cub Scout Day Camp

I spent the week at Cub Scout Day Camp with Gabe last week. The theme for the week was Wizards.
My friend Allison was the other den leader in my group, which made it more fun for both of us. We had 19 boys (mostly 9 year olds). No that was not a typo. We had 19 nine year old boys in our den. For the most part, they were pretty good. We had great weather, probably the only week this summer where the humidity wasn't overbearing.
The boys got to do archery, sling shots, crafts, scout skills, sports, and nature every day. We had two den times, plus opening, closing, and lunch where we were all on a tarp.
We got the spirit stick the first day, and almost got it again the next day. Our den won the camp tug-of-war competition two days in a row. (Then they stopped doing tug of war and started playing capture the flag)
The 9 year old boys got to tie dye t-shirts on Tuesday to wear on Thursday. We went on a couple of den hikes past the old closed up mines there at Old Mine Park. We looked for quartz in a quartz field.
We fixed boo-boos, listened to whining, stopped arguments, encouraged boys, passed off scout requirements, and so much more for five days. Did I mention that there were 19 of them? Just checking.
During all this time, Jackson was in the "tot lot". He got to play, make crafts, and who knows what else.
Anyhow, Gabe had a blast. So did Jackson. And I realized I could do it again if need be. Too bad that next year it takes place right smack in the middle of our family reunion.

Boulder Field

After our weekend in New York, Sharon and Rob took Jacob home with them to work for Rob and earn money towards his Jamboree fund. We met Sharon and the kids at a state park in Pennsylvania later in the week to pick up Jake. The kids had a blast exploring the huge field of boulders. Apparently the field was formed by a glacier breaking up huge boulders by melting and freezing in the cracks. They say there is still a small river underneath the boulder field, so Phil took the boys to look and listen for it.

Girl's Camp 2010

This year for Girl's Camp I went to Camp Joseph

in Sharon, Vermont-the place where Joseph Smith was born and lived for a little while. My level stayed in the a smaller area called Camp Nephi.

A little ways away was the memorial and the visitors center, so I was able to see the Joseph Smith memorial

and I got to see the original doorstep,

hearthstone, and the exact place Joseph Smith was born.

It was a very amazing and humbling experience to hear about the stories of what people went through to get us here and find this historic spot. We were also able to see the Joseph Smith movie which I had not seen for about five or six years. It was a very neat thing to have seen after knowing what happens, but being able to see it in a different perspective since I am older. After the movie we were given the chance to walk the ground, stand on the doorstep, find a quiet place to sit and think, walk up and see the memorial, almost anything we wanted to. It was so quiet and peaceful and the Spirit was so strong. I encourage you to go if you ever get the chance.
Our theme for Girl's Camp was Happily Ever After. There was a sign going into the campsite that said "Once Upon A Time"
and on the reverse side (so going out of the camp) it said "Happily Ever After", but I forgot to take a picture of that side. Each of our levels was assigned a princess. First Years were Snow White, Second Years were Belle, Third Years (my level) were Cinderella, and Fourth Years were Jasmine. Our level was amazing!!! We never had our elbows on the table for joined meals, never had anything in the Dropsey Box-a box where things are put after they have been left out around the campsites not in tents, cabins, or on a clothesline- we got cleanest campsite twice and tied for it once, and we got the Spirit Stick the last day because of the cheer we had. It went like this:
We were doing a Jeopardy. Maggie Porter was the host. It was Final Jeopardy. She announced, "The final answer is: Who is the greatest level? You have thirty seconds to think of a a question." Then the contestants-me, Carly, Rachel Hogan, and Rayanna- started writing up answers on our hands with our fingers. Everyone else was divided into two sections and they started to sing the Jeopardy song. Then we were told, "Time is up! Contestant number one, what is your answer?" Carly then answered. "Who is Level One?" Level one cheered and then Maggie said, "They are pretty cute, but" then everyone joined in in saying "EEEEEEERRRRRRRR!!!" "Contestant number two, what is your question?" I said, "Who is level four!!!" Level four cheered. "They did do pretty well on their hike, but" "ERRRRRR!!!" "Contestant number three, what is your question?" "Who is level two?"Rachel answered. "They are pretty supportive, but" "EEEEERRRRR!!!" "Contestant number four, what is your question?" Rayanna answered, "Who is level three?" Our level was supposed to cheer, but I was the only one and so everyone broke out in laughter with me. "We are pretty great, but" "EEEERRRRR!!!" The audience seemed surprised! They thought for sure we were going to say ourselves, but we hadn't! Maggie then declared, "I can't believe none of you got it right! All of the levels are equal in awesomnitivity!" The audience "AWWW"ed and then we started our real cheer. "We are third years! We are third years! Mighty mighty third years! Mighty mighty third years! Undefeated! Undefeated! Even with no Spirit Stick! Even with no Spirit Stick!" Then all together we yelled "YET!!" That was the night we won the Spirit Stick! Me and Madison McCurdy were so happy,

Madison wouldn't even let one of the girls hold it without her holding at least a string because she was so overjoyed.
We also did a skit with Cinderella as a very conceited girl who had fallen in love with her gardener, Pierre (a.k.a. Madison), but when she had been changed by the fairy godmother she had fallen in love with herself, she told him she was too good for him. She went to a beach party where the prince immediately asked her to dance, but he didn't like her much and was becoming flustered because she was so caught up in herself. Her flipflop was dropped on the way out and the prince framed her for stealing his crown. She was locked out of her house by her evil stepmother (a.k.a. me) when the prince came to make her try on the flipflop. She was about to be arrested when along came Pierre! "WAIT!" he called. The evil stepmother tripped him and he fell, dropping his scriptures to the ground and having them rip in half. Cinderella pulled out an extra pair and opened to a scripture in D&C that talked about the worth of souls being equal in the sight of God. Pierre said, "See, she is good! AND you can't arrest her, because I found this in the Prince's garden." Pierre pulled out the crown. The Fairy Godmother came out and said "Bippity boppity boo!" and then the evil stepsisters and the Prince were turned into chickens. Pierre proclaimed his love to Cinderella and asked her to be his girlfriend, but she reminded him that they were only 14 so he said "In eleven months, twelve days, four hours, and twelve seconds will you go out with me?" "That's a little creepy, but sure." SO they lived happily ever after. Here are some pics of the fun we had doing the skit....
Margarita as "A Sketchy Guy"

Forgot my wig/hat! Sorry! It's not a very Evil Stepmothery picture, but it's all I've got.

Pierre(Madison) and Margarita

some people get a little crazy around face paint...if you couldn't tell.
Girl's Camp was awesome!!! Can't wait until next year! Fourth year hike is next year! It's going to be fun, no matter what those who have been fourth years say! AND I get to go to the same campsite!

Camp, Camp, Camp!

We had three times the camp last week. Jake was at Jamboree, Mady went to girls camp at Camp Joseph, and Gabe and Jackson and I went to Cub Scout Day Camp (all week long). More to come on all three camps...Mady and Jake will be writing their own blog entries to detail their adventures.

Niagara Falls

Since we were already so close, we decided to go visit Niagara Falls. We discovered the trolley, which takes you all over the American side, a real bargain...$9 for our family. Unless you want to spend a lot of money, we didn't feel that Niagara was worth the trip by itself, but since we were already up north for the pageant, it was definitely worth the extra little while. Mady was dying to go to the Canada side so she could say she had been on foreign soil. With the changes in border security, you couldn't cross without your papers, so Phil took her picture by the sign. That's as close as she was gonna get this time.