Getting Ready for Scout Camp

Today, we got all ready for Scout Camp at Camp Oljato next week. The scouts who came were me, Rick, Ryan, Dallin, Jaren, Kyle M. Tay, Tay's brother Conner, and several 11-year-old scouts: Spencer Patterson, Seth Garff, and Andrew Burrill. And Brother Spencer was our leader.

We firstput our backpacks in the Primary room and went into the kitchen in the Church, and started making tin foil dinners. Brother Spencer packed the hamburger into patties, Spencer chopped the carrots, Dallin mixed the green beans into a bowl, Jaren poured the potatoes into a bowl and mixed in some oil in too, and Dallin and I chopped the onions (we didn't cry, but it did really hurt smelling them).

We then had a procedure for making the tin foil dinners. We'd first pour oil on a piece of tin foil. The oil is important because it will get heated up and will cook the food. Then Brother Spencer would give us each a patty of hamburger. Then came the green beans and the onions, and then the carrots and potatoes. Tay had brought garlic powder and A1 sauce, so we used those too. The only problem was that the A1 sauce got taken in the first few minutes, so we then had to stick to the barbeque sauce Brother Spencer made. After making our own, we made some for the scouts who didn't come to our scout meeting, like Brandon, his dad, Dewlin, and Jeremy.

Jaren and some of the 11-year-old scouts found some slugs outside, and wanted to pour salt on them, but they lost the slugs, so they really couldn't. Then we had to clean up the kitchen. Kyle cleaned the knives. Dallin and I cleaned up the onions. Brother Spencer, and some of the 11-year-old scouts cleaned up the hamburger and vegetables. Jaren and Dallin sweeped the floor, and Seth and I wiped down the floor.

We then all went in the Primary room and had a Pack Check to see if we have everything we need in our backpacks. After our pack check, we went home. So, today we got a lot done to get ready for Scout Camp!

Moving Out

Brandon has moved away to Arizona today, so we now have lost a scout. Oh well. But he will going to Scout Camp with us!

The Las Trampas Hike 2010

Today, we went on a hike in the Las Trampas Hills, an area of scenic land in between Danville and Alamo, for Ben to feel more welcome. Apparently, he didn't come. It was just me, Rick, Jaren, Dewlin, Ryan, and Brandon, and then Brother Spencer and Randall were our leaders. Oh yeah, and Randall brought his dog with him.

Anyway, we met at the church and then drove to the trailhead on Remington Drive here in Danville. Apparently, Remington Drive is not far from Town and Country Drive, where Dallin, Alec, Ryan, and I did Scouting for Food back in November. So, the houses around us looked very familiar.

Ryan was kind of surprised!

We started hiking up the Las Trampas Ridge Trail at a small slope.

A cow kept staring at me and Rick.

Randall let his dog run around, and sometimes we had to yell at him to come back.

The higher we hiked, the more we could see Mt. Diablo, so I took this self portrait with the mountain in the background.

We also found a stinkbug. Dewlin stepped on it, and it stuck it's butt in the air. We backed away so we wouldn't get the smell stuck on us.

We took a rest stop in a small alcove with a little bay laurel tree.

If you crush up a bay laurel leaf, it smells very minty.

We climbed around on the branches of the bigger trees, and then continued hiking.

And then we came at a fork-in-the-road. We could have either gone up to a big tree up on the ridge, or down to a pond to hunt for frogs. We chose the pond.

And yes, we saw cows along the way.

Now, the pond wasn't really the prettiest pond in the world.

Kind of swampy.

But there were frogs everywhere! They were small, because they had just come out of their pollywog stage.

I caught one by the head.

It jumped out of my hand, but then I caught it by the legs!

We went around about a third of the pond, just hunting for frogs.

And then it was time to head back. We hiked back to the Las Trampas Ridge Trail, and then back down the way we came, with the view of Mt. Diablo still ahead of us.

We kept on hiking down. When the dirt trail became a paved road, we knew we were close. And then, we got to the front gate.

Oh yeah, and Randall showed us his multi-tool that I got him for his wedding gift.

After taking a group picture (above), we got back in Brother Spencer's car and Randall's car, and drove back to the church.

So, this wasn't really the biggest hike we've done, but it was still kind of fun!

Swimming Merit Badge

Today, Jeremy, Tay, Brandon, Dewlin, and I went to the Sycamore Pool to do the Swimming Merit Badge, along with other scouts from the other wards. Dewlin and Tay had already got the merit badge, and Jeremy was a little sick, and I'm not sure about Brandon, so they just played around in the pool, but Randall helped me get all my swimming requirements done! The hardest part was jumping with my clothes on, trying to take my pants off, tying them off, and blowing them up with air!