Sausalito

Today was a Teacher Work Day today, so we didn't have school. So, Dallin, Rick, Jaren, Jeremy, and Alec went to Muir Woods. I didn't go because I slept in, but they were going to Sausalito, a town across the bay from San Francisco, so I met them there. I found them, their moms, and their little siblings on a rocky alcove on the waterfront, searching for crabs.

Those crabs were pretty hard to get. They kept on crawling into the tight cracks!

Dallin caught a couple, and Jaren got a crab's claw!

I didn't catch any crabs. There was a pretty good view of the skyline of San Francisco though. You could really see the Transamerica building (the pointy building in the skyline).

After crab hunting at the Waterfront for a while, we all started to go home. My mom and I were going to go to Point Bonita afterwards, and I invited Rick and Dallin to come along. So we waited a while while my mom went to check the map in the car.

(No, I don't know who the lady in the background is. I think it's kind of funny that she's posing for the camera too). Anyway, Dallin started teasing a pigeon by throwing a piece of his bagel and cream cheese on the ground, and then chased the bird. I think the bird eventually flew away over the bay. I wish we could fly. Then again, it would have made it easier for the prisoners escape from Alcatraz. Oh well.

Then Jaren asked his mom if he could come along too, and his mom said yes, so he got to come too! And Jeremy's mom decided to bring her little kids, Jeremy, and Alec with her, so they followed our car in their car. On the way there, we saw a pumpkin patch called "Uncle Kevin's Pumpkin Patch". There was a giant inflatable space shuttle slide (Jaren kind of wanted to get out and go on the slide, but instead, we just looked at the different wooden characters that was set up). There was a Mickey Mouse, Spongebob, Star Wars characters, the Simpsons, and many others. It was funny, when we first saw the pumpkin patch, we heard Rick yell "Look! It's MICKEY MOUSE!" (Rick really likes Mickey Mouse).

Then, my mom took a wrong turn. We tried to go back, but it was already 3:00, and we had to help build a part of the stage for the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat play at 6:00. So we really had not much time to get to Point Bonita, so we headed back. It was probably a good idea because Jeremy's mom had her little kids with her, and there are lots of cliffs at Point Bonita, so yeah, it's not the safest place for little kids.

On the way back, we saw the Togo's in Larkspur we ate at on our camp out to Mt. Tam. As we crossed the Richmond Bridge, (the bridge that connects Marin County to Contra Costa County), we could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

Yeah, I was actually wrong. You could crash a boat into a leg of the Golden Gate Bridge (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the post about Advance Camp). Anyway, while we rode across the Richmond Bridge, Dallin told us his "Life Story". Dallin used the car pillow as a microphone.

On the way home, we went through the Caldacott Tunnels. We tried to hold our breath, but we failed. Badly.

To make up for not going to Point Bonita, we stopped at a Coldstone in Lafayette to get ice cream. Dallin got some Jell-o Banana Pudding ice cream. He said it was so good. I thought it sounded weird. I got Ghirardelli Chocolate ice cream (which is funny because Ghirardelli chocolate is made in San Francisco)!

Oh, and you know those machines that you put quarters in and some toy come out? Well we were looking at the toys they had on display. There was a bunch of those Winnie the Pooh's that are in those little outfit things, and there were some funny looking one's like Pony Pooh and Seal Pooh, and even some squirrel that looked like it was eating Pooh!

There was one Pokémon that was really big and had its tongue sticking out. We called it "Lickey Lickey".

And then there was the Incredible Constipated Hulk...

After our wonderful ice cream, we made up a story about a kid named Jimmy Stratford and how he was a Pokémon Trainer for Halloween, and how he got beat up by a bully named Ballal (yes, we named one of the characters after Ballal). Dallin used the car pillow as a microphone again.

Well, turns out the story was so funny, that we're going to make a movie out of the story! We're going to start filming after play practice tomorrow. Tune in to see what happens!

Communications Merit Badge

Today, there was a Community merit badge meeting. Brother Spencer came since he's our leader, but at first, I thought I was the only scout from our troop, until Alec came through the door. Then, Dallin and Jeremy came later. Anyway, we got some requirements done, and now we only need to send a letter to the editor of the newspaper and some of us need to go to a town meeting. The next town meeting is next Tuesday, and I still need to go to one. I'll see who still needs to go to one too and maybe we could go as a group. The town meeting I think is also a requirement for Citizenship in the Community merit badge! Wow, that's convenient, because we're working on that one as well!

The Secret Society

Today, Dallin and I decided to form a secret society after school. Shh! Don't say it out loud! Remember, it's secret. That's why the word "secret" is in the word "secret society". Anyway, it started when I said, "Hey, Dallin, you wanna make a secret society?"

Then he said, "Sure!" Then Jaren was wondering what we were talking about, so we told him he could be part of our secret society.

Secret societies are awesome, you know? People just go around thinking, "Oh yeah, that guy is just a normal guy," when really, that guy could be part of the Knight's Templar or the Illuminati or part of the Opus Dei, or some other secret society mentioned in one of Dan Brown's books!

Yeah, we should have a secret meeting. No, we should have a secret secret society meeting. No, we should have a secret secret society meeting of secrecy! We should think of a name for our secret society, and maybe even a secret symbol for our secret society! I already have some ideas for a symbol. Maybe we could have a snake with Ballal's head on it? Anyway, I'll update on our secret society soon. Very soon. Very very soon. Very very very soon.

Teddy

Today is officially Teddy's 12th birthday, which means we got to welcome him into our troop. Our next deacon may be Brandon Wilhelmson, who will join us I think some time in October 2009, and I know Dewlin Rosdahl and Ryan Hales will join us in January 2010!

Advance Camp

Well, today, we embarked on another journey. Only, it wasn't as far away as Scout Camp over in the Toiyabe National Forest Area (a.k.a. Hoover Wilderness). We only went over to a place called Advance Camp in Antioch, California, which is only 30 or 40 miles away. What is Advance Camp you ask? It's some place where Boy Scouts from the Contra Costa County can pass off several requirements for just about any merit badge!

Jaren, Jeremy, Aden (who's now a teacher), and I met at the Church at about 7:00 A.M. Nobody else seemed to be coming, so we all started driving to Advance Camp in Jeremy's dad's car, while the bishop picked up Alec and Rick. On the way to Antioch, Jaren and I took some pictures of the scenery rolling by.

After about 30 minutes of driving, we got to Antioch, but it looked more like the outskirts of Las Vegas more than a town in Northern California. It was really dry, hot, and there were lots of palm trees.

(No, that's not us in that picture. It's some other Boy Scout Troop). Anyway, we walked across the parking lot a ways and across some wooden bridge that looked like it could be some Eagle Scout project. We saw an advertisement on a car for donating your old cell phones. It showed a lady with a phone from the 1980's. It was pretty big, and Jeremy called it "a brick with numbers on it". As Jeremy's dad got us registered in, we just sat around.

And Jaren tried to get into a small wooden shack, but there were nails nailed in front of the door, so he couldn't get in.

Then, Jeremy's dad came out of the registration building with a bunch of green shirts that said: "Advance Camp: Honoring 100 Years of Boy Scouts of America" (as you can see Jeremy was really thrilled)!

As we waited some more for Alec, Rick, and the bishop, we looked at all the other Boy Scout Troops. A lot of them didn't even have scout shirts. They just had t-shirts with their troop number on them. Then there was Troop 485 who had some pretty snazzy Russian hats.

Then there was Troop 236 who had girly flowers and their t- shirts.

Finally Alec and Rick came, but there was only one shirt left. They fought for it, and Rick won, but it was too small, so we tried stretching it out. Then we got another shirt for Alec.

We walked over to the grassy field and waited for the flag ceremony.

We watched the flag ceremony, and then we went to pass off some requirements for merit badges. Rick worked on the Music merit badge, Jeremy, Jaren, and Alec worked on the Chemistry merit badge, I did the Emergency Preparedness merit badge, and Aden did the Citizenship in the Community merit badge (shown as listed below).

A lot of the merit badge stations were inside a bunch of warehouse buildings. All the educational merit badges, like Emergency Preparedness were in Building #3. At first, I couldn't find the Emergency Preparedness merit badge station, but I did find some pretty cool merit badges like Aviation and Nuclear Science! I did eventually find the Emergency Preparedness merit badge station. It also got really hot outside, up to about 100 degrees! All the doors were open (but that didn't really help).

For part of the merit badge, I had to go outside to learn about signaling for help. Outside, I saw a giant UFO somebody made. Anyway, we worked on merit badges until noon, and then we got to eat lunch. The camp made us barbeque sandwiches, and they weren't that bad! We talked about what we did in the merit badge stations. Jeremy, Jaren, and Alec made slime in Chemistry. Rick made a banjo out of wood, wires, and a tuna can.

Anyway, we got to eat lunch for a while, and since we already payed for Dallin and Jason Bromley's lunch, (because we thought they were going to come), we got to get extra sandwiches and chips!

Then we went back to working on merit badges. Jaren and I worked on Family Life in Building #3. Alec and Jeremy worked on Emergency Preparedness in Building #3. Rick worked on Communications, and Aden worked on Citizenship in the World (shown as listed below).

When we were done with merit badges, Jaren didn't believe there was a UFO outside, so I proved that there was and showed him the badly silver-painted UFO out back. Then, we all left early because we really didn't want to see BMX show the camp had. I thought they just hired some Weblo scouts to bring their bikes and do figure eights around and around (then again, I'm sure that's worth something for the Cycling merit badge)! Aden, Jaren and I walked back to the bishop's car. On the way, we saw a big teepee!

Then, on the way home, Jaren kept taking video of me from Pittsburg to Walnut Creek. Luckily, we deleted all the videos. But today, if you combine all the merit badges we worked on, you'd get a giant variety of badges!

Game Night

Today, we had a video game night at Taylor Jackson's house to welcome Ben Clark into the troop. I was the first one there and I brought Guitar Hero III. Then, Rick came with a big box of Dance Dance Revolution and Rayman Raving Rabbids. Then, he started playing with some toy phone he found.

The next person to come was Teddy, who brought Guitar Hero Metallica with him. Then, we got to finally meet Ben! He seemed like a good kid, and we were glad to have him in the troop. Also, he brought Super Smash Brothers Brawl!

After Ben, came Jeremy, Jaren and Brent Spencer, then five of us started making pizzas. When we rolled out the dough, Rick tried to toss the dough, but it only got about two inches of air.

While we made the pizzas, Jeremy and Teddy battled each other in Guitar Hero.

Some of our pizzas were done, so we ate, and then we played Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Dallin, Alec, and Kyle Worley came, so Dallin got to help make more pizzas.

Anyway, Ben beat us every single time at Super Smash Brothers! It was awesome! Our first battle was when Ben was Mettaknight, Jaren was Samus, I was Pikachu, and Rick was Fox. Rick died first, then I died, then Jaren died, so Ben won.

The next battle was epic at the end! Jeremy was Link and Ben was Olimar. Ben kept punching Jeremy off the edge, but he kept bouncing back on the ledge and backfire at Ben. But just when you thought Ben was long gone, he bounced up and clung on to the edge. Then, he beat Jeremy! It was amazing!

Then there was one round that was really bizarre. The background had a cartoon pig face on an elevator. Every once in a while, the elevator doors would open and there would be some thing strange, like some disco guy and Auguste Rodin's The Thinker sitting down on the floor.

After a while, Alec showed us the slideshow he made for his Citizenship in the Community merit badge. It was great! He told about some of the landmarks in our community, and the famous people who lived here.

After his presentation, we had ice cream sundaes with French Vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm!

Then, Rick, Dallin, and I played Dance Dance Revolution. My final grade was an E.

Then, Ben was picked up by his sister and his cousin, and the rest of us went to play practice, but I still had my Guitar Hero guitar, so after play practice, I walked around to people I knew and pretended to rock out.

Anyway, play practice went well, we learned the song Go Go Joseph and we worked on The Pharaoh's Song and Pharaoh's Dream Explained.