On Sunday afternoon, they went on a "go see it" hike at St. Edward's Park. Its part of the Balcones Canyonlands nature preserve, and is relatively close to our neighborhood. Carl and I decided that it wasn't the best idea to take a recovering Ryan out on the hike (he'd been sick for several days), so I stayed home with him. Turns out all the other moms stayed home, too, so I'm really glad I didn't go. The Scouts emphasize that everything is a "family" activity, so generally, the whole family goes and does everything together. It cracks me up, though, that all eight moms decided that hiking need not be a family activity.
Alex is wearing the Superman backpack. I note that the other Scouts are mostly wearing non-character themed backpacks, so I guess we'll need to buy him an official, hiking one, too. Something tells me this won't be the last time he needs a backpack.
Last night (Tuesday) was the Pack meeting. The Pack is comprised of about 15 dens at our elementary school, and part of the reason I feel we were misled into being told the Scouts had 'minimal' meetings is because I didn't use the correct terminology when inquiring. Yes, the Pack only meets once a month, and the Pack only does one activity a month. But the Den meets 1-2 times a month, plus a "Go See It" plus an Activity for the Den. And then there are all the Belt Loops, pins, and patches he is supposed to earn on his own (ie, MORE work for Mom and Dad). A warning for future Scout parents, so you'll know what you are getting yourself into.
This Pack Meeting was special, though, because it included the Bobcat Ceremony. Alex (and about 30 other Spicewood first grade boys) are now officially Bobcats.
As part of their initiation, they were all called up to the stage with a parent, and they proceeded to mark them as bobcats.
Then, the parent was given the Bobcat pin to affix to the Scout's uniform. (something else I have to remember to remove for washing, and then find again to put back on the uniform. Grrreat.)
Finally, since this is a "family" activity, the new Bobcat also marks their parent as a Bobcat. So glad I sent Carl up on the stage, and not me.
It was a fun time, and the boys enjoyed themselves. And now we have a den of eight bobcats! Here they all are after the ceremony.
We've got our monthly Den meeting this Sunday, and then we get a two week break from Scouts. Although I use the term "break" loosely. Carl's got a long list of things for Alex (all of us) to do over the Thanksgiving break so he can earn some more Scout bling.
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