Cub Scouts Camping, Train Ride, Sore Throat

The boys left for Baker City, Oregon last Friday afternoon for a Cub Scouts camping trip. It's a good thing they brought a huge comforter with them, because the nights were cold and Nico was having trouble. I'll let Guy blog for this part:

Left boise on time around 6pm. Led the pack early, but fell behind.  Near the turn off toward sumpter we were caught by a few other families and followed them to the Union Creek Campgrounds.  I helped Isabell put up her new tent, Nico then helped me put up our tent.  It was dark, and the ground was wet.  Got ready for bed, Nico was freezing, it was hard for him to focus.  I tried to zip our sleeping bags together, but I couldn’t figure it out and gave up.  It was good to have the comforter.

I awoke to a coyote alarm just before 6am (coyotes singing yelling etc)  Kids woke up and started playing tag. Nico stayed asleep in bed, when he woke up he wanted to leave immediately, (he was very cold) I told him we could leave after the train ride if he still wanted to. Before breakfast the kids went down to the lake, and Nico got a shoe stuck in mud.  We had to borrow a pair of shoes from Max, a kid a year younger than Nico, that we went camping with this summer (City of Rocks)

Breakfast was oatmeal.

Nico got his buddy (Max) and we all went on a nature walk to the lake, some avoiding mud.  We saw a frog, and an osprey carrying a fish. Later we saw an osprey hit the lake for some food.  Saw some rusty engines that had been in the lake at some point, but when the waters went down for the fall they were revealed.

Upon return, Nico and Max did dot to dots in the tent.  Lunch was walking tacos (taco stuff in a bag of chips).

We went to McEwan station, a small station where we got on our train to head into Sumpter.  The kids were given fake gold and fake money and necklaces.  There were some young girls on the train (not with the pack) who were telling stories of the dreaded rockodile which didn’t move during the day, but that would swim around at night and each children.  

The Rockodile

Also, that there were bandits in the area.  Our train was “attacked” by bandits, who forced the train to stop and they stole all the “money” from the children and took the “gold” from the head of the train.  We got into Sumpter station, where the kids were allowed to ride the bandit’s horses.

We then took a tour of the gold dredge, a giant boat / machine which was used to dredge huge amounts of soil for gold.  Nico and the kids also got to practice panning for gold. Nico found a few flakes, (we had to give them back).

We got back and the kids practiced their skits they made up for the campfire program that night (Saturday).  Dinner was chili, salad and rolls.  Nico was in several skits, including “night at the museum”, “Forest of Death” and another one he made himself involving preying mantises and leaves.

Another cold morning, Nico wanted to leave immediately. We stayed for breakfast and after a bit in front of the fire and sipping some hot chocolate he was ok waiting until all the other kids left.  Breakfast was eggs / sausage / and stuff potentially burritos.  Nico played around, I had done most of the packing up when he was relaxing at the fire.  Nico made some sandwiches for our trip home, then we left.  We stopped for a few snacks then drove straight home.

Ok it's me again (Joanna)! The first thing Nico wanted to do when he got home on Sunday was to open up his bath-bomb kit and start making bath bombs. He ordered this kit with his own money from a catalog we received in the mail. He also bought himself a dot-to-dot book.

He then dug into his Little Passports World Edition, where there was a 3D puzzle of Big Ben.

Monday afternoon I got a call from Nico's school and Nico was on the other end. He told me that he started getting a sore throat soon after getting to school that day, and then he got a stomach ache and a headache. The nurse told me he had been to her office 3 times that day and there was nothing else she could do for him. I picked him up and took him home. I loaded him up with all the good anti-virus things I have, and he happily ate nachos and watched his iPad and played on his Switch for the rest of the day. He had a low grade fever (100.1).

He stayed home on Tuesday. He spent all day on his iPad and Switch. Halfway through the day he said his sore throat was gone, and he no longer had a fever.

Wednesday was a full day for him. He goes to school early for Chess, and then after school he gets picked up for Youth Group. Papa picked him up. They went to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner.

Guy and I usually make dinner for ourselves on Wednesday nights and then watch a show or two. This time we tried to get some unpacking done too, since that is an ever-present issue at the moment!

Thursday is a long day for Nico as well, he is at school early for his hall monitor shift, and at school late for Drama Club. Evelyn is in Drama Club with him this year. When he came home I asked him how the hall monitor thing went, and he said "Bad. Very very very bad." Then he smiled and said "just kidding!" Hah!

Here's a video of the Sumpter Train Ride!

Wedding and Webelos Woods

Last Friday morning we woke up in Portland, OR, the day of Tom and Emily's wedding. Guy figured out the coffee maker, and we spent the morning resting and playing the board games that our Airbnb had available. 

We went to a nearby Fred Meyer to buy some things we forgot to bring with us. Makeup for me, a plate for the cookies we brought, and a spoon for the salad we brought. Then we picked up lunch from a Thai restaurant, and while we waited for the food, Nico and Guy went to the Baskin Robbins next door for a before-lunch dessert.

The wedding was that afternoon around 4:30. Nico quickly found some kids to play with, two brothers. He played hard with them all night long, running and playing tag, dancing, playing cards, and hitting a pinata.

Tom and Emily both had beautiful vows. After the ceremony there was so much food downstairs to choose from!

After the food downstairs, there was dancing back upstairs where the ceremony was. Nico and his friends dropped in for a brief moment to show off their moves, then they were back to chasing each other around.

They did help clean up the globes from the reception area at the end of the night.

Congratulations Tom and Emily! We love you both and are so happy for you. It was a beautiful wedding.

The next morning we started our trip home. We drove to Pendleton where we stopped for gas and treats and coffee, and then I went one direction to head to Spokane, and the boys went the other.

Monday the boys drove to McCall for Webelos Woods, a Cub Scout camping trip.

Here's Nico looking at the schedule once they arrived. There were several activities each day for the scouts to participate in.

Now Guy is going to take over writing this part of the blog:

Day 1

Met at albersons parking lot to meet other members, 4 other boys were on the trip.

Trip was uneventful (but the road is twisty)!

Got to camp and got registered, then setup camp.  After that we met at the firebowl, which was like an open air theatre, where the leadership team introduced themselves. Later (at the main building) we had flag ceremony (taking down the flags) then dinner.  Dinner was mac and cheese with hotdogs, with green beans and salad and ice cream. Nico skipped the mac and cheese, and ate mostly green beans, with a little bit of hotdog. And chocolate milk.  After dinner was a firearms safety meeting so that it wouldn’t take up all the time during shooting the following day, it was more detailed than in needed to be in all the wrong places.

Day 2

Up at 6am (nico still sleeping). Once we all were up we sat around camp trying to guess what would be for breakfast. No one guessed Cinnimon rolls, which is what we had. They had gluten free donut for nico, as well as gluten free cereal.  Everyone was jealous of nico’s donut.  

First activity of the day was bb shooting, nico grouped his shots quite well. (see video and pictures). 

After that we did sling shots, shooting garbanzo beans at plates.  After that ,we did archery (nico’s favorite).  All during this time, Nico’s pack members were planning a skit to perform at the nights fire bowl gathering.  

Then, it was lunch time, which was chicken nuggets and tater tots.  Nico had a grilled chicken breast, but didn’t like the tater tots. More cholate milk. We had KP duty, so we spend about half an hour cleaning up, because the kids didn’t know how to mop or sweep or anything. After lunch was a first AID class, where Ironically nico got a sudden and gushing bloody nose.  We went to the first aid area and had it attended to, but it was several minutes before it stopped bleeding.  We returned to the first aid class, apparently missing nothing. After first aid was a “cast away” class where the kids got to learn some survival tips. They attempted to cook biscuts on a stick over the fire (mostly they just fell in the fire) and then cooking poached eggs in the fire (nico got mostly shell in his and didn’t like it) they also learned about some native plants some dangerous and some edible. Nico tried some “bear moss” which he thought tasted like salad. Ayden, one of his packmates thought it tasted like wet shirt.

Dinner was early this evening, to allow for some free time to swim. Dinner was hamburgers. (gluten free bun for nico, and chocolate milk) Nico also got a squishy toy thing at the trading post, and tipped a little so that the tradepost workers would sing the tip song. Nico elected not to swim, so instead we played apples to apples at the main building, then he did some bead work (which he didn’t finish)  Then it was off to fire bowl, where various people did skits. Nico’s pack did a skit related to a person getting ready for hiking, and defeating various obstacles including sun, bugs and fire, only to be defeated by a bear (played by Nico)  I didn’t film that.  They also retired two flags (via burning) which was pretty incredible to see, including a gun salute (4 shots total)  Then it was bed time.

Day 3

Nico was very sleepy (see nico’s hair and sleepy face picture).  

He said he would have kept sleeping if I hadn’t woken him up. We mostly packed up camp in the morning before Nico’s troup did the flag ceremony in the morning, with some help from some of the leaders (we didn’t have enough kids for a full ceremony) they did pretty well. (video). 

Breakfast was cheese omelets and sausage, with watermelon (picture). During the class I snuck away and packed up the rest of camp. By then, nveryone was ready to go home, and the ride was uneventful. 

There was one final class for nico, which was a cast iron cooking class. They made pankaes (one for me) and cobbler (picture). 

We unpacked the car, then got to relaxing (on the switch).

Ok now it's Joanna again.

Today was a Grandma Camp day and tonight Nico is staying the night at Grandma and Papa's house. I am picking him up tomorrow when I get back into town from Spokane. Here are Nico and Papa reading together.

A major video of snippets will be coming next week! I have a lot of video snippets to catch up on. Stay tuned next week for birthday video snippets, and snippets from camping.

City of Rocks, G.G., Grandma Camp Overnight!

On Friday Nico and I finished packing and preparing everything for his and Guy's trip to City of Rocks. He diligently put all the camping silverware back in their sleeves after I washed them.

In the afternoon, Evelyn and Nico helped me bag up and label some ribbon on its way to Amazon.

Then they traded Pokemon cards.

Guy left work early and met us at Jonny and Alanna's house. I was still dog/house sitting there at the time. We finished packing up Guy's car for the trip.

They arrived late that night, set up camp, and went to sleep. Then Saturday they went for a long hike!

Nico spent most of his time with a boy named Max, he is one year younger than Nico in Cub Scouts. Guy said they were being silly together the whole time, but not crazy silly. They told riddles and made up puzzles and were being very punny the whole time they hiked. Sounds like a good friend!

Guy said to Nico, "Go climb up on that rock so we can scare Mommy!"

Relaxing in the "Clubhouse" they called it.

They went to the Hot Springs nearby on Saturday afternoon. I had packed trail mix with chocolate in it, which melted. Nico ate it anyway, of course!

The camp coordinators provided all the food except dinner on Friday. They knew Nico was gluten free and so they made him gluten free pancakes on Sunday morning!! On Saturday morning it was bacon and eggs and oatmeal with coconut milk and bananas. They had chicken, and other good foods too.

Sunday they packed up camp and came home. Here are their road trip snacks!

Sunday we made pizza over at Jonny and Alanna's house. I chose the movie - Meet the Robinsons. It is so good! It is one that Jonny & Alanna own. Afterward, Guy went home for the night and Nico stayed over at the house with me. He chose a few games for us to play.

I was not thrilled about Wet Head, but I had told Nico: "Pick out any game and I will play it!" You wear a helmet with a tiny bucket of water on your head, you spin a dial and pull out that many pins from the bucket. If it's the wrong one, you get wet!

I lost!

Allicia and I have been trying to hang out on Monday mornings. Evelyn and Nico did more Pokemon trading, and some legos.

Avery came running inside while we were talking and told us he had found a black widow spider outside our door. Allicia grabbed the Bug-A-Salt gun to kill it. We found one black widow and a super ton of egg sacs.

Monday afternoon Nico and I went to visit GG. We played Upwards (a Scrabble variation).

Monday night, Guy met Nico and I at the house for dinner. We played Cranium and then Guy headed back to the Clubhouse for the night and Nico stayed with me.

The next morning I took him bright and early for Grandma Camp! This week was the overnight Grandma Camp that lasted from Tuesday until Thursday. They stayed at a hotel and swam a whole ton in the pool.

They also went bowling.

And then today they went to Roaring Springs water park. Nico said his favorite part was the Avalanche ride. Grandma Salisbury rented a cabana, so they had a nice base camp.

Papa dropped Nico off to us tonight at church band practice after they were done at Roaring Springs. Thanks Pa!

And when we got home, Nico fell right to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was wiped!

Another week of summer is in the books!