My Boy Scout adventure

On Friday afternoon I drove to Lancaster County, arriving at Sam and Jenn's around 5:30.  I hadn't seen that little two-year-old for four weeks, and that was long enough!  Sam was having a guys' night out, so I didn't get to see him.  Shucks, I wanted to see if he looks any different as a married man, haha!!  But I had a lot of fun with Jenn and Sammy.  What a chatterbox!!!!  Totally non-stop.   A lot of it still unintelligible,  but that did not deter him in the least!

We decided to go to Green Dragon Farmer's Market.  Soon after we started walking around we discovered a memorabilia stand with a singing Santa.  He was totally awe-struck!  He called him "HoHo"!  It was funny at first, but not so much as we ate our dinner at one of the little restaurants, then walked all around the place and had to listen to, "Where's HoHo?" over and over and over and over again.  Each time we would say, "We said bye-bye to HoHo."  Then it was, "Why?"  We'd say something about wanting to see other things, etc, and then it was, "Where's HoHo?"   By the time we left we were wishing we had never seen HoHo!!  Here are some Sammy pics.

I left their place at 8:00 pm and headed to Reading.  I was sleeping at Destiny's house.  Her mom was still at work when I arrived, but I had brought snacks, and Destiny and her brother Shalimar and I pigged out.  (That almost looks like raw hamburger meat in front of Destiny!  It was glazed donut holes that I had bought from an Amish stand at Green Dragon!)

Then it was time to hit the sack.  Saturday morning we were all out the door before 7 am.  Shalimar has joined the Boy Scouts, and there was a Cub Adventure Day for families at Hawk Mountain Scout Reservation about an hour away.  We drove separately, since it was actually on my way home.  Destiny rode with me, and I enjoyed the chance to catch up with her.

There were many, many cub scouts and their families there.  The troop from Reading was the biggest of all - almost 40 boys, I think, plus many family members.  I can't even imagine the logistics of planning a day like that.  We were given a map and a list of our scheduled activities.  There was also lunch served to everyone.  They must have fed hundreds of people.  I am in awe of the people who give their time to something like this.  While it was freezing cold, trying to keep kids' attention was a constant battle all day long,  and the children became bored when they had to do so much waiting due to the size of our group, nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience for them.  It was out in the fresh air, in an absolutely beautiful environment, and they were exposed to educational and wholesome sports.  Here are some pics from the day.

Registration.

Fishing.

Learning about fire prevention and fire fighting.  Keeping kids from throwing leaves and sticks into the fire was not an easy task!

Displays and demonstrations of emergency services.

LOTS of hiking.  (Destiny and her mom in front of me - hard to tell which is which!)

Archery.

BB gun shooting.

Destiny, her mom, and brother.  The sun was in their eyes.  Believe me, we were SO THANKFUL for the sun.  We were still so cold even with the sun shining.  It would have been unbearable without it.

We said our goodbyes around 3:00.  They were heading back to Reading and I to State College.  After a day of physical activity in the cold, cold air I was so sleepy.  About half way home I stopped at a Sheetz gas station and took a 30 minute nap, got some fresh fruit, ice water, and gas.  Once again I got to listen to some of A Prairie Home Companion.  I just cracked up listening to his old people version of some of Johnny Cash's songs.  

I was ready to go to bed by 9:00 last evening and still not ready to wake up at 6 this morning!