Mataguay Scout Ranch

Well, three of the VanBuskirk men got to go to Boy Scout Camp last week for a week fun, hard work, and a lot of dirt!  Troop 104 had a great time time the wilderness together.

They got to sleep on cots in Army tents.  Ahh, the good life!

Dennis, and the other dads and scout leaders, Doug, Ron, Ty,and Polo, worked so hard, as You can see from these pictures.  I heard they managed to run off to the local casino... to get some apple cobbler. (Isn't that why most people go to casinos?)

One activity my guys really enjoyed was fishing.  They caught some pretty big ones.  They were catch and release, so nobody knows just how tasty they might have been.  But Dennis cam home all excited about his new-found hobby.  He has fished a few time before, but never actually caught anything.  Now he is a pro, and the guys will be doing a lot more of this I think.  Fine with me, as long as I get to eat the fish, and not clean it.

Mataguay Scout Ranch offered a lot of great merit badge classes that let the kids not only learn a lot, but also have some fun experiences.  Alex had a great time getting his canoeing merit badge where they had to practice rescuing an overturned boat, among other things.  

Alex also got to do a special overnighter where they did stargazing and had s'mores.  He really loved it!

Alex came home with 5 merit badges - Canoeing,  Indian Lore, Outdoor Cooking, Geology, and Weather.  That is awesome to get so many badges in one trip!

Nate got to do something very cool for his Aviation merit badge - he got to fly in a glider!  it was very exciting!  He spent 25 minutes up high in the air, and even got to experience zero gravity, just like the astronauts!  He said that zero gravity was so cool because the dirt on the floor of the cabin was just floating in the air in front of them.  Lucky kids!

Nathan also had an overnight adventure that didn't involve s'mores.  It was called wilderness survival.  They had to go out in the wilderness, build a shelter, and spend the night with nothing but what they carried in their survival kits.

Beside his merit badges in Fishing, Aviation, and Wilderness Survival , Nate also earned badges in Nature and Environmental Science.

There were a lot of other activities as well, like swimming, hiking, shooting, and just hanging out.  

Alex LOVES to hike, and he hiked all over the place.  It is tough keeping up with that kid on the trail.  He certainly wore in his new hiking boots.

Nate discovered he is quite the marksman, doing very well in both rifle shooting and archery.  Dennis was really impressed with Nate's accuracy.

The guys all had a great time.  What a great experience it was for them.  We love scouting.

Next year the twins will join them - that means five at camp, and only the two youngest and mom at home.  That will be strange.

Oh, and by the way, by boys have started their own blog, and Alex had documented this camp adventure himself.  Check out their blog, The BoyZone, at www.vbboyzone.blogspot.com, to get their perspective of life with 5 brothers.