Fall Family Camp-out at Buck Toms Boy Scout Camp

We set out for our first Family Camp-out at Camp Buck Toms in Rockwood, TN on Friday, October 10 with the Pierce family from our pack.  We packed the kids in like sardines after school and set-off on an adventure. 

 There were 4 families in our Pack that went to the Fall Family Camp this year and even though we endured a lot of rain, we still had fun!!! This is a picture of our home away from home for the weekend.

Since our Pack flag was at the Pumpkintown Festival for popcorn sales for the weekend we improvised and made a new Pack Flag out of an old towel, some permanent markers and the Cub Scout's, Tag along's and a couple of Adult Leader's hands.

Saturday was a long day, that started bright and early at 6:30 a.m.  We got up had some breakfast and then divided up by rank for activities.

The Tigers started with a fire safety activity (Achievement 3F).  We discussed the importance of changing batteries in smoke detectors, testing smoke detectors and having a meeting place outside the house in case of fire as well as escape routes. 

Then they paired off in groups of two to make a sandwich together.  The catch: each kid could only use one hand. They had to spread jelly on their piece of bread, fold it in half, cut it in half and put it in a bag as a team.

They all really seemed to enjoy this challenge and they worked very well together.

After all of the jelly sandwiches were made, cut in half and put in their paper bags we played another cooperation game by forming a circle and moving through a hula hoop until it went all the way around the circle without anyone breaking the circle.  Of course we also played with the hula hoop a little bit too.

The wolves did some campfire cooking activities and made some pretty awesome brownies.  

During our free time we did a little relaxing, played some Frisbee, and the Dads took the kids for a walk. *Note: If you find something interesting on a walk like a feather, be sure to bring it back to camp.  You may find that you need it later, for say a Scavenger Hunt activity... LoL...

Though the kids enjoyed the free time, there were times when they seemed bored.  We were thinking that for the next Camp-out, maybe we could organize some activities for our Pack that could earn the Scouts a belt loop.  Since it was our first Family Camp, we were a bit unprepared at times.  It was a good learning experience for all of us.

After our free time and lunch were taken care of we rejoined the other Packs for some fun and games.  The highlight of the weekend for many of the children was the rocket launch.  Each Pack got the same supplies and 10 minutes to make our rocket.  We actually did really well in the first round, but fell short in the second round.  The boys were good sports and none of them got upset over losing. I was really proud that they focused on the fun they were having instead.

Our Pack opted out of the Tug of war, because it was set-up to have 5 boys on each team and we only had 4 Cubs and 2 three-year-old tag-a-longs.  Plus all of our boys were pretty small since they were all Tigers and a Wolf.  We did have a lot of fun with the scavenger hunt though and at the camp fire we were awarded with a Third Place Ribbon to take back to our Pack!

The Camp Fire was a neat experience.  We started by retiring an old US Flag in the fire and then each Pack took turns singing a song or performing a skit.  Our Pack sang the "5 Little Monkeys" complete with the hand motions.  The kids were a little bashful, but I was able to get them to join in. At least the ones that were still conscious...LoL... Isabella had passed out on Ms. Vanette after such a long day and a late camp fire. (That was one thing I would have changed for a Cub Scout camp I think it is more appropriate to do the Camp Fire at 7:30 p.m. instead of waiting until 8:30 p.m. to get it started.)

After the Camp Fire Ceremony was over we went back to camp and got our Patches for attending Family Camp.  Since the patches don't go on the uniform I have been checking out all sorts of ideas on Pinterest, but I haven't decided how to preserve and display them for Aiden and the Girls.

Of course, I didn't get any pictures of myself at the Camp-out, but I did snag a couple cute ones of Emma that I couldn't resist sharing...and other than her need to cry out in the middle of the night, she was actually on fairly good behavior for most of the weekend.