CrossOver, 2009

Here are a few pictures from our Crossover, it was a perfect day even with the rain earlier.
I want to say great job to all the leaders and the boys. We have had a great year with tons of happy faces.

I also want to say thank you to all the parents that stick with us and the boys. With out your help and understanding at times we would be lost.

again thanks to all, it was a great time

Dave with his award......

Our new tigers crossing over.....

Our Tigers ready for the year......

Chase very excited.....

Our new Wolf den.....

Our new Bears.....

Our New Webelos1 Patrol-Wolverines....

Our Webelos2 Patrol-Aliens

June Cross-Over

This is a final reminder to everyone about the Cross-Over being held June 6th at the Grove on the Western Oregon University Campus. A map can for the campus can be found here. As I already said, the meeting itself will be in the Grove; we will also have parking available to us in Lot H, and bathrooms will be open in the Werner Center for public use. As there are absolutely no tables or chairs of any sort, you will be expected to bring any blankets, tables, chairs or anything else that you feel you will need, as well as your picnic dinner, utensils, napkins, and beverages. Like last year, we are holding a Bake Sale again so please bring your wonderful goodies! Since this is a Pack Meeting, and includes the Cross-Over ceremony as well as the retiring of a flag, it would be expected for all the boys to come in full uniform, please. We plan on starting the evening at 4:30pm with activities, followed by dinner and our program, so come join us and be prepared to have fun!

Pack 38 Adult Code of Conduct

The Adult Code of Conduct is now available as a link at the right side of the blog page, which will take to a Google Documents page where you can view the document at any time, or print off a copy for your own records.

I appreciate everyone's help in following these guidelines so that we can keep our Pack a safe and fun place for the boys to be.

Thank you!

Calista
Committee Chair

November Items...

Just a couple of reminders for all of you.

We are getting ready for our Pack Meeting, being held on November 20th this month and are hoping that all of you can make it. Leaders, please be sure to get your awards for the month in to Steve no later than Sunday (November 16th) so that the boys can receive recognition for all that they've done. In order to make that happen, it means that parents need to get the information to their Leaders as well! Scouting is never a one-man circus; we need everyone to help make it work :)

Also, I know that Ryan (Pack Treasurer) has sent out reminders to most, if not all, of you about our annual membership fees. It's only $10 for the membership fee itself, for any boys who joined before September 2008, and another $12 to add the Boy's Life Magazine, which is a fantastic resource and motivational item for the boys. Please be prepared to pay this at the November Pack Meeting so that we can keep everyone current.

Popcorn sales are now over, and a really big kudos goes out to all the boys who participated this year!! Our Pack did a fantastic job on its sales and we were thrilled to see everyone get right in on that! Good job to the boys, and a big Thank you to the parents who made it happen! If you didn't get to do much with this fundraiser, there is no cause for concern since our Pop Can Drive and Butterbraid sales are just around the corner in the New Year.

Participating in these fundraisers becomes very critical to the financial survival of our Pack since, when we make these sales, about 30% of each sale goes to the Pack to help pay for various activities that we want to do and to purchase all of the awards that the boys earn throughout the year. We can't make all of that happen without the funding from these sales. It requires about $125 per boy to pay for the various awards and things through the year, which equates to approximately $400 in sales through the fundraisers. But since it is quite possible to sell a great deal more than that, the Pack has decided to only use the first $400 of each boy's sales. After that first $400, the 30% per sale goes into an individual account for that boy to begin setting aside money to help pay for his camps in that year. This can be a great way to be able to afford the camps that your boys want to do without having to actually find the money in your own budget, so it's in everyone's best interests to take advantage of the great opporunity that's available in the fundraisers.

Thanks for all that you do, and we'll see you all on November 20th at the Pack Meeting!

Calista
Committee Chair

Webelos Woods 2008

I'm not going to post pictures for this one, because I already have the slide show going at the top of the blog and that would seem a little repetitious.

Webelos Woods was held at Camp Cooper this year and the boys all had a great time. We had almost all of our first year Webelos there for the majority of camp, arriving on the evening of September 19th and going home the morning of the 21st.

When we arrived, we were sent to the Whispering Yew campsite, which we were sharing with another den, and proceeded to set up our tents. Dinner was not being provided that first evening so we had brought food of various sorts with us and at there in our camp before going to the campfire, complete with skits from each den, on the other side of Lake Hurl. After the campfire, everyone went up to the dining hall for cracker barrell (a snack of crackers and cheese) where we found out that a scheduling error was having us evicted from our site. It was already 8pm at this point but, thankfully, Troop 30 was there to help out with the camp and they assisted us in taking down all of our tents and transporting all of our gear up a short hill to the Lacamas campsite instead. Needless to say, by the time we were finished getting all the tents re-assembled in our new site, is was 11pm before all the boys were snuggled into their tents.

Saturday morning, we all trooped down to the dining hall for a hearty breakfast consisting of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages, fruit, and our choice of cocoa or juice. Immediately after breakfast, we headed out for our stations. During the course of the day, we did Map and Compass, First Aid, Team Building, Ropes and Lashing, Cooking, Campfires, and BB Guns. Lunch was held after the fourth station (Ropes and Lashing, for us) where we enjoyed chili dogs. Did I mention that the weekend was a little cool? We had some fog and general chill the first day, then rain the second night with sprinkles the second day. It didn't detract from our enjoyment of the camp, but it sure helped us appreciate the warm chili at lunch! After the last station of the day, there was time set aside for breaking down camp, for those not staying the second night, as well as for practicing skits for our second campfire. Dinner was all-you-could-eat spaghetti, especially since most everyone had left by that time. The campfire that evening was populated by only two dens, and there was plenty of time for our boys to do both of the skits that they wanted to do. Due to the very few campers left that second night, we didn't even have to go to the dining hall for our cracker barrell; Troop 50 helped bring it to our camp and we got to sit around our own campfire to eat our evening snack.

The next morning, the remaining campers gathered at the dining hall for pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, and our choice of cocoa or juice. After that, it was time to clean up. We divided into two groups, one attacking the kitchen and the other waging war on the showers. When that was completed, the other pack took their boys on home. That left just our den, with Troop 50, to go on the hike planned for the morning. That really worked out in our favor since it meant that our camp ranger, Aaron Yoder, was able to take a great deal of time pointing out all the trees and plant life that we passed on our way. We started out on Friday night with Austin, Benjamin, Calvin, Kellen, and Mickey. Nate joined us mid-way through the second day. Then, Sunday morning, Benjamin went home shortly after the cleaning was done and Nate wasn't feeling well enough to go on the hike. That left us with only four boys to go on the hike. We made a half-mile loop going past the top of an 80-ft waterfall and the boys absolutely loved it!

Finally, after the hike was over, it was time to go home. We packed out all of our gear and trundled ourselves out so that we could all find our way back home to our families and some lunch! The boys had a wonderful time and we are looking forward to doing it all over again next year!

September 2008 Pack Meeting

Our first Pack Meeting of the 2008 school year was a great success, marked by the boys receiving quite a lot of awards for various things that they had participated in through the summer. These included, but were not limited to, the Fourth of July Parade...

Earning segments, pins and belt loops for going to Day Camp at Camp Nee Deep...
And going to Resident Camp at Gilbert Ranch.
There were so very many awards and segments passed out, and so many more pictures taken. Unfortunately, thanks to the fact that I didn't take notes at all, I don't remember what awards all of my pictures were actually for. I need to start taking a pen and paper with me to the Pack Meetings, really...

This was followed by our own Dave duded up as a Super Kernel to kick off this year's Popcorn Sales, one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. I know, the picture is a little fuzzy. My apologies. I have some video, too, but will have to load that up separately because the file is a little big.

To finish off the night, a few of the boys stayed to watch the "It Happened to Me" video that teaches the boys what they should do in order to keep themselves safe, both within the scouting program and in general day-to-day life. Watching the video and discussing it with parents of course passes off a requirement in some form or another for each of the ranks. We were so glad to see such a great turn-out for our Pack Meeting and look forward to seeing all of you there again for our Raingutter Regatta at our October meeting on the 23rd!

Pack Family Campout

Our Pack Family Campout was started off this year in front of Dave's house where we re-arranged coolers and things into the back of Di's truck before leaving town.
Our first destination was the Evergreen Aviation Museum. We had our choice of taking a tour of the Aviation building with the planes or the Space building; we chose the Space building. There was a park area out front for the kids while we waited for everyone to get there and be paid for. This kids had a wonderful time on the equipment, which made for a very easy time while we waited.


Dave was being silly, putting himself in the middle of my picture, but he didn't know until afterwards that I had actually caught him!
This picture shows all of our boys at the base of a huge missile that they have in the space museum.
Our tour involved seeing various stages of the space program, parts of equipment that had been used, and even standing in a room that simulated the nearby lift-off of a shuttle (lots of noise and vibrations).After our tour was over we had time to wander for a bit before heading outside to eat our lunches on the grass next to the play equipment, so several people had a lot of fun playing with the simulation games. This one that Di is playing is for landing the shuttle, and there was another that was for landing a lunar module on the moon.
When we were done at the museum we drove out to the Flying M Ranch for our campout. Little time was wasted in scoping out the grounds and setting up tents, despite the heat.

Once tents were set up and things fairly settled, we got the kids involved in a couple of crafts.
We had leather-working, where they could make a bracelet or a bookmark.

And we also made paper kites. That one was great for wearing the kids out, since they spent the remainder of the afternoon running up and down the field making their kites fly; there wasn't enough wind for them to fly without the running!
We had a lot of fun after the sun went down doing our 'campfire' program. Because of the state-wide burn ban, we couldn't actually light a campfire, so we lit two Coleman lanterns and placed them in the fire pit to simulate our fire and proceeded with an evening of run-on skits and a few songs. This was one of our favorites, which we promised Dave would be posted up here, just for him! In case you can't tell, Dave would be a cheerleader, "Go! Go! Fight! Fight! Gee, I hope I look alright..."

After we went to bed, a thunderstorm rolled in, waking us and chasing us from our tents at about 2am. Due to the proximity of the storm and our location right under the trees (worried about lightning), we decided to bug out of camp until the storm passed, sitting it out at a nearby unoccupied house that we had been told we could use in the event of an emergency. Despite our long night, we were still up making breakfast by 8am, with Steve and both Johns doing the honors on the camp stoves, as they had done for our dinner of burgers and dogs the night before.

After breakfast, some of the adults stayed in camp to clean up from the meal while the rest of us took the kids on a morning hike. It was a really short hike, but it's amazing the things they learned that morning! Dave and Dana were constantly pointing out new plants so they could tell the kids the names, uses, and possible dangers of everything we came across. The kids were also encouraged to pick leaves from (safe) plants so that they could make a rubbing when they got back into camp.
And what Cub Scout campout is complete without a wacky picture of the boys and all our valiant leaders?! Dave wanted more of the parents IN the picture, but most of us were busy TAKING this picture and were content be on the protected side of the camera!

Bear Den Meeting 4/9

We had a great time at our Den Meeting last night, since we have moved into the more scientific side of magic. The boys had a great time. First, made a pentagram out of tooth picks in a shallow pan of water (the toothpicks need to be resting on each other and must sit on the surface of the water; do not submerge) and then repel the toothpicks with another (seemingly ordinary) toothpick. Next, they learned how to cut a banana while it was still inside the peel. Then we mixed colors in a shallow pan of milk using dishsoap, but without stirring it!
Then we used Alka Seltzer and water to make rockets out of film cannisters. I think this was everyone's favorite! The boys had a great time shaking their cannisters and waiting for them to explode :)
After all of that, we made root beer floats (which causes more foam, ice cream in the cup first, or root beer in the cup first?) and learned how to put a quarter through a hole the size of a penny. Truly a fun evening! Many thanks to Michelle for putting all of that together for us!

Blue and Gold Dinner 2/21

To all our readers: Please note that it against the policy of the Boy Scouts to put the full names of our children on a website being used for scouting purposes, which is why none of the following pictures will have the names of the boys in them. It's not an oversight, it's keeping everyone safe while still enjoying bragging rights as parents proud of our children's accomplishements :)

The Webelos Den started off the evening for us with our flag ceremony and a wonderful rendition of Chinese dragons!

We started off our awards ceremony with segments being given to those boys who went on the Pack Snow Day. It was a bitterly cold trip, but they had a great time!

Then we have York Peppermint Patties and hot cocoa packets for the brave parents who drove!
I should've been takin notes and don't remember what this young man's award was, but anyone is welcome to either comment with that, or email me, or I'll fix it after I next talk to Dave. Sorry.
We also had segments to award to all the boys who came to help with the Annual Pop Can Drive.
And, of course, all the parents who made it possible. Thank you!

And Michelle's daughter who, although she's not a cub scout, worked just as hard as everyone else that day as we gathered, sorted, and stuffed cans in the recycling machines.
This Tiger cub was awarded his Bobcat badge, recognizing the progress he's made already.
Then we had some Wolf cubs who completed the requirements for the Basketball belt loop.
And we also had some Bear cubs who earned their Whittling Chips, which gives allows them to carry a knife to some specific scouting events.

Segments were also awarded to the scouts who wore their uniforms to church on Scout Sunday.

These two Tiger cubs are getting their tracks and beads, to help them keep track of their progress through the Tiger achievements.
Tonight, two of our Webelos were also awarded the Arrow of Light, a wonderful achievement for any scout, and one of the few that he can continue to display on his uniform all the way through Boy Scouts, and into adulthood as a leader, if he so chooses.

After the awards were over, we had a wonderful demonstration of Chinese writing done by some Chinese exchange students from the local university.
Following the theme of the Chinese New Year, this is one of the cakes that we had for dessert.
And this is the other cake, celebrating scouting itself.
If you are interested I am also putting in a link of the third Chinese student singing a song for us. I did take video of the skit done at the end by the wolf den (absolutely hilarious, by the way!) but I can't get it to upload to Google. If I find a way to get it up and running, I will put in a link later.

Bear Den Meeting 2/20

We are, of course, still talking about the Chinese New year. This evening, the boys made their own dragons. They colored the face of their dragon, cut out their own design on the beard, and added a paper chain behind the head to complete it.These are two examples of completed dragons, although every boy did his dragon differently. It was great to see the variety of colors and choices of design that each scout used!
Then we sat and talked about a few aspects of Chinese culture. We learned about the Chinese flag, some phrases that are considered lucky in China, saw some examples of Chinese lettering, and talked about the Chinese calendar. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, which means the New Year can come anywhere between late January and mid-February. Since the calendar uses five cycles of 12 years each, it takes 60 years to get through the calendar, and then it starts over again. Each year is named after an animal and the Chinese believe that certain characteristics of the animal of the year are found in people born in that specific year. You can go here to find more detailed information on this, as well as what characteristics are believed to be found in the various animals.
After that we made a lantern out of construction paper and tissue paper. Each boy got to choose his own colors for his lantern. It was a great evening learning new things about China!

The Annual Pop Can Drive

Our pack worked really hard on February 9 for the Pop Can Drive and the results are in. We collected a total of $359.20, or 7,148 cans and bottles, during this year's can and bottle drive. Plus, we had $9.00 in cash donations, for a grand total of $368.20. WaHoo! We also had 15 boys and 13 parents attend this fund-raiser! Thanks so much for those who came and participated; we couldn't have done all of this without you!

Bear Meeting 2/13

Continuing our theme of the Chinese New Year, and combining it with Valentine's Day, the boys learned about the symbolism attached to cherry blossoms. In China, the cherry blossom is used as a symbol of love, as well as femininity. So they got to make their own cherry trees (complete with blossoms) out of pipe cleaners and tissue paper. Since this is the year of the rat, they made a rat neckerchief slide, and then made a Chinese lantern from tissue paper.Then we got to play a relay game with chopsticks. There were four teams, made of one boy and one adult per team. The object was for each person to use their chopsticks to carry a cotton ball, a Q-tip, a raisin and a grain of rice (in that order) to the plate at the other end of the room. The boys had a lot of fun trying to use the chopsticks! It definitely takes practice.
This is the Chinese lantern, cherry blossom tree, rat slide, and lantern from the night.

Input, Please

This blog has the ability to be a valuable source of information for our pack, but only if we make it something that we want to use. On that note, there are a few items regarding the settings of the blog that need to be established, and I would prefer your opinions on the matter. It should be noted that currently the blog is set so that search engines can find, it's public (which means anyone can look at it) and anyone can comment on it. But it also doesn't list where we are, the boys' names, or most of the leaders' names, so there is little risk involved. You should also know that, as the administrator of the blog, I have the ability to add/remove authors, as well as to remove any content (posts or comments) that are deemed inappropriate, and I am the only one with any say on what the page looks like (although I can add that ability to others, like Dave). That having been said, it would be much appreciated if everyone could please either email me or leave a comment on this post letting me know what your preferences are. The options are as follows:

Do you want search engines to be able to find our blog (yes/no)

Who can comment on our blog?
Anyone at all
Only people with Google accounts
Only people who are members of this blog

Who can view our blog?
Anyone at all
Only people who have been invited to this blog

You can either click on the comments link (below) in order to let me know what you think, or you can email me at elethra@gmail.com. I would also really appreciate volunteers from each den who would be willing to be authors on the blog to post what your den has done each week. I have no problem having these people over for a tutorial on using the blog, if it sounds too scary :) I really appreciate your feedback, and look forward to hearing your opinions! Thanks.

Bear Den Meeting 2/6

The theme for the month of February is "Chinese New Year" so at our den meeting we learned a little about the new year celebrations. On New Year's Eve they eat fish to bring a bountiful harvest from their crops. They also eat oranges for good luck, and we learned the the Chinese word for "orange" is synomous with the phrase "good luck".

Then we talked about the parades that they have to celebrate the new year, and each of the boys got to make a Chinese dragon puppet out of paper plates and tissue paper.
Next the boys made their own fortune cookies (complete with a fortune they wrote themselves) out of felt and glued it to a ring for a neckerchief slide.

At the end of the night we had homemade fortune cookies to eat, as well as candy oranges and Swedish fish, to represent all the things we had learned about. The boys had a great time learning about the Chinese New Year, and we look forward to more new stuff next week!

February Committe Meeting

Welcome to the first post of our blog for Pack 38! We have so much information to keep track of, and so much of that is critical to all of you, so let's get started!

Our Blue and Gold dinner is on February 21st at 6:30pm in the MES gym, and our theme is the "Chinese New Year". This will be a potluck dinner so please bring a favorite dish with enough servings for 8-10 people. If you know that your son is due for some awards, please be sure to mention them to your Den Leader so that he/she can get that information to Dave no later than Monday, February 18th, since Dave will need time to actually get the awards in hand.

The Pinewood Derby is also coming up soon and we have some important details pertaining to that, too. On March 6th all cub scout's cars need to be at the fire department between 6:30 and 8pm for weigh-in and to allow our fire fighters to vote on their favorite cars. The cars will remain there until the Derby on Saturday at the MES gym. On Saturday morning, the doors will be opened at 9:30 am to allow for the weigh-in of all cars that will be racing in the open class and to allow everyone to vote on their favorite cars. The weigh-in and voting will close at 10:30am so that the races can start at 11am. Please don't be late! Any items that can be contributed towards our bake sale would be much appreciated, and a lunch of hotdogs, chips, and sodas will be available for a small cost. A few more volunteers are needed for assisting with the Derby so if you're able to help out please call Dave or your Den Leader to find out where you can be put to work!

Our District Scout Expo and Pinewood Derby are being held on March 15th (the times and location TBA) and we are planning on doing bottle rockets that day. If you can start collecting .5 ltr water bottles, cardboard tubes (from paper towels and toilet paper), cone caps, and colored markers for our rockets, that would be great! Four more adult leaders to help with the Expo are also greatly needed, so please let Dave or your Den Leader know if you are able to help with that.

On March 20th we will be having a Webelos Cross Over as well as talking about recycling, to fit our theme of "Litter to Glitter". The boys will have to oppotunity to do a craft for this Pack Meeting so it would help a great deal if you could please start setting aside some of your recycling for this activity. We are hoping for anything that they can use to make something else; the cardboard tubes from paper towels and toilet paper, pop-tart boxes, cereal boxes, juice containers, etc. Be creative! We would like to have enough to give each boy a paper bag of materials and then see what they come up with to build, given what's in the bag.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to post a comment or call Dave.