Before I go further I have to mention this ...

Do you have Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venturing Scouts, or Sea Scouts? In Florida? Or out of Florida? Just north of Big Pine Key, in the Florida Keys, is a key called Scout Key. On Scout Key is a boy scout camp called Camp Sawyer. Troops, packs, crews, ships can camp there. On the water. Seriously. For $15 per person per weekend. Amazing! So go talk to your unit and get down there. Oh, here's there website.

The camp itself was terrific, small with 5-6 large group sites. The restroom/shower building was nicer than any I've seen at a Boy Scout camp and the host was very helpful. The camp is on the water with it's own dock and swimming area as well as canoes/kayaks to rent for far less than any of the other rental places. Big Pine Key is around the corner and Key West is less than an hour's drive. Sadly, I have no pictures of the camp, we were too busy in the water all weekend.


So, yeah, we went to Camp Sawyer - and will be going back.





Our troop decided to travel down to Camp Sawyer and decided to do it over a three day weekend to ease the challenge of the 5-6 hour drive. My family, being extra Keys-loving headed down Thursday with the camper to avoid some of the holiday traffic - which we did, we had no traffic at all and really felt like we had the roads to ourselves. With me were Adam, Kaden, and River. Our first stop was Long Key State Park, a new to us campground. This was our "check it out" visit to this campground to see if we'd like to stay there again.

All the sites are on the water and all looked nice and spacious. The water is super shallow, allowing the kids to go out almost further than I could see them clearly while still touching the ground. We brought a blow up raft so they could raft to wherever they wanted to go, and that worked perfectly at this park. As did water shoes. Gotta have water shoes in the Keys - I wore mine out the week we were down there, but saved my feet from cuts and other "weird stuff in the water (plants)". Our one night at this park was terrific, the restrooms were very nice and clean, and I won't hesitate to go back.


After our night at Long Key we headed down to Scout Key to meet up with the troop. We spent three nights there and, I won't lie, it was hot. Being on the water helped, but it was hot. The saving grace was the ocean, for sure. And we appreciated it very much. River and I stayed in the camper while we were there but had no hook-ups so no AC (note to self: figure out how to use the battery). To cool off we drove places - to get ice, to the grocery store, etc - and the AC in the car provided the perfect respite. We met up with my oldest daughter a few times, to go snorkeling and to go to dinner, spending time with her really made the trip extra special.



On Monday the troop headed home and we headed to Bahia Honda State Park, our FAVORITE place to camp in the Keys. We spent two nights there, mostly snorkeling and exploring the water right off our campsite. When we stay at Bahia Honda we always stay on the water. There are two areas with waterfront sites - one is tent only (some truck camper and pop-ups) and on the ocean, the other is the trailer/rv area on the gulf side. We favor the trailer/rv area because there was dredging done there, so a few feet into the water there's a nice drop off that provides some great snorkeling. Personally, I float with my pool noodle and let the tide carry me wherever it wants to go, like a huge "lazy river".

One morning we headed up to Home Depot in Marathon. On the way back to the campsite we stopped at the old Seven Mile Bridge walkway, which is a 2 mile walkway to Pigeon Key. As we were walking the sky clouded over with imminent rain but we keep going. Over the side of the bridge we saw so much - sharks, star fish, dolphins, sting rays, big fish, sea turtles (seriously, real sea turtles!), and so much more. After our two mile walk we discovered that the bridge to Pigeon Key was closed and we had to walk right back. Had it been sunny (and hot) that would have stunk. but we were loving the overcast sky and the breeze so we walked our way back. Despite the island being closed that walk was a major highlight of our drip and I highly recommend it.




.
Another successful Keys trip in the books. Yes, the next trip is being planned already.

One of the scouts in our Boy Scout troop earned his Eagle rank recently (congratulations, Sam!).



His mother has been saving mementos of his scouting journey through the years and asked if I would make him a quilt to commemorate his scouting career. Of course I said "yes".



The quilt measures about 50" by 60". The front side background fabrics are uniform shirts, scouting t-shirts, and rank neckerchiefs. The backing fabric is navy cotton. The binding is leftover fabric from the back and the neckerchiefs.

 

I attempted to put the patches on the right neckerchief - wolf rank on the wolf neckerchief. The patches on the bottom half of the quilt are mostly Boy Scouting ones, earned at various events.



On the left side I left space for his merit badge sash and included a pocket for Webelos pins and any other pins. Sam earned Eagle before aging out of scouts and needed his sash for another year or so, so the sash was added after he received the quilt.


Again, congratulations Sam. We couldn't be prouder of you.

Our awesome Cub Scout pack recently enjoyed it's annual Blue and Gold Celebration. I have no pictures of the event, or at least very few as I was running around in circles most of the day (Committee Chair side effect). But trust me, it was fun.

We opted to have our party at a huge park during the day, with the awards and Arrow of Light ceremonies first and then lunch. After lunch the kids got to experience a really neat climbing wall that the pack rented for the event. The climbing wall was an ideal activity - the kids loved it and they felt really good for accomplishing a skill they may not have mastered before.

In addition to all the awards the scouts earn every year we give leaders year pins, designating how many years they've been with the pack, to wear on their uniform. This year we decided to also recognize our three den chiefs and our other volunteers who do important jobs but don't wear "tan shirts". In total 27 leaders and volunteers were recognized. 27! That's pretty darn amazing and makes me so happy to be a part of our pack.


Instead of just handing them their pins I decided to give them mason jars with a few pieces of candy in them. The pins were the real gift, the jars were really just a slightly fancier way to package them - plus mason jars are pretty "in" these days.


Please understand that I'm not a paper crafter. I could be, easily, but I'd be more broke than I am as just a fabric addict. In an effort to keep a little money in the grocery fund I stick to only hoarding fabric. I had to work with what I had for these, with my limited knowledge of the art, so they could certainly have been fancier but they were fun to make.


I created Cub Scout logo circles for the lids and printed them on heavy paper, then cut them into circles and inserted them. Simple card stock, in blue and gold, form the bases for the cards. The pin acknowledgement and "thank you" were printed on mailing labels, then cut, peeled off their backing paper, and attached to the labels. The tags did end up being a little wider than I'd have liked them to be, but I think they worked alright.


In the jars are various candies, individual packages picked up at a 90% off after-Valentine's clearance sale at Target. The blue striped bags were on clearance in the stationary section of Target.

The cost per jar was less than $1. 

Proud Mama ... my guy with his awards:

Our Cub Scout Pack began the new school year with a Family Orientation meeting, to help the new folks feel more at home and to clarify a few details for the "older" families.

Midway through the meeting the scouts and their den leaders were excused to meet up in their dens while the meeting continued, because they honestly, truly, 110% couldn't care less about the business and financial stuff of the pack.

I wanted the newer boys to meet all the kids in their den and to get a chance to meet their den leaders, to see what the pack was like. I also wanted them to make something ... keeping their hands busy would help them feel less nervous and less crazy active, and having something to take home would help them feel a bond with the pack.

The challenge lay in finding a craft that would work for six year olds, but also work for 10 year olds, would take about 15-20 minutes, wouldn't be super expensive, and would be something they'd like to have.

After much Pinterest and Google searching I found a pony bead alligator. We're in Florida, so that's cool, but no way was that easy enough or quick enough. The bead alligator led to think of making a keychain, a much simpler alternative that the boys could actually use if they wanted to.

I opted for cobalt blue and yellow/gold pony beads because they are colors that symbolize Cub Scouting.


Each of our dens contain about 8-12 boys and we had no idea how many new or visiting boys and siblings would want to participate. All in all, these seemed like a daunting task for a den leader to teach solo. I was lucky enough to enlist the help of our Boy Scout troop (who also spoke to the boys about Boy Scouting early in the Family Orientation meeting), almost all of the troop came and helped, which made an awesome impression on the boys and their families and led to a few older siblings joining Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts were divided among the dens, with the oldest scouts working with the Webelos dens.

And then the crafting began. This was the moment I learned of my big error. Not enough people had an idea of how the craft worked, in fact, I'd only showed two of the Boy Scouts. What I thought was self-explanatory wasn't in the time allotted. Fortunately, those two Boy Scouts and I were able to quickly teach the rest of the Boy Scouts and the den leaders. Totally my fault.

Most of the boys were able to finish their key rings before the end of the meeting and seemed to like them. Clean up was super easy, as it was just picking up a few stray beads.

I filled Ziploc bags, each with enough beads, 3' long sections of jute, and key rings for 15 boys as well as a sample completed key ring. Each Ziploc bag was placed on a separate table, with a sign for which den was meeting at that table.

To make the key ring:


Supplies needed:
3' section of twine, jute, whatever you can find that will work and will not fray super easily
1 key ring
17 plastic pony beads, in your choice of colors


Attach center of jute to key ring using a Lark's Head knot (create a loop in the center of the jute, wrap the loop around the key ring, run the two strands through it and tighten).


Slide one bead onto both strands of jute and bring that bead up to the top.


Slide three beads onto one strand of jute.


Run the other strand of jute through the same three beads, starting at the opposite end of the first strand.



Repeat the last step four more times, tightening the jute as you add each row of beads. Don't worry if it won't lay flat, we got our wet at the end and it fixed it perfectly. Also, if the jute isn't perfectly tight don't worry, you'll be able to tighten it more in a second.



Add one more bead onto both strands at the same time, in the same way the first bead was added.


Tighten the jute throughout the key ring as much as you can and tie an overhand knot using both strands of jute. If your overhand knot doesn't hold the last bead on tie another on top of the first.

That's it! Enjoy your key ring.

Of course, this isn't exclusively a Cub Scout craft, change the colors and have fun!

River lost his neckerchief slide at that pack meeting so I took his key ring apart and made him a ring neckerchief slide out of it. Works great.

Enter to win Purex Crystals, entries accepted through Oct. 19, 2014.

If you don't have a Cub Scout this post probably won't apply to you. But if you do have a Cub Scout this post will save a bit of aggravation.


River is now a Tiger Scout. Because he attended summer day camp he received 10 belt loops at our first Pack Awards Meeting. Woo hoo!

I'm pretty sure the boy is going to need a belt to hold up his belt!

As we put his metal loops on his belt I was reminded of a simple little fix I used for Kaden's belt, our own Cub Scout Belt Loop Tamer.

The problem: 

The belt loops slide very easily onto the scout's belt, but they also slide off very easily, which can be frustrating when taking the belt off and on.

The solution:

To remedy this I simply sewed a button to the backside of the belt, directly under where the most recent belt loop sits.


Then I slid that last belt loop over the button.


 The thread won't show through on the front, so color isn't a big deal.


The belt loops can still be taken off, the button just provides good tension to hold the belt loops in place.

And, voila, problem solved in less than a minute using a button I already had.


My Cub can now easily get his belt on and off, and there's far less worry about losing those hard-earned belt loops that he wants to show off at every den and pack meeting!

 

Rain wasn't all we encountered over the weekend. We also found climbing trees.


And a walkway high above the park's floor, ending with a tower that gave us a bird's eye view of the surrounding area.


And a bird watching path which lead to this serene view of the local river, the Myakka River.


And some boys who liked washing dishes, or at least playing with the buckets and dish water for a good hour.


And scenic tree covered roadways in our campground. (Our campground was not where the rainy tents were, we left those to the scouts and brought my camper; it has AC, electric, and memory foam mattresses)


And gators. No zoom on this lens and no cropping of the image. He was about 10 feet from us. We also saw deer and LOTS of bug repellent-resistant mosquitoes (believe me, we tried every bug spray available and applied crazy often, those mosquitoes were oblivious to our efforts).


And we found some very dirty, soccer playing Boy Scouts, who didn't seem to mind the rain all that much (they minded the mosquitoes though!).

Isn't that Spanish moss fantastic?

Off to plan the next adventure ...