Camp Geronimo - June 15 - 22

After many months of preparation, we arrived at Camp Geronimo!  As you can imagine, scout camp was packed full of activities and there's no way I can go into detail on everything we did.  I'll provide you a summary and let you enjoy the pictures below.  I have many more pictures that I didn't post, and I'm happy to share with anyone whose interested.

Camp Geronimo is all about the Boys!  While completing merit badges is a significant reason for going to Camp, there were also many other activities and meetings that allowed the boys to learn and develop.  Each morning they had a list of responsibilities to ensure our camp site was neat and tidy.  Yes, this included cleaning the latrines; everyone's favorite!  A camp site flag ceremony was also part of our morning and nightly routines.  Another favorite was kitchen patrol (KP) duty.  We served Friday breakfast to every scout, adult, and staff member in Camp.  You get to learn a lot about people when you serve them food.  Some were polite, some were rude, some were picky, some asked for less, some asked for A LOT more.  I believe Ian and Ryan had the best experiences of all.  Remember to ask them about it (wink!).

The staff at Camp organized opening and closing Camp fire programs.  These included many skits and thoughtful messages.  There were a few skits that we won't soon forget.  "This is Pepe!"  "Ach von spieler...Ich-en-bee-en on his air guitar."  "Lady bears!"  Our troop also did a skit on Thursday night, but it didn't quite make the Friday night all-Camp fire.

The mornings of Tuesday through Thursday came early for some of the scouts + Brother Golladay.  Sean, Heber, Jaxson, and Brother Golladay woke up at 5am and went down to the pool for the Polar Bear swim.  What a refreshing way to wake up.

A few more highlights and I'll let you loose on the pictures.  On Thursday night there was a story teller who told the story of the Mogollon Monster.  It was an awesome story, told with great passion.  I must admit, there were some that may have been a little jumpy on the walk back to camp that night.  If you ever get that feeling that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up...watch out for the glowing red eyes.  It just may be the Mogollon Monster!  On Friday afternoon, the troop participated in the Mighty Mogi Challenge.  Each troop was given a list of 13 activities to complete within 90 minutes.  The activities ranged from knot tying to archery and rifle shooting.

I can't complete this post without spotlighting Jaron.  We made it all the way to Friday afternoon without any real "casualties".  Then, Jaron decided to climb a tree.....instead of climbing back down, he decided to fall out of the tree (just kidding, Jaron - ha).  Jaron actually did fall, and hurt his ankle pretty bad.  We got him home that night, and the rest of the scouts dedicated the Mighty Mogi Challenge to Jaron.  We received the top prize; a blue ribbon.