Medeival Times at Camp Greilick, Part II

My strawberry jam is finished, so I’m ready to regale you with Part II of my camping tale.

The theme for this year’s Cub Scout Camp was medeival times.? The majority of the boys ran around with foam swords, chest plates, shields and helms.? They fought valiantly and relentlessly. They fought for honor.? They fought for Icees.? I think the Icees were more important.

So after we hiked umpteen million miles to our campsite, and back another bajillion(yes, bajillion is a unit of measure.? Just trust me on this.) miles to the Fire Bowl for opening ceremonies, we hiked back again to our campsites for a campfire and s’mores.? This was fun.? It was fun because it no longer involved hiking.

? The boys ran around, playing in the light of the bonfire, then they toasted marshmallows and made s’mores.? For the record, Little Man makes the best burnt marshmallows known to man.? He made them for me all evening long.? I was a spoiled momma.

Sleep was interesting.? Remember, we went with other people.? There were whiny kids, crying kids and hyper kids.? Eventually, sleep came to all of them.? I had sprayed the inside of our tent?with copious amounts of bug spray–all spiders, tent worms and God knows what else were not present when Little Man and I drifted off to sleep.

Fast forward to 2:30 a.m.?

“Mom!”

I turn over on the oh-so-comfortable(insert sarcasm here)?cot.

“Mom!” with more urgency.

“Evan?” I mumble.

“I gotta pee!”

“Oh God…” I moan.

Up we get.? Shoes get haphazardly put on, the tent flap is thrown back and Little Man and I venture forth on a moonlit trip to the outhouse.? Ahhhh, the beauty of nature.

At 2:30 in the morning.

Please, can we do this again next year?!

We made it back safely from the outhouse.? Neither of us were assaulted and abducted by the large amount of tent worms present.? I personally thought this was a miracle.? Those worms creep me out.

I was awake at 5:15 a.m. for the day.? In fact, I was ready to leave already.? I was determined to stay though, because we wouldn’t get Little Man’s camp patch if we didn’t.? And I didn’t just suffer the night in that God forsaken excuse for a tent for nothing.? We were staying, doggone it.

?I laid there for a while, and at 5:45 Little Man woke up.? It was still faintly dark.?

Up we both got, brushed hair, faces and teeth at the primitive water fixture by the outhouses.? Then I quickly packed up our tent and handed Little Man a small portion of things to carry on our three mile hike to our vehicle.? May as well pack up some stuff, we weren’t scheduled for breakfast for 2 more hours.

At roughly 7:45, we all met at the flag pole in front of? Besser Hall for morning flag raising.

The night before, the Red Team (we were the Green Team, if I haven’t mentioned it) won the right to enter the dining hall first for breakfast.? Their champion had won all her challenges at the Opening Ceremonies the night before.? The rest of us (Green, Yellow, Blue and Purple Teams) each had to come up with a cheer to yell the loudest to win the right to go in next.? Green Team was ready.? Boooyyyyy were they ready.? When it was our turn, at the top of our lungs…adults included mind you…we shouted:

Beans, Beans the musical fruit

The Musical Fruit that makes you toot!

The more you toot, the better you feel!

??? Green, green we want our meal!

This was followed by all the boys making a cacophony of farting noises, as loud as they possibly could.? Obviously, you’d think we would win, right?

No.?

The Powers That Be took pity on the Yellow Team, and let them go second.? Seriously, I think there were four people who cheered on the Yellow Team.?

In fact, we went in last.? But it was all good.? We made up for that at lunch and got to go in first.

Breakfast was delicious.? There were pancakes and sausage;fruit and yogurt; hot oatmeal and cold cereal; milk, orange juice and apple juice.? The food was warm and plentiful, and we didn’t leave hungry.

Afterward, the camp staff, The Guardians of Greilick, led the group in some rousing songs.?I mean rousing.? It was deafening loud.? And all the kids LOVED it.

If coffee or Diet Pepsi didn’t wake a body up, the songs certainly would, without a doubt.

I still have the “Milk Song” stuck in my head.? It’s catchy.

Are you in awe of our incredible adventure yet? Are you in awe of the sheer fortitude we exhibited during 24 hours of such extreme conditions? I know.? We are pretty amazing.

I have to make my boys some dinner, they’re ravenous.? I’ll be back with the final chapter in my tale later this evening.? I know, I know…you can hardly wait!

S.

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