Skills Weekend Photos

Despite the threat of torrential rain and gales that could blow young Scouts away, Skills Weekend was very successful. In fact, we didn't see much rain or wind at all, and were able to have a great time!

Skills weekend actually started quite a few weeks ago by making a bunch of plans (1, 2, 3).

We found that Devil's Hopyard State Park has a pretty large picnic pavilion so we decided to split the Scouts into two groups. Those working on Pioneering and Surveying merit badges would stay at camp, and everybody else would head over to the pavilion. That way if we did have heavy rains we would all have somewhere to go, and still have enough room to get work done. Of course, we had to modify the day's itinerary some, but it worked out well (though we had to cut Cooking Pancakes from the schedule... again). Since I was running Pioneering merit badge that means I didn't get to see how the other activities went, but everybody says it was a good time.

Pioneering merit badge went well. We covered a lot of the requirements for the merit badge, but the big one was definitely our project: a tower. I remembered building a tower as a Scout and how much fun it was, and thought it would be fun to do again. Our tower came together pretty well, except that we couldn't finish it on Saturday. Sunday morning we got back at it to add the floor and ladder. The whole Troop had a chance to climb up it and take a look around, which they all enjoyed!

At lunch time the Pioneering and Surveying group headed over to meet the rest of the Troop at the picnic pavilion. After lunch, we played the crazy relay race! The adults even played, and it was funny to watch everyone do the chicken dance, cartwheels, and eat baby food! After lunch we all continued with our merit badges and skills activities.

For dinner we had a smorgasbord, where each patrol was responsible for making two dishes that they had never made on a campout before. Each patrol shares their dishes so everybody can try them. The Scouts take a lot of pride in what they make and really enjoy showing off to everyone else what they can make. We had homemade stove-top mac & cheese and baked apples from the Indians, mini baked meatball sandwiches and a Snickers-like desert from the Green Mountain Boys, and bacon & cheese croissants and peanut butter-chocolate bars from the Panthers. All so good!

I wish I could have gotten to see first-hand how the activities at the picnic pavilion went. We had several new Scouts earn their Totin' Chip and Firem'n Chit as well as many rank requirements, and some other Scouts worked on Cooking merit badge. Plus, we also had some Webelos with them, who also seemed to enjoy the day. It was a great trip.