Boy Scout Camp 2010

Chase went with ABS Troop 21 to Boxwell Scout Reservation in Lebanon, TN for Boy Scout Summer Camp during the week of June 20th - 26th.

Kasey and I dropped him off on Sunday at camp. We didn't hear a word from him until we went to the family night program on Friday night. As a mom, I could not wait to see him. But, I made a promise to myself on the long drive to camp that I was not going to embarrass Chase by running up to him and hugging him in front of all the other boys when I got there. I was pleasantly surprised when we saw Chase and he wrapped his arm around me and told me he loved me and he missed me this week. AWWW!

When we arrived at the reservation, we purchased our meal ticket at the "Cripple Crab". They gave us a map and told us how to get to Chase's campsite called "Camp Craig".


I think we walked about 1/2 mile to get there. His campsite was located right on the waterfront in a beautiful location.






This was Chase's humble abode during the week:

After we saw Chase's campsite, we went to the flag lowering ceremony. As all of the boys gathered in their formations, it was such an amazing site to me. All of the boys were required to wear their uniform shirts. They had to remain silent during the formation. Suddenly we heard the staff scouts marching from another area of the camp toward the flag pole. There were about 30 of them marching and singing in unison. When they arrived, they shouted out some commands to all of the boys and the flag lowering ceremony began. Then they entertained the scouts before dismissing them for supper. Here are a few pictures from the flag ceremony:





After the flag ceremony, we went to the cafeteria for supper. The scouts had to enter the cafeteria in silence, wait for the prayer, then sit in silence until their table was "tapped" by a staff scout.

When their table was "tapped" they were allowed to enter the line to get their food. The scouts served us BBQ sandwiches, baked beans, salad, and peach cobbler. It was actually pretty tasty.


The staff scouts were quite talented. Some of them formed a Camp Craig Band and they performed for us during our meal. They also got the scouts involved in a "buffalo dance" which was hilarious!



After our meal, the boys were responsible for cleaning their tables. They each had assignments: wiping off table, taking trays to the garbage can, sweeping, and mopping. Guess what job Chase got to do? He can put this new skill to work at home!


After they finished cleaning up, we had a little free time. Chase took us on a little tour of Camp Craig. This was one of the sites where they met each night for the campfire ceremony.

Here are some pictures of their swimming hole. Chase had a lot of fun here!


We met at the flagpole at 8:30pm to prepare for the closing campfire ceremony. Some of the Scout Staff led us by carrying torches to the campfire site on the waterfront.


All of the scouts were getting pretty tired by this time.

The Camp Craig Band performed for us again:


At the end of the campfire a member of the Scout staff stressed the importance and honor of achieving Boy Scouts' highest achievement - Eagle Scout. As he talked, other staff members used torches to light a flaming eagle across the lake from our campfire. Then the staff members gathered in a circle around the campfire and sang a scout song.

As we were being dismissed I heard another scout tell his mom, "I love this place. This is the best place on earth. I want to come here every Summer." I think Chase feels the same way. He had a great time. We have already noticed some great changes in him. He not only fulfilled many of his rank requirements and earned two merit badges, but I think he learned way more from his peers and scout leaders this week than we will ever know. He has so much more confidence in himself and just seems all around a much happier boy!