Summer Events!

Dear readers of the Cub Scout Pack 101 Blog,

This is Roger, the Cubmaster. I'm sorry it's been awhile since I last updated this page. I had hoped to get some pictures from the Rocket Regatta in May and the Cubmobile Race in June, but unfortunately, I haven't gotten those yet. So, I am pressing forward now, with lots of information from the previous events, and pictures from our latest adventure, our Summer Supertrip to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to see the aquarium there and to camp out with scouts and parents!

First, back in May, we had our last official regular year cub scout pack meeting, and during that meeting, we held our annual space derby. The scouts built rubber band powered balsa wood rockets, and we raced them neck and neck. Cobie Copley was the winner of the space derby. Seth Blankenbaker finished second, Dylan Copley finished third, Austin Cohoon finished fourth, and Grant Helm finished fifth. I want to congratulate all the boys who participated, also including Caleb Blankenbaker, Hayden LaVeau, Chris Runion, Trentin Sronce, John Bowman, Kody Brookshier, Nickolas Shinn, Dalton Ledbetter, and Zuri Turner.

Next, in June, we held our Cubmobile Race. We raced down 9th Street in the heat of a late June morning, with each boy have a great time! The winner of the Cubmobile race was Bryan Walquist. Second place went to Grant Helm, third wend to Nickolas Shinn, and fourth place went to Cobie Copley. The Wildest Ride award went to Ben Bowlin, and the Slow and Steady Award went to Riley Alsip. I want to congratulate all the boys who participated, also including Dylan Copley, Trentin Sronce, Zuri Turner, Julian Russell, and Zach Walquist.

Just a few days ago, at the end of July through the first of August, Pack 101 traveled to and returned from the most ambitious group event we have ever planned. A group of over 50 scouts and parents or guardians traveled by charter bus to take a day long excursion to the world famous Chattanooga Aquarium. While we were there, many of us took in the amazing sights of the aquariums (yes, there are two, one building for fresh water fish, and another building for salt water fish)and also watched an IMAX feature in 3-D! After we completed our day at the aquarium, we traveled to the beautiful Harrison Bay State Park, and camped overnight. While we camped, we had a nature hike, we ate good food, toasted s'mores, and participated in a reverent flag retirement ceremony led by scout leader Matt Alsip. We slept under the stars, and though weather threatened all day, and there was a point at which we thought the bus might not start, God looked over us and granted us a beautiful weekend in which everything we could have hoped to do with our scouts and parents, we DID. The next morning, we had breakfast, I taught many of the boys (and the girls too!) how to play washers, and we had a truly moving devotional moment that Sunday, led by scout leader Clay Blankenbaker. Our drive back was actually fun, too!

I want to take this time to thank our scouts, our parents, and our leaders, for organizing and participating in one of the best events our Pack has ever created for the boys. I want to thank the good folks at the Chattanooga Aquarium, who discounted our tickets. I want to thank Doug Knott, our wonderful driver of the Anchor Trailways tour bus, who was right there with us for most of our adventure. I thank Lisa Gower, our treasurer, for helping us to be creative with our funds and make this trip possible, and lastly, because we don't do it enough, I want to thank the folks at the United Methodist Church in Metropolis, our sponsor, who supplies us with rooms, and on days when we take trips, a safe place for our parents and leaders to park while we are gone.

Next, we will have our end of year Pool Party at the Metropolis City Pool. We will host this event on Saturday, August 14th, starting at 6 pm. While we have our pool party, we will also run our Raingutter Regatta, in which the scouts will race small wooden windpowered sailboats down two rain gutters. We hope that all of the scouts and parents of Pack 101 will come out to enjoy our final event of the Summer.

The pictures for the supertrip will follow in the next post.

One last thing: I have started a facebook page for our group. Please look for Metropolis Illinois Cub Scout Pack 101 and friend or like the group. Sometimes, it is easier and quicker for me to post short notes on facebook, and probably, there are more of us on facebook than there are folks who check out the blog. Thanks! See you at the Pool Party!