Scout-o-Rama

So by now you all know we are big-time scouters in our family and we have been looking forward to May 5, 2012 since last October. That's right, it was the Scout-o-Rama! Sport, Scout, Curly, and my sweetie have been hard at work on pinewood derby cars for the last two weeks, but I'll let him tell you that story tomorrow.

In March, Sport walked the neighborhood for hours until he sold 53 $5 tickets to the Scout-o-Rama...and that's a real bargain for those of us who attended. We showed up around 9:30 and after checking in the cars, we started browsing through the booths. They had so many things to do! Here's Curly and Sport in a footrace around the cones. We raced cars, built boats, played with Legos, made bracelets and stamped leather. We planted seeds, played carnival games, excelled at "whack-a-scout" (use your imagination, it's just what you think), and wrote letters to the veterans.

Sport earned his Geography belt loop and a bunch of arrow points. He also spent an hour in the booth helping with the pinewood derby so he could get a percentage of his ticket sales back to support his scout activities.

While I was supporting him in the booth, Bossy and the Drama Queen took all the little kids and got in line for the most awesome activity in the building. Yeah, it was even cooler than the climbing wall. It was a huge contraption with bungee cords and four trampolines and the kids were so excited to ride. I thought they were a little nuts, but it wasn't me standing in line, so I didn't care.

My sweetie and I wandered around looking for Pack Meeting ideas and then we picked up Sport and headed to the trampoline area. Management nicely allowed him to slip in line with his siblings since he had been working in the BSA booth. And it's a good thing. They had closed down the line by then. Average wait time: 2 hours. Yeah, Bossy and the Drama Queen stood in line that entire time with all the kids, mine and hers except for Sport. If you are counting, that's six kids under the age of 9. At some point the Dog Walker joined them too.

It was nearly time for the Scout-o-Rama to be over by the time they finally got to the front of the line. I thought they were crazy when they decided to strap up Baby Doll, but the guys said if she could walk, she could ride. Curly was so excited he could hardly jump, so one of the workers bounced him up until he was sailing 20 feet above us.

So excited...

The Dog Walker was totally silly and he screamed like a little girl as he was hoisted up. Baby Doll was fine at 10 feet, but much higher and she was afraid so they lowered her back down.

When they finally got out of the harnesses, Curly came running to us with his shoes. "That was so AWESOME!" he yelled. I've never seen him so excited. "Was it worth waiting in line?" I asked. Remember, that line took nearly 2 hours. "YES!" That grin didn't leave his face for the rest of the afternoon.

Strapping up...

As we were walking back across the parking lot, we saw a guy who had just tipped his little cart full of booth stuff. The kids were quick to help him pick things up and carry them to his car. Scouts teaches them so many things...and I love watching them "Do A Good Turn Daily."

Curly loved flying!

That's my Baby Doll.