Scout Camp

For the past week, Gabe has been at scout camp up in the mountains.  He had a great time.  He worked on the swimming merit badge.  Even though we had practiced swimming for two weeks prior to going to camp, he still found completing the swimming merit badge was quite a challenge in the high altitude.  But he managed to complete all of the requirements.  He also earned the environmental science merit badge.  It is required, but Gabe's only comment was that the classes were really boring.  He made up for the boredom of environmental science with an exciting rifle shooting merit badge.  Upon coming home, he informed me that he is now fully qualified to shoot guns with Uncle Nate this summer.  He also did the wood working merit badge.
In addition to the scheduled activites, Gabe participated in several other activities to earn extra patches.  He did the polar bear swim every morning.  Since there wasn't any ice, they had the boys wake up really early in the morning and be splashed in the cold, then stay out of the water for a few minutes acting like polar bears.  It was really cute and silly.  He also went climbing on the rock wall.  He was able to secure an opportunity to go on a horseback overnight camp.  He said that was fun.  All in all, it was a week of learning some great life skills and playing with the boys.