Hello Troop 184 Families!

We've survived the first week and middle weekend, and now we're onto week TWO. We said goodbye to a couple of our first week scouts and welcomed a couple of new scouts for second week. We also had a complete change-out of the adult leaders (except, of course, for me. (h.e.l.p!)). Mr. Mendoza, Mr. Hom and Mr. Stoltz all finished their time while Mr. Lee, Mr. O'Leary and Mr. Apanich started theirs. Mr. Cole will join us mid-week and Mr. O'Leary will head home.

The scouts have started their second week merit badge classes with enthusiasm and joy. Each one leapt out of bed this morning with a smile on his faces and a song in his heart. A lot of the scouts are taking advantage of the trade skills merit badges being offered here at Aquehonga, with Automotive Maintenance, Welding, Plumbing, Home Repair and Electricity merit badges on their schedules. When we get home, I fully expect them to band together and start a contracting company! "I got a guy!" now becomes "I got a scout!" Other merit badges this week include Archery, Soil and Water Conservation, Bird Study, Pioneering, and others.

The one thing about being a camp for two weeks instead of the usual one week is that the menu repeats from week to week. Which means, we get to cook the same meals twice. The good thing about that is that it allows the scouts to learn from what they did last week. If something worked, they can replicate it. If it didn't, they can try something different. For the adults, we can truly do something different, since the new leaders have different skills and ideas. In the end, the food was delicious last week and it will again be delicious this week.

I should take a moment to talk about Middle Weekend. I hope you all saw the photos posted in the Photo Gallery. We loaded up the cars and took a trip to familiar Middletown, NY, where we had pizza, saw Despicable Me 4, and then went to Port Jervis, NY to have ice cream at Riverside Creamery. Everyone had a great time being out of camp for the day!

That's it for now. I'll talk to you all again soon!

Cheers,

Ken