Cub Scout Day Camp and we slept in the woods

This past week we took Toby to Cub Scout day camp. We do American Boy Scouts here through the military bases and, for those who are curious, we are in the Transatlantic Council. Camp was over an hour from our home and since the weather has been hot and dry, I decided to take the kids and camp out.  Rob stayed home to go to work and hold down the fort. 

 

We dropped off Toby and headed to the campground.  Some friends that were volunteering at camp sent me photos of Toby in action over the three days...

 

Shooting BB guns.

 

Having lunch with his friends from the Pack.

 

Making a robot that draws.

 

And slingshot practice. 

He also did archery, made a marble bag and learned marble games, played volleyball and basketball, and just generally had a great time.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of us went in search of Camp Kachina. We found this very sad sign at the edge of the forest about 5 minutes drive away. There were no other directions after that yellow arrow there, so we drove and walked around dirt trails for a while until we found two tents set up in a clearing.

 

We decided to set up our tent near those and hope for the best.  I could not have set up our massive family tent without Charlotte's help! She really stepped up on this trip and filled a more grown-up role.

 

We relaxed for just a few minutes to enjoy our set up campsite.  But it was about 100 degrees out and we were thirsty and hungry.

 

Lucky for us, a P.F. Chang's recently opened on Ramstein Air Base. (The only one in Germany!)  So we headed there for dinner and it was wonderful! Living in Germany for so long, there gets to be a list of home comforts that you miss, and one of those for me is definitely Chinese take-out. Even when we have gotten Chinese food here it is "Germanized" and I really crave the "Americanized" stuff.  P.F. Chang's delivered.  (Also, Jake loved it so much he asked to go there every day for the rest of the weekend. But we didn't do that. Once was enough.)

 

After we picked Toby up from his day at Camp, we headed back to the woods where the kiddos played some Pétanque and we got ready for bed.  We were in the right spot for camping after all, and before bed another tent joined our little group. The only facilities unfortunately were a single bathroom with toilet and sink.  It was a bit of a walk through the woods to get to the "Scout Hut" and we shared that bathroom between about 16-18 people. Good times.  (Stinky times, but the kids loved it.)

 

The next day while Toby did Cub Scout stuff, the rest of us explored the playgrounds of Ramstein.

 

We also went to the movies and saw Teen Titans Go to the Movies!  It was a pretty goofy movie but the kids laughed like crazy, and I loved the air conditioning. We also picked up some grocery items to do a proper campfire dinner with our friends that had joined us at the campsite for the last night.

 

The Cub Scouts got the fire going.

 

And we ate the traditional hot dogs and S'mores.

 

Ohhhh, we were dirty by this point.  

At 2 am Amelie woke up and apparently didn't know where she was. She ended up spending the rest of the night sprawled across me, which means I had about 4 hours of sleep.

In the morning, my friend made pancakes while I got all of our gear down and packed back into the car. Toby had one more day of Cub Scout fun while the rest of us figured out how to fill another day on Ramstein.  First we located the used book store and spent an hour there browsing, reading, and picking some new books for the ride home.

 

Then we headed to the park where there was a giant breastfeeding event going on.  We walked around to see the vendors and the kiddos were able to make some crafts and have a snack. It was a lucky find! 

 

Then we went to the Base Exchange to enjoy the air conditioning.  It was seriously so hot this week! They had a Nerf gun test range set up and Jake and Amelie both enjoyed that while Charlotte checked out the iPads. It's true what they say about the Air Force, ya know.  They have the nicest bases and facilities!

When it was time to pick up Toby we were all looking forward to going home.  We went to the closing of Day Camp, and I found a tick embedded in my arm.  (First time in my life!) Thankfully, the medic there removed it for me so I didn't have to deal with it myself.  We were hot, bug-bitten, tired, and dirty.  And the kids LOVED it.  The whole way home they kept thanking me for taking them camping and for all of the fun that they had.  So that made it worth it. And, ya know, P.F. Chang's.