The MacFarland's » Cub Scouts

McKinney Falls

krmac — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:32:44 +0000

Saturday we drove out to McKinney Falls State Park to spend the day with our Cub Scout Pack. It was a gorgeous day, the weather was great with a gentle breeze…a perfect spring day! We got there around 9:30am and I got ready to teach a lesson on Geology. The boys enjoyed it and I had brought along several rocks for them to look at, which they loved. What boy doesn’t like rocks? After the lesson, we had several hours to kill as we waited for the 2pm group hike to start. We ended up hiking and exploring both the upper and lower falls, which were just so pretty. The best part of the scenery for me was the massive amounts of bluebonnets! I have never seen so many in my entire life, they were everywhere you looked, in thick patches along the park roads. During our hikes we were surrounded by tons of other kinds of wildflowers which were equally as beautiful. I spent the whole day in awe of Mother Nature. And I don’t think the camera ever left my hand! Later on we met up with our group and enjoyed another hike to the falls, a repeat of what we had done earlier as a family. It was fun, but after being in the sun for so long already that morning, we got hot and tired pretty quick. Luckily most of the hike was in the dense shade except for the area around the lower falls. It reminded us of how the surface of the moon looks. After our group hike we rested back at camp and watched the boys play. Dinner time came and we enjoyed a group cookout with our den and a few members of the other Bear den. We enjoyed hot dogs, grilled chicken, salad and homemade dutch oven bread and apple cobbler cooked up by a dad in our den. Mmmmm good! After dinner we all met as a pack around the campfire and listened to some jokes and funny stories. After that we had a flag retirement ceremony which was unexpectedly moving and emotional. Most everyone, including myself have never seen one so it was very neat to be able to pay respect to our country’s flag and give it a proper send off. The boys stayed so silent and so engaged, we were all so proud of them! I don’t think there has ever been a time when all the boys sat that still and quiet. You could have heard a leaf fall in the woods, literally. Even though we didn’t camp overnight, it was another fun day spent with friends, who are more and more every day becoming like family.

See the rest of our photos here

Happy 100th Birthday BSA!

krmac — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:12:33 +0000

Saturday was our annual Blue and Gold Banquet and we celebrated by throwing a birthday party in honor of the 100th year of Boy Scouts of America. This year as Bears, we were responsible for putting on the banquet, which was a major undertaking. I have the best den as everyone pitched in and pulled their weight to make this event happen. The night was wonderful, everything went perfectly and everyone looked like they enjoyed themselves. Saturday morning I met our den up at the church to get everything set up. We had to set up roughly 32 banquet tables and 240 chairs. Then since I was responsible for centerpieces and table decorations, I went to work with a couple of great helpers and got it all looking great. I couldn’t have done it without my awesome den moms and their daughters, who were so eager to help and got things put out correctly without me even having to give them instructions…so proud! That night the girls also headed up the ticket and check-in table and did a mighty fine job of it. Even though the day was very stressful trying to get things in order, it was fun being stressed out with my den parents. I really do have such a great group! After we rushed to get all 240 people served their dinner, we were able to sit down and enjoy the events. Each den was called up on the stage to be recognized with their badges. All ten boys who started out the year, graduated and got their badge…what an accomplishment! I think we might have been the only den that had all of their boys graduate. I am one proud den leader! The biggest moment of the night for us was when Brady won the category of “Most Campy” in the dessert contest. His face was priceless when he heard his name called, he was so happy and I was happy for him. We closed out the night by saying goodbye to our Webelos II scouts with the Arrow of Light Ceremony performed by a local Order of the Arrow troop, which is like the honor society of scouting. We also said goodbye to some great leaders including our current Cubmaster who will be moving onto Boy Scouts with his son. It was an overall wonderful night and was so happy that everything went as planned. I can’t wait to sit back next year and watch the new Bear parents do all the work!

Here are some photos from the evening

Crazy for Camping!

krmac — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:38:56 +0000

Tonight is our big Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet and every year we do a dessert contest. Brady came up with the idea to enter a cake into the category “Campiest”. He quickly, and very proudly, came up with the name “Crazy for Camping”. We sat and brainstormed on how we could decorate it and came up with some really cool ideas! Here are some photos from start to finish. We had so much fun being in the kitchen together, baking and getting messy.

***Since everyone was asking “how did you do that?” or “what are those made from?”, here is an explanation of the cake in detail.

I doubled a batch of white cake mix and baked it in a 13×9 pan with straight sides. Once it cooled i took a long knife and cut the top off to make it flat. I also used wax paper in the bottom so it would come out cleanly when inverted onto the base that I constructed out of cardboard and foil.

The whole cake was iced with green dyed vanilla icing, except for the stream which was blue dyed icing.

The trees are sugar ice cream cones smeared with icing then we took a knife and pushed it lightly all over the cone to make the “points”

The grass is shredded coconut dyed green then chopped up finely in a food processor.

The rocks ARE edible (that was the big talk of all the desserts!) They are just milk chocolate candies and I found a tub of them at Wal Mart on the candy aisle. They look almost too real, people were asking if they could eat them.

The tent is graham crackers smeared with orange dyed icing then leaned together with a stick pretzel for the top and supports.

The campfire is brown sugar for the dirt, chocolate covered peanuts for the rocks and stick pretzels broke in half for the firewood. The flame is just a dab of orange icing.

For the final touch we stuck 2 mini marshmallows on some stick pretzels

I don’t ever attempt stuff like this in the kitchen so Brady and I were both shocked we came up with this whole thing and actually pulled it off, haha!

Pinewood Derby

krmac — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:30:42 +0000

Today we were up bright and early for our cub scout pack’s pinewood derby car races. Brady and Scott worked really hard on B’s car and it turned out really good! Brady drew up his own plan and Scott let him use the saw (with help of course) to cut out his design. They then worked on sanding the body and polishing the wheels and axles. Then Brady painted it and I helped him apply the decals. The last step and the most important was to put the weights on and put graphite on the wheels to make them zoom. His car was the fastest out of our den and he came in 4th overall for our age group. Not bad! We thought he would end up in third place and advance to the finals, but it wasn’t to be. We are all very satisfied though because he had a much faster car this year than last. Brady had a great time and I loved watching the faces of all the boys…the winning, the losing, the happy and the dissapointed. It’s all an important thing to experience for these young boys. They were all such good sports and even if they didn’t do too good, they were happy for one another and happy and clapping for the winners….that is what it is all about!

Ready, Set, Race!

krmac — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:41:36 +0000

This past Sunday our Cub Scout Pack held the annual Raingutter Regatta at a local park here in Round Rock. The boys built their boats from a kit provided by the organization. After hours of sanding, painting and putting on the finishing touches, the boats are “raced” down a raingutter filled with water. It is always lots of fun to see the creativity that goes into all the boats. Brady went with a Red, White and Blue theme this year.

Cub Scout Campout

krmac — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:47:45 +0000

UPDATED: Skit Video, Revised Top Ten List and The Lizard Story that I can’t believe I forgot to tell.

This weekend was our Fall Cub Scout campout at the gorgeous Inks Lake State Park. We had a blast hiking, sitting around the campfire on the cold nights and watching the boys go crazy. Saturday morning all the dens met at one of the trails to take a lengthy, scenic hike. After that it was back to camp for some lunch then den activities. Our den worked on the Wildlife Conservation Belt Loop and we worked on our skit. We got to take a little rest after our belt loop work then it was time for the Pack games. Lots of team-building games and of course everyone’s favorite, a massive tug of war. And just like last year, it ended up being parents versus kids. After the Pack games it was time for our Pack cookout and campfire. Lots of good food and lots of joke telling, then all of the dens performed their skits. Ours got good laughs and the boys did great! Sunday morning before we left our family rented a paddleboat and went around a small part of the lake. The kids thought that was just awesome. We made it home around 1:30pm…sunburnt, exhausted and filthy but wouldn’t trade any of it! Priceless memories were made this weekend.

{Update} Scott brought it to my attention that I forgot to mention the funny thing that happened as we were packing to leave on Sunday. Scott and I had just folded up the tent and I looked down and noticed a lizard on the tarp that had been under our tent. It wasn’t just any lizard, but a good sized Texas Spiny Lizard. I called Brady and some other kids over to look at it and when Brady stepped up to it, it scampered to my boot. I said “I think it’s under my boot” and Scott replied that it wasn’t under my boot but had gone up my pant leg. I thought “Nah, couldn’t have” then about that time I felt something going up my pants!!! The lizard had indeed found shelter from the kids in the comfort of my sweatpant leg. I quickly put my hand down on my leg so he couldn’t go any further then bent over and folded up my pant leg to reveal the creature clinging to the inside of my pants. The kids were going nuts and one of the parents even came over to see what the comotion was about. It was really neat and I don’t think any of us will ever forget that moment!! We all got a chance to touch him, he seemed really tame. He jumped to my other leg then down to the ground where he ran to a nearby hole in a tree. I really wish I would have had the camera with me at that moment.

Check out all the photos HERE

MY TOP TEN THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEKEND……

1. Boys are attracted to fire, no matter what the age.

2. If there is water, young boys will find it.

3. Trying to herd a group of boys is like trying to herd a group of wild buffalo.

4. Jiffy Pop will catch on fire when being used in a manner not consistent with the directions on the label.

5. Walking to the bathrooms by yourself in the middle of the night, while camping, is scary.

6. Little boys are most content when they find a dead fish to play with. Keeps them entertained for hours.

7. Putting your hand down on a little green, fuzzy caterpillar is no fun, just ask Kacey.

8. The smell of smoke from a campfire doesn’t easily come out of your hair or your clothes.

9. Getting into the wild outdoors is one of the funnest things I could possibly do with my family.

10. Packing up to leave is not nearly as fun as getting there and setting it up.

Our Den’s Skit for the Pack Cookout

Garden Update-Week 6

krmac — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:23:48 +0000

Well, it’s week 6 of gardening and it could not be going any better than it is. I probably just jinxed myself saying that, but it’s true. I love walking out there everyday and seeing what’s new, because every single day the garden changes. The tomatoes are doing so much better than expected and they are producing so many new tomatoes that I am already thinking of how I will be using all of them. I had all but given up on my 3 bell pepper plants. When I recently read some online articles about how hard they are to grow and how temperamental they are to temperature changes, I had basically written them off as a loss. The blooms would set, the baby peppers would start to grow, then they would fall off the plants. This went on for over a week. I got so frustrated and gave up on them. The day I walked out to dig them up I was surprised to see that I had several baby bell peppers and they looked healthy! I couldn’t believe my eyes. That was a little over a week ago and as of now I have about 10 peppers that are marble size or bigger. The biggest one will be the size of a golf ball in about 2 or 3 days I am figuring. I am so happy I was too busy to dig them up! My very first tomato that set 3 weeks ago is just about ready to start turning. I have been giving it gentle encouragement to ripen. I am getting slightly impatient……ok, very impatient. I am not the only one though, Brady is very anxious too. He loves tomatoes just as much as I do. The cilantro is trying to take over the garden and it has become a running joke to see just how tall it will grow. It’s about 3 feet tall and I will soon have to cut it so it won’t shade the other plants, but it has been so fun to see how tall it’s getting. I keep thinking it would be a neat addition to any flower garden as it grows fast and produces pretty little white blooms on top that resemble baby’s breath. The cantaloupe didn’t make it so it got pulled up and I had to relocate my strawberries to a pot on the grill patio for more sun. They were getting shaded by the tomato plants. It’s just day 3 of it being moved and I am already seeing shoots that the strawberries will grow from….should have moved it sooner. I planted 2 okra plants yesterday and have read that they love the heat, grow very very fast and can tolerate drought. Can’t wait to see how those do.

baby bell pepper

a cute little bunch of cherry tomatoes

my very first tomato is getting ready to ripen

the early girls are going crazy- a few of these will be ripening very soon.

Blue and Gold Banquet

krmac — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:20:07 +0000

Last night we attended the Scouts’ Blue and Gold Banquet. It was a night to honor all of the scouts who have worked so hard toward earning their rank badge. Brady and the rest of his den mates earned the Wolf badge for sucessfully completing the Wolf Trail this year. We had a yummy barbeque dinner followed by desserts made by the boys. They had a contest of the desserts and it was fun to see all of the creations made up by the scouts. At the end of the evening, there was a specatcular ceremony for the Webelos II who are moving onto Boy Scouts. A handful of local Eagle Scouts performed the ceremony for them and it was really neat. Kacey wasn’t too thrilled with the drum being pounded on and the lights being turned out. It was a very enjoyable evening and it was really neat to see all the scouts advance and earn their badges. We are so proud of our Scout!

CLICK HERE for the rest of the photos from last night’s events.

Race Day

krmac — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:55:24 +0000

Today was the big day that Brady had been waiting for (and us!). We had so much fun watching the boys’ cars being raced down the wooden track. It was neat to see all the different shapes, themes and colors too. Lots and lots of creativity and hard work went into each and every one. Brady’s car was off to a wonderful start and he did really good throughout. Everyone raced each other, head to head two times. The two Wolf dens had the highest turnout for the race so everyone else ended up waiting on us to get done. We ended up using the track that the Tigers used to help speed everything along. From what I could tell Brady’s car was winning every head to head race he was in, with the exception of two of the cars. Those two cars ended up taking first and second with Brady coming in 9th overall. I must admit I was a bit shocked at the results because I figured he did better than that. I was figuring 3rd or 4th place. We were very happy nonetheless as this was our first car build and race. All that mattered was that Brady was happy with himself and the work that went into it, and the fist pumps and flashing of the smiles every time his car beat another was all I needed to see to know that this was totally worth it! The top 3 in each level (Tiger, Wolf, Bears, etc) went on to compete for the final. Brady had a very fast car and we are very proud of how he did. We are already looking forward to next years race! Scott is working on getting the video edited and I will post it when it’s done. In the meantime here are the photos I took…

Derby Photos and Video!

~~~UPDATE~~~Brady got his car out to play with it when we got home and we realized that one of the front wheels was almost completely jammed up. The final numbers weren’t adding up for us so now it makes sense. Scott videoed almost every heat that Brady ran in and when we watched them, we saw the race where the wheel got messed up. Several of the cars crashed and went off the track so I know there were a few more that probably met the same fate. We figure he was in 3rd or 4th right up until the end when the wheel got knocked around. We kinda thought his car suddenly looked slower but even if we had realized why, fixes or even touching the car isn’t allowed during the race. Next year we will fix the axles where they cant move or get crooked. In the end, it doesn’t make any difference, Brady understands what happened and just like in racing, even the first place guy can get knocked out in a heartbeat! We are so proud of Brady for showing good sportsmanship and vowing to do better next year. Like the packmaster said…sometimes you learn more from losing than winning.

A winner?

krmac — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:39:52 +0000

Tomorrow is the big Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Race at the local Methodist church and we can’t wait to see how Brady’s car does! We all have had a hand in it and worked really hard on it. Brady is very proud of it and no matter if we win or lose, he knows his car is awesome