Holiday Activity - Visiting the Care Center

(guest post by Sister Park since Sister Meeker was on vacation in Hawaii!)

Our cub scout pack's annual holiday tradition is to visit the elderly residents at the Care Center. We had a total of 17 boys that went, 5 of which were our Bears (Ethan, Matthew, Joey, Liam, and Brandon).
Each den did a skit or story. Then we sang some Christmas carols, accompanied on the piano by our very own Brandon who did an amazing job.
There were only about 15-20 residents and staff who attended, but they were very happy to see the boys and receive the ornaments.
And what would a scout activity be without treats?
The boys seemed to have a good time, they were well behaved, and were very kind to the elderly people. They have obviously been taught well by their parents!

"Craft Night:)"

I know....the boys would NOT agree that this was a "craft" night:) But we had such a great time putting together these fun little Christmas decorations for the upcoming Nursing Home visit. Each boy was in charge of some aspect of each ornament--"Quality Control" is what Sis. Park called it. The boys did a great job (and Sis. Park and I only had to fix a few:) Yahoo! Bring on Christmas:)

Be Ready!!!

Our den meeting for Nov. 17th was all about being prepared and being ready for any emergency that may come our way. The boys did such an awesome job listening and participating. A couple of the boys shared some stories about emergency situations that they had experienced in their families. At the end, they needed to blow off some steam for sure so we showed them how to do the "Fireman" carry, and well....we need to work on that a little more:) But the boys really did listen and I feel they really learned a few things tonight:)

November Pack Meeting

We had an AWESOME Pack Meeting on Thursday, Nov. 10th. Every single boy in the Bear den received some kind of award. We even had 3 boys earn their Bear badge!!! HUGE congrats to Josh B., Matthew T., and Ethan M. And good luck to Josh as he moves on to Weblos! We will sure miss him. Here are some photos of the outdoor festivities of the night:

Home Depot Night

Well, I don't think I would call this the most successful den meeting:) The boys had all built a periscope before this trip but that is what our lady had in store for us again tonight:) It was all fine because the boys remembered that they had all built theirs backwards the last time and had to take it apart and do it again. Well....history repeated itself tonight:) The periscopes all had to be taken apart and built again BUT they have all come home with a finished product:) Thanks boys for behaving soo well during this field trip:) Here are some pics of our night:

Cooking!!!

The boys all agreed that this was the BEST den meeting yet!!! I asked Matthew, "You liked cooking MORE than being in jail?!" And he asked, "Can we make S'mores in jail?" Rest assured mothers...we told ALL of the boys that they would NOT be getting S'mores if they were in jail:) So hopefully we've deterred them from that idea:) Here are some of the pics of the night!!!

First we made oatmeal cookies (from a recipe in their Bear books):



Then we made S'more while Sis. Park talked to the boys about the dangers of junk food:


(not sure why my son looks soo angry:)


It was a successful night. No one got burned from the fire and everyone left all sugared up:) Hope they went right to bed when they got home:)

Games! Games! Games!!!

Well, the title sums it up...the boys had a BLAST tonight playing new games that they had never played before. We actually accomplished quite a bit tonight as we had 1) a "Thank You" card to sign for our WONDERFUL police station tour the previous week, 2) All the boys had to be fingerprinted:) and 3) They had 3 new games to learn. The boys were awesome and soo cooperative that we made it through everything with time to spare even:)

The new games they learned were:
Flip a Deck
Pony Express
Thiefs

Make sure to ask them how to play them. They were simple, fun games (that involved NO tackling or any other contact that would cause anyone harm:) Here are some pics of them:





**Sis. Meeker had a CRAZY night with no hubby or oldest daughter home so yes...those are the 2 youngest Meekers and the boy scouts were SUPER sweet and kind and let them join in the fun:)

Chandler Police Department!

WOW!!! What an AMAZING trip we had to the Chandler Police Department tonight! Officer Robin Valenzuela was our "tour guide" and she did an EXCELLENT job. The boys learned soo much in the 1 1/2 hours we were there.

Here we are at the beginning of the tour with Officer Valenzuela:


The boys learned about different types of evidence that could be used in solving a crime--tire tracks/finger prints/blood splatter, etc..


This was probably the highlight of the night--the boys got to go into the "Juvenile Holding Area." The boys got actually go INTO the cells there. They realized that the cells were very tiny, NOT comfortable, and they had NO bathrooms:) NOT a place they want to be, but it was fun to snap a few pics:


**While we were in this holding area, a "bad guy" was actually brought in--obviously the other officers didn't know there was a boy scout troop there. But we were all VERY safe! It's just cool to say that they were "in" jail when a "bad guy" was brought in--actually the boy brought in was VERY young so it was sad to see.

The boys also got to go to the shooting-training room where they were all allowed to take an EMPTY bullet casing--NOT to be taken to school:) They also got to try on bullet-proof vests.





Throughout the tour the other police officers were SOO kind and helpful to our troop. We even had one officer stop to show the boys the guns that he was carrying--REALLY big ones--the boys were FASCINATED.


The tour went longer than we had planned but was SOO worth it. We owe Officer Valenzuela a HUGE thank you card and treat:) Thanks boys for behaving soo well and we hope that you want to be "rule followers" and NOT "rule-breakers." And always remember the "oath" that Officer Valenzuela had you take before you received your Jr. Officer badge--go ahead moms...ask them:)

September Pack Meeting!!!

What a FUN Pack Meeting we had tonight!!! I can't believe how much was accomplished over this past month!!! Here is what happened just in our Bear Den:

1st up: Liam got his Wolf award tonight!!! Way to go Liam!!! Since Twinkies are sold in packs of 2, Liam's dad, Bro. Jackson, had to join Liam as he "wolfed" down his Twinkie. Well...Bro. Jackson easily won and come to find out, Liam HATES to be dirty so he ran out after finishing most of his Twinkie to go wash his hands:)



But he made it back to pin his Wolf pin on his mom:


And THEN to top it all off it was Sis. Jackson's birthday today!!! So she was serenaded by our entire Pack--not sure that it was the most beautiful singing but it sure was fun and I'm sure that Sis. Jackson will always remember her "21st" birthday:)


We had 5 boys earn a RED bead this month--for 4 of them, this was their first RED bead. Isn't this the most AWESOME-looking group of boys you've ever seen?!?! SUPER proud of you guys for working soo hard this year! Here they are pictured from left to right: Brandon P., Joshua B., Ethan M., Matthew T., and Ethan J.B.


And Sis. Meeker FINALLY has a partner in crime in all of this!!! YAHOO!!! I am SOO excited to be working with Sis. Park. So let the SERIOUS fun begin!!!

Ride Right!

Tonight was SOOO much fun!!! We learned all about bike riding and bike safety. The boys were soo amazing tonight. It was a BIG night for our very own Brandon Park as he can now ride a bike with NO help at all! Apparently it's been a struggle for him but I would have NEVER guessed it because he rode like a pro tonight--even completing our obstacle course. Here are some pics:

Brandon--The Conquerer:)


Bro. Meeker showing the boys how to change a tube:



As I said earlier, the boys were SUPER good so we had a little time left over for some fun games of Dodge Ball:) Always a good time right?!

Chandler Museum!

Well despite the excitement of the sudden "Haboob" we still made the trek to the Chandler Museum. The boys were SOO excited to be going on a "fieldtrip." It was a little wild with 9 boys in a museum but luckily we had the whole place to ourselves--and NOTHING was broken:) We did our best to learn a few things:)


Here are the boys in front of the original clock that was in Chandler High School:


We learned that Chandler is going to be 100 years old this next March!!! We also learned that it was founded by Dr. A.J. Chandler who was an agriculturalist.



Afterwards, we let the boys run off some energy playing freeze tag in the grass area in front of the library. The storm cooled it down quite nicely and it was actually very pleasant to be outside.

I'm always amazed at how much fun these boys have together. They are sure a TON of fun to be with:)

Pack Meeting!

What an awesome first Pack Meeting we had tonight! I could not believe how much work all these boys had done over the summer! Way to go guys!!! Hope you guys are ready for MORE work:)