some up close encounters...

First off, everyone is having a blast here at Jambo as we make our way into the last few days... :(

812 had some pretty cool encounters with top dogs in the Scouting world.

First, on his way back to camp, Mr. Mac met the National Chief of Saudi Arabia Scouting. After a friendship exchange, Mr. Mac got an official pin straight from the Chief's uniform!!

Also, Trevor Osaki and Alex Krebs went to a reception for an award they had earned before, and while there, they met the Assistant Chief of BSA. "It was an honor to meet him," mentions Trevor.

Finally, the COOKIE MONSTER PATROL GOT 1ST PLACE IN REGIONALS FOR THEIR PATROL FLAG!!! CONGRATS EVAN AND THE REST OF THE COOKIE MONSTERS!!

GO WIN FOR THE ENTIRE CAMP!!

a rainy day....

Today seemed loads more exciting than yesterday. Rory Strong was just one of the busy scouts with a packed day. He started the day at snorkeling. "I didn't find any souvenirs at the bottom of the pool, but it was fun anyway, " he says. He then traveled to the military areas, "but [he] turned back to camp to get our of the random thunder storm. It poured for half an hour, trapping everyone at their stations. Trevor Osaki was stuck at the conservation area while touring the site in the forest area. "I never thought I would huddle around a fan in the middle of a rainstorm," Trevor laughed. Like every other day, patch trading remained huge in camp, and the OCC patches continued to be a big hit.

I am updating this blog in the middle of a storm!! good night!!

7 28

Here are some featured Scouts!! Craig Dean, Keet Veylupek, and Dennis Maccarthy.

First was Keet Veylupek. "I went rowing and canoeing," recalls Keet. "It was nice to get near the water!" Other aquatic activities include snorkel, scuba, and sailing, which is just what Dennis Maccarthy did. "It was fun because it was normally calm and a random gush of wind sent the bat going fast," says Dennis. Out of the water and onto the slopes, Craig Dean spent some time mountain boarding. "It was fast, furious, and fun," remarks Craig.

There are obviously many activities to do here, and everyone is enjoying their time at Jambo!

activities and patches at Jambo... Oh My!! xDgt

Because 812 did not finish our setup as planned for yesterday, we woke up early, quickly at breakfast, and went to complete our gateway. At noon, we had our gateway up and a quick orientation out ofthe way. Then, all groups of buddies swarmed out of our campsite to look at everything that Jamboree had to offer.

Bobby Okereke, Mike Swartz, and Paul Swartz participated in a BMX bike race whereas Andrew Markstrum went to the military sites. "The bike race is way more fun with friendly competition with your buddies," remarked Mike, "I beat Bobby all three times!"

Trevor Osaki and Alex Krebs met a cameraman from Adventure Base 100. They got some videos of them on the Rappelling Tower. "It was an adrenaline pumping experience," says Trevor Osaki who always wanted to try the activity.

After a long day, 812ers trickled into the campsite for dinner. Amazingly, hardly any Scouts did many activities. After dinner, everyone reached into their packs and pulled out big bags of patches. Tere were Halo, Star Wars, OA, cars, trains, and surfboard patches sprawled out on every table. It turns our all our Scouts spent the majority of their time trading with other troops. It was an incredible first full day of Jambo!

PICASA IS UPDATED!!

(if you want your son in pictures or quoted in the blog, call them or comment on my blog... I don't follow people around all day, and with all the things going on, I haven't even seen our Scouts during the day for the last day and a half.... tell them to get with a camera buddy... if your Scout is a historian and their pics are not online, they were unable to make my daily deadline of before dinner...)

THANKS!!

The end of one journey;the beginning of another. We woke up earlier than usual because we had a packed morning. We ate in twenty minutes and rushed to the bus. We took a short drive to the Arlington Cemetery where we saw the ceremony of the changing of the guards at the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier. "I think it is cool that the army has come up with ways to remember those who fought for our freedom even when others fail to have a similar appreciation. After the cemetery, we went back to DC to visit the Capitol Building and the Library of congress. That was only our morning though. It was back on the bus and off to Virginia to meet up with the 40,000 other scouters for the 2010 Jamboree. We rolled into camp at 4:00 PM and all we did was go go go, unloading the trailer and setting up camp. We were unable to finish our gateway due to time requirements. It was dark when we finally went to bed, and everyone went to sleep, exhausted from the day.
Note: the wifi at Jamboree is agonizingly slow... i will do my best to stay on top of this blog... thanks!!

woops!! this is day 4... the one below is day 5... sorry!!

Today was a lot of fun, waking up early, eating a full breakfast and immediately loading onto the bus. We went back to the national museum that was across the street from the mint we went to yesterday. Inside, we watched a performance on our nation’s history, had a lot of fun posing with statues of the Constitution’s signers, and bought fun souvenirs at the gift shop. Then, it was back on the bus. We watched Avatar on our way to Washington DC, and before we knew it, the Capitol Building was looming in the distance. We parked on a curb and got ready to tour the Smithsonian Museum. After five hours of touring the Museums of Nature, American History, Art, and Air and Space. “The American Museum was showed the evolvement of technology in our country such as cars and movies, and was very interesting to explore,” says Evan Secrist. Our next destination was dinner in China Town. “Dinner was delicious and I found it interesting to visit China Town,” comments Trevor Osaki. Tired after our full meal, we had one last destination for the day, the WWII memorial. 812 showed our respect to all those who helped defend our country and got amazing views of the surroundings. “Overall the day was totally awesome,” says an excited Craig Dean.

a long, fun day 5

“It was a long day today,” comments Hayden Hall as he lies in his hotel bed watching movies. Today was a jam-packed day. We woke up early, had a somewhat small breakfast, and got right on our tour bus. After a two hour bus ride, we woke up from much needed naps to see Gettysburg Museum. We received a scavenger hunt assignment and rushed into the museum to start. “Our scavenger hunt went from an assignment to a fun, bonding activity,” says Craig Dean. After watching countless movies about the Civil War and observing various artifacts from the time period, it was time to head out. We drove a short time to the Dobbin House where we ate lunch in the middle of a summer thunder storm. We hopped back on the bus after our tasty lunch and made the trip back to Washington DC. It rained on us the entire ride home, but right as we rolled into the parking lot of our dinner destination, the rain let up. Dinner was quite interesting tonight. All we saw from the parking lot was a large patch of trees surrounding our bus. We took a short walk and saw a campsite with benches and a buffet awaiting our arrival. We got our plates and waited in line to get our burgers, hot dogs, salads, watermelon, and ice cream. To add to our outdoor experience, we had a show put on by musicians dressed as old British soldiers. “I was intrigued as I listened to the songs of the Revolutionary War era being played by look-a-likes. After dinner, it was back in the bus for the final destinations of the day. We drove to the Iwojima, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Jefferson Memorials. It was a long but totally fun day.