Hi,
I am unsure what to write about the weekend Cub Camp. Apart from one incident, it was quite successful. And as I type here, the sparrows in the trees along Lambton Quay were all chirping their dawn chorus very loudly. Then, as one, they abruptly stopped. Next thing I saw was a huge flock of them leaving for their day's activities. I guess their dawn chorus is Mike's equivalent of 2 cups of coffee before they can do anything.
So, Friday night I met the other Cub leaders to get all the gear ready for Saturday morning. Then I went grocery shopping with Toby before settling in to watch Jurassic Fight Club (a documentary about dinosaurs that used to fight each other - Toby and I love it and Toby takes notes!). I made a mistake of introducing Toby to Draw Something (a new app game on my phone that work colleagues got me into) and when Mike got home he came and joined us. So we had it on three devices and were all playing each other and friends! Unfortunately the addictive natures of my boys meant they played until midnight, even with the last thirty minutes having my grumbling echo around them "Let's go to sleep!".
Next morning we packed up and headed a little late to the Scout Hall. We were nearly all packed there too and waited for Cubs to arrive. The weather wasn't looking promising - but not as bad as the weather bomb for last time. Galeforce winds. Yeah, sure. We'll be fine.
Off to camp and we pitched two canvas tents and I convinced the leaders we should put the girls in one of our tents. Mike and I pitched the kitchen area and Mike did very well with two flys free-standing over our trestle tables. We ate lunch and then kicked into kayaking and confidence course fun. The weather stayed dry but threatening all afternoon.
A Cub leader came to me saying he was having problems with a certain Cub and could I have a talk to him. I managed to get the Cub to apologise for his behaviour, but unfortunately it was a sign of things to come.
Dinner was sausages and potatoes and I loved the potatoes! I had thirds! Unheard of behaviour. We built a campfire and toasted marshmallows. At about 8pm the rain started. But by then, after a game of spotlight, the Cubs were ready for bed. Some obviously were ready at 7pm for bed and some must be night owls! Strange! Anyhow, Mike and I had pitched our tent behind our car and I think it dampened any noise. Toby came into our tent very early on saying his tent was too noisy for him to sleep and I didn't mind that. It is a perk of Cub Camp if your parents are there! Mike had to go and help Simon with some troublesome Cubs and Toby drifted to sleep.
When Mike got back, he and I fell asleep very quickly. The wind wasn't too bad at all. Turns out one of the tents with the previously naughty Cub was a lot of trouble. Simon was up until 2am trying to sort them out and he sat in their tent in the end until they fell asleep. I may not have had Simon's patience and would have taken the naughty Cub home then! But we didn't hear about it until we got up.
Sunday was lovely. We had blue skies and the wind had died away. Breakfast was successful and then more kayaking. We started to break camp and it took a long time. This is when the naughty Cub started playing up even more. Eventually it was decided to ring his mother to come and get him. So Mike and I drove into cellphone reception and I had the unpleasant task of calling his mother and explaining his behaviour.
The rest of the Cubs went on a walk while the other leaders and parent help tidied up and got lunch ready. We didn't have enough parent help - there were just two parents there and the four leaders. But the amount of work meant we needed at least four more adults. Ideally we would have had activities right the way through and parents striking camp. The free time for the Cubs meant they got into more mischief than they should have.
The naughty Cub got collected and the rest of them built a dam and played until they also got collected. I was away by 3pm! Hooray! Lots of lessons learned.
Sunday afternoon Mike had to go and sort out some website work for tramping club and I ironed for the week and watched TV with Toby. Nice way to relax. The camping things all got put away and washing is now up-to-date. Phew!
Today is lovely here in Wellington. Blue skies. It is very dark as I ride in now.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Angela
Showing posts with label Cubs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cubs. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Tuesday with Cubs
Hi,
Denial isn't working - my throat is a bit sore and perhaps I am facing my first cold since June last year! Pants! Never mind. I guess it might all amount to nothing. You never know your luck!
Cubs went well last night. The two previous leaders came back for the night to help with camp preparation. We unfolded the tents and pitched two of them. Heheheh. It was okay. The tents have some nightmarish folding that needs to be perfect otherwise there is no way they fit back in their packaging. All canvas. No groundsheet. Old school.
We also met the new leader's husband for the first time. He took one look at Mike and said "I know you, I have worked with you". He then said his name was Glen and as Mike was about to claim complete ignorance, the penny dropped with me and I said "ANZ Direct!". Sure enough - Mike had worked with him over 15 years ago when we were at the bank. I had nothing to do with him. He is coming to the Cub Camp, so I am sure Mike and Glen will catch up and reminisce.
This morning is lovely. But I have a work party to attend tonight, so I took the bus in with Mike. Mike has karate with Toby so they should have a good evening.
Okay - best have a cup of tea and get stuck in.
Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela
Denial isn't working - my throat is a bit sore and perhaps I am facing my first cold since June last year! Pants! Never mind. I guess it might all amount to nothing. You never know your luck!
Cubs went well last night. The two previous leaders came back for the night to help with camp preparation. We unfolded the tents and pitched two of them. Heheheh. It was okay. The tents have some nightmarish folding that needs to be perfect otherwise there is no way they fit back in their packaging. All canvas. No groundsheet. Old school.
We also met the new leader's husband for the first time. He took one look at Mike and said "I know you, I have worked with you". He then said his name was Glen and as Mike was about to claim complete ignorance, the penny dropped with me and I said "ANZ Direct!". Sure enough - Mike had worked with him over 15 years ago when we were at the bank. I had nothing to do with him. He is coming to the Cub Camp, so I am sure Mike and Glen will catch up and reminisce.
This morning is lovely. But I have a work party to attend tonight, so I took the bus in with Mike. Mike has karate with Toby so they should have a good evening.
Okay - best have a cup of tea and get stuck in.
Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Monday (and Tuesday) with the totally not normal activities
Monday was anything but normal to me, because I rode into work - on the BMW F650 we were looking at in the weekend! No, we didn't buy it. But it sold anyway on Sunday, and I delivered it to the new owner on behalf of the old owner (who has left for Sweden already). Very nice it was too, going down Wadestown Hill.
I also got to handle the cash for the sale, so had a nervous walk from the BNZ to the ASB carrying lots of money and keeping on the lookout for muggers. It's safely banked now, the deal is done. I think Angela misses having a bike a lot now!
I had my cardiology tests this morning. After 9 months of waiting I got to talk to a registrar who said there was something weird but they didn't know what it was so they'd get back to me. Pretty well what I knew 9 months ago. But nobody is worried, so I'm not worried. It's probably annoying for everyone - something weird that is almost certainly fine but nobody is willing to put their necks out and say that. Oh well.
So, rock pooling with Cubs tonight. Then Toby has to stay up late and get his maths homework done. That will learn him ay! He's having to get into the swing of 45min homework mixed into his busy social life.
I also got to handle the cash for the sale, so had a nervous walk from the BNZ to the ASB carrying lots of money and keeping on the lookout for muggers. It's safely banked now, the deal is done. I think Angela misses having a bike a lot now!
I had my cardiology tests this morning. After 9 months of waiting I got to talk to a registrar who said there was something weird but they didn't know what it was so they'd get back to me. Pretty well what I knew 9 months ago. But nobody is worried, so I'm not worried. It's probably annoying for everyone - something weird that is almost certainly fine but nobody is willing to put their necks out and say that. Oh well.
So, rock pooling with Cubs tonight. Then Toby has to stay up late and get his maths homework done. That will learn him ay! He's having to get into the swing of 45min homework mixed into his busy social life.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The Monday with prototyping - I think we got to stage 4
Hi,
Turns out Mike had driven into work yesterday which was a great opportunity to take home some personal stuff from work. Far easier in the car than in my pannier. However, I was able to take far fewer things due to my visit to the drycleaners. For the "hot air balloons" Tuesday night at Cubs, I had read that drycleaning bags work well and we'd played with one yesterday morning to see if it had potential. It did, so at 4pm I walked to the local drycleaners and asked if I could buy 35 bags. They said no. Oh. But, they said they had a flawed batch they couldn't use and I could have that!
Great! Bit of Sellotape and it'd be fine. I ended up with a huge roll of about 1000 bags! My arms are still sore from carrying it back to work.
So, home for dinner (yummy spag bol - ta Mike) and straight into the prototype mark 2. In our kitchen, I tried to inflate a bag with just a blow dryer. It would take off great and immediately plummet to the floor. The hot air was dissipating faster than it should. Mike then suggested flames would be the best bet to keep a constant heat source.
Back to google to search for some refinements. Sure enough, a slight tweak to provide a cross bar from pipecleaners where a cotton ball soaked in meths could sit and be ignited looked like a good option. Toby started to shift uncomfortably in his seat as he finished off his spag bol. I made some pipecleaner cross bars, attached it to the bottom of the bag and Mike placed the soaked cotton ball on the precarious platform. Mike also placed our fire extinguisher close at hand - just in case.
Mike lit the cotton ball and I held the top of the "hot air balloon" waiting for it to lift off. But it turned out the pipecleaners were way more combustible than anyone could have foreseen. The platform caught fire, the plastic bag started to melt away, the fiery cotton ball fell burning to the ground, I dropped the entire balloon, Toby instigated his fire evacuation plan and shot out to the letter box shouting "come on guys" and Mike decided to stamp out the fire with his shoe. Needless to say, the ignited meths just spread to his shoe and he was stomping around trying to put his shoe out.
The excitement was just about to reach fever pitch when Mike finally waved at the flames with his hands and the wee fire went out. The floor is hardly scorched, Mike's shoe was getting old anyway, and eyebrows and fringes grow back. Just joking. Although we are proud of Toby's fire evacuation plan. He was the only one doing the right thing.
Toby started carrying around the fire extinguisher as we moved outside with prototype 4 by this stage. I found some straws to construct the platform, and used tin foil to make a little tray to hold the cotton ball. I stood outside holding the balloon while Mike added the ignited cotton ball. Success! The balloon started to inflate. Mike decided it needed a second burning cotton ball and added that.
Hmmmmm. Turns out two burning cotton balls is a little bit too much for drycleaning plastic to withstand. As I held the top of the balloon, the bottom of it withered away into shrivelled plastic. I dropped the burning mass to the bricks, Toby asked if he should use the extinguisher and Mike and I had uncontrollable laughter.
The stillness of the night and the bright stars were appealing as I wiped the tears from my eyes, so I suggested a walk. We left the house with the all pervasive smell of burning plastic (It smells like a ski shop said Mike this morning) and went for a walk. We dropped off a birthday present to Jack and had a quick catch up with his parents. I think they might think we are quite mad as we explained the evening's shenanigans.
Back home to bed and into a pleasant slumber.
Tonight we ask the Cubs to build their own balloons, and possibly try to launch one or two with burning cotton balls. With the proviso that they don't try it at home. We know this from experience.
Have a good day!
Love,
Angela
Turns out Mike had driven into work yesterday which was a great opportunity to take home some personal stuff from work. Far easier in the car than in my pannier. However, I was able to take far fewer things due to my visit to the drycleaners. For the "hot air balloons" Tuesday night at Cubs, I had read that drycleaning bags work well and we'd played with one yesterday morning to see if it had potential. It did, so at 4pm I walked to the local drycleaners and asked if I could buy 35 bags. They said no. Oh. But, they said they had a flawed batch they couldn't use and I could have that!
Great! Bit of Sellotape and it'd be fine. I ended up with a huge roll of about 1000 bags! My arms are still sore from carrying it back to work.
So, home for dinner (yummy spag bol - ta Mike) and straight into the prototype mark 2. In our kitchen, I tried to inflate a bag with just a blow dryer. It would take off great and immediately plummet to the floor. The hot air was dissipating faster than it should. Mike then suggested flames would be the best bet to keep a constant heat source.
Back to google to search for some refinements. Sure enough, a slight tweak to provide a cross bar from pipecleaners where a cotton ball soaked in meths could sit and be ignited looked like a good option. Toby started to shift uncomfortably in his seat as he finished off his spag bol. I made some pipecleaner cross bars, attached it to the bottom of the bag and Mike placed the soaked cotton ball on the precarious platform. Mike also placed our fire extinguisher close at hand - just in case.
Mike lit the cotton ball and I held the top of the "hot air balloon" waiting for it to lift off. But it turned out the pipecleaners were way more combustible than anyone could have foreseen. The platform caught fire, the plastic bag started to melt away, the fiery cotton ball fell burning to the ground, I dropped the entire balloon, Toby instigated his fire evacuation plan and shot out to the letter box shouting "come on guys" and Mike decided to stamp out the fire with his shoe. Needless to say, the ignited meths just spread to his shoe and he was stomping around trying to put his shoe out.
The excitement was just about to reach fever pitch when Mike finally waved at the flames with his hands and the wee fire went out. The floor is hardly scorched, Mike's shoe was getting old anyway, and eyebrows and fringes grow back. Just joking. Although we are proud of Toby's fire evacuation plan. He was the only one doing the right thing.
Toby started carrying around the fire extinguisher as we moved outside with prototype 4 by this stage. I found some straws to construct the platform, and used tin foil to make a little tray to hold the cotton ball. I stood outside holding the balloon while Mike added the ignited cotton ball. Success! The balloon started to inflate. Mike decided it needed a second burning cotton ball and added that.
Hmmmmm. Turns out two burning cotton balls is a little bit too much for drycleaning plastic to withstand. As I held the top of the balloon, the bottom of it withered away into shrivelled plastic. I dropped the burning mass to the bricks, Toby asked if he should use the extinguisher and Mike and I had uncontrollable laughter.
The stillness of the night and the bright stars were appealing as I wiped the tears from my eyes, so I suggested a walk. We left the house with the all pervasive smell of burning plastic (It smells like a ski shop said Mike this morning) and went for a walk. We dropped off a birthday present to Jack and had a quick catch up with his parents. I think they might think we are quite mad as we explained the evening's shenanigans.
Back home to bed and into a pleasant slumber.
Tonight we ask the Cubs to build their own balloons, and possibly try to launch one or two with burning cotton balls. With the proviso that they don't try it at home. We know this from experience.
Have a good day!
Love,
Angela
Monday, March 7, 2011
The weekend with the Cub Camp
Hi,
As an indication of the weather for the weekend, a Cub's mother rang me at 9am Saturday morning to find out if the camp was still on. Yep - it was great weather alright. So good Mike was the only punter left on his WTMC family trip. Needless to say, he didn't stay in a tent at the Catchpool roadend by himself. He went home to catch up on all the jobs we have missed doing for the last few weekends.
I went to the Scout Hall to collect some gear to take to the camp, while Mike took Toby swimming. By all accounts (well, Mike's account) Toby swam very well. Half the length with breathing! Wow! He'll be chasing Tyler's efforts in the pool yet. She had school swimming races on Friday and came in 5th place in the school over 100m. How amazing is that? She is so wee! Next year she'll concentrate on the 50m (freestyle and backstroke I think) so she can keep her strength up. She did well in those events: in her 50m freestyle heat she came 3rd and 2nd in her backstroke heat.
Look! I pasted in Karen's text and now I have a nicer font! Happy about that.
Meanwhile, while Toby was swimming I got to drive by myself to the camp. I sang loudly all the way!
Helped pitch heaps of tents - some of the Cubs have nailed the half slip knot used on the guyropes - others think they have and others know they haven't. I re-tied quite a few! I am a dab hand at that knot now.
Anne was in charge of the camp kitchen and she did an amazing job. The parents all chipped in and the organisation of the camp was brilliant. Bagheera and Chil are dab hands at it. I am trying to absorb all that happened to get it running that smoothly as next year it'll be me and Mike running it. Yikes!
We had lunch quite quickly after the tents were pitched. Mike and Toby arrived just before then and Mike took off again to get stuck into his weekend tasks. This lunch was a packed lunch from home. Toby had had lunch with Mike but was keen to eat again so he munched on some of my snacks with the other Cubs eating their lunches.
After lunch the Cubs all decided to go swimming in the freezing wee pool. Oddly they seem to like it. Lots of splashing and jumping. Then someone noticed a huge spider on the side of the pool. That coincided with the end of swimming. A parent called it "The South American Water Spider" and Toby was convinced by that!
Back to camp and into groups for kayaking and the confidence course. Toby's group was the one I followed and we tackled the confidence course first. It was great and Toby did very well. He was paired with Tom and they clambered over everything on their way around. Some of the older Cubs were used to the course from previous camps and had time trials.
Then we were into the kayaks and Toby had a ball. The wee lake was a great spot for it, with a small "beach" and some wooden rafts at the edge. At the end of the kayaking, Toby was leaping from raft to raft and then ended up in the lake like the other Cubs. He was loving it! A few goes on the flying fox and then back for afternoon tea.
The activity before dinner was a game of soccer and they all loved that. Dinner was cooked on two BBQs and a gas griller (courtesy of Ryan's father). We ate sausages in bread and salad. It was scrumptious.
As it got darker, we played Spotlight. Then we made up damper and the Cubs cooked that over the fire and supper was Milo and toasted marshmallows.
By 9:30 the Cubs were all asleep in their tents. The leaders and parents sat in campchairs around the fire (oh, my font has switched back) and chatted for a while (midnight apparently) but I escaped to my tent at 10:30 to read. I read a few chapters and slept like a log. Well, until the rain pelted down. But then I just rolled over and went back to sleep.
The rain was settled for the day however and Sunday was constant drizzly rain. Breakfast was cereals (hardly anyone ate Weetbix) and the griller was used for making loads of toast and the Cubs ate lots of that.
More activities including kayaking and the confidence course again. Flying fox was again popular. Then lots of eating to consume the food we had leftover. Morning tea quickly melded into lunch. Lunch was ham and cheese toasties under the same griller.
After lunch we struck the tents and it took quite a while to pack up everything. It's amazing what Cubs are good at getting things done and what Cubs need constant attention to keep them focussed. By 2:45 we were done and I gathered up Chelsea and Brennan and took them home with Toby.
We collected Mike on the way to Karori and dropped off the kids at the Sampson house while we hung the tents up in the Scout Hall. Phew!
Back home to eat dinner (thanks Mike) and I fell into bed exhausted.
No Cubs on Tuesday this week so we can recover from the experience.
Have a marvellous week.
Love,
Angela
As an indication of the weather for the weekend, a Cub's mother rang me at 9am Saturday morning to find out if the camp was still on. Yep - it was great weather alright. So good Mike was the only punter left on his WTMC family trip. Needless to say, he didn't stay in a tent at the Catchpool roadend by himself. He went home to catch up on all the jobs we have missed doing for the last few weekends.
I went to the Scout Hall to collect some gear to take to the camp, while Mike took Toby swimming. By all accounts (well, Mike's account) Toby swam very well. Half the length with breathing! Wow! He'll be chasing Tyler's efforts in the pool yet. She had school swimming races on Friday and came in 5th place in the school over 100m. How amazing is that? She is so wee! Next year she'll concentrate on the 50m (freestyle and backstroke I think) so she can keep her strength up. She did well in those events: in her 50m freestyle heat she came 3rd and 2nd in her backstroke heat.
Look! I pasted in Karen's text and now I have a nicer font! Happy about that.
Meanwhile, while Toby was swimming I got to drive by myself to the camp. I sang loudly all the way!
Helped pitch heaps of tents - some of the Cubs have nailed the half slip knot used on the guyropes - others think they have and others know they haven't. I re-tied quite a few! I am a dab hand at that knot now.
Anne was in charge of the camp kitchen and she did an amazing job. The parents all chipped in and the organisation of the camp was brilliant. Bagheera and Chil are dab hands at it. I am trying to absorb all that happened to get it running that smoothly as next year it'll be me and Mike running it. Yikes!
We had lunch quite quickly after the tents were pitched. Mike and Toby arrived just before then and Mike took off again to get stuck into his weekend tasks. This lunch was a packed lunch from home. Toby had had lunch with Mike but was keen to eat again so he munched on some of my snacks with the other Cubs eating their lunches.
After lunch the Cubs all decided to go swimming in the freezing wee pool. Oddly they seem to like it. Lots of splashing and jumping. Then someone noticed a huge spider on the side of the pool. That coincided with the end of swimming. A parent called it "The South American Water Spider" and Toby was convinced by that!
Back to camp and into groups for kayaking and the confidence course. Toby's group was the one I followed and we tackled the confidence course first. It was great and Toby did very well. He was paired with Tom and they clambered over everything on their way around. Some of the older Cubs were used to the course from previous camps and had time trials.
Then we were into the kayaks and Toby had a ball. The wee lake was a great spot for it, with a small "beach" and some wooden rafts at the edge. At the end of the kayaking, Toby was leaping from raft to raft and then ended up in the lake like the other Cubs. He was loving it! A few goes on the flying fox and then back for afternoon tea.
The activity before dinner was a game of soccer and they all loved that. Dinner was cooked on two BBQs and a gas griller (courtesy of Ryan's father). We ate sausages in bread and salad. It was scrumptious.
As it got darker, we played Spotlight. Then we made up damper and the Cubs cooked that over the fire and supper was Milo and toasted marshmallows.
By 9:30 the Cubs were all asleep in their tents. The leaders and parents sat in campchairs around the fire (oh, my font has switched back) and chatted for a while (midnight apparently) but I escaped to my tent at 10:30 to read. I read a few chapters and slept like a log. Well, until the rain pelted down. But then I just rolled over and went back to sleep.
The rain was settled for the day however and Sunday was constant drizzly rain. Breakfast was cereals (hardly anyone ate Weetbix) and the griller was used for making loads of toast and the Cubs ate lots of that.
More activities including kayaking and the confidence course again. Flying fox was again popular. Then lots of eating to consume the food we had leftover. Morning tea quickly melded into lunch. Lunch was ham and cheese toasties under the same griller.
After lunch we struck the tents and it took quite a while to pack up everything. It's amazing what Cubs are good at getting things done and what Cubs need constant attention to keep them focussed. By 2:45 we were done and I gathered up Chelsea and Brennan and took them home with Toby.
We collected Mike on the way to Karori and dropped off the kids at the Sampson house while we hung the tents up in the Scout Hall. Phew!
Back home to eat dinner (thanks Mike) and I fell into bed exhausted.
No Cubs on Tuesday this week so we can recover from the experience.
Have a marvellous week.
Love,
Angela
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