Camp EmBay Day 3

Tuesday, July 30, 10am; by Brian Finley
Greetings! Apologies, but it has taken the computer literally 3 hours to download the pictures posted in our earlier post. The computer keeps crashing, and there are network issues. I will try to post a few more right now, before my sailing outing. Update: The breakfast burritos were delicious this morning. They were massive, and we had a few boys eat 3! The kids are busy in their session 1 Merit Badge classes, Mr. Cook is in training for Leadership Skills, I'm here in the same room with that training (cracking up every few minutes at the trainer's jokes), and Mr. Thiry is snorkling in the middle of the bay with his snorkling buddy Mike (another parent from the LA area).

Mr. Thiry and Cook went through a lot of the leadership trainings yesterday (the same ones I went through my first year here at EmBay). I spent about 5 hours in the dual-session MB class (I was the only adult participant). I had a great time with the kids. The highlight was directing the 3 kids on our small Catalina 14.2 boat about a mile offshore. The scout operating the tiller was a little inexperienced, and we ended up capsizing the boat. We tried to right the boat for about 25 minutes. It was comical, tiring, and challending, as the seas were somewhat rough at that time. In my 20s, I could right a Holder 14 in about a minute by myself. These Catalinas are much harder! We did it, though, without losing any shoes, hats, nor sunglasses!

As I mentioned in my email yesterday, the highlight of the day was our troop kayaking trip. We kayaked to the south part of the bay, where the kids turned our relaxing trip into a capsize-fest. I first became aware of the situation when I saw Zach paddling for his life (as if he's just seen a shark!). I managed to stay afloat and avoid the transgressors. It was a hilarious situation. Even a post-capsized, swimming Ethan tried to coax me close to him, saying, "Mr. Finley, I'm your friend. Please give me a ride. You can trust ME. PLEASE!" I wasn't about to fall for that! I paddled away from him, and the first thing I noticed as I looked back at him was that he had a huge grin on his face.

I'll try posting some pics, now, but if it's still slow, I may have to try again later today. Cheers.

Emerald Campfire Ampitheater

Greetings from Camp Emerald Bay, July 2013

From Ethan Somers: Hello anxious adults out the wondering about your kids' safety. You will be glad to know that your kids are all okay and fit as fiddles! We have had lots of fun swimming surviving in the wilderness and such. We even had a few laughs when someone took a seat on a cactus!!! I believe the boys most enjoyed kayaking. They were continuously flipping the others' over and then swimming to the attacker and doing the same to him! Some new scouts in our troop have delicate tastes and won't eat the food. This one particular scout is surviving off Cliff Bars. Here are some pictures of us boarding the boat and enjoying fun activities on the island.

~Tuesday, 7/30/13 7:45am, From Brian Finley
Yes, there seems to be one scout who is not eating as much of the food as the others, however, the vast majority are pigging out on seconds and often thirds at most meals. The food is quite good. For instance, last night we had chicken breasts with potatos, gravy, broccoli, salad, and a piece of cake. Hopefully by now, all of you have received my emails regarding our first two days. Ethan and I are in the process of trying to download a couple dozen pictures. The techology here operates very, very slowly, so bear with us. I'll write more later. ~Brian

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Departure Time!

One final picture for the parents before we leave...

Waiting for our boat.  We lucked out and were selected to ride on the third of three boats!  The two+ hour wait actually passed pretty quickly as kids played frisbee, ate, got organized, and clowned around.

Despite the long wait, the kids had a great time joking and playing around.

Clowning around while waiting for our boatride.



Finally leaving to board our Catalina Express ride.



The largest of the 3 boats which ferried kids to the camp.  We were on this boat.  This was taken shortly after we arrived.  A smaller boat brought us in shifts to the camp dock. 

Arrival at the dock.

Camp Newport, our camp, which is the furthest camp from the parade field.  It's a gorgeous setting, with gently rolling hills similar to the Central California coast.

Scouts basking in the sun, waiting for the troop kayaking trip.

The parade field (as viewed from the dining hall porch).

The right side of the bay (kayaking and small boat sailing area).

This is the dining hall (faces eastward towards the parade field and bay).

NYLT thoughts

After coming back from NYLT each boy wrote something about what they did there and what it meant to them. Here are their thoughts.

Matt:

NYLT was an interesting experience. There was a lot to do and a lot to learn. It was however really fun. For one, at the beginning of the week you’re separated from boys in your troop and put into groups of random boys from different troops. For me I was the oldest by 2 years, I was even older than the staff member assigned to my patrol. The staff was great with plenty of different people, some of which I exchange videogame names with and still play with. Over all it was a great experience to go through with Zach and David and I recommend anyone who wants to become the SPL one day to go and really participate in NYLT.

 

David:

NYLT was a very good experience. Looking back, I am glad that I attended. The staff was great and had been together working for eight months which meant that they really knew their stuff. My favorite part was the meals, because the food was great and very organized. Yes cleaning was a pain and the raccoons where extremely obnoxious, but those were the only real downsides of NYLT. I encourage all the scouts to attend as it is a great experience and looks fantastic on a resume.

 

Zach:

NYLT was a great experience for me.  I learned about leadership, camaraderie, teaching skills, and lots more.  Some of my favorite things where playing dragon tales, getting to know my patrol, working together to complete our vision, and singing the moose song with Matt and I hope I can bring some of the fun to the upcoming end of summer ILST leadership course for our troop.  There were some things that I didn't really like, doing dishes, but over all it was a great experience and I encourage you to go. 

Summer 2013 Nominations

The following Candidates have declared:

Senior Patrol Leaders
          Justin Chung

Patrol Leaders (need 2)
          Palmer Finley
          Zach Redmond
          Ethan Somers
          Nathaniel Marquez

Scribe

Librarian
     Daniel Marquez

Webmasters
     Thomas Godden

Chaplains Aid
     Ben Roderick

Instructors
     Cody Finely
     Brock Singley
     David Divjak

If anyone else wants to run contact Matt immediately.

Elections will be held at the July 9th Merit Badge Outline workshop.

Workshop will be in the Divjak's barn on Tuesday July 9 starting at 1 pm

If you can't be there in person to cast your vote please contact Matt Adams, Mr. Adams or Mr. Gamble and let us know who you want to vote for.

Merit Badge Workshop & Elections

Merit Badge shop; 6/29 at 1 pm at Divjak's Barn

Anyone who wants to run for a leadership position needs to be there or send an e-mail to SPL (Matthewadams@cox.net) and let him know what position you will be running for.

Elections will be held at the next Merit badge workshop.
(July 9th at 1 pm at the Divjak's)

The merit badge workshops are for working on Merit badge outlines so you can get blue cards prior to leaving for summer Camp!

We have new leaders in the troop. David, Mathew and Zach finally learned how to lead (just kidding :), at the week long NYLT camp. Here they are at the ending!!

Memorial Day

Hello everyone! Here is a big surprise. Instead of staying home and lounging around all day the scouts came to a Memorial Park and were the color guard. They did a wonderful job said the announcer who had about 20 titles as a military officer! Here are the boys in action.

Matt at a family resting place.....

Palmer just being told that he was leading the hole group!!!

Mr Darvin is giving last minuet info.

Here we go!!!

ATTENTION!!

Good Bye!!!!

Hello again. Here is an activity that scouts who weren't busy on Saturday did. Ethan Somers completed his Star Scout project today at the Connection church with a great turn out! This is a picture of the scouts with the police officer who kindly helped. Thank you to all who participated!!

Back From Advancement camp

Hello again all the boys are back from camp as you will all ready know. We did not get many pictures as far as I know but we did get this one brief snapshot of them  at the beginning!

Hello everyone! Well the food collecting went with a swing and the council received tons of food!!! Here is a room with it all in.

Great job everyone! (for those of you that like numbers we raised 65 pounds and they received altogether 12 tons!!!)