Monday- 9:00 p.m.

As you can tell by the happy face to the left, all is going well at camp. I arrived literally just in time for dinner. Tonight's fare was ravioli, garlic bread, salad bar and veggies. The consensus is that the food is very good, and quite a few of our scouts are actually eating salad. I asked the boys about their activities today, and I heard lots of animated descriptions. Dominic told of waist-deep mud in the Aquaman program. (I'm pretty sure that's an exaggeration, but I'll check it out for myself tomorrow.) Everyone is envious of the new scouts not having to take basketry merit badge this year. The youngest scouts are working on Swimming and Nature merit badges, and seem to be enjoying that. Scott is diligently working on a writing assignment for the Communications merit badge. He has to prepare a sales pitch for an item of his choosing, and then convince his fellow campers that he's got a good thing for sale. As I walked away, he was talking about fake moustaches and impressing girls. I'm sure he'll be working on that sales pitch a little longer. There is a lot of talk about the changes to the camp cook-off. The boys seem very disappointed about the new rules. They were really looking forward to preparing a Mexican feast, but they are committed to doing their best. We still don't know what ingredients will be given to the boys to cook, but they know that they will be cooking in a common area with all contestants in camp, in full view of each other. In addition, I was informed that in my absence, I was volunteered to be a judge for the camp-wide competition. That'll teach me to miss the bus!
There was a lot of activity after dinner. Our troop had the shotgun range reserved for the evening. Scott took aim for the first time ever, and did very, very well. Jeremy also gave it a try and did well, as did the DeAngelo brothers. Our veteran shotgun enthusiasts, Paul, Ryan,
Mr. Becker and Mr. Frank all were crack shots. Some of the boys also visited open archery, and on my way over to the computer room, I met up with Isaiah, who was cool and wet, having just come from open swim. The trading post is a popular spot, as always.
Some of the boys asked me to relay messages. Matthew wants me to say that he lost a tooth at lunch, and that later tonight, he ate an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Connor waves and says hello to mom and dad. AJ misses his girlfriend, but we know she won't be checking out a boy scout blog! Tomorrow I'll leave a notebook on the table for boys to leave messages for home.
The weather is sticky, and the boys are asking about showers. It's right about that time, and I bet that when I return to the campsite, there will be lots of boys in the shower house. This is a very good thing. They're all very tired, so I expect that bedtime will come quickly. We have a great campsite, nice and flat, and very large. Everyone has all of their gear set up, and tents are relatively organized and clean. They received a 97/100 score on their campsite inspection today, and are shooting for a 100 tomorrow. And..... hardly any bugs! Some of the boys are going to leave the mosquito nets down. The skys are cloudy, but so far, no rain. Tomorrow should be a really good one now that everyone has one day's routine under their belt. Check back for more updates then!