Cubs to Boys

It's been a busy few weeks with scouts. First there was Arrow of Light testing and flaming arrow ceremony. Then Pinewood derby, followed 3 weeks later by Blue and Gold. This year Colin and Tristan crossed over from cub scouts to boy scouts at the blue and gold. Then just 4 days later their first Boy scout meeting!

I took loads of pictures during blue and gold of course but many had others people's kids prominently in them so I won't post those. Here are a sampling.


The Webelos 2's were the guests of honor at the Blue and Gold ceremony. That is the last rank in Cub Scouts, the last before they become Boy Scouts. 14 boys in all crossed over to Boy Scouts with 4 going to one troop in another town and 10 going to the troop connected to the pack they were in.


Advancements and special awards were given out. Tristan and Colin got a special award for earning all 20 Webelos achievement pins. One other scout also earned the award. Here the cub master explains what the Super Achiever award means.


All the Webelos 2's also got their arrows back, the ones they had shot at the arrow of light ceremony. The cubmaster made plaques for the boys with places for all their webelos pins and hooks to hang their arrows on.


At last Boy scouts! The boys crossed the bridge from Pack 24 to Troop 24 and Current Boy Scouts put new epaulets and neckerchiefs on the new boys uniforms.


Afterward, ice cream party! The yellow folders are the decorations the boys made showing pictures of their scout years and also celebrating 100 years of scouting since it's Scouts 100th birthday this year.


Since I could not get photos of the boys crossing the bridge they were kind enough to reenact it for me :-).




Then 4 days later the boys attend their first Boy Scout meeting!


They were excited yet nervous. Also tired, Boy scouts meet in the evenings not afternoons. I think the meeting went ok. The new parents had our own meeting in a different room. We already have to think about camp-deposit due in two weeks yikes! Also the boys have to decide which camp they want to attend, there are two choices for the Boy Scouts. The boys learned about the steps to advancing as a Boy Scout. they started the process of assigning patrols but had some tricky things to work out so that was put off until next meeting. The Senior Patrol leader decided to split up my boys, which I agree with. Tristan tends to be overshadowed by his older brother and slightly older friend, those guys both have strong personalities. The patrol leader knows the boys and felt Tristan would do well in a patrol without his brother. Tristan LOVES this idea, he is super social and was already making new friends by the end of the meeting. Colin liked it too. They are so close in age and have always done most everything together, they're even in the same "grade" in all our age based activities and in younger days were often mistaken for twins. They both like the idea of having their own patrols to work with in scouts. Their friend was not so sure as he wanted them all to stay together but I hear he has come around to the idea now.

There is no scouts next week due to school vacation but my boys look forward to going again in 2 weeks. They plan to ask for their first "blue cards" so they can begin working on Boy Scout achievements.