Chief Scout Days

I'm using this post as a bit of an experiment to avoid meetings. We all have busy young families, so I'll give this a try. Please participate by posting your comments. You can also feel free to e-mail me.

In May and November 2010 we'll be holding "Chief Scout Days", where we want to have some fun while getting some badges required for Chief Scout. In some cases the requirements can be a little dull or tough to do in small groups. If we put our collective minds together, I'm sure we can come up with something really cool.

For May, I was thinking of an "Amazing Race" around Ottawa to knock off as much of the Citizenship badge (both Voyageur and Pathfinder levels) as possible. There are lots of places around town (actually within a few blocks) that could help us. Parliament Hill, Rideau Hall, Garden of the Provinces, the Supreme Court, the National Archives, museums, etc. Lots of resources. Maybe it can be a photo or video scavenger hunt. Maybe we encourage teams with skateboards or bicycles (and helmets of course). Maybe there's a speed component, a completeness component, whatever. Give them a list of things to do, have them find them, document the answers, and we all meet somewhere maybe for a BBQ and ice cream.

In November, one idea might be to find a way to collectively work on the World Conservation Badge. This is usually a pretty tough thing to do in small groups, and sometimes one of the things that gets forgotten on the way to Chief Scout. Maybe each troop comes up with a project, and we split up and get them all done. With a year to figure it out, I'm sure we can come up with something.

Your ideas are most welcome for both activities.

October 2009 Update

Hope your Scouting year is off to a great start! I just wanted to let you know of a couple news items and upcoming events:

Voyageur Council Food Drive (November 7, 2009): Chapel Hill Troop is participating in the Council Food drive, and is wondering if any other groups are.

Stake Scout Winter Camp: There will be no Stake Winter Scout camp this year. Traditionally this is held around New Years Day, which falls on a Friday this year. We've picked this day usually because Scouts are out of school and leaders usually are available. The camp has got to be two nights in order to get the winter camping requirement out of the way. With New Years' Eve on the Thursday, I just don't think it will work on that particular weekend.

Scout Klondike Derby (February 13, 2010): This is the 45th year for this fantastic day-long activity run by Heritage Area. For the last few years Champlain and Riverside Scouts have participated and really enjoyed themselves (Champlain ward is the reigning intermediate division champion!). For more information, here's a link to the 2007 version. The location is generally the only thing that changes.


Stake Chief Scout Days: As a result of a conversation at August's LDS International Camp, I'm planning for two Stake "Chief Scout Days" in 2010. Tentative dates are May 15 and either November 13 or 20 (I don't recall). The idea is to have a day-long activity where we can get together for a fun and knock off some Chief Scout requirements. My early thoughts are:

May - "Amazing Race" themed activity to fulfill Citizenship Award
November - World Conservation Badge activity. Completely open to suggestions, but it's often a tough requirement.

I will start a separate thread for comments and ideas.

Border crossing information

As of June 1, 2009, passports will be required for all adults crossing into the United States by land. However, Scouts will not be required to have passports.

Children: Beginning June 1, 2009, U.S. and Canadian citizen children under age 16 arriving by land or sea from contiguous territory may also present an original or copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, a Naturalization Certificate, or a Canadian Citizenship Card.

Groups of Children: Beginning June 1, 2009, U.S. and Canadian citizen children under age 19 arriving by land or sea from contiguous territory and traveling with a school group, religious group, social or cultural organization, or sports team, may also present an original or copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, a Naturalization Certificate, or a Canadian Citizenship Card

For more information on border crossing issues, please see the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative website here.

For information on how to get your Canadian passport (or renew it if it will expire in 2009) click here.

2009 LDS Scout Camporee

There is a great level of interest in this year's LDS Camporee! It will be held August 12-15 in Freedom, NY. The official website is here, although there's not much there yet.

There are between 20 and 25 interested Scouts from Champlain, Chapel Hill, Fallowfield, and Riverside wards. That a great number and I'm sure we can have even more fun than the legendary Mohawk tribe a couple years back.

Freedom, NY appears to be a smallish town south of Buffalo:


View Larger Map

Stay tuned for more information as I get it, and feel free to post your questions, comments, etc. as we go along.

Mark your calendars...and more to come!

Winter Camp Report

Thanks to everyone who helped make the winter camp so much fun. We had 27 youth and leaders from Champlain, Fallowfield, and Petawawa that ate well, slept sort of well (especially the folks in Petawawa's heated tent at right - note the chimney for the stove), and had a whole lot of fun.

The youth earned their winter section of the year-round camper badge as well as the Winter Scouting challenge badge. They also fulfilled several Duty to God requirements.

Highlights included 15" of air sliding down Dead Man's Hill, the shootout-winning boot hockey goal, and a great potluck on the second night of camp. Kudos to Champlain's hamburger soup, Fallowfield's meatballs, and Petawawa's stew.

Particular thanks to Petawawa for the preparation and support.

For those that missed it, here's the view from the top of Dead Man's Hill. This ain't the hill at the Experimental Farm.