Welcome our newest Bobcat to Pack 377!

It is the photographer's camera's fault (see all the denial and deflection?) that this picture is a little blurry, but it still manages to capture a great moment with our Pack's newest Bobcat and his mom.  They came to Round Table (monthly leader training meeting) for a special presentation where members of the Order of the Arrow presented Bobcat ranks to a few chosen scouts.  He will be wearing his badge temporarily pinned upside down on his uniform until he does a good deed without being asked.  Then his mom will let him know that he can turn that badge around and it will be attached to his uniform, right side up.

Please be sure to welcome Luke to our Pack and congratulate him on completing this first step in Cub Scouting!

First Summer Activity - Bashas Tour

We did five scout activities this summer and they all went great!  Just to create a feeling of suspense (not because I have anything else to do!), I will post the pictures gradually.  ;)  I'm honestly not sure if we have pictures of the last activity anyway.....

Here were the boys that came to our first June activity: a behind-the-scenes tour of the Bashas on Brown & Ellsworth.  The manager took us on the tour and the boys were wonderful - respectful, asking questions, interested in what he was saying.  We got free vanilla frappuccino samples from the Starbucks (coffee-free!) and then the manager even gave us a pizza lunch from the deli for free at the end of the tour because he was so impressed by our scouts.  It was a fun morning!

They got to walk inside one of the delivery trucks that was backed up in the loading dock - it was dark and really hot inside, but they were surprised at how big it was.

We learned that a LOT of cardboard is crushed and recycled at this store every day.  The crushing machine is pretty big.

Even though it's out of focus, this picture gives you an idea of the size of the refrigerators they have at this store.  As you can tell, they are quite cold!  The boys got to have some samples of freshly cut fruit that the store puts out for people to taste in the produce section. 

"That's a lot of frosting!"  The scouts all agreed that the chocolate cake was their favorite...as they watched the lady in the bakery frosting and decorating this cake.  The bucket in front of her was full of chocolate fudge frosting.  We learned that this Bashas is one of the few in the valley that also still makes doughnuts in its bakery from scratch every morning.

They have pizza made from scratch as well, and then cooked in a brick oven.  The scouts got to custom order their pizza and see how it was all put together.  It baked while we finished our tour and was worth the wait! 

Here is one last shot of the boys before we went into the store.  What a great-looking group of young men!

Summertime Activities

This post was intended to be sent in May, but somehow never happened.  So now it's an FYI about what your scout either did earn this summer, or can set a goal to earn next summer!
From meritbadge.org:
The purpose of the National Summertime Award is to encourage packs to provide a year-round program by continuing to meet during the time periods when school is out of session for several weeks or months. If a pack is in a "year-round school" (or is part of a home-school association), the pack could earn the Summertime Pack Award by having a special pack activity during those breaks.
Boys who participate in three summertime pack events (one each in June, July, and August) are eligible to receive the National Summertime Award pin.
The pin is worn on the right pocket flap of the Cub Scout Uniform, pinned onto the Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award, if present. Multiple pins may be displayed for each year the award is earned.
Since the goal of the Summertime award is to have Packs continue the program through the summer, the summertime award scouts receive should match their current rank rather than the rank they are working on (ie, boys who have attained the rank of Tiger will receive the Tiger pin even though they are in a Wolf Den and working towards the Wolf rank).

Den and Pack ribbons

A pack can qualify for the National Summertime Pack Award certificate and streamer by planning and conducting three pack activities-one each in June, July, and August.
Dens with an average attendance of at least half their members at the three summer pack events will be eligible for a colorful den participation ribbon for the den flag or den doodle.

Cub Scout National Summertime Award Pins
Pin	Pin #	Level	Earned the summer after:
	14332	Tiger	attaining Tiger rank (Graduating 1st grade)
	14333	Wolf	attaining Wolf rank (Graduating 2nd grade)
	14334	Bear	attaining Bear rank (Graduating 3rd grade)
	14335	Webelos	attaining Webelos rank (Graduating 4th grade)

Cancelled recruiting event at Zaharis

Due to the nearly complete lack of response to the previous message about doing a recruiting event at the Zaharis Elementary Meet the Teacher night, the recruiting event has been cancelled.  I only received one response and, quite honestly, that day is busy enough for me that it works just fine to remove that event from the "To Do" list.  We may plan a later event and will keep you posted.  Please stay tuned....