1. Even plastic magnifying glasses, along with bright sunlight and boys' unending fascination with fire, can be used to make smoke from grass, leaves, sticks, and pieces of mulch.
2. My son has retained enough knife safety knowledge during his 4-year Cub Scout career to demonstrate the Safety Circle accurately without any prompting. As you can see, the circle is employed to make certain that you are a full arm's distance away from others before you sit down to begin whittling. 
3. Ninja is a fun game. (Just don't play it with pocketknives.)
4. It's pretty cool when you get to have an officer of the U.S. Navy quiz you on citizenship and flag trivia. Kind of entertaining, too, when the officer enjoys playing the "let's narrow it down" game and the boys end up using the process of elimination to answer a number of things about several events of which they have never heard. For boys entering 4th or 5th grade, this elimination process is easier to do when guessing years than when guessing presidents! Here's how it went...
Officer: Do any of you know what year Flag Day was instituted?
Scout 1: 1777?
Officer: No, after 1777.
Scout 2: 2001?
Officer: No, before 2001.
Scout 3: 1950?
Officer: No, before 1950.
And so on and so on until we settled on the year 1916.
And this is what it sounded like for a president-related question...
Officer: Do any of you know which president recommended that Flag Day become an official date on the calendar?
Scout 1: George Washington?
Officer: No, after George Washington.
Scout 2: George W. Bush?
Officer: No, before Dubs. (No kidding, that is what he said.)
Scout 3: Abraham Lincoln?
Officer: No, after Lincoln.
Scout 4: John F. Kennedy?
Officer: No, before John F. Kennedy.
Scout 5: Bill Clinton?
Officer (almost giving up): No... maybe one of you moms know? (We didn't.) Well, it was President Woodrow Wilson during the time of World War I. (Better question that could have stopped the madness much earlier: Do any of you know that Woodrow Wilson is the name of a U.S. president? Did you know that he really liked the flag and dearly wished for an entire day to celebrate it?)
And still more interesting trivia and/or teasers for all my fine readers. (By the way, all of these were introduced in the officer's copyrighted and trademarked rapid-fire, question-and-answer, narrow-it-down-to-the-right-date/name/event style.): Did you know that at one time the United States added a star AND a stripe every time a new state joined the Union? (That didn't last long.) Did you know that there are just a few places where the flag is illuminated throughout the night? What are those places? Where is Fort McHenry? In what year was the Battle of Fort McHenry? Any idea what the Battle of Fort McHenry was about? How about the War of 1812? Anyone? Anyone? Do you know the correct order of the following name: Key Francis Scott? OK, so you know that there was an important lady named Betsy, but can anyone come up with her last name? And in what year did she do the thing that made her famous? What year did the U.S. decide to make a flag for our country? What do the colors on our flag stand for? Blue is for...bravery, red is for...blood, white is for... uh... the eagle?? No, it begins with a P. Uh, party? Petunias? No. Parks? No, purity. (Oh right, purity, I'm sure that was on the tip of every kid's tongue!) What year was the flag completed and officially adopted? In what year was the poem that later became lyrics for The Star-Spangled Banner written? And then in what year was the song adopted as our national anthem? Who was president then? (Better question: How many presidents can you name?) (I am not exaggerating. This is nearly verbatim how the Citizenship session went. Seriously hilarious.)
5. If you are strategic with your daily personal hygiene schedule, you can almost avoid using the smelly port-o-potties for an entire day. But don't try too hard because you will be forced to drink your weight in water to stay hydrated!
6. Invasive and evasive do not mean the same thing, but apparently the camp does not retain many good editors on its staff (ahem!), so although you might think you are going to learn about evasive species (muskrats? lemur? oppossum? koala bears?), in fact you are about to learn about invasive species (grapevine, buckthorn, garlic mustard). Either way, the boys learned about some plants that are invasive and what can and should be done about that problem, and then they hiked off to clear a lot of garlic mustard from a very woodsy area (while fighting off killer mosquito attacks). Cub Scout Camp is no walk in the park, I'm telling you.
7. Shooting slingshots is super fun, especially when you are given 15 minutes and unlimited ammo. And if your ammo is pinto beans, there will be a lovely bean garden growing in front of the target zone! 
8. Amphibians can live in a pond that is completely covered in algae. In fact, they love it there. (See Wordless Wednesday post from July 28.) However, there won't be many fish living in that kind of pond. You will also learn many other fascinating things about trees and plants and fish and animals and the earth on a nature hike led by two fantastic and funny Eagle Scouts.
9. You will get to hear a boatload of groaners and even a few borderline inappropriate jokes at the Friday campfire, and for each year you go to camp, you will understand the innuendo of the jokes a little more, and you will want to hear more and more and more! Also, you will know how to sing the entire song "Announcements, Announements, Annow-wownce-ments. A terrible way to die, a terrible way to die. A terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible way to die. Announcements, Announcements, Annow-wownce-ments. Uh!" And you will get to have conversations with boys in your group that will make you smile and laugh and be thankful that you are getting to be a part of this experience with them. It's especially nice when you find out that one of the boys in the group really likes the days when you are one of the parent volunteers, and that kid is not even your own son.
10. The Boy Scout and Venturing leaders are really great. Well, except possibly the one who, during what was supposed to be a lesson in first aid, decided to mention (albeit in a cautionistic tone) his joy at pulling an all-nighter playing Halo and then becoming addicted to Monster energy drink after trying it the next morning because his friends talked him into it in order to stay awake during class! ...But even that young scout had some excellent leadership skills, which he displayed while patiently guiding and actively encouraging an uncertain boy during archery... I think he just needs to develop a better filter for all the "wise" things he wants to share with the younger boys who are hanging on his every word... I'm just going to hope he develops the filter before they make him an Eagle Scout!
This was the last year of Cub Day Camp for me and my Webelos! Hard to believe and a little sad, too. We all have a bunch of good memories of our week during the past four summers at Camp Oakarro. I have yet to meet a boy who doesn't find something to enjoy trying there: BB guns, archery, obstacle courses, fishing, buying candy and loot at the canteen, fire-building, knife safety, knots, climbing wall, slingshots, unraveling and discussing the weeklong "mystery" played out in skits each morning and afternoon, outdoor running games, skits and songs and stories, nature hikes, crafts that involve pounding and fingerprinting and sticks (not at the same time), and so much more. (Did I mention BB guns? I have to admit that I even like that one. But I digress.) Camp Oakarro, we do love you! Camp Makajawan, here we come in 2011? 
Scout salute!
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