Camp Mitigwa

This winter I thought in my head, "I think we should wait one more year before sending Matthew to over-night camp." (I think I was reading a sign for Catholic Youth Camp while in the Narthex of church with Anna during Mass.) This, of course, was before Matthew became a Boy Scout and his leader was quite persuasive about how most of the boys who continue on with scouts go to camp the first year.

So here we are packing for camp. I "allowed" Matthew to do much of the labeling and preparing of "STUFF". There is alot of stuff for camp and each and everything must be labeled and comes back from camp filthy. I decided that throughout the next year, I will take every sock that is "almost" ready for the rag bag and put it away for one last hurrah at camp. You need 8 pairs of socks for 6 days of camp, especially this year due to all the rain and mud! All but a few were so dirty, that 3 washes later (including one with bleach), they were still not fit to be worn to school.

Here is Matthew in front of his 2 person tent at Family Night. We brought dinner to Matthew, had a tour of camp, went to a campfire and the first part of the Order of the Arrow ceremony, which was very cool. As we are pulling into Camp Mitigwa, there is a sign "Camp Mitigwa - Maker of Men". Whew - that is a bit much for a mother of an eleven year old to take. (the "maker of men" part is the English translation of Mitigwa). I was thinking, I would like him to grow, mature and make friends, but still be a boy! We had a bunch of storms while Matthew was gone to camp and I thought, I don't want him to become a man by surviving a tornado in a ditch! He indicated that he slept through most of the storms.

Here is a picture of Matthew's troop. This year, when the new Weblos joined, the troop more than doubled in size. It was definitely the "go-to" troop in Ankeny this year. It is lead by the boys (rather than the adult leaders), so I think Matthew thought that was pretty cool.


In the post-card Matthew sent home from camp, he indicated that he would like to go back next year. He came home very tired, having calculated that he had 17 hours of sleep to make-up. He has nearly completed his Fishing, Swimming and Weather Merit badges. He took a three mile hike and was stung by a wasp. He had fun!