Day 5-Washington DC

Parents,
Another great day, we started off with a special wreath laying ceremony, then we went to the Holocaust Museum, and toured monuments with a tour guide for the whole afternoon, it was real hot and humid, and we tried to stay in the bus as much as possible but we still had to walk a lot in the heat just going back and forth. the kids we came back early tonight to help the kids do laundry and go swimming in the pool here at the hotel. the kids are doing great and no problems other than a little bit of Crotch Rot, so some of the kids are learning the hard way how important it is to take care of themselves and keep themselves clean down there. there are a few of them walking around like they just came off the Pro Rodeo Circuit. We are talking to them about this and how they can avoid this, so I think they are finally listening to us. We have a new name for one boy in our troop his name is Cowboy Charlie.
Things are great and we have the best kids ever in our troop!!!!!
-Lincoln Memorial
-Jefferson Memorial
-Vietnam, Korean &WWII Memorials
-White House
-Washington Monument

Day 4-Washington DC

Parents,
We had a great day today, we spent a lot of time in the air conditioned bus, and it was real great to see the troop working together and learning how to work things out themselves, without us leaders having to step in. We had a real neat experience in the Gettysburg Visitors center, that is only about 2 years old, they had a real neat film about the civil war, and then they also have another thing that everyone thought was real cool it is a 360 degree oil painting of the battle of the civil war that you sit and watch while they narrate the battle. Then we had our walk on tour guide that took us around and the kids thought it was real cool to be able to walk on the same ground and see the actual bullet holes in houses and things from the war also. We had about a 2 hour bus ride from Gettysburg to Washington DC, we watched "national treasure 2" on the bus to get us all ready for the stuff we will see in the next couple of days, The Marine Barracks Parade was real cool to see. Also there were lots of scouts there from all over, as we get closer to the jamboree we are seeing scout troops from all over the country, and it looks like a lot of the places are being taken over by Tan scout shirts and green pants everywhere you go. We also stopped at Target today and we had a bunch more interesting purchases from the boys??? Oh and by the way the kids are getting along just fine without their cell phones and ipods, they have a new thing that occupies their time, it is a really neat brand new invention that they just discovered called a YO-YO. I think over half the troop has one and we are getting to the point that we have to start making rules about when and where they can use them. they are calling the leaders "the YO-YO Nazi".

Your kids are the greatest!!!!
Cal
Battle of Gettysburg "A New Birth of Freedom"



They visited the massive 360 degree painting in the
round, "Battle of Gettysburg"


Left the National Military park for Washington D.C
Attended the Marine Barracks Parade
Stayed the night at the Hilton in McLean, VA.

Day 3-Philadelphia/Landcaster, PA

We started off with our tour of historic Philly, we went and saw the liberty bell and Independence hall and a bunch of other buildings around the town, we also went on a tour of the Philadelphia Mint. It was very hot and humid today. Much worse than it has been all week long. We visited Benjamin Franklin Court and the Old Printing Press. We then went to Valley Forge and Lancaster for a great tour of the Amish country by our Famous Bus Driver. We had our famous meal at the "Plain and Fancy". The dinner was a hit! Tomorrow we have a much easier day and most all of the day will be either in air conditioned museums, or traveling around on the bus. While the troop was in Amish country the boys purchased a lot of lemonade from one of the cutest little 7 year old Amish girls, who had a lemonade stand set up. I think she made a killing on these boys.
I have said it every night and will keep saying it!! Your boys are the greatest!!!!

Day 2-Newark/Philadelphia

Email from the Scout Master...
We really ran the kids today and we got everything on the agenda completed and even a few other things. our bus driver is the best!!! He took set us up with the opportunity to take the boys out on the Brooklyn Bridge, so we can all say that we have walked the Brooklyn bridge. We also turned the kids loose in China town to purchase gifts, and I have to say some of the kids purchased some interesting things????? We have another jam packed day scheduled for tommorrow. Everyone is doing fine, everyone is healthy, everyone is having fun, so what more can we ask for...
your kids are the greatest!!!!
-Ellis Island
-Statue of Liberty
-Battery Park
-Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum
-Ground Zero
-Times Square
-Central Park
-Brooklyn Bridge
-South Street Seaport
Left for Philadelphia



My favorite part of this picture are all the tourists staring
at the scouts!!

The boys walked across the Brooklyn Bridge

I am not sure where this is. Anyone know??

Charlie and the 2010 Scout Jamboree-Day 1

Charlie and his scout master Cal Condie.

I think John Paul is going to catch up with Charlie in height real soon!

All decked out and ready to go!

Charlie left for the Scout Jamboree today. He has been looking forward to this day for over two years. We took him to the airport at 5:00a.m. and he met the rest of his troop there. There are 36 scouts and 4 leaders in his troop. As he left to go through security, he didn't even look back. He was gone. The only thing that made me feel a little better was that I didn't see any scout look back. They were all more than ready to go. He flew to Newark and spent the day and night in Manhattan.

We are on vacation!

We are on vacation in California for two whole weeks!! Hope you are all having a great summer! I will tell you all about it when we get home!

Appendectomy!!

What a night!! It all started on Saturday with a stomach ache. We ended up at IHC in Riverton on Sunday night. We arrived at 6:00 and at 12:00 a.m. After blood tests, x-rays andCT scans we left with an answer of "appendicitus". The only problem was that, that particular hospital does not operate on children under 12. So, at 1:00 a.m we were on our way up to Primary Children's Hospital. We almost had to take the ambulance but the Dr. told us that we looked like reliable people that would get him there safely. Well...we get up to Primary's and they had to do the whole shabang again! Same questions, same routine! We finally got to our room at 4:00 a.m. and John Paul went into surgery at 4:30 a.m. Everything went well and he got out of surgery at 6:15. We didn't get back to our room until 7:00. If you can believe it WE GOT STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR!! Not even kidding! For 20 minutes we were confined in a 8X8 box. John Paul was miserable because the hadn't given him any pain medication yet. They finally got us out and we got a wonderful tour of the basement and underground parking garage!! All this while John Paul is being pushed in a HUGE bed! Well, we are now warm and cozy in our room. John Paul is Playing Playstation and waiting for his room service of Mac and Cheese and a rootbeer float! He may not want to go home anytime soon!