Our Beaver Scouts troop held a family hike last evening at Rising Sun Country Park. Dads, moms, and siblings joined in. All day, rain threatened to cancel the hike but, thankfully, held off...this lovely day out would have been a shame to miss!
I didn't bring my camera, but when the kids all started feeding grass to this gorgeous horse, I remembered my iPhone and caught a few shots.
The park, explained Scout Master Dave, is on the site of an old coal mine. We all climbed to the top of a rounded hill, the highest point for about 25 miles around and, wow, what a view. We could see from the mouth of the Tyne, to our southeast, all the way up to Newcastle. Dave pointed out various landmarks and points of interest.
On our hike, we passed between horse pastures and walked by a small stable. Stopped by an educational dipping pond with its little boardwalk and swaying reeds. Crossed meadows of tall grass and Queen Anne's Lace on mown paths. Walked along gravel paths shadowed on both sides by hedgerows. Rounded the edge of a small, picturesque duck pond. Dodged puddles and horse manure on wide, muddy paths. And wandered along dark, wooded stretches of path. We ended the walk with a brief stop-over at a playground, where the kids let off even more steam. (Can't believe they had any left!)
What a beautiful property the Rising Sun Country Park is. Mike is excited to go back with his mountain bike. And, since it's only about a 10- or 15-minute drive from our house, we'll be sure to go there again for family hikes.
After about a month or two of attending Tuesday night Beaver Scout meetings, we attended our first off-site event, a sleepover in the nearby village of Embleton. At the end of the weekend, the Scout Leader Dave invested four new Beaver Scouts into the organization. Merrit was one of them!
Merrit received his Beavers neck kerchief, certificate, and a handful of badges
that he earned over the weekend. He's quite the proud little Beaver, isn't he?
Called a camp out, this was really more like a lock-in. It was just for moms and sons, and we had 22 moms, 22 five-to-seven-year-old Beaver Scouts, Scout Leader Dave, and two teenage Boy Scouts who helped host the weekend and were earning service badges/credits for their help.
The theme for the weekend was Space Exploration. The lodge was decorated with badges from NASA's different space programs, and American flags, and the NASA logo. (Okay, I felt a little American pride, yes!). The boys each had an astronaut's lanyard with their name on it. There was a Flight Crew Rest Area (moms' table) with magazines and snacks for moms only. The leader, knowing rain was in the forecast, had put together individualized activity packs filled with space-themed mazes, word finds, coloring pages, and crafts--including a back-pack oxygen tank that each kid made and decorated (you can see Merrit wearing his in the rocket launch video below). So much thought and preparation went into the weekend! It was amazing.
Merrit and two friends with their self-decorated space helmets on.
Thankfully it wasn't an actual outdoor camp out because on Saturday, as they would say here, "The weather was rubbish!" Dave and his two helpers had lots of outdoor activities planned but the only two we actually went out in the weather to do were a water-bottle rocket launch followed by a walk to the sea and back.
The walk to the sea would have been so lovely if the weather had cooperated. We walked through the village, past an old hotel, two pubs, and a few B&Bs registered with the English Heritage Society, then along a paved path with a big field stretching out to the left, past some sheep, over dunes, and onto such a wide, beautiful beach with the ruins of Dunstanburgh castle just off in the distance.
Merrit was worried that the sheep were cold and wet. We could hear them
bleating, but we talked about how wool is naturally warm and waterproof.
The sheep (off to the right in this picture; you can't see them)
were probably more comfortable than us, even in all our rain gear.
The kids rush onto the beach. You can see Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance
on the far right. We'll have to come back to see it another time for sure.
By the time we got to the beach, every last one of us was soaked to the skin. Some of the kids actually went into the sea up to their waists since they were already so cold and wet anyway. I can only imagine how cold that water was!
We all trudged back to the lodge. Merrit and I were sort of bringing up the back of the pack so by the time we got there, piles of wet shoes and jackets were at the front door and every last radiator was draped with jeans, socks, and sweatshirts. I'd underpacked, so we both put on PJs while our clothes dried on a radiator. The Scout Leader put on Space Buddies for the kids to watch on the big screen.
For dinner, Dave drove to the nearby town of Seahouses to pick up 47 orders of fish and chips, or chicken and chips, or haggis and chips. We all ate while video footage of Apollo moon landings, space shuttle launches, and international space station tours played on the big screen.
We played some indoor games. Then had a sort of dance party with hang-gesture songs like the "Hokey Cokey" (not the "Hokey Pokey" here) and "Going on a Bear Hunt" followed by the Macarena, YMCA...well, you get the idea. Y'all know that Merrit loves to dance, so that was his favorite part of the weekend! All the moms got in on the fun, too. Everyone was giddy and tired from the cold, wet day and the dance party so the boys fell asleep pretty quickly at about 10:00pm.
The moms retired to a back room where Dave had set up a little party for us. There were appetizers and music (which turned into karaoke in the wee hours...but I'd gone to bed long before that). Some of the moms stayed up until 5:00am! Crazy.
Sunday dawned to a absolutely gorgeous day! The kids had cereal and Dave and his helpers fixed a full English breakfast for the moms: Sausage, bacon, baked beans, fried eggs, toast, mushrooms, and tomatoes. There were leftovers, and the boys were allowed to plow into them, which they happily did.
After breakfast we all headed out to a nearby park. The boys played outside for about two hours and the moms talked. It was great to get sunshine and fresh air after being cooped up indoors most of the day before.
The final activity of the day was a closing ceremony. Merrit was invested, and received badges for joining the Scouts and for activities completed during the weekend.
