The camper returns

So Ryan has been at scout camp for the past five days. This has been the longest time that he has ever been away from the family. He woke up Monday morning and met his troop at 3:30am to take off for camp.

This is who was there when we got to the Hogge's house...more showed up later, but it was early and I wanted to get back home to bed. We cheated and sent Ryan with a cell phone (it was an old flip phone so he was roughing it), so we were able to get daily updates.

Some highlights...
Ry went on a hike through the deep woods. When he got back to camp he found 9 ticks sucking his blood. He says he screamed and freaked out until someone got them off him. He is proud of the fact that he holds the record for the most ticks though. Tick total for the week:15.

Ry worked on and finished a bunch of merit badges.

Slept in a tent with tons of bugs had no zipper net-plus he left it open to let in light (and bugs). Thank goodness we sent a bug net.

Completed lumberjack maze-not on paper, but among the trees.

Got 40 points on his first try shooting a rifle. Not as much luck with archery.

Brought home some of the drinking water, for us all to experience. On the left side is the camp drinking water, on the right side is our home drinking water. (Hopefully that was self-explanatory-our home water is not yellow) YUCK!

Cooked steaks for the troop, and had three campfires.

When he got home he told me that camp makes our home feel like a fancy hotel.

I asked him if he was planning on going again next year. He says, "Of course, but once a year is definitely enough."