Gates Family: 11 Year Old Scout Camp

(Told by Matthew)

The Scout Camp was 2 days long. Dad went with me. The camp was at Camp Thunderbird in Olympia, Washington. I had a fun time doing their activities.

What I did there was I set up a tent. Well, the setting up the tent was hard. It took us almost the entire day setting up the tent, because we couldn't figure out how to set it up. It was dirty and it had a piece broken on one of the poles. The arch holder hook thing-a-ma-jiggy was missing. So, the pole wouldn't stay in an arch pattern. We got it set up by literally pushing the pole in the ground.

I figured out how to do flags. Well, unfolding the flag is easy, it's the folding the flag that is hard. Folding the flag it kept being hard because I couldn't figure out how to put the white end with the metal circles in the triangle. But I figured out how to stuff it in. On the last day I raised the Washington State flag during the opening flag ceremony.

I also tried swimming, but I failed. I was supposed to swim 25 feet in the cold lake after jumping in. The water was over my head so I started freaking out. Dad jumped in and stood 3 feet away to make my hopes go up, but it didn't at all.

Ready to jump in the water

So, I went paddle boating instead of swimming. Well, it was fun and hard at the same time. First off it was hard because Dad is way heavier than me. So, the paddle boat was hard to steer, and he had more leg strength than me so I kept losing my paddle. We saw 10 ducks out there, all grouped into one. We went toward them, but Dad's weight steered away from them. It was a fun time in the water.

I also did some lifeguard training. I threw a safety ring into the water toward somebody who was pretending to be drowning. I also put a pole in the water to get somebody who was pretending to be drowning.

Me throwing the ring -- I'm glad Dad took a photo while I was throwing it.

I also did a scavenger hunt and I found everyone so I sat down near the flag poles.

Me, chillin' in the breeze

I had a lunch. I had a breakfast and another lunch. Oh, I forgot to add dinner. The food was amazing and we had two desserts in the same day. We made breakfast burritos in a bag. First, you turn on the propane stove with a pot full of warm water. Second, you crack two eggs into a quart-sized bag, and add bell peppers, cheese, and sausage. Then you close the bag and mix up the ingredients with your hands. Then put the bag in the now boiling water for 15 minutes or until eggs are to your liking. Finally, you take the bag out of the water and put the ingredients on a tortilla and fold it up like you would with a bean and cheese burrito.