I posted this early yesterday morning on Facebook:

In last 12 hours I’ve seen 90 or so Scouts, leaders and parents in Troop 448 head off on buses to their summer camps in Arkansas and New Mexico. I wish you all well! Have fun and stay safe.

We’re starting to see posts and photos pour in from both camps. It’s cool to watch others have a great time at camp, just like we did at Florida Sea Base.

My write up about our Florida Sea Base trip on our family blog.

Team 448 before they headed out on their Eco-Adventure cruise at Florida Sea Base. It was a fantastic trip and learning experience that I hope future Troop and Team 448 scouts will do. There were no thorns on this trip!

Sean getting district approval for his Eagle Project. All systems go!

Troop 448 is well represented at NYLT this summer. Thanks to Laura Walton for the photo.

Troop 448 prepare to properly retire Old Glory at their campout in Three Rivers. Thanks to the Odom family for allowing us to camp on this beautiful property.

Troop 448 playing capture the flag, which we turned into first aid practice by building a hospital, with medics who treated the tagged.

That line of boys across the stage and around the room? Those are the new Scouts of Troop 448, earning their first rank. Way to go, troopers!

Thank you Thomas Crain for the photo.

From our meeting this past Thursday. Second year scouts from the Thunderbird patrol go over the Camping 101 shakedown list with crossover scouts in the Trolls and Whodat patrols. They are putting those skills to work this weekend. Last nights camp arrival was awesome! We brought about 55 scouts and 40 parents for this Camping 101, plus another 35 scouts and 9 adults for Backpacking 101. Should be a great weekend at El Rancho Cima.

It’s been a stressful week for me, though maybe of my own doing. Until this month, our Boy Scout Troop had about 65 boys, which is a fairly large troop. We are adding 44 more to those ranks this month, bringing us to about 110.

We typically bring boys into “horizontal” new scout patrols, but when you have 40+ scouts, that patrol formation can get tricky. Lots of request and other things to consider, like good leadership. I think I’ve done my best, setting up six new patrols, each with seven or eight members.

This is a great group of guys, and I think this will be an exciting year. Challenging, but exciting.