Emerald Bay 2018 Recap

Troop 441 Emerald Bay 2018 is in the books. We made it.

As I sit in the airport 24 hours after we docked at Kiva on the way to Montana to scope out another camp for Troop 441, I am fondly reflecting on our wonderful, nay, nirvana type week in camp.

I'm not sure where to start...it's such a special place and we had, as we usually do, such a special group of young men. All different in their own ways: they all encompass the scouting spirit and all facets of the Scout Law. This is what particularly saw this week:

TRUSTWORTHY: "Hammertime"  we put our trust in him to lead us this week and that he did capping it off with brilliant leadership on the battlefield: aka- Aquacade.

LOYAL: "Smiles" - a silent but powerful warrior and ally and was always there for you.

HELPFUL: "Manitas" aka, Sniper, steadfast, ready for anything, sharpshooter of the troop. Always helping other scouts with things and eager to learn more.

FRIENDLY:  - "Maverick" always chatting up the ladies and ready for anything. Everyone knew Mav.

COURTEOUS: "The Professor" aka "Crash" studious, always ready for everything. Crashed once on bike ride and liked it so much, he crashed again.

KIND: "Iceman" aka Ice, - empathetic to the core and lovable gullibleness.  Always had a twinkle in his eye.

OBEDIENT: "Mini "V"- he earned his nickname for sure. Polite, kind; patient and you could always count on him to get his job done.

CHEERFUL: "Gump" - always telling some sort of story or joke. His creativity is unparalleled and was the main driver for our victory in the sandcastle competition.

THRIFTY: "Goose" Maverik's faithful and loyal wingman. Went back and forth deciding if he should buy a pair of emerald bay flip flops.  Finally when asked by Mr V how much there where and responding "$5" Mr V helped to make the decision. "Yes, you should buy them."  "Are you sure?"

BRAVE: "Bluto" wanted to stop at lap 50 in the ocean. Lived up to the Troop 441 Creed: When the going gets tough, the TOUGH get going.

CLEAN: "Meat" well, he did have the second messiest tent, but I never heard him say anything mean or talk bad about anyone. Not a swear word came out of his mouth the entire week.

REVERENT: they are all a bunch of heathens plus we only had 11 guys. The reality is all the boys are super Reverent to  the spirit of Scouting and each other. 

In short, just a super group of magnificent, creative, energetic, funny, great kids.

You helped make my week one to remember as you all bonded and meshed together into a cohesive unit.

This cohesiveness culminated in a stealthy, yet very well planned, literal storming of the beach as an undermanned and undersized "David" troop of 11 took on "Goliath" troops much bigger and larger (one troop had 45!) from Wisconsin, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Colorado and Arizona.    We won the coveted Aquacade!  A feat unabashedly made me very, very proud of my boys.

Those 11 boys have some amazing energy, spirit and good will. Myself, Mr Lyle and Mr Cardella are all anxiously looking forward to watching them grow into amazing men.

Thank you boys for a special week.