Tag - scouting

It’s a pretty amazing thing when your child sets his sights on a goal and achieves it.  Words really cannot express how proud I am of Boo for deciding to be an Eagle Scout and for reaching his goal.  He was 15 years old, 1 month and 20 days old when he did it.

The presentation table was set up with his scarf, medal, pins, flowers and a candle display.  Each candle has a BSA rank badge beneath it and they were lit during the ceremony by a scout of the same rank.

Outside the room was his scouting display table.  Starting at the left were his Pinewood Derby cars and trophy, and his red Cub Scout vest. When we received his Arrow of Light at the end of Cub Scouts, his den from back in DC where he started, sent him the same arrow given to all his former den-mates.  When he crossed over to Boy Scouts, an Eagle Scout shot an arrow at a target as each boy’s name was announced.  Boo’s arrow hit the bull’s eye.  Both those arrows were part of the display.

Next was the guest book and a basket to hold any cards that came.  Then was his Eagle display. (I made the decoration in the background from an idea on Pinterest.)  We had a flag flown at the US Capitol and it’s there in a frame.  Another Pinterest idea was for a shadow box with each of his rank cards and badges, with a space waiting at the end.  His Eagle certificate is just out of the picture, as is his Order of the Arrow sash.  The framed certificate is his registration into the National Eagle Society.  We put all his official congratulation letters into a binder for people to flip through.  We call it his Book of Kudos.

Here’s what the whole thing looked like.Here’s my Eagle Scout with his cake.  I think they both turned out nicely.

I managed to hold it together, just like I did for Nutcracker.  I had to keep dabbing at my eyes the whole time, though.  Look at him – He’s an Eagle.

(You can check out my Eagle COH Pinterest Board to see where I got some of my inspiration here: Eagle Court of Honor.)

Last week Boo crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. It was bittersweet, not so much in that he is growing up and moving on, but because he did so in a different pack that he started scouting in.  During the slide show of the new Boy Scouts’ years as Cubs, none of the pack’s pictures contained Boo, and all of Boo’s pictures had his friends from D.C.  I was struck by how much I miss that old pack, where everyone knew each other, saw each other almost daily and lived just down the street.  One year, every boy on Boo’s soccer team was also in his Cub Scout pack.  Good times.

But we’ve moved on, both literally and figuratively.

Here’s my Cub Scout, one last time…

(Sorry, picture deleted after somebody put it on pinterest without my permission.)

Every boy in his den earned the Arrow of Light – the highest achievement in Cub Scouts, and the only award that can be carried over and worn on the Boy Scout uniform.  A tradition in our Colorado pack is that as each Arrow of Light recipient’s name is called, an Eagle Scout  shoots an arrow into a target.

Here goes Boo’s arrow.

The scouts got to keep their arrow.  Boo’s was the only one that hit the bull’s eye.

Another pack tradition is the parents making a shadow box commemorating their son’s Cub Scout years.

Here it is close up.

And finally it was time for the boys to cross the bridge into manhood.  Or Boy Scouthood.  Whichever.

They were greeted at the other end by the boys in their new Boy Scout troop and given their new neckerchiefs and slides.

A new Boy Scout!

Back at home, Bip and Pumpkin Girl put on his new epaulets.

We had one final presentation for him.  The Den Leader from our D.C. pack made all the boys an arrow using rocks, sticks and feathers from their summer camp.  He made sure that Boo got one, too and it arrived right before the Blue and Gold ceremony.