Fun at Camp Greilick, Boy Scout Camp

This weekend my son attended the Camp Greilick WEBELOS Adventure Camp.  WEBELOS are Cub Scouts but they are the upper ranks of Cub Scouts and will soon pass over to Boy Scouts.  Because they are older boys they are allowed to do activities that are not age appropriate for the younger cub scouts.

Therefore my son was able to do fun activities like work in a blacksmith shop where they heated up metal and pounded them into functioning spoons.  My son was also able to climb the the rock tower.

There were all kinds of fun activities to include Geo-Caching, art classes, first aid courses, swimming, geology classes, outdoorsman classes, just to name a few. 

We were supposed to have heavy rain that weekend, but we experienced fairly good weather.

The scouts have all types of great opportunities for boys.  The council that covers the Traverse City area is the Scenic Trails Council.  If you have a son interested in joining the scouts you can find more information at the local council website:  http://www.stcbsa.org/main/portal.php 

Flowers along the shoreline

I was just taking photos of flowers around Traverse City.

My first attempt at oil painting

I took some oil painting lessons from the Art Center of Traverse City. I had never painted before with a real canvas and brushes. I did teach myself how to draw on the computer using Corel Painter and a Wacom Tablet, but I wanted to see how that compared to real life painting.

I must say Corel Painter mimics real world painting fairly well. I sort of like drawing on the computer better because the paint dries faster. :)

I would recommend the center for anybody wishing to learn how to paint or draw. You can find out more at the following link:

http://www.artcentertraversecity.com

June 26 is Kids' Free Fishing Day at NMC

A couple years ago I brought my children to Northwestern Michigan College's free fishing day. They loved it! My boys have absolutely zero patience when it comes to fishing and luckily you don't need any at this event. They threw in their line and a couple minutes later they caught a fish. The children were allowed to catch two fish from the stocked area where 1500 Rainbow Trout were packed into a fairly small area.

This year's NMC free fishing day is on 26 June from 10AM until 2PM. The following website has more information about this years event:

http://http//www.mynorth.com/My-North/June-2010/Kids-Free-Fishing-Day-at-Traverse-City-039s-NMC/

The last time I went with the kids they had people cleaning the fish and putting them in plastic bags packed in ice for the ride home. I am not sure if they are doing the same thing this year, but I hope so. It really is a great time for the kids.