Outside

A friend recently asked me a strange question: "How do you get your boys to play outside?" I didn't know what she meant. My boys constantly want to be outside, but she said her kids only want to when she's out there too. When we were looking for a house to buy, we put much more emphasis on yard size than bedroom size, because that's where they spend all their time. Since this month's cub scout theme is Leave Only Footprints, we decided to take all the boys on a hike. We chose a trail along the riverbed, which surprisingly I had never been to. It had a nice shady path.
Here's Spencer with my new little Wolf, Ethan. My den is tiny and Spencer just graduated to the Bears, so I'm happy to get more boys. Have I mentioned how much I love the Wolves? They are so sweet and excited to be there - but in a quiet, observing way. For those of you who aren't familiar with cub scouts, the Wolves are 8 years old and the youngest group (except for non-LDS packs, which also have 7-year old Tigers).

See how natural these boys are in the wild? They all have a handful of sticks they've collected along the way, which of course their mothers wouldn't let them take home. It really was one of the easiest, most fun den meetings we've had. Just send boys outside, and everyone's happy. By the way, I'm enjoying a lovely quiet house while all my boys are at the fathers and sons campout.