Rad has been gone for 10 days and Ben for 6, it is so great to have them back home. Ben is really excited about the things he learned. He knows all of the knots now. He commented that he didn't remember them teaching some of them last year. He thought the realistic first aid they had was better this year than last. He really seemed to like a blood one where they used corn syrup and chocolate to make it look like blood. The staffer had it in a balloon that he popped and Ben says it was very realistic looking. I think he said that one of the campers went into shock with that one.Ben was elected as the Patrol Leader, which is pretty cool. I asked him if it was because it was his second time around and he knew more. He thought that helped but a couple of adults mentioned to me how great he was with the boys in leading them and they responded to him when he gave them direction. A great compliment to hear that he is "a fine young man."
After he showered he showed us a lot of knots. He lashed his walking sticks together making a tripod and when he had Rad's stave from last year, he lashed them together and they carried Jessica. The girls thought that was awesome. Once he started the lashing I knew what he was doing. I told him we did that at girls camp when I was the director for our toilet, after we dug the hole. We even had "reading material" in there. He thought that was funny.
