All Planned Out!

Good morning resorters!

Many thanks to those dauntless denizens of Scottsdale Plaza Resort this weekend for working and playing at full capacity for 38 hours as the 2012-13 troop leadership structure and calendar came sharply into focus.  It is always one of the highlights of the year to witness the dynamics of the marketing and negotiations, creativity and awakenings that occur as a dozen of our boy leaders determine the content within the upcoming year.  Leader positions were identified, explained and understood, outings, service projects, fundraising, meetings, Patrol Leader’s Council were all developed and clothed in responsibility, timeframes and location.  All ideas originated from the boys, and decisions were aligned by the group of boys toiling this weekend.  We somehow seemed to be more organized this year, credit is certainly due to new processes implemented by Mr. Benyi and executed expertly by the scouts.  We go into this fall confident that the leadership that is in place, the boys who are in our patrols, and the activities that have been planned will result in an excellent 12 months for T648.  Somehow a young thing’s sweet sixteen birthday party in the suite next door could not even distract our heroes from their appointed tasks – despite the party moving to the swimming pool right outside our window.  The boys’ focus and determination got them done early with their planning duties, in plenty of time to partake of that tantalizing object of their affection waiting for them just beyond our planning room – their X-Boxes with Call of Duty or other treasures back in their rooms.  I don’t know about you, but I’m really ready to get away from all the paper work and other distractions on an actual outing!

Our next outing will be almost a month away on September 21s , at the Lava Tubes in the Coconino Forest northwest of Flagstaff.  The scouts will explore a mile-long underground cave formed by a river of lava about 700,000 years ago.  We will also attempt another summit of Mount Kendrick, as well as have plenty of opportunities for advancement.  In the meantime, we will not have a PLC meeting on 9/4, as we accomplished our September/October planning during this weekend’s activities.  We are tentatively planning to use that 6-7PM timeslot for our older scouts to finalize and plan their high adventures for the year.  On September 8th, we will gather at the Elk’s Lodge at 14424 N. 32nd Street (cross Street is Acoma) at 2PM for Patrick Huston’s Eagle Court of Honor.  Please join the Huston family in this celebration of Patrick’s accomplishments in scouting, and use this event as additional incentive to keep following your own trail to Eagle.  Please also note that the next troop Court of Honor has been scheduled for October 2nd at 6PM at the church social hall.  This will be our annual family pot luck dinner, so please plan to attend to get reacquainted with our extended family, sample lots of wonderful food, and to provide support for all the advancement accomplished at Camp Geronimo and since.

See you at 7PM tomorrow for our weekly troop meeting…

Mr. Cole