Hows it going Maggie? Miss seeing you on the forum.
We are headed back home as I write this. I think we're in Indianapolis, Indiana at the moment.
Had a great week, and from what I could tell, the boys all seemed to have a good time. But if you know anything about teenage boys, you know that they are very hard to read.
I don't know what the temperatures actually were in E. Lansing, but I know that we were quite comfortable for our entire stay. No rain. There were an estimated 15,000 participants, including adults. We had a program to attend every evening [except Thurs.], and classes that we were scheduled to attend during the mornings. They had all kinds of fun activities. One of the most fun things was a system called SPARK [I called it "sparkle"]. It was a connectivity / social media thing where we all wore this little thing on our ID badge lanyard [I'll post a pic]. Once you activated your "sparkle," you were supposed to "spark" with all of the other scouts & scouters -- that means you hold your "sparks" together, and once they turned green, you had transfered name & location with that other person [you control the amount of information to be shared when you set up your profile]. The goal was to "meet" and interact with as many people [strangers] as you could. Most of the time, while you were "sparking," you'd ask each other where they were from, etc. Then every day you download you "spark" info so you can see who you interacted with. It was great fun -- I'm basically a shy person, but I was striking up conversations with perfect strangers and having a great time! Kids & adults -- it really caught on.
They had shuttle busses, but we tried to walk as much as possible. According to my FitBit, I probably averaged about 20,000 steps a day.....or close to 10 miles a day.
But I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. This dorm keeps the beds almost ceiling height because that gives the college students room underneath the beds for furniture, etc. On arrival all of us older folks asked to have our beds lowered -- at a certain age, climbing UP into bed isn't a fun thing any more. Most of the boys either slept up high, or pulled their mattresses down to the floor [another place that isn't good for getting into & out of a bed]. Anyway, when they lowered mine & my roommates beds, they were still too high. I felt like I was mounting a horse every time I climbed in bed. And my roommate actully fell out of bed the 1st morning [she was OK]. I woke up just as she hit the floor, asked if she was OK, then I was back fast asleep.
Our SPARKS!
Phillip & I the morning we started the trip.
The backpack for those times you can't decide what to leave at home...
On the last night all of our scouts decided to save their picnic lunch boxes from earlier, decorate them, and wear them as hats for the evening show! This my son, Phillip, front....:.
....and back!
