mission to mars

We had the Blue & Gold dinner last night for Cub Scouts. They asked that the boys decorate a cake with their fathers. I made the cake, and Marc & Max decorated it. It was a space theme, so they decided to make the cake look like Mars -- red frosting, red sprinkles (Mars dust, duh!), astronauts, a rover, even an alien. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Marc was in Salt Lake taking bridal photos of our niece Michelle, so it was just me and the kids. Here's the thing that really bugged me, though: in the past this has been a family event. All pack meetings have been family events. We had no reason to believe that this one would be any different. But when we got there, they had a nursery set up for all other children in the families other than the Cub Scout. Is that lame or what? Lucas is 6 years old, he had absolutely no interest in going to a nursery! I felt badly for him and was just going to keep him with us anyway, but they physically escorted all the kids out! This did not sit well with me. I think it's a bad move on the part of the new Primary presidency. Oh well, they're new and just learning, right?

The decorations were very cute -- they had made papier mache planets and had many planets and stars strung from fishing line across the ceiling of the cultural hall (isn't that a great euphemism? It's a gym and it looks like a gym!), and aliens and spaceships that the boys had made as centerpieces. The dinner was absolutely disgusting, the worst kind of ward food: overcooked spaghetti with what tasted like plain tomato sauce out of a can, plain French bread, iceberg lettuce with your dressing from home. No butter. No salt. Yikes. No threat to my diet there! I can't complain, though. I wouldn't want to be in charge of the function.

Then they had a cake walk and each time they had a winner, that Scout got to go choose what cake they wanted. I think it was a little ill-conceived, because most of the boys wanted their own cake, but someone else took Max's. I had him take his plate over and ask for a slice when it was time for dessert! Our neighbor Brigham got his own, then accidentally dropped it and it splatted on the floor of the gym. Eva had many bites of French bread and cake and was thrilled. Fortunately, Lucas didn't seem too scarred from his nursery experience. And that, my friends, is the exciting tale of the Blue & Gold Banquet.