It was amazing. It is something you actually have to experience in live action at least once in your life. The shear size of these things. My son described it as an engine with monster tires dressed up to look like a truck. I was impressed how the drivers handled the trucks too – making the trucks fly off of the first car into a wheelie to make the biggest crushing landing on the following cars, bouncing around a couple of times and then stopping the truck before causing any damage to anything else on the arena floor. And the Sears Center Arena isn’t all that big of a place especially with six monster trucks parked along the side of the floor. All of the trucks were impressive, but Big Foot and Heavy Hitter were the show men of the night. Both got huge air smashing the cars. Heavy Hitter made some tight donuts. And Big Foot put it on two wheels doing his donuts.

Again, a huge thanks to the Matt Carlson and the Hawks for organizing this event. And thanks to Stephen Adamitis for the pictures and putting this video together.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGgyORi6RGU

Arriving at Camp Eberhart, you are greeted by the horses mulling around in the field. There were a few buildings and cabins that spotted the property. I was lucky enough to follow the line of early arriving cars to learn where our weekend accommodation was. The cabin that the entire Expedition stayed in was unexpectedly modern and very clean.  There was no smell of sulfur coming from the water from the bathroom faucets that I’m so accustomed to on these campouts. From the cabin, we had a excellent view of one of the lakes. The full moon over the frozen lake was a treat to see both nights we were there. The boys on the top floor made a quick mess of the place the first night with their marshmallow guns.

I do not have enough good things to say about Camp Eberhart’s staff. From the time we first arrived all the way through to our departure on Sunday, they were there to take care of us. Anything we asked for, they were very accommodating. We got a guided tour on Friday of the different buildings and all of the activities available to us that weekend. Riflery, archery, the climbing wall, horseback riding were a few of the activities the camp had for us that weekend. There were also some staff guided activities like shelter building and the low rope activities (has nothing to do with ropes; they were team building activities for the boys as well as the dads).

The Diamondbacks had the Deadliest Catch themed games on Saturday. Congratulations to the Phoenix for winning the games. Saturday night was highlighted by our Trailmaster’s creation for the bonfire. It was slow to catch fire but once going it was a nice relief of heat to cut the frigid night air.

Thanks to Diamondbacks, specifically Mark Egan, for finding this great camp for our winter campout.  And thanks again to our Naturalist, Gary Popek, for documenting this wonderful weekend with his photography skills. Check out the Image Gallery to see all of the pictures from the weekend.

Their boat was in close competition during the races with the Diamondbacks pontoon. The first race of the night had a close finish between the two with the Rough Riders cutting in front of the D-backs to get to the wall first. But the D-backs had the majority of races won that night because of the boat’s design – it didn’t need to be turned around and it didn’t need to be drained. The Phoenix and Hawks also held their own during the races. But sadly the Phoenix’s wide boat was the first to give way for the night.

Good job to all of the boat builders. The regatta is always a fun time. Check out more pictures from the regatta in the Image Gallery.

It was a great outing at Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville last Saturday.  The indoor rocking climbing was a pleasant relief from the cold and rain outside. We had a great turnout – thirty plus climbers and a handful of spectators. The kids did very well climbing the different walls with auto belays.  The dads had equally as much fun climbing the walls.  I saw a lot of dads and kids make it to the top several times and some very quickly.  Our spectators were very helpful and always willing to help out the kids with the auto belays.

We also had two great instructors assist our group with the manual belays. The walls with the manual belays were even taller than those with the auto belays.  I gave these walls a try along side our Trailmaster, Rick Sobon. I was surprised how quickly Rick was able to climb the wall and reach the top.  I got three quarters of the way up but the struggled to find good grips to continue up.  I sat at that level for a few minutes resting my hands and forearms but then the heat at that height started to get to me.  My hands became more and more sweaty making it harder to get a good grip.  Eventually, I couldn’t hold my grip any longer so I just let go and went down to let the next person have a try. I was pleased at my many attempts at the different walls and had some success getting to the top of most of them.

Watching some of the regular/experienced climbers that were there was amazing.  Some seemed to defy gravity hanging upside down on horizontal areas and others were just so quick to maneuver up the walls.

The outing was success thanks to everyone that participated and helped out.  I heard several compliments from many of the dads about the outing, the venue, and the staff.  It was great experience; something my son and I (and I’m sure others) would love to do again.

The Guides and the Princesses took two shifts at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora, IL. The early shift was filled by the majority of the Princesses circles, while the late shift was filled with the Guides, dual dads and the remaining Princesses.  We had a total attendance of 165 people, 86 in the early shift and 79 in the late shift.  The two groups combined filled 141 boxes which total 30,466 meals which in turn will feed 83 children for 1 year.  In addition, we collected a sizable donation for the cause that will be given to FMSC by each Expedition.

Awesome job to everyone who participated!  Special thanks to our Navigator, Mark Trinka, for organizing the event for both Expeditions and taking these great pictures.

Both Expeditions purchased M&M tubes for each of the kids to enjoy and fill with quarters.  There are a few tubes left over that Mark Trinka has and will distribute at the next events.  Please contact him if there are any interested kids that will commit to filling them with quarters and returning them.  You can turn the filled tubes into your circle leader or drop them off at the Schaumburg FMSC location.

Absolutely perfect weekend for the fall campout. Perfect weather for the boys to run around during the day and perfect nighttime temperatures to gather around a campfire.  As always, it was time well spent bonding with the other dads and sons and welcoming new dads and sons to the group. It was nice meeting a few other double duty dads doing both the Guides and Princesses.

Rough Riders did an outstanding job organizing the camp out. Saturday’s lunch was delicious and there was plenty of it. The games were a blast as well. I especially liked the ladderball game on steroids and was humbled by trying to throw a ball threw a hoop with my weak arm. Congratulations to the Diamondbacks for back to back wins (spring and fall) in the games. Now, if we can only get the traveling trophy from the Hawks to put the two wins in the record books.

Trick or treating through the campgrounds on Saturday was fun but the heat of the day took a bit of a toll on the boys in their costumes. The dads that followed them could have used some cold refreshments too. I’m sure the boys would have gone trick or treating longer if it was 10 degrees cooler.

Kudos to the Rough Riders for a spectacular bonfire. It was huge! But you should expect nothing less when you smell gasoline as you walk into the ceremony site.

The weekend ended with Hawks winning the coveted Muchigut.  Be sure to check out the great pictures from the weekend in the Image Gallery courtesy of Gary Popek.

Next two events are getting finalized.  I’m expecting specific details for Feed My Starving Children shortly.  And the Diamondbacks are finalizing the December event which will be indoor rock climbing in Warrenville on December 11. So look for emails about these events and check back here for updates.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=7652995

What a beautiful day we had this past Labor Day for Septemberfest! Thanks to the Adventure Princesses for putting together a great looking float for the Septemberfest parade.  We had a great turnout for the parade, especially as a combined group with the Princesses. It was a nice sight of dads and kids proudly wearing Adventure Guides apparel and sporting their vests.  Waiting for the parade to start, it was good to catch up with a few dads after the short summer break and chat about the upcoming year. I learned later in the afternoon that some of the guys even got a few seconds of face time on the Channel 7 news as they were greeted by one of the senate candidates at the parade check in. I was pleasantly surprised that the kids also chatted it up amongst themselves in their own little groups, snacking on some candy, and patiently waiting for the parade to start;  a huge difference from last year when we had to constantly watch our boys to make sure they weren’t causing havoc to the people’s property that we were standing on.

It was a slow start to the parade; it seemed to take forever to get going.  But once we got rolling, it was a blast walking the route and throwing candy out to the crowd. Kids lined the curb side with bags ready for our kids to throw them candy. Some kids were very creative with their candy collectors, some even had targets to aim at.  I had fun trying to toss candy right in the bags, catering to the people in the back of the crowd that were asking for candy, and giving to the kids that seemed to miss out on the initial pelting of candy.

The pizza booth was another success this year.  Thanks to the kids and dads that worked the booth and to Riccardo’s for supplying the pizzas and equipment. The Rough Riders did a great job setting up the booth and working the first shift through the lunch hours.  The line for pizza was constant but they kept up and got the people through the line. I was told that the booth was just as busy throughout the afternoon. I was fortunate enough to work the late shift until close with the D-Backs. It wasn’t as busy but there was a steady stream of people looking for food. The kids did a great job communicating the orders and requesting change.  The hardest part of working the booth was trying not to get in the way. At 8pm, we dropped the price of a slice of pizza to $1 and by 8:30 we were sold out. A huge thanks to everyone that bought the pizzas and support our program.  Check out the pictures from Septemberfest in the Image Gallery courtesy of our Naturalist and photographer extraordinaire, Gary Popek. (Thanks again Gary for sharing the pictures and giving life to this site!)

Next up…this Friday night…open house/recruitment night at the Campanelli YMCA starting at 6:30pm. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. Bring a friend or two.

On September 6th, we are in the Septemberfest Parade and have a pizza booth and information booth throughout the day. All dads and sons are encouraged to participate. Click the Septemberfest event in the Calendar for more information.

On September 10th, Recruitment Night will be at the YMCA. This will be the time to officially sign up for the 2010-2011 year while having some fun – games, music, swimming and (weather permitting) a bonfire that night. Let your friends who may be interested in joining the Guides know about this event.

The fall campout will be at Amboy on the weekend of October 9, so mark your calendars and look for more event details shortly.

Look for other updates for future events and meetings on the Calendar.

Lastly, in case you did not notice, the website has a new look and feel. It is based on a blog type web design making it easy to add news and maintain the calendar of events. This will be my last year as Web Spinner, so I’m looking for one or more volunteers that would like to learn about web sites and take over maintaining the site for next year. If you are interested, please let me know.