We're one week out from a week long mission trip to the Pacific Northwest. My sons and I have been involved in a local scouting troop for a few years. I had actually joined up with my older son in the fall of 2019 when he was 6 years old. We hung around for half that year, then Covid hit and we were not allowed to hold meetings for a long time. By the time they were able to meet again, he didn't show a lot of interest, and I didn't want to force it. I was in the middle of changing jobs and the kids were changing schools, so we tried to keep the extracurricular stuff to a minimum for a little while. We had been trying out other activities along the way. Sports, Music, he's an A+ student and always has high 90s for his average grade in class. When I mentioned going back, he said he never really had fun there. I didn't want to push him at the time, but I was thinking that not every activity is always about fun and games, and sometimes you need to go outside your comfort zone.

His little bro is 5 years younger, so when he got old enough to join at 6 years old, we all joined back up. I knew the youngest would take right to it and love it. He's very spirited and outgoing. My older son, the middle child, is stuck between an older sister that just graduated high school and our youngest who is about to turn 8. What got him wanting to try it again were a few of his best friends from school were checking the troop out as well. We've been back in for almost two years now, and I have seen a lot of growth in him. Being around older boys as well as his friends his age, all of the different skills he's learned, plus he has come out of his shell so to speak.

Last fall our troop leader floated the idea of a mission trip to the dads first, then to the older boys in the troop. Several were interested, and we explored it a little more. We are going to an Indian Reservation in Washington state that our church's youth group has been to several years in a row for a mission trip. The boys have been active in the planning stages, making decisions on what activities we'll be doing, planning events to have for their kids club activities in the afternoon, and what all needs to be taken with us and what we needed to have shipped out there.

Most mornings we will be on work crews, and after talking with my daughter who has been out there the last 3 summers, it could be any variety of things. From painting houses on the reservation, yardwork, splitting wood, roofing projects, trash clean up etc. Our boys aren't old enough to get on a roof for liability reasons, but we'll probably end up doing most everything else.

We arrive late Friday night in Portland and are spending the night in a hotel there. The main reason I posted this on the OB is the outdoor activities we'll be doing along the way. We're going to Multnomah falls to hike some, and another nearby hiking spot that I'm drawing a blank on the name at the moment. Then we have to swing back to the airport to pick up two guys that were not able to fly with us on Friday, and we're driving 3+ hours out to the middle of nowhere to the reservation. We're going to stop at a fish hatchery place on the way that has some sort of underwater viewing area for large sturgeons. And eating dinner at some place overlooking the gorge.

Later in the week on our off day from the work crews, we are going to Mount Rainier to hike and maybe do some snow tubing. At the end of the week the tribe we'll be serving is having a pow wow, where we've been told there will be all local foods served. I think I heard Elk, Salmon, something else, and freshwater eel. So I'm sure we'll have some adventurous teenage boys try the eel. I'll be sure to come back and post some pictures.

Oh and the coolest part, we get to sleep in an old school teepee for the week. We take the boys camping quite a bit, but it is all in modern tents or hammocks.