Wilderness Journal

The Park Ridge Wilderness Scouts & Princesses want to welcome you back to a new year of fun and adventure. We will be hosting a FREE Family Pool Night. This party is open to all family members, including those that (for some odd reason) haven’t joined yet. Maybe once they see the good times they can have, they’ll sign-up as soon as they get home. We will have snacks and non-alcoholic beverages for those who make it. INVITE POTENTIAL NEW MEMBERS!

What: Free Family Pool Night, open to all family members and new recruits

Where: Centennial Aquatic Center, 100 S. Western Ave, Park Ridge, IL 60068

When: Saturday August 17, 2019, 8 pm to 10 pm

Who: Bring your whole family. New recruits to your tribes are also welcome.

RSVP?: If you want to, you can through the site. However, there is no need to RSVP. Just show up and have fun.

The Navajo girls had a great time last week getting in both a craft and outing just before spring break.   

Wubbies, teddy bears, pajamas, and pillow cases… how could Wednesday’s craft meeting not be fun?  The girls designed their own pillow cases, ate popcorn, and drank Kool Aid in a relaxing evening of crafts.  Pajamas were crazy cool but Emily Compton stole the show with pj’s that looked like she was wearing a giant teddy bear.  We loved it! Geoff and Michaela Noth along with Dave (me) and Julia Farrell hosted Wednesday’s pajama party. 

Friday was filled with pizza, pop, NCAA tournament games, and a friendly bowling competition. Adam and Lily had something for everyone. Somehow the Kendals were even able to persuade local celebrity teacher, Mrs. Coleen Dewitt, to join her family including Navajo members Grace and Eric at the party. Good times! 

Dads relaxed and watched basketball tournament games while the girls bowled.  Then at 7:00 p.m. the Brunswick Zone went psychedelic… Lebowski style.  A bowling battle as epic as Roy Munson taking on Kingpin Ernie McCracken ensued.     Alright, so the Big Lebowski and Kingpin references are exaggerations but after two hours of intense bowling action, Abby Sandrik emerged with the ‘Queenpin’ title.  She knocked down 187 pins that night.  Abby earned the Navajo Bowling trophy, which was a Brunszwick Zone bowling pin autographed by the tribe.  Chief Tim Sandrik said that she could proudly display the trophy in the Sandrick’s home, as long as she didn’t use it to hit her brother, Henry.   We wish Henry Sandrik the best of luck.

The night ended and fortunately no one was ‘Munsoned’. 

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A “heated” discussion about which dad is the fastest in the Navajo tribe went on for hours Saturday night until finally a late night camp fire challenge was issued.  “We race in the morning,” said a smiling Bobby Purcell to a chuckling Kevin Wiland.  “I will even spot you five yards.  I know that that I can win,” laughed Bob.  “Bring it!” Kevin responded.  “I was fast as a kid and I am faster than you think.”

The final morning of the Park Ridge Iroquois Nation’s campout, Bobby and Kevin ventured onto to Camp Tecumseh’s wet roads for a one-on-one footrace that Federation Chief Mike Charley would come to describe as “Epic!”  50-meters in distance with bragging rights at stake, the runners met at the start line early in the morning as Navajo dads and daughters paused from loading their cars to go home and instead lined the roads to watch the sprint.

“Go!” shouted Geoff Noth.   Bobby and Kevin bolted.  Bobby was off the line too soon.  False start. Do it again.

The racers quickly reassembled at the start line and readied themselves.  All of the spectators were quiet.  “Go!” Geoff shouted again.  The sprinters exploded off the line displaying surprising speed.   It was neck and neck.  Muscles and lungs burned as the competitors quickly closed the distance to the finish line meter by meter.  At 35-meters, Bobby pulled away in his racing Crocs.

Bobby raised his fist in victory as he crossed the finish line.  The racers and spectators were laughing and smiling as another camp out came to a close.  Bobby walked away with tribal bragging rights and a potential Crocs sponsorship.  It is rumored that the runner-up would assume the role as the Navajo’s chief for the 2019/2020 school year.  Kevin?

 

 This past Monday the Binz family led a Chocolate Fondue party like no other.  There were no warm and delicious chocolate strawberries and pineapple chunks impaled at the end of long thin metal skewers.  Instead the Binz family treated the PR Sauk tribe to dried crickets.  Yes, crickets…  WE ATE BUGS!!!

The boys have been talking and worrying about the cricket eating meeting for at least a week.  The scouts received a reprieve when the original meeting, which was scheduled a week prior, was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.  But now the time had come to eat both dinner and dessert at the same time.

The Binz family started the meeting with a science lesson (Joe Ott approved!) where each dad and son was required to diagram the anatomy of the cricket.  The Binz’s wanted the tribe to know exactly what they were eating.  The tribal members thoroughly appreciated seeing the wings, thorax, antenna and all of the other bug parts that were going into their mouths.  MMMMM… GOOD!

Kudos to biology major Matt Hachigian and his boys Mike and John for correctly identifying all of the cricket body parts.  They earned the first servings of cricket fondue.  Nick Hachigian was missed due to hockey practice.    Dad, Matt, surely brought some tasty bugs home for his son to try.

TIME TO EAT!!!  Chris Binz helped the scouts dip their crickets in chocolate.  After the dip, the boys went to their tables to sit down as the chocolate hardened and they ate their slightly crunchy chocolate dipped crickets.  YUM!  This is not on the menu at the Melting Pot.

“Can I have more?” was actually asked by several of the boys.  Many went back for seconds and thirds… really.  One of the dads commented that plain crickets tasted like sunflower seeds but with a different texture.  The taste was not too far away from that.  Apparently, insects are a great source of protein.  It is not part of the American diet but insects are consumed in parts of Asia and Africa.

The Sauk tribe would like to thank the Binz family for delivering one of the most original and educational craft meetings of all times.

If anyone is interested, Chris said that he was able to order the crickets on Amazon.com.  Enjoy!