This past weekend, I took my two sons and their two younger sisters to one of their Cub Scout events at the local park. Normally I don't take the girls, but this event involved a water fight after the main event and they really wanted to go especially since they would get their own water guns.
The day didn't start off well because we arrived thirty minutes after the event was scheduled to begin. They were already fully involved in the gutter boat races. Thankfully, the Cub Master let my boys race a few times...not for any places though, but my sons were glad they got to participate, and so was I. The concept for the races was pretty simple. The kids had purchased some balsa wood boat kits at one of the meetings and were supposed to assemble and decorate them as desired. The race area had four straight rain gutters filled with water set on stands. For the race, each boy would put their boat in one end of the gutter and wait for the "GO" signal. When it was given, the boys would blow on the boat sail to move the boat down the length of the gutter to the finish. It seemed simple enough, but as many things go, was a lot easier in theory than in practice. As the boys would blow on the sails, the sail would sometimes turn sideways on the mast not allowing the "wind" to push it forward. Some of the boats would get get up against the side of the gutter and not move no mater how much "wind" the scout would apply to the boat. This would require some assistant from a parent's or scout's hand while the race official's attention was elsewhere.
It seemed that all the kids got turns and had fun.
After the event was over, it was announced that the water fight would begin in thirty minutes. My was worried that there wouldn't be enough time to go to the truck and get their armament in time. Their sense of time hasn't fully developed yet so they always think they have less time than they actually do. Of course we got back in plenty of time for the fun. And there was plenty of fun to go around.
The water fight started off with water balloons. They had several containers filled with the water bombs that the scouts were frantically trying to grab before getting smacked with one from an enemy scout. After they ran out of ammunition, the water fight was on like Donkey Kong. There were lots of kids from all age groups and a few parents like me who participated. There was a broad range of weapons. Some, like my daughters, had small squirt guns. Others had huge deluxe models that could drench a victim from thirty feet.
At the beginning, all were content, firing their weapons in responsible manners, engaging the enemy where appropriate. After a while though, water fight etiquette went right out the window. The kids turned vicious. I was attacked numerous times by packs of wild kids from all angles, even from behind. Then some of the kids who were getting the worst of it brought out the buckets. Filling them up over and over in the "no fire" zone by the water faucet the chose their victims, sneaking up from behind and drenching them with the cold water.
When all was said and done and the Cub Master called a "cease fire", the casualties were high. At least twenty children were totally soaked, including mine. Numerous others had minor, non life threatening wet clothing.
After things had calmed down some, they gave out awards for the top four places in the boat races. Things were concluded with the scouts, armed with plastic grocery bags, canvassed the area for trash and shrapnel from the water balloons.
It seemed that the event was a big success and that everyone had a lot of fun and went home happy.
