Tales From The Ipe!

Last Saturday, I went with Josh to a small cub scout den outing to visit a historical place in our town, which I think is interesting in its own right, but would also satisfy a requirement for one of his achievements listed in the cub scout handbook. All of a sudden, my wife and I realized that there are all of these achievements that he has to reach by Jan or Feb 2013, or he won’t be able to move on up to earn his Wolf badge. Um, yes, I am well aware of the irony that it should be Josh taking charge and managing his achievements. He’s only seven years old, so we have to help him with this. We have to enable him.

Any case, bright and early, we were up and met the rest of the pack at 10am outside of the museum. Members of the Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society opened up the museum, brought us in, and acted as our tour guides. They took us around to explain some of the memorabilia, the history of the town, talked about the old railroad that used to come through town to pick up produce and take it to the burgeoning populations of Philadelphia and New York City. The guides later took us up through the rest of the Ely House and Freight Station Museum to learn about life back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. FYI, after checking out the beds and the chamber pot set up, I’m pretty glad I was born and raised during the late 20th century. It was not an easy life back then without the creature comforts (like running water) that we have today.

After the end of the tour, Historical Society gave the boys some commemorative medallions, and we all took a picture outside that might be submitted to our local paper. That’s cool. So all and all, an interesting journey to learn more about the history of our little town. I definitely learned something.

BTW, just as a small explanation, for that last group photo, it was very sunny outside, so it was a little difficult to see. That’s why the slightly odd grimaces.

A 1940s/1950s-era radio donated to the museum.

A pencil drawing of old Hightstown NJ of how it looked in 1895.

One of two large cabinets showcasing historical artifacts and memorabilia donated by families who grew up in Hightstown.

A 1950s-era television donated to the museum.

A very old-fashioned typewriter

A picture of our cub scout pack, parents, and some of the Historical Society members outside of the museum.

Friday night, we went to Joshua’s Cub Scout Pack meeting. They have one of these pack meetings every month where all of the cub scout dens get together. In December, it seems they have this year-end feast. Each den coordinates and brings in their own food, and all of the dens share desserts. One of the activities is to announce the cub scounts with the top 10 popcorn sales. If you remember, shortly after Joshua joined the cub scouts, he he had to help sell popcorn for this fall fundraising program. Well, Josh did sell some popcorn to family, but my wife got him a lot more sales at her office. She and Josh apparently did a very good job selling popcorn, because he was  #9 in total popcorn sales. As a reward, he was one of the 10 boys allowed to throw a “pie” (an empty pie dish filled with whipped cream) at the cub scout pack or den leader of his choice. Josh ultimately decided on the Den Leader himself.

Joshua throwing a pie at his Cub Scout Pack Leader from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.