Happy Day!

This has been a long awaited day.

At least five years in the making.

Yesterday, Cache's 129th and final merit badge was signed off.

For the past 2.5 years he's only had 4 left to sign off.
Whitewater Rafting.
Fishing.
Fly Fishing.
Bugling.

Three of those four were 100 percent completed with the exception
of meeting with a counselor.

Other boys he had read about finishing all of the merit badges had left bugling as the very last badge. He didn't want to do that.

So he waited
and waited
and waited
and waited,
hoping to pass off bugling then get the other 3 signed off.

Then 2010 came and with it, 8 more merit badges added to the existing 121. In order to be able to say he completed them all, he needed to do those 8 also. Making his total to complete 12.

In October 2010, he still had all 12 to sign off. . . .

But then suddenly, he lit his own fire and finished them up.

All I have to say is that it takes a lot of work to complete all of the merit badges. . .
train a dog. . .
start and run a business for 3 months. . .
hike and backpack 150 miles. . .
make things out of leather, metal, wood and resin. . .
learn to water ski. . .
visit a bank, landfill, water treatment plant, health department and state capitol. . . .
create an archeological dig. . .
sculpt a number of pieces, including using a pottery wheel. . .
attend a coin show, a labor union meeting and international festival. . .
referee a sport for a season. . .
make a model of your house (to scale). . .
collect stamps and coins and dice and insects. . .
learn to canoe, drive a motor boat and white water in a canoe. . .
ride horses. . .
develop an orienteering course. . .
watch birds and mammals. . .
get a few turtles. . .
learn Morse code. . .
build a few things out of wood. . .
shoot with shotguns, rifles and bows. . .
visit a truck terminal and railroad museum. . .
launch a rocket. . .
catch some fish. . .
become Scuba certified. . .
make your own paper. . . .
repair things around the house. . .
create, hide and maintain a geocache. . .
fix farm equipment. . .
make a movie. . .
research on 129 different topics. . .
oh, and
learn to play 13 bugle calls
(and in Cache's case, without lessons or background in playing the trumpet or another brass instrument--he did it 100% self-taught)

among many, many other things.

I do have to say one thing about Cache. . . when he does something it is done meticulously and with great attention to detail. He really earned each and every merit badge without cutting a single corner.

{And in case you were wondering. . .in the end, bugling was the final badge signed off!}

PS. . .there is another new badge being added in 2011 (supposedly in April). He may or may not complete that. He turns 18 in May and after that cannot do scouting any more. So we'll see what happens. . .but for now, he has all of the merit badges available!

Now to figure out how to get all 129 badges on one sash. (The current longest one only holds 120 comfortably)