Today Mason and I drove out to Creve Coeur Airport for a Boy Scout Aviation merit badge.
It was hosted by the EAA with their Young Eagles Program. It was free, had no prerequisites or follow up work and even included a free flight! This is the best kind of merit badge.
The weather was beautiful for a flight. It was sunny and a little breezy.
Mason flew with the pilot and two other scouts in the brown plane with the pinstripe and he had a great view. The merit badge wrapped up around 11:45 am and we were ahead of schedule.
Mason had done some research and planned an activity for the afternoon. My video game loving kiddo found Back to the 80s Retro Arcade in Columbia, Illinois, about 45 minutes from the airport. According to their website, they have over 800 games on 55 machines. The machines are set to free play and for a nominal admission price, players have unlimited access. There were only a few other people there so Mason roamed freely. He played games for a few hours and mid-afternoon declared he was getting close to satiation.
Our original plan had been to leave the arcade around 4:30 and stop in O’Fallon for 5 pm mass. Rather than kill a lot of extra time in that area, I popped onto Mass Times and found a 5 pm mass 90 minutes closer to home in Mount Vernon, Illinois. The people at St. Mary Immaculate Conception were very hospitable and I particularly enjoyed the quilted panels they had at the altar and hanging above.
Before heading home, we had dinner at Ali Asian Cuisine. Their menu included Chinese, Japanese and Thai foods so it easily accommodated our needs. Mason had an egg roll and beef lo mein and I had Thai red curry with mixed vegetables. I would stop here again if we were ever passing through at a mealtime.
Back in the car for the last 90 minutes of our drive home, we listened to Queen, Ozzy Osbourne and the Hamilton soundtrack and chatting about Fortnite. I really enjoyed spending the day with Mason.
Awesome day!
That is the best kind of merit badge….no prep and no follow-up work.
Joel is (hopefully) doing his Eagle Project a week from Saturday. (Weather and preparation permitting.) Say a little prayer, because he really is ready to be done with scouts.