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So me and Rowley both got our Whittling merit badges and pinned them to our uniforms. When I came home, Dad was really impressed. If I would've known that this was all it took to make him happy, I would have signed up for Boy Scouts about six months ago. May Sunday The other day Mr. Barrett announced that our Boy Scout troop was having a father-son campout this weekend, so I asked Dad if he'd go with me. I was pretty surprised with how easy it was to impress Dad with that one little merit badge, so I figured a whole weekend of him seeing me do macho stuff would

totally blow him away. But yesterday morning I woke up as sick as a dog. I couldn't go, but Dad had to, because he signed up to be a driver. I stayed in bed pretty much the whole day. I just wish I'd gotten sick on a weekday instead of a weekend. Last year I didn't miss any days of school, and I promised myself I wouldn't let that happen again.

CONGRATULATIONS TO GREG HEFFLEY FOR WINNING THE PERFECT ATTENDANCE AWARD. The father-son camping trip turned out to be a disaster. The phone rang at 10:00 last night, and it was Dad calling from the emergency room. Dad got put in a tent with the Woodley brothers, Darren and Marcus, because their dad couldn't come. Darren and Marcus were horsing around in the tent, even though Dad kept telling them to go to sleep. At one point Darren threw a football at Marcus, and it

hit him in the stomach. OOF! Marcus wet his pants, and I guess Darren thought that was pretty funny. Well, Marcus went totally berserk. He bit Darren, and he wouldn't let go, either.

It took Dad a long time to pry the two of them apart, and he had to take Darren to the emergency room after that. Dad came home this morning, and he was not real happy with me for getting him stuck in that situation. Something tells me that after this weekend, he's not a real big fan of Troop 133, either. Sunday Today was Mother's Day, and I didn't have anything to give to Mom. I was going to ask Dad to take me to the store so I could at least get Mom a card or something, but Dad was still recovering from the father-son campout. And I don't think he was looking to do me any favors,

anyway. So I had to come up with a homemade gift. Last year I made Mom a "Chore Coupon" book for Mother's Day. Each coupon had something like "One free lawn mowing" or "One free window washing" on it. I give Dad a Chore Coupon book just about every Father's Day, and it always works out great. It's a way for me to take care of my gift obligation without having to spend any money, and Dad never actually uses any of his coupons in the book.