2. Say Cheese!

2 Say Cheese! We had to wait a million hundred days for the Beaver Scout meeting. But it was okay, because the flyer said we needed to wear the official Beaver Scout uniform. So my parents and I went on the official Beaver Scout website to buy an official Beaver Scout uniform.

On the website, they sell all kinds of stuff Beaver Scouts need—official Beaver Scout sleeping bags, official Beaver Scout tents, official Beaver Scout bug spray, and even official Beaver Scout toiletries.* Finally, we found the page with the uniform. It's cool. It's brown, with a Beaver Scout patches and stripes on the sleeves. It comes with a cap that has a B on it and an official Beaver Scout neckerchief. A neckerchief is a lot like a handkerchief, except you wear it around your neck and you don't blow your nose into it. My parents ordered all that stuff. It cost them a million dollars. Plus shipping. I guess that means a ship delivers the stuff to your house. No wonder it costs so much money.

We were afraid the Beaver Scout uniform wouldn't arrive in time for the first meeting. But that morning, we got a package in the mail. The regular mailman brought it. There was no ship. I ran upstairs to try on my uniform. It looked cool. I came downstairs and made a grand entrance for my parents and my sister, Amy. "You look soooo handsome, A.J.," my mom said. She was getting a little choked up as she took pictures of me in my Beaver Scout uniform. "What a dweeb," commented my sister. We drove to school. When I got out of the car, I saw Ryan, Michael, and Neil in their Beaver Scout uniforms. Ryan's mom is really emotional, and she was wiping tears from her eyes. "You

boys are getting so big," she blubbered. "Look at my baby Ryan. It seems like only yesterday that you were in diapers." "You were wearing diapers yesterday?" I asked Ryan. "We need to take pictures!" my mother said, pulling out her cell phone. "Yes!" agreed all the parents. Ugh. Parents love taking pictures. "Do we have to?" I asked.

"Of course we have to," my mother said. "This is a milestone." With grown-ups, everything is a milestone. You could burp and my mother would act like you graduated from college. When grown-ups want to take pictures, there's no stopping them. "Say cheese!" my mom ordered,

pointing her phone at me. "Cheese," I grumbled. After that, she took a picture of my dad and me together. Then she took a picture of me and my sister. Then she took a picture of me and my dad and my sister. Then she took a picture of my dad and my sister. Then she asked my dad to take a picture of me and her. Then she asked me to take a picture of her and Dad. Then she asked me to take a picture of her and my sister. Then she asked Ryan's dad to take a picture of our whole family. I thought I was gonna die of old age. When grown-ups take a picture, they have to get a shot of every possible combination of people. That's the first rule of being a grown-up. Finally, we finished the picture