Scout cakes

Brenna's Junior Girl Scout troop worked on a fun cake decorating badge today. One of our school moms is a wonderful cook and she hosted us at her house. We only had a short time but the girls learned about baking and then praticed form frosting and piping techniques. We ended with them trying to re-create a famous painting by Wayne Thiebald. How'd they do?

Horseback Riding

Brenna's scout troop had a riding lesson in preparation for a trail ride we're planning in the spring. I wasn't able to use flash for photos but I was able to capture a little bit of Brenna's excitement riding for the first time. What I was not able to capture was my big body on the horse behind her!

That's probably for the best though. . .

We had a great time and I'm excited to ride with them again soon.

On the Banks of the Canal

One of the greatest features of our area is that our towns and neighborhoods run along the banks of the Potomac River and the C&O Canal. One part of the canal still has working locks and there is a replica canal boat that is towed by mules. We took our Girl Scout troops there on a gorgeous fall weekend to learn more about the C&O Canal and why it so important to the growth of our area. The girls enjoyed the trip and learned a lot from our guides. We were the last ride of the day so we also got to stay on the boat as it was lowered in and passed through the lock. Very cool!

It was an absoluetely beautiful day, the girls were wonderful and we were able to have a great experience at a local treasure.

End of Camp

Our two weeks of Camp Tuckerman came to an end on Friday. I think this will go down in their history as being the session that enjoyed the best weather - bright days (though cool and shady in the woods) with low humidity. Although I did have to chuckle that the skies opened in a 5 minute downpour on the very last day literally just as the girls were walking out the gate to carpool!

Both girls very much enjoyed camp. I even enjoyed camp! We had two days where all of teh units put on skits and sang original songs and I swear I haven't laughed so hard in ages. These kids (especially the high schoolers) are so clever and fun - it gives me hope that we can raise decent teenage girls!

Brenna's unit had an overnight there earlier in the week which I hear was great fun. I had gotten in from Texas at 1am so there was no way I was sleeping in a tent that night with 50 girls! Plus I thought it was a great thing that Brenna could have her own experience without me. Because I co-lead her troop, she's never had a chance to go camping that I haven't been there as well.
Brenna (in the pink shirt) cranking ice cream. A fun camp activity!

My unit's campsite. Thank God it didn't rain becasue we literally only had that tarp. No buildings at all in the campground.

Brenna sporting high fashion (crazy knee socks are all the style at camp) getting the fire started at the overnight. (One of the leaders took some pics for us)

Happy campers! (Notice my S nametag? My camp name is "Snap." My other unit leaders were Songbird, Shutterbug and Saturn. Luckily none of our girls lisped!) :)

Brenna and her school friend who joined her at camp this year. This girl's mom is the leader for Brenna's troop.

This is how I remember seeing Molly each afternoon - dirty, disheveled, braids undone, weaving gimp keychains and dragging a teddy bear that was supposed to be part of their skit but actually wound up falling in the creek.

Heigh Ho - Heigh Ho

It's off to camp we go! Here they are with our carpool buddies.

July means Girl Scout camp for Brenna - and this year for Molly too! (Well, and me since I'm volunteering but that's a whole other story!) We're lucky to have a wonderful Council two-week day camp that is held nearby. I'm always happy to have the kids outside and exploring so this is a perfect activity.

We are outside all day so we come home hot and dirty and tired. The day starts with "Flag" where the girls gather for songs with the high school age PAs. After that we break into our units for the day. Brenna is a Bear, Molly a Racoon and I was blessed with the Chipmunks (rising 1st graders). I think I'll be coming home more tired than dirty or hot each day!


(Brenna and Molly doing the motions to a camp song this morning)

Camping

It was finally Molly's turn to get to go camping with the Girl Scouts and boy was she excited!



We took her troop of 1st and 2nd grade Brownies to a camp about an hour away in Virginia for one night. They had a ball! We spent the day hiking on Saturday and then were able to get a small lodge that night in since it really was a bit to windy to have first time campers staying in the glen shelters. It was bad enough that they had me up 4 times through the night to take them out to the latrine! There was a tiny bit of homeseickness from one of the little ones (first time away which I know I couldn't have done at age 6 so I give her credit!) but I was able to distract her and she managed just fine. And these girls weren't nearly as loud as the Junior girls (Brenna's troop) when we took tham back in January.



Overall, I'm thrilled with how things went and I'll be excited to take them again.

Although hopefully there will be fewer latrine runs in the wee hours of the night next time!

Scout Sunday

Today we had our parish's Scout Sunday Mass. Both girls had parts - Brenna

as a flag bearer in the Color Guard and Molly did a reading.

It's always so nice to see all of the Boy and Girl Scouts (well over 100 of them) in their various uniforms all together. Even the altar servers served in scout uniforms. Scouting has been a nice activity that the girls enjoy and I'm happy to see them doing all of the neat activities.

Last Call for Cookies

Anyone else for Girl Scout cookies? $3.50 per box

Buy some for yourself or to donate - Brenna's troop will be donating to the Children's Inn at NIH (which is like a Ronald McDonald House for kids being treated at the National Institutes of Health) and Molly's troop will be donating to troops overseas.

Lemon Chalet Cremes
Trefoils
Do-Si-dos
Samoas
Dulce De Leche
Chocolate Chip
Tagalongs

Sending the order in on Sunday night!

Silly Scouts

Today was the first day both girls had Girl Scouts on the same day so I finally got a picture of them together. (Granted they were chanting "lo mein!" because I told them I would take them out for Chinese food as soon as I took some pictures!)

The troops usually meet at their school on alternate Fridays. A scheduling problem had all 5 troops meeting this week. Logistically that would be a nightmare - more than 70 girls in one big room! The kindergarteners were dispatched to to a nature hike and Brenna's troop came to our house They had planned to do a special session with a teenage scout who often helps us and the extra space was needed. So I had a dozen 9 year old girls with pocketknives on my front lawn cutting twigs and rope!

Luckily no one was injured and my stash of BandAids is still good.

Brownie #2

Molly has been dying to join Girl Scouts. For the past 2 years she has been dragged along to many of Brenna's meetings and outings and has always enjoyed herself. We finally got a troop together in her class and they had their first meeting yesterday. This was actually the best picture I got since I was busy running the meeting. Brenna and her friend came along to help as part of their Junior Aide badge requirements and they wound up being our designated s'more makers too. Overall it was a great start and we are all excited to add one more scout to our house. I'll be ironing badges twice as much now!

Camporee

Yesterday Brenna had a Camporee with many of her fellow scouts from school. It was a great day and the girls had a ball making crafts, hiking to the river (thus explaining why very few of them are wearing the same clothes in the morning vs. afternoon photos. It got a bit messy!) singing songs, learning first aid and of course, making s'mores!

Since I'm a co-leader for one troop I had the joy of managing a craft station where the girls made tie-dye shirts and bandanas using markers and rubbing alcohol. They came out great!

Molly was sad that we don't yet have a troop registered for her grade (no one will volunteer to lead and although I will happily assist, I can't take a full leader role) but I promised her she'd be all signed up before the sping Camporee. In the end she was quite content to spend the day with Daddy.

(You can always find Brenna in her floppy hat!)

So the Girl Scout calendar has been finished and out of 80,000+ scouts in our Council, Brenna's troop did indeed make the cover!

See her on the left end of the middle row?

Her troop has never sold calendars before (we just do the cookies in the spring) but I somehow think we'll make quite a profit this year !

http://www.gscnc.org/fund/calendars/

Today's Outing

Because I have my car here, I've been trying to find some off-the-beaten-path places for us to visit. Today we headed to Waltham's Camp Cedar Hill to visit a Girl Scout Museum. It was a great little place and the girls enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect but they were plenty occupied and asked the docent a ton of questions and willingly checked out all the exhibits.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2AbNGjdi2cMXIw

Huh?

No, I do not send Brenna off to camp every day dressed like this! Today was "Wacky Tacky Day" and she pulled his ensemble together all by herself. I think she hit the nail on the head - she looks thoroughly wacky and tacky!


Tomorrow is her last day of Girl Scout camp. She's had lots of fun, only been rained on twice and hasn't bought home any ticks or other critters. Now she's asking to do sleep away camp next year. Ummmmm - I think we'll stick to troop camping on weekends thank you very much!

Brenna

She does still live with us - she just hasn't been photographed in some time.

You see this week is Girl Scout camp and despite the fact that I insist that she go (because it's $100 for 2 weeks, full day including one evening until 8pm. I don't care if she gets eaten by a bear - that's too cheap to skip! And I log enough hours each year into scouts that we deserve to reap some benefits!) she actually loves going! She's up and out the door each morning and comes home dirty and tired each evening. I'll try to grab a photo of her in her stylish bandana and knee socks (gotta protect against those ticks say the ever-mindful scout leaders!) soon.

But rest assured she is well - just too busy for her dear ol' mom these days!

Girl Scout Camp

We're too tired to say much beyond it was great - but boy are those girls early risers! 5:30am is too early no matter where you are!!! The weather was perfect (though chilly in the morning) and we had a lot of fun in a relatively short time.

Brownie Cover Girls

I forgot to blog about this to everyone (though some of my mommy friends know it already!)

Brenna's Girl Scout troop went to the Capitol a few weeks ago. When they were leaving, a woman ran up to them saying "Oh good, you're here on time! Let's get started." The troop leader said she didn't know what that meant so the woman explained she was sent there to meet a group of scouts to photograph the cover of the calendar for the Nation's Capital Council. She said our group was so well behaved and in full uniform that she assumed they were the ones she was looking for. Not exactly - Brenna's troop was just there for a tour.

That group arrived shortly after and insisted our troop stay and be in the photo as well (our kids looked sharp in their uniforms even if it skewed the number of Brownies in the photo! 13 of the kids in the photo are from our group. The older girl in navy in the back is a wonderful Senior scout who graduated from our school and helps out with our girls.)

We heard that one of the photos taken will definitely be the cover for the 2009 calendar. That's called being in the right place at the right time! And you know I'll get several copies to keep. :)

She's really enjoying scouts this year and they've had some fun trips that I've been able to join in on. We're going camping over Memorial Day weekend which will be Brenna's first overnight camping trip. Wish us luck!

And so did the Girl Scout Cookies!

There are still a dozen boxes of cookies in my living room even after delivering quite a few yesterday. It's a good thing they are all spoken for because we have no willpower!

Pilgrimmage

Brenna's Girl Scout troop took a trip to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception today as pilgrimmage celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Blessed Mother's appearances at Lourdes. The Shrine is one of the 10 largest churches in the world and the largest in the Northern hemisphere. In addition to the Great Upper Church and the lower level Crypt Church, there are more than 70 chapels and oratories. While we were visiting we saw dozens and dozens of priests gathered to celebrate Mass together as Archbishop Broglio was formally installed today. Quite an impressive sight! The girls were wonderful, the tour was amazing (one of our parents arranged it with a friend of hers who did a great job with the girls) and we ran into one of the deacons who served in our parish over the summer. Actually our pastor concelebrated the installation but we couldn't see him in the crowd of priests. Personally my favorite piece is the Christ in Majesty mosaic at the rear in the north apse. It is absolutely stunning and simply enormous. The face alone is over 7' across! Brenna really enjoyed it and all of the girls left with new rosary beads blessed right there. Here are few photos - I could post a million though. Beautiful place.

Words of Wisdom

Today was Brenna's last day of camp and it was also the last day for the two women who have been the directors there for well over a decade. One of them gave each girl a card with a verse she had written and a circular piece of a tree branch attached. (This woman came to this camp as a child and remembers it when it was much less developed.)

Learn from the Trees

When I was a child the trees were smaller.
Now I'm grown and they are much taller.

I remember the trees; do they remember me?
What have they been doing while I've been growing?

Each year a new ring is added;

last year's ring moves inward to the heartwood.
Over and over again; each ring making the tree stronger.

I am like that too!
Each year I make new friends and older ones move closer to my heart.
Each year I have new experiences and the past I hold more dear.

What have I learned from the trees?
Every friend I meet, every memory I make,
Becomes a part of my being; forever a part of me.

Eagle Eye - Camp Tuckerman

I thought that was really beautiful. I know it's something that Brenna can't appreciate now, but I'll hold onto it and someday she'll look back at it and realize the wisdom in it.