Hello, everyone!
Megan and I thought it would be fun to post a little recap of our camp experience for you all to read :)
First, a big thank you to you all for having the BEST girls ever! We didn't have any fighting, any tears, any injuries or any drama. Your girls were
wonderful...every single one of them!
We found out a lot about your daughters in the time we were at camp :) There are things that you just don't learn during a 1 hour weekly meeting...those things are much easier to see when you're with a girl for 3 days straight!
We now know who is messy and who is neat, who's boy crazy and who's not, who's tougher than she seems, who's camera shy, who has a tendency to wander off on their own, who
really listens to her mom (even when she's not around!), who consistently leaves things behind, who is a natural rule breaker and who will
always say yes when asked to help out - no matter the task at hand.
Your girls got along remarkably well. I'm sure you're all aware of the buddy system the Girl Scouts use - each girl must be paired with a buddy at all times. Our girls buddied up across the troop without ever whining about wanting to be with someone else - they might have a special friend or two, but they all seemed to consider
everyone a friend. This was not the case in some other troops...
We really appreciate the sweet personalities of each of your girls :)
Okay, then - here comes the recap!
We left the Adventure Church on Monday afternoon at about 1:00. Rowan, Victoria, Nicole and Tessa rode in my truck. I fed them starburst and jolly ranchers and we listened to Taylor Swift - it was a great ride! Serena, Abby, Morgan and Kaitlyn rode with Megan, they got to watch Mulan in the car!
(Nicole, Tessa and Victoria)
When we got to camp we had to check in, which meant turning in all our paperwork, having our heads checked for lice and our temperature taken and waiting, waiting, waiting.
The girls were surprisingly patient, though! And Megan and I decided to turn the waiting into an impromptu photo shoot...the first of many!
Here's our troop on the lodge deck.
(Abby, Morgan, Kaitlyn, Nicole, Tessa, Serena, Rowan, Victoria)
When we finally got our tent assignments we took the girls up and let them settle in. We were in the Ranch camp.
Rowan, Nicole, Serena and Tessa were in tent #7
Abby, Kaitlyn, Victoria and Morgan were in tent #8
Later that afternoon we took a hike around the lake, which the girls loved. There are lots of pretty wildflowers growing all over the grounds, and it's pretty densely wooded, too. Our girls were all great hikers - no one fell and no one complained about anything!
(Top: Victoria and Kaitlyn. Bottom: Serena, Rowan, Tessa, Nicole)
After the hike the girls had a bit of free time, which they spent in their tents, making themselves at home.
That night for dinner our girls were assigned to be hoppers, so they went in first and learned how to do their jobs. Two girls were assigned to each table, one to set, the other to do the actual "hopping," which consists of running to the kitchen for platters of food. Some meals require more hopping than others, and I think our girls got the meal that required the MOST! It didn't seem like they sat down for more than 2 minutes at a time for the whole thing! They did a great job, though, and seemed to have fun doing it :)
(Hoppers Nicole and Tessa)
After dinner we had Choice Time, and we chose to head down to the waterfront. All of the girls got to try out the "funoe's" (rhymes with canoe) and a few got to kayak and canoe. Brownies are not allowed to kayak or canoe without an adult - they aren't strong enough to row by themselves - so Megan and I had to take anyone out that wanted to go. Rowing is an excellent arm workout!
(Abby and Victoria in Funoes)
We had our first flag ceremony that night, and the counselors preformed a couple of skits for us (which Morgan, Kaitlyn and Abby mimicked perfectly the next day!) The girls got to bed about 10:00 that night.
I didn't sleep the first night, and I checked on the girls a few different times. At 12:15 I heard voices coming from tent #7 and stepped inside to find Tessa and Serena up and at 'em - Tessa was even partially dressed! She woke up and thought it was morning. Luckily, Serena was the only person she'd woken up so far :)
Tuesday morning we were assigned Flag Ceremony for our kaper (chore). The girls did a great job! Half were assigned to be the "bridge" and the other half were color guard.
(Tessa and Serena - the Bridge)
After breakfast we had another kaper - we were lucky enough to get Waterfront Cleanup, thanks to Megan, who thought it would be a perfect place to take a bunch of pictures. We cleaned up in a hurry and then I took about a million pictures of the girls.
(Abby, Victoria, Nicole, Kaitlyn, Morgan, Rowan, Serena, Tessa)
Then the girls had arts and crafts and Megan and I had a bit of free time. We picked them up just before lunch.
Later that afternoon we had our assigned waterfront time. The girls all got to have a sailing lesson and a turn in the sailboat. They also got to go out on the paddle boat, swim and "funoe" as much as they wanted! I took Nicole out on the canoe with me, but the wind was working against us and by the time we were done my arms were too tired to take anyone else out :(
I think the waterfront was everyone's favorite activity! Kaitlyn and Abby must have jumped off the dock into the water about 20 times each!
(Tessa and Serena in a Funoe)
(Morgan, Kaitlyn, Rowan and Victoria)
We were assigned Trading Post and Shower time after the Waterfront (which was perfect!) and we decided to hit the Trading Post first, hoping to avoid long lines. It worked out very well, we were the first to buy our souvenirs from the camp store, and by the time we got to the showers almost everyone was done and we didn't have to wait in line!
After showers I sat on the floor of tent 7 and braided hair. Tessa, Serena and Rowan asked to have braids done. Megan put pigtails in Victoria's hair. Everyone else just brushed theirs out...we were the prettiest group at dinner that night :)
(Abby, Tessa, Rowan, Victoria, Kaitlyn, Serena, Morgan, Nicole)
After dinner the counselors put on an '80's night for us. First they had an '80's dance party, then they built time machines out of boxes, then they played Pac Man in the field.
(Victoria, Serena and Tessa, playing pac man)
That night we built a fire in our campground and made smores. The fire took a LONG time for the counselors to light, and our girls were incredibly bored by the time it actually happened - but they enjoyed their treats! At 10:00 we put them to bed, and everyone actually slept all the way until morning :)
(Serena, Nicole, Kaitlyn, Tessa, Abby, Morgan, Rowan and Victoria. Not too bored yet...)
(pic1: Victoria and Rowan...hanging in there) (pic 2: Abby...entertaining herself)
(Getting really bored now...Nicole, Tessa, Kaitlyn, Serena, Abby)
There's a tradition at Camp Cloud Rim called Polar Bears. On the last morning of camp, the girls are invited to jump into the (freezing cold) lake at 7am. Afterwards, they get hot chocolate and a special badge.
Megan and I were so certain that none of our girls would want to participate that we didn't even ask them about it - we planned on staying asleep. However, the majority of our camp was awake at 5:30, so just after 6:00 I went to the girls to explain what was going on and ask if any of them were interested.
Tent 7 said NO - emphatically!
Tent 8 said no, to...except for Abby. She was raring to go!
So we decided that we'd all go down to the lake to watch Abby. Then Tessa and Morgan decided they wanted to jump, too. At the last minute Rowan said she wanted to, but by that time it was too late for her to change.
Abby and Tessa were so excited to jump that they went with the wrong camp unit! Here they are.
(Tessa, far left jumper and Abby, second from the right)
Morgan went next - when she was supposed to! - with the Ranch group.
(Morgan, right side)
Later, I asked about the badge they were supposed to have earned and was told "what? what badge? there's no badge..."
Oh well!
In the morning we had choice time after breakfast, and we took the girls to tie dye their white shirts, which was really fun. They each got to choose a method, striped, spiral or bulls eye. After tie dying, Megan and I left the girls to a little more arts and crafts time (they made bracelets) and started cleaning up our tents. After arts and crafts the girls packed up the remainder of their things and we loaded it all into the cars.
(Tessa, Serena, Rowan, Morgan, Kaitlyn, Abby, Nicole, Victoria and their Tie Dyed shirts, drying)
We had one last kaper to preform before we could go home, and we were assigned the biffy (bathroom). No worries - Megan and I did all the icky stuff and just let the girls wipe the counters down and then play outside where they tortured bugs. For some reason they kept telling us they were "saving" them...but it really amounted to poking at them with sticks. Victoria, especially, would NOT leave the poor moths alone! Although, in her defense, they could have just flown away...
Then we were on our way home! We left camp at noon and we were making good time until my right rear tire went completely flat in Park City.
It took over 2 hours to get it fixed up so we could get back on the road.
(we didn't really take a picture of my flat tire - I found this one online)
Megan ran to Burger King and got the girls lunch, then sat with them in her car while they watched movies.
I crawled around on the asphalt with Officer Jarvis, trying to drop my spare tire - which never would release. Then I hung out at an automotive shop while they repaired the 3/4 inch gash I got on the 5 mile dirt road from Cloud Rim to Park City. Finally a mechanic from the shop gave me and the tire a ride back over to my truck and put the tire back on for me (though he had to run back to the shop for a different jack first, because of course the one he brought originally wouldn't work - nothing about this flat went the way it was supposed to!)
He had me follow him back to the shop to check the air pressure in the tire and make sure it was holding air. It was, and we were (finally!) back on the road at about 2:45.
I ended up dirtier and sweatier after the flat tire incident than I had been for the whole of camp! I also managed to get a sunburn.
Still, all's well that ends well!
Overall, we had a GREAT time at camp. We hope to go again, next year, and would love all of your girls to join us again!
You can view our photobucket album
here.
There are 241 pictures!!! Everything has been labeled, so it should be easy to tell which pictures your daughter is in. Also, you can order prints right from this site.
Thanks, again, for sending your girls to camp! We had a great time with them :)
Mandy
