One More Camping Trip

One more...  It seems to be our motto as our time in Washington winds down.  One more trip to this store.  One more meal at this restaurant.  One more hug from a friend.

This one more is our Camping Skills day with Holly and Sarah's Girl Scout troop.  I had stepped up to be a co-leader this year; five weeks after I made that commitment, we got orders.  It's just the way it goes sometimes.  But I wasn't going to not have fun with the girls and the scouts before I left.  Ronnie and I hosted a camping skills day at American Lake for the Juniors to earn their Camper badge.  We had such a great time!

The girls learned how to start a fire and how to make a one-pot meal.  We went on a hike and heard an old story about the Little Mouse (read here:  http://www.wnps.org/education/resources/documents/K-5_Q&E/2nd_grade/2-2b.pdf).  We talked about Leave No Trace and good camper habits.  Most importantly, we had fun!!!

After the Girl Scouts left, we relaxed and fixed dinner. We had decided to go ahead and spend the night out there one more night in the camper.  Who knows when we'll be able to have it popped up again.

You're OUT!!!!

Ronnie is officially on a plane out of the sandtrap!  YES!!!!!!!!!!   Must not get too excited.  A lot can happen between here and there, but if our intel holds, he'll be home NEXT WEEKEND!  If you can't tell, we've just been on edge all weekend.  He called on Friday and told us he was on his way out of there.  I'm so thankful we had a busy weekend planned! 

Besides, we had a date with the Mariners set up!  Today was Girl Scout day at the Mariners and we met up with a couple of girls from Holly's troop.  It was so much fun! 

 

As soon as we got to the park, the girls were chomping at the bit about getting some food.  I had to explain the process to them:  we eat on the odds.  Meaning as soon as we found our seats, I would get us some lunch.  Every ball park has their own "thing" to eat.  In Seattle, it's Ivar's fish and garlic fries.  Sarah wasn't too impressed with the garlic fries (don't worry, I got her regular chips).

 

 

During the third inning, we got a little something more: a fruit kabob for Holly and some popcorn for Sarah.  The game was going pretty slow at this point.  Minnesota had gotten on the board in the second.  Luckily, we were back in our seats for the bottom of the third and got to watch the Mariners score.  And then the fourth inning, Seattle scored more runs, including a home run!  It was pretty exciting!!! 

 

But the girls knew the fifth was coming up.  We signaled over to the other scouts and we went on a walk around the stadium.  We stopped in the museum area and the play ground before getting some ice cream and getting back in our seats.   



Unfortunately, while we were walking, Minnesota scored two more runs.  But we were front and center for the Mariner's second home run for the day!   When the game was done, the Mariners had won 6-4.  It was a great day at the park.  Only a few more days to fill up before he gets home... Day 264 

Bridging Up

It seems like only yesterday that I was posting that we had a Daisy in the family...  then a Brownie.  Now, I have a Junior.  Where has the time gone?!?  *sigh

Holly flew up to Juniors during our end of the year party last night.  We had a great time at our local office, where they happen to have a beautiful natural area with a bridge.  It was a wonderful location.  After the bridging ceremony, the girls got their awards for the year.  

Man she's gotten so big!!! I can't wait to see what Juniors has in store for her  :)

Going to the Lodge, Again!

The end of school has come, meaning the end of the Girl Scout year.  Sarah has officially finished her first year of Daisies and Holly is bridging to Juniors.  To celebrate, and to spend up the cookie money, both of their troops decided to head for Great Wolf Lodge.  Oh man, was it a good time! 

This year, I bunked with one of the other moms.  We had a great time just chatting the night away while our girls hung out with the troop (read not in our room -- a rarity for a single mom and a military spouse).  The next morning, I retrieved Sarah from her troop and met up with Holly's troop for lunch.  After lunch, the girls and I decided we were going to stay as long as they wanted!  We played and went down the slides.  We even got to enjoy the outdoor splash area -- a rarity for the first weekend in June in the PNW!!!

Finally, the girls were getting whiny and it was supper time.  We decided to head for the house and get in our jammies for the night.  

An Encamporee Adventure!

We had a fantastic weekend last weekend!   You see, we FINALLY got to go camping with the Girl Scouts!  Our Service Unit held an encamporee as part of some work towards a Silver and Gold Award for the older girls.  Basically, the older girls put on a weekend for the younger girls to teach them different aspects of camping.  And boy was it a fun filled one!

We headed out on a drizzly Friday afternoon, packing as many girls as I could in my car.  Finally, we got to camp, got settled in, and headed for the evening program in the lodge.  Evening program = snacks and a sing-a-long. 

 

Saturday morning brought more drizzle, but we were prepared.  Cause you can't go camping in the PNW without drizzle.  Especially in the spring!   We spent our morning in the lodge making different crafts.  Once we were done, we headed outside for some games and more songs until lunch.  To our surprise, the sun was peeking out.  By the way, Girl Scout camp is all about games and songs.  I even got to dust off my Girl Scout song skills a bit ;)  

After lunch we headed to one of the most anticipated events of the encamporee - the dragon boats!  These boats are so cool.  The girls were not able to take them out on the water (it was too windy), but they did practice getting in and out as well as good rowing form.  And best of all, all that wind was pushing the clouds back and we had full sun while out on the dock.

 

 

The rest of the day we spent at other stations -- we learned to make a box oven, did a service project, and practiced our whittling.  After supper, we headed back to our cabin and the girls had fun telling ghost stories.

Sunday morning brought more sun and games.  All too soon, it was time to head back home.  The girls sang and giggled all the way home.  But the best part was, the girls were asking when we could go camping again. 

Going to the Lodge

Holly has finished her first year of Brownies!!!!  At first, she was unsure about doing Girl Scouts again.  I encouraged her to give it a try, as the things they can do in the US are different than what they can do in Korea.  She agreed to one more year...  and boy did I show her!

Our girls did such a great job on selling cookies this year. They hustled and sold cases upon cases...  then they stood out in the cold, driving rain, you know -- the weather that Seattle is known for, hawking more cases.  They all did such a great job!  And it paid off:

We were able to go to the Great Wolf Lodge for a Girl Scout Camp-in with the cookie money!!!!

Oh, the Great Wolf Lodge is such a good concept for this part of the world.  It is a hotel whose main attraction is the indoor water park. Yep - a water park with slides, and wave pools, and splash zones all over -- but indoors, so it's not cold.  Brilliant!!!

Ronnie, Sarah, and I went ahead and booked a room for the night so we could partake in the fun.  And what fun it was -- there was pizza, and Sing-alongs, and swimming, and S'Mores.  And then we got up the next day and did it all over again!

The great thing is we found out one of Sarah's best friends will be a Daisy scout next year...  Sarah is already begging to be in Xiah's troop. And Holly finally got to see her cookie money pay off.  We are so proud of them and can't wait to see what experiences next year will bring us.

Snowmageddon Crafting Day

We have snow! We've spent our MLK weekend playing in it, building a snowman and having snow ball fights.  It's been a lot of fun...  but what do you do when you wake up to:

1 - more snow on the ground;
2 - school being cancelled;
3 - the forecast looking like this:

and 4 - two kids who have been "together" for three days straight?  Well, I declared yesterday and today crafting day for us.  Holly needed to complete a recycling project for Girl Scouts, and I had a few things in mind for that plus all the supplies and a captive audience.  So we got to creating away. 

First, we made pencil/art supply cups, something I saw on Pinterest.  We used tin cans as our main recycled item (Ronnie made them safe by punching down the sharp edges).  Then we glued scraps of paper to them.  They turned out really cute.  I have a drink carrier around here somewhere to keep them in and the girls will have their art supplies ready to go at a moments notice. 

 From this (left) to these (right)

Next up was a project I had seen done in NOLA a few years ago: making a bag from an old t-shirt.  Holly needed a new Girl Scout bag, so we took one of her camp shirts and turned it into one.  To do this all you do is cut the sleeves out, cut the neck out, and sew up the bottom.  Employing yet another Pinterest idea, we took it one step further and added her name and a design using a bleach pen.  It is a really cute tote and fits her Brownie binder perfectly! 

 

Front of the bags (left) and the back (right)

All really cute projects and all it took was a few minutes, since we had the materials on hand.    Here are the links to the Pinterest how-to's we used to guide us. 

Happy crafting!

Tin can art supply holder: http://www.bhg.com/decorating/storage/craft-room/store-small-craft-supplies/#page=4

T-shirt step by step:  http://www.instructables.com/id/FASTEST-RECYCLED-T-SHIRT-TOTE-BAG/

Bleach pen t-shirt designs:  http://showtellshare.blogspot.com/2011/02/bleach-pen-tshirts-stash.html

Daddy - Daughter Dance

Girl Scouts is also coming to a close since the end of the school year is almost up.  To celebrate, the Council held a Daddy-Daughter Dance.  Holly was so excited to get dressed up and take her daddy out on the town.  Here's their picture as they were leaving...  she certainly looks all grown up doesn't she?

Would You Like To Buy Some Girl Scout Cookies, PUH-LEEEAZZZEEE?

Since Holly is a Daisy scout, that means we have Girl Scout cookies to sell this year. Of course, I volunteered to be the Cookie Mom for our troop. Pretty sure all my years of selling cookies should someway help the troop this year.

But the girls are doing so well. We've had two booths so far, and the girls have some individual boxes to sell on their own to give them a taste of selling. Holly was a little reserved at first, verging on the shy side. But she warmed right up to selling once a few folks said yes.

But seriously, how could you tell these precious faces no???

There's a Daisy in our House!

Holly had a big week last week. Not only was it Christmas, but she officially became a Daisy Scout! They had their Investiture Ceremony where Holly received her Daisy pin and a few badges to boot. She had to recite the Girl Scout law by memory to her leader, Kristie, so we worked really hard on reciting it loud and clear. Guess it's a good thing I never forgot it in the first place.