Camporee

NOTE: If you haven't been to my blog for awhile, due to lack of posts (!) this is my second post in two days, so scroll down to see pix from First Communion!

Some of my happiest memories of childhood are of camping with the Girl Scouts. So OF COURSE I was looking forward to our Service Unit's Camporee this past weekend. Woodsmoke, songs around the campfire, s'mores -- what's not to like?

And while that is mostly true, I discovered this past weekend that my happy memories are in the past, so is my youth. NOW, it is not so much fun to sleep on a two-inch mattress supported by a plank of plywood. I fear after two hours of sleep (all I got) on that cot my neck will never be the same. However, I also learned that it's really ALL worth it, to see my happy brownies making those same memories I loved as a girl.

So ultimately, Camporee rocked -- even if my neck will never be the same.

The theme for Camporee was "Get a Clue" and most of the activities had to do with that theme. Here my troop was playing a magnification game where they looked at blow-ups of items and had to guess what the items were. They were rewarded with Twizzlers and Starbursts. I did not participate in the game, but I did have some licorice. That's why it's fun to be a leader.

Of course there was a place to have your  mugshot taken. Let us hope that these are the ONLY mugshots we ever see of Hannah, okay!?!

Here's half my troop in the lineup. They are wearing tee-shirts that were designed by Hannah:

And here's the other half of my troop. This was at the end of the day and they were EXHAUSTED!!

This is my assistant leader Amy. She did not have to sleep on the tiny cushion and plywood. Because she is much smarter than me.

Every time girl scouts get together we do a service project. This  year's project was to fill backpacks that will be given to children who end up at a local battered woman's shelter. Each troop in the Camporee donated items. Our troop donated 20 boxes of crayons, while others donated blankets, or toys, stuffed animals, toothbrushes or coloring books. At the Camporee the girls took a backpack and filled it with one of each of the the items. This is Lizzie and Charlie working on their backpack:

This is a picture of the opening flag ceremony. It was great. Each of the girls said a poem about the colors of the flag (and the stars) and then put ribbons or stars into a bucket. Then one of them stirred the colors with a big stick and the flag was taken out of the bucket and raised. You can see that some of the girls are wearing rain gear. We did have some heavy sprinkles throughout the day, but it mostly stayed clear and cool, which was good weather for traipsing around the woods.

Here's part of my troop waiting for the flag ceremony to begin. They are standing with my troop treasurer Teri, who came along to help out because I was on the Camporee committee and was often called away to check on the food/dining hall (that was my area on the committee and I must say the food was delicious!)

Here's Hannah wearing the tee-shirt (at the flag ceremony) she designed with a couple other girls from my troop. Grace and Karissa are wearing the gifts we gave each girl who attended camporee. It was a combination whistle, compass, flashlight, magnifying glass:

Oh and here I am. I took this picture while I was waiting for the day bus to come pick me up. You may notice that I have badges on my hat. That's because I was the camp detective in the little mystery I wrote for all the girls to solve. That was a fun part of the camporee. Right after I took this picture I put my camera down and then when I picked it up I noticed I had put it down in a bunch of poison ivy, which was NOT a fun part of camporee.

Here's another picture of my troop. When I seem them all together I'm impressed by how OUTNUMBERED I am! But Camporee was fun. In addition to the magnifying glass game, we also played Pass the Dynamite, What's That Smell (where this picture was taken -- the scouts leading the activity had put things like sweaty socks and rosemary into little bundles and the girls had to guess what they were), went on a scavenger hunt and decorated magnifying glasses. It was a busy, busy day! I had to put them on the bus at around 5 p.m. and several of them were crying (including my two) because they were SO SO SO tired. I was NOT crying, because I decided that I was just going to stay for the campfire (where the thief who took our Bingo prizes was going to be revealed, although by that time all the girls had guessed whodunnit!) and then go home to sleep in my own bed.

Here's the campfire. I played my guitar for the Camporee and sang "Magic" a camp song that is often used to end campfires (not when I was a girl though -- the song was written in the 1980s) and is sad and sweet. All the girls had learned it and I led it on the guitar. It was a lovely moment. I really wished that my troop could have stayed, but they weren't ready  (or maybe it was ME who wasn't ready) to stay overnight at the camp.

I got home late Saturday night and began the process of healing my sore muscles and gearing up for our next camporee (in three years!!)