Girl Scout Camp '08

It was a great weekend at camp. Not as cold as in the past couple of years. My favorite part of the weekend was when Emily and I were off together retrieving something from her cabin and she said to me, "I'm so glad we're here, I love the outdoors." It reminds me that she is forming ideas about the world and good memories are born that she will always have. My girls also get plenty of the whole slumber party atmosphere too, being in a small cabin with 10-15 other giddy girls for the two nights. We don't do sleepovers, it's just our policy, so I can at least have a little something to help them get over it when they fuss about it later.

This year's theme was Tribal Tribute, all about native Americans. Wouldn't my Dad be proud? As a fifth grader, Emily has already studied native Americans in school, so she's proudly loaded with Indian info now. The girls made art, an Indian purse, a dream catcher and a talking stick complete with an ornamental arrowhead. They even threw spears!

We hiked to the Pinecrest Dam again, the bigger girls like Emily went even further, but not all the way around the lake like last year. Notice how Emily proudly wears her Tennessee shirt I brought back from my trip for her? It's her favorite piece of clothing, she even wore it for her school picture!

The one excitement that we had not experienced in prior years is the true wildlife encounter. No, luckily not bears, but big aggressive raccoons [I thought raccoons were cute and cuddly, and much smaller than they actually are]. They came out just as night fell to scavenge the trash cans and freak us out. Some of the girls were scared, but most were intrigued. Sometimes, all you could see were these little red eyes peering at you from the trees. Oooooh, spooky!

The campfire, the smores, the songs and skits are sort of the culmination/highlight of the weekend for the group. Each year, my girls become more comfortable getting up on stage to sing and dance and be goofy with their girl scout buddies. That part is so much fun to watch!