Cora and I attended our first ever Girl Scout campout weekend at Camp Wahi (about an hour east of Vicksburg, just south of Brandon) and really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know some of our Troop girls and their moms better, meet new friends from around the state, and go "Around the World in 48 Hours" (our weekend's theme).
All packed up and ready to go!
(I picked her up early from Daycamp on Friday afternoon.)
We found it! Of course mama wanted a photo to document our arrival!
Cora and I shared a tent with Cara Beth and her mama Sarah. Our Troop was housed in the Tanglewood area along with 3 other troops, and our tent was named Honeysuckle.
We don't have many twin sheets in the house, so I had to borrow Skylanders for my cot...
After checking in and getting settled (not much to unpack in a tent!), our next order of business was swim tests. These girls trailed to the back of the pack no matter when or where we walked/hiked all weekend long (and we put in a lot of miles... 15 over the three days!) because they were busy stopping every 2ft to pick up rocks or sticks or pine cones...
Swim instructor and lifeguard "Candy Cane".
A little nervous about her swim test, but she didn't need to be. All she had to do to gain access to the deep end was swim across the shallow end without touching the bottom, jump off the side of the deep end, tread water for 1 minute, then jump in again and swim across the deep end while keeping her head above water.
She was SO PROUD to earn that green wristband! Only 3 girls (out of 8) from her Troop passed their swim test, so she was feeling extra special. I loved that she was one of few because it caused her to spend all her pool time with me, swimming laps and doing handstands, and learning to dive.
After swim lessons, we went up to the Front Lawn and Great Hall for the evening flag ceremony and dinner (apparently not many of us know the words to Taps...)
This was called "The Bridge of Silence". The girls took the rule of hushing as they walked across very seriously (the CAs and older girls more so than our little ones though...) and it made me think that Jay and I should build one for the threshold at home...
After dinner the camp leaders did a head lice check (all our girls passed) and then we played games and sang songs in a circle for almost two hours. Yes. TWO HOURS.
This CA (in yellow) was named FiFi (that was her "camp name", not her real name, which Cora later told me was Sophia) and she ended up being Cora's buddy over the weekend.
When 6-year-olds are up an hour past their bedtime and in a new environment (especially a sleepover with a friend!), it results in a whole lot of bedtime stalling (and outright ignoring their mama's pleas to just go to sleep...) Pretty sure they were up and bouncing around, then singing and giggling in the dark until nearly 11:00pm! I was exhausted, so I resorted to ignoring them and pretending to sleep, while Sarah gave in and provided back rubs.
(Yes, those are little battery powered fans. It was HOT this weekend and we were so thankful to have them! The tents also had electricity though, so in addition to our hanging lightbulb, we had access to a power cord to plug in multiple large fans. I can't blame the heat for my poor nights of sleep because I was actually cool enough overnight that I needed the blanket I threw in the car last minute "just in case".)
Cara Beth, Addison, and Cora heading up the hill to breakfast.
Waiting on the CAs to start the morning flag ceremony. And waiting and waiting and waiting. While camp was lots of fun, the food was pretty terrible and the staff was consistently running 20-30 minutes behind schedule, which was extremely frustrating for my timely nature (and my ultra training appetite...) We learned at the end of lunch on our last day that the staff was wrapping up their summer and heading home that day (they'd been there since the end of May), so my guess is that they were all tired and burned out (and the food menu was clearly on it's last legs, since items were "recycled" between multiple meals - egg rolls for breakfast, anyone?!)
Exactly. That's how mama felt about all the waiting too...
The CAs sang us into the dining hall for each meal. Cora thought the clapping and singing was too loud, but I was entertained. At least the first couple of times... (They used the same song, repeated ad nauseum, for each of the 6 meals we had there.) Breakfast this day was "France", but rather than French toast or crepes, we had a pastry. I was very thankful I'd thought to bring iced frappuccinos in a well-iced cooler in the van...
After breakfast we went to the Camp Store, where the girls spent the $25 credit that our Troop Leader gave them. They were all so happy to have their own money, and us moms just let them get whatever they wanted. Cora chose a Girl Scout stuffed doll, a doodle kit, a water flask with a carrying strap, and some Camp patches for her Scout bag.
After dropping their goods back at the tents, I convinced the other moms to take the long route down to the lake and get off the gravel road for a bit of a hike. As you can see, Cora and Cara Beth hung back with Sarah, but these girls were happy to run and jump and explore with me. From front to back there is Abby, McKinley, Celebryte, Mia Grace, and Maggie Bell.
All the girls lined up and ready to try out some water sports! First, Cora and I went out in a canoe, then I tried paddle boarding (Cora declined), then I took Cora out with some girls from another troop in a paddle boat, then Cora went back out in the paddle boat with Sarah, Cara Beth, and Abby. The paddle boarding was fun, but harder than I expected. Of course, I am not the most graceful or balanced person, and my quads were toast from completing 6 runs in 4 days prior to leaving for camp...
Ms. Mysti (our Troop Leader) with her daughters (McKinley and Mia Grace) and Abby.
Addison told me paddle boarding was "SO easy". She sure made it look that way...
Cora got a little scared when I attempted to turn the corner and visit the back side of the lake. She thought the water was too deep and forced me to go back to shore. Of course, the CAs fussed at me for going too far out anyway (they had a LOT of rules at camp...)
Sally and her daughter Magnolia (AKA Maggie Bell) on a paddle board (Sally kept it balanced, while Maggie Bell stood up and paddled - it seemed to work really well!)
There goes Sarah, doing all the work while those little bitties play in the water...
This photo shows me standing up on the paddle board for the first time. I look like such a confident natural, eh?
The lake was actually "Canada" (eh). The girls received passports when we arrived the night before, and each country we visited gave them little stickers that looked like passport stamps. From Canada, we hiked over to Australia (AKA the Archery Range).
Cora's first bow was too hard for her to work properly (and she was very disappointed that her arrows barely went 5ft in front of her), but once they found her a lighter bow, she was able to spear a couple arrows just in front of the target. I thought her form looked pretty good (not that I know anything about archery).
While the girls waited their turn, they burned off energy by climbing the ropes course.
I may not know anything about archery, but I managed to spear the target a few times. I paid for it though... my form was bad enough that the bow string snapped my inner arm twice (which went from bright red and burning to black and blue by the next day...)
After lunch, the girls had "Turtle Time" back at camp. I had originally thought that I'd use the hour and a half to take the girls on another hike, but it was so hot that I quickly took a cold shower and then laid in front of my fan while the girls colored and crafted at the picnic tables outside the tents.
After Turtle Time, we went swimming (at "The Bahamas"), then grabbed a snack before going on a group hike. This bag of M&Ms and peanuts and marshmallows was honestly the best thing we ate all weekend (not counting the frappuccinos I brought for myself and snacks that I snuck in for Cora).
The waterfall we hiked to!
(It was about 2ft tall and was barely a quarter mile from the Great Hall. I ended up getting my exercise afterward by playing tag with the girls and having them do "animal races" with me on the Front Lawn.)
Waiting on the flag ceremony and dinner...
...and then there was campfire! And s'mores! And the girls were happy.
After campfire, Cora and I rushed back to Tanglewood to grab showers before the crowd. It turned out that two of the moms in our troop (our leader and Celebryte's mom) were feeling sick, so they decided to leave camp (at 9:30pm). We ended up gaining a little camper on the floor of our tent (since she'd been bunking with Mysti and we couldn't have her solo in a tent), which amped up Cora and Cara Beth just like the previous night, no matter how tired they were. Addison attempted to read them to sleep, but by 10:30pm she'd given up and started reading silently to herself while the little girls sang themselves to sleep.
The next day, we revisited France (croissants and sausage and eggs!) and the Bahamas.
(Addison gave Cora and Cara Beth friendship bracelets. They were smitten.)
Finally it was organized craft time (Cora and Cara Beth had been asking and asking and asking), so we visited Japan and Spain and Mexico and Hawaii (with origami, tissue flowers, a pinata, and leis).
Coco (also not her real name) was my favorite CA (CIT? she always wore blue, not yellow) because she always got everyone's attention, visibly tried to stick to schedule, and was really upbeat.
Showing off her tissue flower and lei at the mantle.
The pink shirt was one she received upon check-in the day we got to camp.
The last girls standing... barely... they were all SO TIRED by the time we neared lunch.
Hanging around and playing more games while we waited on lunch.
In addition to the CAs singing us into the dining hall, most meals had a "Cook's Parade" near the end, where the cooks walked a circle around the hall banging pots and pans.
She fell asleep right after we got onto the highway and stayed that way for the entire hour home. I snapped a photo once we got to our neighborhood. Wish I could have napped with her! It really was a fun and special weekend for us (and totally worth the heat and exhaustion) and we can't wait to go again next year (though Ms. Mysti says our troop will be returning to other Camp in the state, earlier in the summer, where the food is better, they're more organized, and hopefully it will be a little cooler).
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