Girl Scout Camp

Last weekend I was able to go camping with Kaitlyn's girl scout troop. It is hard to believe that I have been their leader for almost 6 years now! We went camping with all the girl scout troops from our town this weekend. It was such a fun and beautiful time of year to go camping. The trees are all changing colors which made for beautiful surroundings and there was a Halloween theme to the camp out since it's October. We started off the first night having a scavenger hunt. The following morning a naturalist came and brought a couple of owls and a possum. That night we had a monster bash (which I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of). There were carnival games, dancing, and of course everyone was in costume. The last morning we celebrated Juliet Low's (the founder of girl scouts) birthday. Our girls had fun with the troop we shared a cabin with, it was a just a great camp out over all :)

We made a craft during our free time inspired by this.


The other troop included us in on their doughnut eating contest

and their bobbing for apples game


Here is a photo of all the girls from our city that were at camp.

Girl Scout Mother-Daughter Activity

This year our Girl Scout Unit had a paint your own pottery (flower pot) activity for daughters and their mothers. (Ryan unexpectedly had to work so we had a little man there too) Eve painted Rapunzel on her pot with her hair twisting all the way around her pot. Kaitlyn did a beautiful design with dots, stripes and squiggles, she has become quite the artist :) My pot I painted shades of blue and did yellow lights all over, we'll see how it turns out. We get our pots back in a couple of weeks. It was fun to hang out with my girls! I feel so blessed to have them for daughters!

Les Miserables

This last week I was able to go with Kaitlyn's girl scout troop to see Les Miserables. It was such a wonderful night. I remember my parents taking me to see it when I was in sixth grade at the Kennedy Center in D.C. and it being impressive. But this time the story just clicked with me. I absolutely loved it!!! The music is beautiful and the message of how this man was able to turn his life around for good, it was amazing. I was telling Ryan that it reminds me of the story of Alma the younger in the Book of Mormon, a little. I also was touched by the men fighting in the war and the lives which were lost. I have two brother-in-laws who have been deployed and through the play could empathize with how hard it would be to sacrifice everything for what you believe in. Also it touched my heart to watch the actor as he came back from war and so many of his friends were not able to. How hard it would be to see all that you do in war and then to come back to normal life. I probably read way too much into the play, but I loved it.

Ryan and I were able to go see the play together two days later. This picture is with Fantine and the little boy who sings "Little People".

Overnighter at the Zoo

This weekend Kaitlyn's girl scout troop and I were able to spend the night at the zoo. The zoo always does a phenomenal job with their programs!

This baby rhino is only one or two months old. He was running like crazy everywhere. Baby rhinos come out 500 lbs., their poor mothers!

This owl's name is Hootie. He was super cute. I guess owls like him only live one or two years in the wild but he is fifteen years old, since he is taken care of at the zoo it has prolonged his life.

I love these girls! It is hard to believe that we have been a troop for five years!

Captians Baseball Game

This summer we were lucky enough to go to three minor league games for the price of one. We weren't so lucky that the first two games were rained out. But we still had a lot of fun going to all of them.

To the last game my girl scout troop, which I've been the leader for the last couple of years, came too. Then after the game the girls, my co-leader and I were able to camp-out on the outfield. We set up tents and then enjoyed watching Toy Story up on the big screen.

Ryan caught a foul ball at our third game! Reuben was able to have most of the players sign the baseball after the game.

Lincoln had fun poking the girls and making them laugh.

Camping at the Zoo Safari Style

Last week our troop was able to camp overnight at the zoo.  The program was awesome and had the girls scheduled all evening and day.  They played games at different stations throughout the zoo, roasted smores, did a craft, went to a night hike where they used night vision binoculars, went on a day hike using a GPS, and much more.  The girls had so much fun they all want to go back and do another one.  I guess they have a winter one where you camp in a cabin near the wolves and one in their Australian Outback area.

They had a couple of animals in the evening that we learned about and could touch.  The picture above is Kaitlyn with the millepede. It was pretty nasty looking but didn't feel too bad.  My favorite was the hedgehog, the barn owl was pretty cool too.

 
We learned why flamingo's are pink.  Hint it is something they eat...

Flamingo's are pink from eating shrimp, at the zoo they just put food coloring in their food because shrimp is expensive.

Here is a picture of our troop and the wonderful zookeepers who were with us for the whole program.

In the morning we checked out the special exhibit that they have this summer.  All of the dinosaurs move and make noises.  I don't know how they know what noises dinosaurs make.  But oh, well. The last one spit water out.  The girls loved this and could have stayed there all day!