Brownie Mom & Me

The Wacky Wildflowers

What a fabulous weekend! Lindy, Paige, and I were able to spend the weekend together at the Brownie Mom & Me overnight camp out. This was our first time camping and we were all excited! Camping has never really been my kind of thing but I am willing to try anything, especially to help my girls see how much fun they can have at camp. The purpose of this year's activity was to introduce all of the camping activities to the girls and educate them on camp safety and fun! The theme was The Amazing Race after the reality show except we were not racing against the clock. But we were definitely racing around all afternoon to 10 stations after our opening flag ceremony. It was a jam packed afternoon but we had a blast.

After we checked in and received our schedule of activities we were given our team name which was the Wacky Wildflowers which matched our shirts perfectly. Here are pictures of our day!

The Classy Campers

The Silly Squirrels

Let the race begin! Claire, Paige, Lindy, and Mary were so excited for the weekend.

With unpredictable May weather I rented a cabin for our group. It was adorable and the girls all loved it. It was one big party in the evening.

After the opening flag ceremony we made our GORP. Wish I could remember what that stood for! They have a huge container and they call all the ingredients up and the girls dump them in. There had to have been 20 different things. This is Lindy and Paige returning from dumping in our assignment, Teddy Grahams.



Our first station was knot tying. We had the square knot down pretty well after making our bracelets with Miss Juli but we learned some other cool knots and what we would use them for.

Then we were off to Meal Planning. We learned there are tons of things you can cook over a campfire. Out group got to make dump cake. Lindy got to dump the strawberries and Paige dumped the cherries. We then took our dutch oven over to the Campfire Station where we learned fire safety.





Packing for camp was really fun! We had to show our card if we should bring the item being held up to camp or should we leave it at home. We also had fun playing a game with a sleeping bag and we had to do crazy things with it and then our moms had to repeat it. I had to dance with it, do cheerleading moves, and sit on it. The girls loved this!

How to build a campfire, the fun girl scout way! This was one of our favorite stations and not just because of the treats. The older Girl Scout who taught us this was fun and we really liked her that always makes things more fun! But learning with a visual always helps and this was a really cute one. The girls had to make their own campfire complete with a gum drop fire starter and red hot coals.

Our A frame fire.


After we made adorable first aid kits that fit in a film canister so we can wear them around our neck it was off to the nature station. Here we learned that "Hairy vines are no friend of mine" and "Leaves of 3 let it be" and wrote our new sayings on a bookmark. A quick game of identifying animal homes and we learned a lot here!




Lindy loved the Activities Station, what you do at camp. She loves crafts and games (she is a camping girl!). We made our first potlatches/swaps and played Hawk and Hens a fun game.

Our last station was learning to do a flag ceremony. I'm happy to say with no training our troop has been doing a good job (thanks Ethan!).

After dinner we were some tired moms!

But the girls were going strong. In their evening free time they found a huge chess board and set up a game.

A perfect end to the day, hanging out with friends. The girls had a blast giggling and playing in our cabin. Us moms had a pretty good time too! It was so nice to see them having fun and hanging out with us too. As Aimee said they will remember this forever. I know I will.



My camping girls! We are almost done except for our scavenger hunt after breakfast. We found everything on our long list and learned some things too.



Mary and Claire had a great time together and were buddies for most of the trip.


After our scavenger hunt we had to do a meet and greet. The girls had to go around and ask each other their name and write it on the list. I was proud of my shy Paige, she took the clipboard and worked the crowd! Seeing her comfortable with so many people that she did not know is what Girl Scouts is all about. She gained some confidence this weekend!

At the closing ceremony the t-shirt contest winners were revealed and much to Lindy and Paige's delight we came in second and our prize was a cute picture frame! They worked really hard on their shirts and learned to iron on their patches. We took a picture of all of us or our "team" and ironed it onto the front and added iron on flowers to the corners for a "frame". The back had our name and we painted earths. The girls wanted yellow and green shirts but were worried we would not "match" so we came up with a way to represent the earth with our color. Lindy was yellow for the sun, moon, and stars. Paige was green for trees and plants. I was blue for sky and water.



We had a great time with Holly and Claire! Thanks so much for going with us! We look forward to many more Girl Scout adventures with you.



Hanging (literally!) on the porch while we packed up.The girls did not want to go home. A definite sign they had a great time!

I didn't have pictures of all the stations but we learned so much about First Aid, we went on another scavenger hunt to find water sources and learn our boundries. We had a campfire and learned many songs and ate smores. Dinner was fun and the girls loved using their mess kits and getting to wash them (I'm sure that will wear off sooner rather than later).

My favorite part of the trip was bedtime and not because it was time to go to sleep! The girls both wanted to sleep next to me which put me in the middle of our double bed. They both snuggled up next to me and put their heads on my shoulders and went to sleep with their arms around me. Not a very easy position to fall asleep in yet the perfect way to end the day and I could always nap after we got home!