Survivor: My week at Girl Scout Camp

Wolf spiders and little girl screams. Torrential downpour. Sunburns. Bug bites. Sleeplessness. And tears.

And that's just the adults...

But Girl Scout Camp was the best week ever.

Sure us leaders have that moment, mid-day Friday, when we look at ourselves and whisper "Three more hours." But in nearly the same breath, we're talking about the T-shirts we're making to wear next year.

A friend told me last night, after the bags were unpacked, how impressed she was that I volunteer at camp each year. But the reality is, we do it for the girls.

We have jobs. We are moms. We are the shuttle for our kids and housekeepers for our homes. But we carve out time to come up with crazy projects and suffer sunburn and downpours because the kids are worth it.

It's worth it to hear your daughter talk about will she see this girl or that girl again this year in the weeks before camp week. Some of these girls have been camp friends for three years now and are already looking forward to next year.

It's worth it to see the girls develop new friendships that may last a week, or may last years.

It's worth it to see the girls try something new and get excited about exploring creeks, pitching tents or trying out a new project.

It's worth it to hear the cheers of camp mates when a girl makes it to the top of the rockwall or is so close to passing her swimming test to go in the deep end of the pool.

It's worth it to watch the girls come up with their own impromptu skit night just because.

It's worth it to see the smile break out on the face of the shiest girl in the group because she won the all-camp contest.

And it's worth it to hear your kids say "See you next year!"

Brownie Senses Badge - Earn It At Camp

Earning the Brownie Senses badge is a great activity for day camp or troop campouts - very easy to fill in on those dead spots, like when it's too cold to swim!

Here's how we met the Brownie Senses badge requirements during our camp week:

SIGHT
We held a nature scavenger hunt throughout the campground. There are many nature scavenger hunt lists available online or on Pinterest if you are looking for ideas.

LISTENING
We did a listening hike for our early morning hike to breakfast. The goal was to listen for 10 different sounds. It was great for those sleepyheads who weren't quite up to singing yet! :-)

SMELL
We played the "smelly game." We lined the girls up while one of the leaders was in the leader meeting and asked the girls to pull their bandanas over their eyes.  Then we walked a small bottle of various essential oils down the line and asked the girls to guess the smell. Some of the essential oils we used included lemon , grapefruit, cinnamon, lavender, oregano, and peppermint .

I have to say, the faces were priceless on some of the girls. What I thought would be pleasant - like the evergreen trees in a holiday blend - created some of the most unusual reactions!

TASTE
We used the magnifying glasses from our bug kit to look at the taste buds on friends' tongues. We also talked about the different types of taste - salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami.

TOUCH
We adapted the "feel wheel" idea from the requirements by reusing some of the lunch bags and putting small items, some found at camp, some from home, inside each one. The girls had to go to each bag and guess what was inside.

Note to leaders: The Senses Badge requirements are not included in the Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting. You do have to purchase the Wonders of Water badge insert to get the full sheet of requirements if you would like alternatives to these activities.

Follow Robbie @'s board Girl Scout Projects on Pinterest.

Looking for more Girl Scout ideas? Visit my new scout leader resource site, Use Resources Wisely. 

Edible Fire Safety Tutorial for Kids and Scouts

With the recent drought and wildfires in this country, teaching kids fire safety is even more important than ever. 

I loved this lesson we had during Girl Scout camp, which taught the girls how to safely start and put out a campfire for cooking.

Edible fire safety lesson for Scouts

What you'll need:

• mini marshmallows and/or cheerios
• pretzels
• potato sticks
• red hots, hot tamales or other candy
• candy corn
• cups
• plates

Directions:

1. Pull back your hair.
2. Create a safety circle outside your "fire circle." (Make sure the area is clear around your plate.)
3. Fill a "water bucket" (a cup) and keep nearby.
4. Make your fire circle ring with cheerios or mini marshmallows.
5. Create an A-frame of "logs" with your pretzels.
6. Make a teepee of "tinder" (potato sticks).
7. Light with a match (red hots or hot tamales).
8. Add your "kindling" (short pretzels or Chinese noodles).
9. Candy corn will show it's burning brighter. (optional)

The girls loved this activity, and we were sure to plan an active activity soon after!

Follow Robbie @'s board Girl Scout Camp on Pinterest.

Quick homemade ice cream

Hand-cranked ice cream made by my mother-in-law is one of my favorite memories of summer. But, being a diabetic and aiming to reduce clutter in my home, I don't have the desire to buy and store an ice cream maker for the occasional summer treat for my kids.

Instead, I stumbled on a simple recipe for homemade ice cream that's portion-controlled and quick to make! The kids loved the process, and in 10 minutes - just a few quick songs on our playlist - they had a cool treat on a hot summer day.

Easy vanilla ice cream
1/2 c. half and half or whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. sugar
Put in a small plastic bag and seal.

In a gallon bag, add 6 tbsp. ice cream salt or kosher salt, then fill halfway with ice. Add the small baggie; seal the large bag. Shake 10 minutes for a soft-serve consistency.

Realizations after our camping fiasco: Surviving with a preschooler

Perhaps fiasco is too harsh of a word, but as a mom who in her past life loved to camp, I walked away from this weekend's 20-hour camping trip a little bit smarter.

After having a good night's (or two) worth of sleep in my own bed, I came to a few conclusions about camping with a precocious preschooler:

1. Know your location. Check out the web, brochures, online reviews, your friends...anyone you can to get their sense of the location and why their families liked and didn't like it. The reality for us was our Girl Scout council is trying to build the family camping program, so we didn't know people who had gone. Had we, we would have known that the platform tents area near the lake had less room for preschoolers to roam, and our money would have been better spent reserving in the "primitive camp" area, still not far from the lodge, where there would be space for the little guy to run around.

2. Nap time is futile. Maybe it's easier if your preschooler isn't in the middle of transitioning out of naps, but couple the excitement of sleeping away from home with the lack of naps, and you've got a recipe for "not listening" moments.

3. Realize your restrictions. The pint-size restrictions. Even though they can stare at a worm for 10 minutes at a walk at home, hiking for half an hour in the morning may not be as thrilling.

4. Plan for a little home essentials. Please, don't be like one of our platform tent neighbors and pack your DVD player, but bring a few comforts of home to make your trip more bearable. Like your preschooler's "tag" (or lovey). Or a football. Or a book or two to help them settle down if needed. Or crayons and paper while you're cooking over the gas stove.

5. Focus on the bright side. Yes, we had to bypass the latrines about 15 times to go to the indoor plumbing at the lodge, but at least I got my steps in!!
For your first few adventures, stick with sites closer to your home. It makes needing to cut your trip home short a little more bearable.

Any other tips you can share about camping with little ones?

Survival camping

Wasn't it Kenny Rodgers who said you had to know when to fold 'em?

Well, I caved. A mere 20 hours into our first camping trip, we were packing up and headed home.

Camping with a 3 and 5 year old for a weekend obviously meant I had a few screws loose. I posted the idea on my Facebook page for suggestions on managing it; there I got responses ranging from the optimistic ("Just tell them to stay away from the fire") to drugging them with Benadryl.

I figured I had it all planned out. Our Girl Scout council opens up one of its camps to families on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. I thought it was a great first forray into camping: no need to pitch a tent, family-friendly environment, unit house with kitchen in case it stormed, no drunken idiots.

I planned simple meals (hot dogs and Cheerios, anyone?) and hoped for the best.

Except I forgot who I was dealing with: Worn out children who were coping with lack of sleep from two night's worth of storms, a night with the engaged couple from church we were mentoring, the excitement of the end of school, the thrill of bike races the day before at day care, and by the way, we are CAMPING!

Somehow by the grace of God we straggled into camp at 8:30 p.m., delayed by the fact that life meant that we didn't start packing until six that night. The next morning, the kids were up as soon as daylight peaked through the gaps in our tent. They didn't want to hike the trails. They wanted to go into the ice-cold lake when it was still maybe 60 degrees outside. My daughter wanted to boat; my son didn't. Instead, I had to hear about whether we'd drown as we paddled the two of us across the lake while her brother and dad played in the nearby sand.

The men was what killed the trip. My little guy refused to understand the concept of staying with us, staying on the trail, watching for cars and, by the way, don't run out of the tent alone. Oh, and latrines? That would not be a consideration. Instead we hiked back and forth to the lodge so he could use the more modern facilities. Meanwhile, my husband, bless his heart, was getting sick not long after lunch.

So after one last roundtrip to the lodge and a hastily made batch of smores on the stove, I threw up the white flag. I knew when to walk away (though I felt like running). I swore to the camp manager that it wasn't about the camp (because we would go back!) as we hastily checked out two days early. We packed up and drove the hour home. The kids slept all the way. (Ninety minutes later, they're still out, husband included.)

It wasn't my fantasy weekend, happy memories of us sitting around the picnic table like when we camped as kids. But somehow, we all survived. And maybe, just maybe, the kids will find their glimmer as they recount their first camping trip.