Brownie trip to Seaside

After our Brownie troop sold an insane number of cookies this year (the grand total was 1630 boxes - our troop gets $.60 per box, do the math), we gave the girls a few options for how they could spend the money. Last year we went to Build-a-Bear, but since they sold considerably more cookies this year, we figured they'd like to do something a little bigger. They voted unanimously for a trip to the Girl Scout cabin at Seaside, which is a great little tourist beach town on the coast. After waiting anxiously for two months we finally went this week!

Because we had so much money left over, we got to do just about everything there is to do in Seaside. No joke. We rented a surrey (which we all just referred to as "one of those bike thingys"). As it turns out, 7- and 8-year-olds aren't actually tall enough to help pedal those things much, so my co-leader Erica and I did most of the work, but the girls tried to help where they could. At one point we decided to get out and let a few of the girls take turns driving for a while. It was hilarious. Vicki especially drove like she'd had a few too many - all over the road. Luckily we were in a residential area, so no harm done, although the neighbors may not have enjoyed the screaming and hysterical laughter.
We also rode the bumper boats, the tilt-a-whirl, and the bumper cars. The bumper boats were by far the favorite, and the tilt-a-whirl was really fun the first time around, but the majority of the girls agreed that the second time was a little much. Luckily it was right before lunch, so no harm done. We spent some time playing on the beach, and the girls brought home lots of shells and pockets full of sand for their mothers to enjoy washing.

After a full day of fun in town we headed back to the cabin for dinner, and then across the street to the community pool for a swim. Before bed we made s'mores in the fireplace (the firepit we were told would be behind the cabin was nowhere to be found). What's a Girl Scout sleepover without s'mores? We discovered there are two groups of s'mores makers: those who like their marshmallows lightly toasted, and those who like their marshmallows crispy and blackened. Vicki is in the latter group. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see that hers is, in fact, on fire. The next morning we cooked "heart attack" in the Dutch oven for breakfast (by "we", I mean me) and then headed over to the Seaside Aquarium, where $1 will buy you a tray of fish heads to feed the seals. Gross, but fun. The aquarium is tiny, but there are several tanks of fish, some really cool starfish, an octopus, and a couple of touch tanks. The girls loved tickling the sea anenomes (I'm not sure the anenomes enjoyed it much, though), and Vicki in particular loved playing with the hermit crabs.
We also enjoyed ice cream cones, salt water taffy, and elephant ears. Right before we left to drive home we rode the carousel. The girls had a fabulous time and have already decided that we need to go back again, we leaders agreed that it was the most fun we'd had on a Girl Scout trip, and, best of all, despite everything we did, there's still enough money in the account for a swimming party later on in the summer! Yay Brownies!!!