Look, I'm (kind of) Famous!

When I wrote this post last month, Chris suggested I submit it to Feminist Mormon Housewives.  He usually has pretty good ideas, so I went ahead and did it.  I figured that, in light of all that's negative towards women in the world today, it's always nice to hear about programs that do good things for girls.

And I'm happy to report that this morning I am a guest poster on FMH!  You can click here to go directly to my post.

Enjoy!

I Blame the Girl Scouts

source

Somehow, in the last couple of years, my meek and mild little daughters have turned into speak-your-mind, healthily opinionated, not-afraid-to-stand-up-for-what's-right, strong-willed little women.

Clearly this is the fault of the Girl Scouts.

You know, that organization that empowers innocent little girls all over the nation, and even the world, to discover who they are and what they stand for.

It's funny how things happen.  I never intended to be so involved in the Girl Scouts.  I was a Brownie for a few years, and even a Junior, and it was fun, but not a hugely life-changing experience.  Still, when Vicki started school, I thought it would be a good thing for her.  The only problem was that there were no troops nearby with space for her.  So my friend suggested we start our own troop, and here I am six years later, wrapping up another year of cookie sales with not one, but three Girl Scout daughters.

Who all want to change the world in their own ways.

At each Girl Scout meeting, the girls all recite the Girl Scout Promise, which is:

On my honor, I will try:
to serve God, and my country,
to help people at all times,
and to live by the Girl Scout Law.

The Girl Scout Law is:

I will do my best to be
Honest and Fair,
Friendly and Helpful,
Considerate and Caring,
Courageous and Strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do,
and to
Respect myself and others,
Respect Authority,
Use resources wisely,
Make the world a better place, and
Be a sister to every Girl Scout.

I have watched that first Girl Scout troop grow from five tiny 1st graders to 12 strong 6th graders, and I am proud of them each and every day.  I leave our meetings this year on such a high from listening to these girls discuss constructive ways to deal with the situations they face each and every day.  We've talked about friendships, bullies, jealousy, and boys (though I'm not ready for that one yet!), and they've stood as great examples to their younger counterparts as they taught the Daisies all about cookie sales.

I've watched these girls step completely out of their comfort zone and overcome shyness and fear of speaking to strangers in order to sell their cookies to support their sister Girl Scouts.  And I've watched each one of them smile while doing it.  They've learned that work can be fun, and that hard work is rewarding.

I've sat through a meeting and heard them constructively and fairly calmly discuss a bullying situation that a few of their own were facing.  They tried to be fair, and considerate, and rather than spend an hour tearing down the girl who was doing the bullying, they simply discussed how they could solve the problem and support each other.

I've watched them be friends to the friendless and support each other through all kinds of life lessons.  They have their moments (don't we all?), but this group of girls have never ceased to impress and amaze me.  I am proud of them and proud to be their friend.

As for my own three Girl Scouts?

I have seen Vicki, Lexi, and Ellie embody each line of the Girl Scout Law at different times and in different ways.  Each time they do something nice for someone else, they're being Friendly and Helpful, and Considerate and Caring.  When they admit to doing something they shouldn't have, they're being Honest and Fair, Courageous and Strong, and Responsible for What They Say and Do.  When they remember to compost and recycle and reuse, they're Using Their Resources Wisely and Making the World a Better Place.  When they're respectful to their teachers (and their parents!), they're Respecting Authority.  And, most importantly, every day they're trying hard to  Respect Themselves and Others.

They're serving God and their country by discovering who they are, where they come from, what's going on in the world around them, and how to get along with everyone they meet.

So whenever someone tells me that my girls are so well-behaved, or so polite, or friendly, or considerate, I think that instead of laughing it off and saying, "Oh, you should see them at home!", I'll just say, "Thank you! They're Girl Scouts."

Because, really, I blame the Girl Scouts.

Friendly and Helpful

One part of the Girl Scout Law states that Girl Scouts are friendly and helpful.  We discussed it at Ellie's troop meeting two weeks ago.  As a parent and a Girl Scout leader, it's nice when I get to see something like that being taken to heart.

See, it's long been a source of pride for Ellie to know that she has the longest hair in the family.  Lexi once held that title, but she had to relinquish it after suffering a self-inflicted mullet.  Ellie has loved her long hair and has been the most willing of all my girls to let me play with it, so I've loved it, too.

Then, about a month ago I was shampooing her and she said to me, completely out of the blue, "Mom, I want to get my hair cut and give it to that place that makes wigs for kids who don't have hair."

And I was blown away.

I don't know where she heard about Locks of Love, but I'm glad she did.  On Saturday we went to see my friend Erica and, after wavering a little bit, Ellie decided to go ahead and give the long hair title back to her sister.

Before

During
(Thank you, Vicki, for the cell phone picture! Mine didn't turn out.)

After!

She's so excited to mail her ponytail to Locks of Love so another little girl can have beautiful hair.  I'm so proud of my girl!

Today

Today I woke up at 5:00am.

Today I drove to my friend's house early in the morning to drop off my van so it could be loaded up. I drove home in another friend's car.

Today I got three children ready for church.

Today I stopped at the store on the way to church because a certain child didn't tell us until last night that she's out of a particular bedtime necessity.

Today I was still early for church.

Today I drove for two hours with a car full of gear and Girl Scouts.

Today I sang camp songs, ate pizza by the pool, and helped pack tomorrow's lunches.

Today I began a week-long adventure with the ten most awesome almost-6th graders I know.

We're gonna have a blast.

All I Need to Know I Learned at Girl Scout Camp

(my apologies to Robert Fulgham)

If I had made a list five years ago of all the volunteer positions I thought I might fill in my life, I’m fairly certain that Girl Scout leader would not have been on it.

I was sort of sucked into it in the first place. Sure, I wanted Vicki to be in a troop, but I had absolutely no intention of being any part of that troop.

Didn’t quite work out that way, did it?

Four and a half years later, here I am. Leader or co-leader of two troops, with another one on the horizon.

Call me crazy, but I love it.

This last weekend was our annual neighborhood campout. This was the fourth year for Vicki’s troop and the second for Lexi’s. There are a lot of things we’ve learned at Girl Scout camp over the years.  Let me share some with you:

1. You’re braver than you think.

Vicki on the Giant Swing

2. You really can fly.

Lexi on the zipline

3. It's good to try new things.  Like Girl Scout Soup (recipe: each girl brings her favorite can of soup. Dump them all into a pot, add water according to instructions on cans – give or take a few cans full – and stir. Warm, eat and enjoy. Also good with rolls or that pre-toasted bread they sell in the Hispanic foods section.) (I don’t have any pictures of this because I was busy cooking enough for 30 people. Maybe next year.)

4. People throw up, so prepare for the worst. In the four years we’ve been going to camp, we’ve only had one puke-free year. This year (as well as last) there were two incidents. One was my kid. Thankfully her problem was carsickness. Wish I could say the same for the other girl...

(not a picture of her throwing up)

5. Creativity is cool.

Tie-dye and SWAPS = pure awesome

6. Teamwork is essential for success.

Look closely - a prime example of teamwork this is not

7. Girl Scouting rocks!

(really bad photo pun)

Little Wheeled Blocks of Wood

Every year our Girl Scout Service Unit holds a father/daughter activity.  It's usually a dance.

Last night our they held the first (hopefully) annual father/daughter Pinewood Derby.

(Well, it was supposed to be a father/daughter event.  The girls and the dads worked on the cars together.  But if they thought the moms (and in some cases the grandparents and neighbors) were missing out on the race, well, they had another thing coming.  That poor elementary school gym had probably never had so many people inside.)

There were 128 cars entered in the race.  The track had six lanes, and each car raced once in each lane.  That meant 128 heats.  It was a long night, but the Boy Scout pack who provided the track does this on a regular basis and were really organized.  The Girl Scouts all seemed to have a lot of fun, and that, of course, is all that matters.

Althoguh I have a suspicion that the dads, too, had a good time, and were, at the very least, grateful that they didn't have to dance.

Here's the best shot I could get of the cars.  This is not, of course, all the cars, but it does at least show the most important two:

Now comes the part where I brag a little bit about my own children.  If braggy blog posts bug you, and, believe me, I totally understand, tune back in next time for some regularly-scheduled brag-free blogging.

Like I said, each car raced 6 times, and in a totally random order.  Since we were standing behind the starting line, I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the actual racing (although we could at least see the finish line - my camera just won't take decent pictures that far away and in that dim of light), but the scoreboard was projected up on the wall, so I could at least take pictures of the placements.  We went into it not expecting much, just hoping the cars would actually cross the finish line.  And they did!

Lexi's best score:

She placed 3rd three times, and 4th twice, and 6th once.

And Vicki's:

Yay for 1st place!  She also placed 2nd twice, and 3rd, 4th, and 5th one time each.

Overall, the girls placed 51st (Vicki) and 52nd (Lexi), so they were in the top half!

And they can't wait for next year!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Buying Girl Scout Cookies (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Having spent over 10 hours in the last three weeks standing outside of stores helping some cute little girls sell highly overpriced but extremely tasty cookies, I feel qualified to offer a few words of advice to anyone who may encounter a similar group with similar products.  And, therefore, I will:

• If you’re not sure what kind of cookies you’d like, ask the girls to recommend some. They’ve put in some time learning about each flavor, and they’ve likely tried them all. They’d love to show off their knowledge. 
• Please don’t ask the girls in brown vests, “Are you a Brownie or a Girl Scout?” Brownies are Girl Scouts, and they’re proud of it.
• Talk to the girls, not the parents. Even the littlest ones. They’re the ones selling the cookies. We’re just there to make sure you get the right amount of change.
• When you ask how much they are this year and the girls tell you, “$4 a box!”, please don’t act shocked and appalled at the price. We know they’re expensive, and we know the economy is bad. But we also know that our troop only gets to keep 65-70 cents per box we sell, and we have big plans for that money. We don’t set the price; please don’t make us feel bad.
• Challenge the girls. Be creative. Ask them to do the math for you, or what they're hoping to do with the money they earn. Ask them to share with you their favorite part of being a Girl Scout, or how long they've been a Girl Scout. They’re not just earning money for their troop, they’re also gaining valuable people skills.
• If you don’t like cookies, or can’t eat them, consider donating a box. Most troops have a “Gift of Caring” box at the booth (that, unfortunately, goes largely unnoticed), or at least have plans for what to do with donated cookies. Ours are going to SnowCap, a local organization that benefits local people with food, clothing, and other necessities. We will make sure they get there.
• It’s okay if you don’t want to buy the cookies. We’re disappointed, but we’ll get over it pretty quickly. We don’t mind you saying no - we understand not everyone can buy cookies. What we do mind is when you walk straight past us without even acknowledging our presence. Please don’t ignore these girls. They’re working hard and most of them are way outside of their comfort zone. A smile and a simple, “Not today, but thanks anyway!” in response to their cry of “Girl Scout cookies!” is all they need.

Well, there you go.  Now, when you're out this weekend (or whenever cookies are on sale near you) and you run across a couple of uniformed girls enthusiastically hawking their wares, you'll be prepared.

This is the last week you can get cookies here in Oregon, so if you don't have any yet, or, better yet, need to stock up for the year, time is running out!

Day Camp Pictures

We are almost fully recovered from last week’s day camp. The fun outweighed the exhaustion, but only slightly, and more for some than for others. The house is also recovering, although most slowly than the rest of us. With Chris gone last week there was no one around to pick up the pieces when everything fell apart, so it’s taken several days to get life back on track.

And because of course the house can clean itself while I sit here at the computer and blog – though to my defense I have cleaned the kitchen, done a load of dishes and two loads of laundry, and put away another two loads that have been hanging out in the hall for over a week, and I have spent two hours on the phone with car rental companies accomplishing absolutely nothing but a headache – I have pictures from camp to share with you. Not many, though, because I was with other people’s children most of the time and won’t put pictures of them on my blog. But Friday was field day, and things were so well organized that I was able to wander around and take pictures of my own kids.

First of all, though, I have to mention that the camp was held at Oxbow Regional Park, which is only about a half hour from our house and full of breathtaking scenery. It is also, we learned, full of wildlife, including deer who have learned that people are not necessarily something to be afraid of, but more something that leaves tasty treats laying around. I did not use the zoom to take this picture, and this deer showed no inclination to run away from me or the 15 chattering girls nearby.


For field day the kids rotated through six different stations with their units, competing against another unit each time. One of the stations required them to jump rope through a hula hoop. You can't tell too well from this picture, but I loved watching Vicki because she had her tongue sticking out the entire time. She says it's because the hula hoop was so small she really had to concentrate to get herself through it. I love it.
Even Ellie and the Widgets (3-5 year old kids of volunteers) got to participate. In this race they had to soak a sponge with water and then run across the field and squeeze it into a cup. Whichever team filled the cup first was the winner. The Widgets raced against the entering-1st-graders, so they were as evenly matched as could be hoped for.
At station 6 the kids were given popsicles and a shady spot to cool off. It was approaching 90 degrees, so this was welcome. I just love this picture.
When the kids had rotated through all the stations, they made the leaders participate in the most hilarious of the relay races, and Lexi offered to "hold the camera" for me. I realize that this is an unflattering picture on so many levels, which is why, you may notice, it's a smaller size than the rest. This race involved taking a partner and a pool noodle, standing one in front of the other, placing the noodle between your thighs, and running down the field, around a laughing teenager, and back to the start, where you pass the noodle to the next unfortunate pair. I have no idea if my team won or not. I was laughing too hard to care.
Despite the unflattering relay race I have already volunteered to help out again next year, so it looks like Oxbow Day Camp may become a tradition in our family. If nothing else, it unglued the girls from the TV for a week, and I'm all for anything that does that. But honestly, we all just had a really good time. In case you haven't noticed yet, we really like Girl Scouts around here, and everything the program offers :)

In which I invite you to call me names

The girls are going to Girl Scout day camp in a couple of weeks. And, sucker that I am, I’m going along. I will, apparently, be in charge of a unit of 3rd graders, although I supposedly don’t have to do more than get them from place to place, mostly. We’ll see how it goes. I’m excited.

But here’s where you come into play. All the leaders are supposed to have camp names – fun nicknames that we go by. The lady running the whole thing goes by Meadowlark. I’m not entirely sure of the purpose, except that it’s been a Girl Scout camp tradition dating back at least to when I was a Girl Scout, because I remember two camp counselors called Pinky and Mouser. I don’t know what to call myself, and I need ideas. What’s a good camp name for me?

Yee-haw!

The girls in Vicki's Brownie troop have been begging to go horseback riding since they were 1st graders. But, being the cruel leaders that we are, we've never let them because we didn't think they were old enough to get anything out of it. But this year the girls won. As part of their bridging activities we took them to Short Acres Farm to be cowgirls for a day.

They learned basic horse safety and how to care for a horse - brushing, cleaning the hooves, feeding, etc.

They painted horseshoes for souveniers:

And best of all, they got to ride a pony!

The pony that Vicki rode, King Arthur (Artie for short) was the victim guest of honor at a pony party earlier in the day, where apparently the kids were turned loose on him with paints ("Now that's a horse of a different color!") He was a very patient pony.

Unfortunately (yeah, right!) the ponies we had saddled up were too small for my co-leader and me to have a ride. I haven't been on a horse since I was 13, so I was okay with not making a fool of myself. Vicki did a great job, though (riding the horse, that is, not making a fool of herself!)

We're winding down the Girl Scout year right along with the school year. One more meeting, and a Rose Festival parade, and these girls will be Juniors!

Girl Scout Camp 2009

Girl Scout camp, as always, was a blast this year! It was especially fun because Lexi was old enough to come this year. She's been looking forward to it for two years now. I'll try to make this as un-boring as possible but still fill in all the exciting details that I know no one but grandmas (and maybe Emily) really want to know.

We cheated a little bit and took all the girls out of school early on Friday so we could make the 1.5 hour drive without hitting traffic. Apart from our perpetually carsick Brownie throwing up on the front seat of my car as we parked at camp, the drive was uneventful.

We unloaded the cars and got settled in our cabins, and then we just let the girls play for a while (the picture is Vicki and her best friend Kate. Kate is about a head taller than Vicki, so they thought it was hilarious that Vicki could give her a piggyback ride.)



The camp provides meals all day Saturday and on Sunday morning, but we were on our own Friday night, so we made our famous Brownie Soup for dinner. Here's the secret recipe (shhh...don't tell): each girl brings a can of her favorite soup. They take turns dumping them into a pot, and then you stir it together, heat it up, and enjoy. We had chicken noodle, tomato, bean and bacon, vegetable, and even a can of chicken corn chowder. Yeah, it sounds gross, but it's actually really good and the girls beg for it. This is the third time we've made it.

Saturday morning Vicki's troop got to participate in the flag ceremony. This made them feel really grown up and important, and they did a great job. (Vicki's the second pink coat on the left.)



After flag and breakfast, it was time for the fun to start! The troops were divided up, and I got to spend a lot of time with Lexi's troop, which meant a lot to her. Our first stop was the Flying Squirrel. What is the Flying Squirrel, you ask? Well, one girl is the Squirrel, and she gets harnessed up and hooked to a rope.



The rope goes about 50 feet straight up into the trees where it runs through a pulley system and comes back down the side of a tall tree nearby. The rest of the group holds on to the end of the rope. When she's all hooked up and ready to go, the Squirrel shouts, "Are you ready?" The group answers, "Ready!" and the Squirrel yells, "I'm gonna fly!" to which the group replies, "Fly, Squirrel, fly!" and runs with the rope, hoisting the Squirrel into the air.



If she wants to swing through the air, the Squirrel can take a running start. The girls had a blast doing this.

While Lexi was Squirreling, Vicki's troop was on the zipline. I made Vicki go last so I'd be sure to see her descend. The zipline involves climbing a 50-foot ladder that's narrower than Lexi, standing on top of a tower that feels like the slightest breeze might blow it over, climbing over a thigh-high wall onto a narrow ledge, and throwing yourself off of it. Of course, you're harnessed and hooked to a line the whole time, but still...



Lexi's troop unfortunately didn't get a turn on the zipline this year, but they've been promised a turn next year.

After lunch it was Vicki's turn for the Flying Squirrel.





And Lexi's turn for archery (Vicki's troop did archery before lunch, but I missed it.)



I even got to try my hand at the bow and arrow. I don't like to brag (who am I kidding?) but I got a bullseye! Lexi was in charge of taking pictures of me. She didn't do too badly.



After archery we snuck in a turn on the rock wall. (Again, I missed Vicki's turn, darn it!)Isn't she cute?



She climbed about 10 feet and was done, but thrilled to have had the chance.



After dinner that night was campfire, which was fun as usual, and the girls have been quoting all their favorite skits ever since.

Vicki, Lexi, and I left Saturday night so we could still make it to church on Sunday, so I loaded up while the girls played a few more games, and then we said goodbye and took off. We didn't get home until 11:00, and the girls were zonked. Way too much fun. Can't wait 'til next year!

Girl Scout campfire songs

I'll do a big camp post tomorrow - we had a blast - but I can't resist sharing these videos now. Vicki's troop won the prize (if there had been one) this year for the best campfire song...or at least the most interactive one. Vicki is the 6th from the left, in the pink coat.



Lexi's troop did a song, too, but my friend's camera batteries died about 8 seconds in, so there's not much to the video, and it's horrible quality, but I'm all about equality, so I'm putting it on here anyway. You probably can't even tell what they're saying, but the song is a humorous recounting of a shark attack. Lexi is in the middle, in the blue coat.

The all-consuming, consume-them-all cookie

Girl Scout Cookie sales are still going strong. And by that I mean that they have taken up my last three Saturdays and a good part of the days before and between. On Valentine's Day I had to go pick them up from the depot, drop roughly 120 cases off at my co-leader's house (ha, ha!), and unload the remaining 50 at my house. Then I had to wait for parents to come pick them up, which resulted in one of the moms nearly getting towed from in front of my house by the devil of all towing companies, hired for whatever bizarre reason by our HOA to do "patrol towing". But that's another story. Back to cookies.


We delivered as many of the girls' cookies as we could, even spending an afternoon at Chris's office, the same way we did nearly a month before when we took orders. Many of his co-workers love us for supplying them with their version of heroin. We took some to church with us that Wednesday to deliver to Vicki's Activity Days leaders, and it was a good thing I brought some extras with me, because the sight of those colorful boxes produced 18 more sales. My co-leader doesn't understand why we don't just set up a booth after church one Sunday, no matter how many times I try to explain that that just wouldn't go over well. She thinks we're missing out on an abundance of sales. She's probably right.

I have spent a total of eight hours over the last two Saturdays standing in both Fabric Depot and Fred Meyer, encouraging my daughters to hawk their cookies to poor, unsuspecting shoppers who left their houses with the intention of bringing home a couple yards of quilter's cotton or a carton of ice cream and a case of beer, and found themselves unable to resist the unbearable cuteness of little girls in brown vests. Who could possibly resist that? Oh, yeah, we made a killing - an average of 60 boxes in each 2-hour block of time. Plus this experience always helps to renew my faith in mankind. With the economy like it is, we were expecting a decrease in sales, but we haven't really seen that. If anything, we're doing better this year than last. And people seem more apt to make donations to the troop, which, to be perfectly honest, is almost better than actually buying the cookies. See, we as a troop get $0.65 per box, but if you just hand the girls a dollar, it saves you $3 (cookies cost $4/box) and gives us an additional $0.35. Of course, then the girls don't get any closer to their sales goals, so it's kind of a give-and-take thing. But people are generous, that's what I've learned.


I have been terribly proud of the fact that, up until this weekend, I had only eaten three cookies. This, I will grudgingly admit, was due to no particular willpower of my own, but rather to the fact that we hadn't actually bought ourselves any cookies yet. Vicki and Lexi each bought two boxes (well, Vicki bought two and Lexi bought one and had one bought for her by a cute little old man at Fred Meyer who bought them for her), and they shared a little bit, but that's all I'd had. Until yesterday. I finally bought some, and now that the boxes are open there's no turning back. I more than doubled my consumption in less than 10 minutes. It's like those old Pringles commercials (these may have only been on in England): Once you pop, you can't stop! They're sooooo good. Soooooo irresistible. They're calling me as we speak (write? read? you know what I mean.) The only good thing I can say is that I bought two boxes of Tagalongs and then had to give them back to the troop because we were running out and couldn't order more before our sales this weekend. When I get those back, well, let's just say they won't last long, and neither will my figure (such as it is.)

Cookies are available through March 14. Get them while you still can!

They're Ba-ack!

Yep, it's Girl Scout cookie time again! Let the craziness begin...

To anyone living near us: you know who to call! To everyone else: we'd be happy to supply you with a cookie fix (we pay shipping costs!), or you can check this website for cookie sales near you.

We're just striving to make a difference, one box of cookies at a time :)

Drama with the Brownies

You like that? I designed it for a bunch of t-shirts. I'm so cool!

Last night was our annual Brownie backyard campout. Since we have no backyard to speak of, we held it at my co-leader's house. We did this last year, when we just had one troop of 8 girls, and we had a blast. This year we have one troop of 10 girls (Vicki's) and another troop of 6 (Lexi's). Since they've done a lot together over the past year, we decided to just combine them. Although we had one girl that didn't come and one who didn't spend the night, we still had 14 girls between the ages of 5 and 8 packed into tents in a quiet residential area. Plus 2 future Girl Scouts: Ellie and my co-leader's daughter Katie, who are the same age. And 4 adults, one of whom didn't stay the night. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy.

Well, we had fun. We earned our Making Music Try-it (the patches Brownies earn for the front of their uniforms). We danced to different styles of music, everything from Hannah Montana (oh, the screaming) to Skip to My Lou. Yes, they skipped. We sang in a round. We played "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on water glasses. And we learned the most awesome action song a group of Girl Scouts ever learned, and we hope to perform it at our neighborhood campout in the Spring. We also ate hot dogs and cooked the obligatory s'mores over a campfire provided by a wonderful contraption known as a portable fire pit. Then, at 10:00, after a quiet chorus of "Taps", we sent the girls off to bed.

At midnight we finally got the last two girls to stop giggling after threatening - in the I Am So Not Joking This Time and Just You Try Me voice - to call their moms to come pick them up.

At 3:00 in the morning us three adults were awakened by what has nicely been termed a "domestic dispute" erupting in my friend's backdoor neighbors' house. It was a doozy - screaming, shouting, banging, swearing, you name it. The three of us leapt out of bed and called the police. The 911 operator lazily noted our complaint until we mentioned that we had 16 little girls sleeping in tents in the backyard, at which point they leapt into action and summoned not one, but three patrol cars. Apparently the couple had just returned from a "night out" (read: the bar), and the man was, as the officer put it, wasted. The girl apparently claimed she wasn't frightened, just angry. Well, she may not have beenfrightened, but we sure as heck were. Fortunately the police broke up the altercation, the girl left for her friend's house, and the guy went to bed to sleep it off. All I can say is I hope he had a lovely time at 7am when the Brownies woke up. Serves him right. Mercifully, only one of the Brownies claimed to have heard anything, and she apparently has enough trust in us leaders that when she heard our voices she figured we had the situation under control and went right back to sleep. Not so for us, of course. We finally went back to bed at 5:00 and dozed off and on until the girls woke up, cheerfully, at 7:00.

Good times.

So now I'm attempting to function on roughly two hours of sleep (turning on a movie for the girls and staring at the computer screen for two hours is functioning, right?), and of course the girls are already talking about what we should do at next year's campout.

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!!!

Bridges

In Vicki's class this year they studied the Portland bridges, of which there are many. They learned the names of the 10 bridges that cross the Willamette River within Portland city limits (yep, 10!) and learned what type of bridge they all are. They even took a field trip to the bridges, riding MAX (the light rail) into town and then walking across the Steel Bridge, down the waterfront to the Hawthorne Bridge, and back across and up to the MAX station to ride back to school (I love that they used public transport - they did that on their zoo field trip too! Saves on gas and teaches the kids to be less reliant on cars.) Then each kid chose a bridge and built a model of it out of cardboard and popsicle sticks. Vicki built the Marquam Bridge, which in our family we've always referred to as "the double-decker bridge". Here she is with her model, complete with Hot Wheels cars:

And just in case anyone wanted to compare, here's what the Marquam Bridge actually looks like:
Yeah, it's kind of hard to see, but she did a really good job keeping it realistic!

The other bridge event in our family recently was Lexi's bridging from Daisy Girl Scouts to Brownies. We had a little ceremony for the girls where they crossed a bridge and received their Brownie uniform on the other side, and we had Vicki's Brownie troop help us out. The Daisies all felt really important, and Lexi loves the fact that she's now a Brownie, just like here sister!