The parents said it was a nice ceremony and the girls were happy to get badges and walk across the wooden bridge. But lordy was it ever hot and crowded. The house isn't much bigger than a standard-sized living room. It comfortably holds a dozen kids but we rearranged the furniture and made good use of all the benches and managed to squash 20 girls and their families into the house. I'm SURE that's not compliant with safetywise ratios or fire code or anything but I did point out the three exits (Here, here and HERE, make sure to look carefully, the nearest exit may be behind you).
Today we wrapped up the year with a party the Cadettes planned. It was kept TOP SECRET from me (seriously, Sam you can't know anything!). Turns out they planned a "Birthday" party for me complete with mildly humiliating party games. They made me a card shaped like a backpack and they all signed it with sweet sentiments. Though the highlight was: "Happy Turd-Day you're not Always Stupid" Trust me that is a compliment from the girl in question. They're the best.
So that's it, Folks. The Official end of the GS Year. Now I can sift through the ruins of my life and build it up again over the next few months before we start again. I mean, clean my bedroom and sort gear and start making the 2011-2012 calendar. It's a historic membership year after all...
Here's a list of things I did this year that I swore up and down I would never ever do (or at least wouldn't have thought I would do).
1. Accepted brownies into the troop. Turns out they're pretty cute and easy to handle.
2. Swam with gators, danced with ticks.
3. Hosted a Service Unit event. Film Festival, it went OK.
4. Attended the Opera Workshop. Learned a lot but, oops couldn't make it to the Opera performance had to go to wilderness first aid training.
5. Listened to Lady Gaga for 4 hours straight on the way to O'Leno State Park with the Cadettes.
6. Doubled the enrolement in Troop 48.
7. Snagged a really awesome co-leader who's in it for the long-haul.
8. Helped the Juniors and Cadettes complete their Journeys. For real!
Next year we're going to be training seriously for the kick off of the Eaglet Express. We're bringing as many girls and parents as we can up to Springer for the first leg of the Journey.
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| Fig. 1 My "birthday" cupcake. It says "Sam's Fault" which is their way of saying they respect me so much that anything that goes wrong must be my fault because the sun and moon revolve around me. Right? Right? Anyone? |
