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| I have a huge family. Lake Devereaux. |
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Day -273
Sorted out plans to meet up with my old Scout friends next week in Oregon. They're not real family, but they're chosen family. Whenever we see each other it's like no time has passed. Friends fade away eventually but family won't let you get away so easily. I don't get to spend too much time with them though, I'm only on the coast for 'business'. I'm dropping my little buddy Hopalong off at her Grandpa's house and then I'm off to Idaho to visit my natal family. The farm land and open space will be a nice change of pace for a week.
Took the dogs to the beach this morning before visiting one of my co-leaders to sort out the finances. She was a bit taken aback when I dumped out the jar of receipts on her kitchen table. Turns out I'm also supposed to open the bank statements? We got through it without any bloodshed, Hurrah!
One of my scouts dropped off a tightly sealed up garbage bag yesterday. I thought it only had the crummy walmart tent the troop owns in it. Today I was cleaning up my room and I was just going to throw the whole bag in the tent closet when I thought better and opened it up. Turns out there was my own 2man tent, the troop tent AND a gob of moldy cream cheese in there. Ugh, 5th graders! I resolve to never let those Scouts out of my sight until we unpack group gear after a trip. Be it lightning, snowing, raining or dead of night...
Took the dogs to the beach this morning before visiting one of my co-leaders to sort out the finances. She was a bit taken aback when I dumped out the jar of receipts on her kitchen table. Turns out I'm also supposed to open the bank statements? We got through it without any bloodshed, Hurrah!
One of my scouts dropped off a tightly sealed up garbage bag yesterday. I thought it only had the crummy walmart tent the troop owns in it. Today I was cleaning up my room and I was just going to throw the whole bag in the tent closet when I thought better and opened it up. Turns out there was my own 2man tent, the troop tent AND a gob of moldy cream cheese in there. Ugh, 5th graders! I resolve to never let those Scouts out of my sight until we unpack group gear after a trip. Be it lightning, snowing, raining or dead of night...
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Day -274
Last night and today definitely counted as about three days. We had our awards ceremony--which was more like "Girl Scouts: Clown Car Edition. How many people can we fit in the scout house?" We only get all our age levels together (Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors AND Ambassadors) once a year so it's quite an event.
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.
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? |
Friday, June 10, 2011
Day -275
Subtitle: Scout Awards
Today we're having the end of the year award ceremony. I wish I could say that I spend lots of time reflecting on how wonderful the girls are in philosophical and eloquent ways, but I don't. I'm usually busy packing or unpacking gear, running after folks with paperwork, writing emails that may or may not be read, thumbing through the badge book and generally testing the limits of my memory and patience. This is not to say that I don't think the girls are the coolest kids on the planet. Obviously I enjoy what I do, or I wouldn't put in the (probably) 300+ hours a year to help make Troop 48 the rockin'est troop in the area. I love hanging out with them and watching them try new things or pull of something especially challenging is really rewarding. And they're funny, hilarious even (when they're not screaming).
Maybe I should hire a speech writer.
In other news:
275 days until March 12, 2012. I've lost my lexan cup. I couldn't find it when I was packing for the O'Leno trip a few weeks ago. I'm really bummed out about that--not because it's a valuable cup or especially fancy or anything but I liked it. My dad bought it for me before he took me on my first ever backpacking trip in 1995. So-long lexan cup, you'll be missed. At least we can say you were durable. Guess this means I have a reason to stop by REI next week!
Today we're having the end of the year award ceremony. I wish I could say that I spend lots of time reflecting on how wonderful the girls are in philosophical and eloquent ways, but I don't. I'm usually busy packing or unpacking gear, running after folks with paperwork, writing emails that may or may not be read, thumbing through the badge book and generally testing the limits of my memory and patience. This is not to say that I don't think the girls are the coolest kids on the planet. Obviously I enjoy what I do, or I wouldn't put in the (probably) 300+ hours a year to help make Troop 48 the rockin'est troop in the area. I love hanging out with them and watching them try new things or pull of something especially challenging is really rewarding. And they're funny, hilarious even (when they're not screaming).
Maybe I should hire a speech writer.
In other news:
275 days until March 12, 2012. I've lost my lexan cup. I couldn't find it when I was packing for the O'Leno trip a few weeks ago. I'm really bummed out about that--not because it's a valuable cup or especially fancy or anything but I liked it. My dad bought it for me before he took me on my first ever backpacking trip in 1995. So-long lexan cup, you'll be missed. At least we can say you were durable. Guess this means I have a reason to stop by REI next week!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Where'd we go???
Ok, so Virginia Skyline Council is organizing this thing called the Great Girl Scout Hike, it's basically the Eaglet Express.
They have a website at www.gshike.org. Check them out there, they're going into it with the ATC and lots of other higher up support.
I'll still be hiking, I'll still be starting March 12, but if you want more official info on the GS Appalachian Trail thru for the centenary contact the GS hike folks.
They have a website at www.gshike.org. Check them out there, they're going into it with the ATC and lots of other higher up support.
I'll still be hiking, I'll still be starting March 12, but if you want more official info on the GS Appalachian Trail thru for the centenary contact the GS hike folks.
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