Brownie Camporee

Last Friday Paige and I embarked on a new adventure. We went on our first Brownie Troop overnight Camporee. My Co-leader Lisa and I stayed two nights with 10 girls. We were both a little nervous at first because none of the girls had ever camped before and they are all pretty young, 6-7 year olds. Fortunately all ten girls fit into one cabin, so they were all together. I was so impressed with how well the girls did. They all were well-behaved, helpful and happy for the most part, yes even Paige! We had a few tears and scrapes from falls and some whining, but they all pulled through and did their part to make the trip successful. It was great to see them all doing their "chores." Some cooked food, some cleaned dishes, some swept out cabins and the dining hall...all played an important role during the trip. I think what impressed me the most was how polite, thoughtful and helpful they were toward Lisa and I and toward each other. The girls all get along well.

I have to elaborate more on all the fun things we did during our camp out. Friday night we really just had enough time to settle into the cabins and have dinner before it started to get dark, although we did squeeze in a hike to the alpine tower and a game of buddy tag with some of the other troops. Paige loved the buddy tag game. Friday night was a late night. Our girls were all finally asleep by about midnight. They were all so excited and some were a bit nervous with the darkness and the outdoor noises, so I understood that. However, there was another troop in our camp who were up until about 4am, which meant I didn't sleep at all. Those girls woke up some of our girls because they were so loud. I had to be the mean leader and tell them go to sleep because their leader fell asleep and was snoring very loudly. After I got them to go to sleep I went back to my cabin with the snoring leader and maybe got about 1 hour of sleep total, I am not kidding!

Surprisingly I wasn't that tired throughout the day on Saturday. Like clockwork, Paige was up at 6:30am and ready to go, despite staying up so late the night before. Ugh. Once one is up, the rest aren't far behind. We ate breakfast, did our morning chores and then headed to the flagpole for opening ceremonies to kick off the Camporee. The theme this year was "Dig It" and it was an Archeology theme. We did crafts, played games, and had activities throughout the day all surrounding this theme. Paige really enjoyed the games. They did an obstacle course and the favorite game was called Cross the Creek. After each rotation the ropes were moved farther and farther apart and if you landed in the "creek" you were out. Paige did really well at this game. Who knew how well she could jump! At the end of a long day, we went back to camp and made our dinner. The last part to our day was the big campfire with all the other troops. The girls loved this part. We all sang songs, roasted marshmallows and made smores! When we got back to camp, the girls in all 3 troops in our camp were sound asleep by 10:30pm - yippee!! The leaders weren't far behind that. Other than a very loud owl and more snoring, it was a pretty quiet night.

Sunday morning we ate breakfast, cleaned up camp, packed the vans and headed to the flagpole for our closing ceremony. Then we headed home. I think the best part about this experience for me was seeing the smiles on the girls faces when they arrived home and told their parents stories about all the fun they had. I was so happy to be a part of that. I had so much fun too and can't wait to do it again - really!