Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Official.

I'm "officially" a Girl Scout Leader....and after this weekend...I FEEL more official. There is a difference, trust me. At our last Daisy meeting, I was feeling a bit Mc-Frazzled. And it's not like anything spectacular happened this weekend....no eye-opening experiences. Maybe just a realization that yes, I'm new at this...but so are other leaders and you know what, I'm gonna do a good job! My Affirmation of the Day: I'm a good leader. I make good decisions, I can do this.

Anyways...I digress...
The leaders retreat was in Paris, Tx...a cute little itty-bitty town...at a place called Camp Gambill. It's a newly acquired GS camp, since some boundary change or something. But its really clean {other than that smell from the latrine...wowza}, not a long walk to the lodge, has a lake with a swimming dock {that truly reminded me of a picture taken of my Grandma Sargent and I a dozen or so years ago}, and...wait for it....cabins with a/c. Yup...that's right A/C. Lucky girls. Of course, those aren't the cabins I stayed in...but the weather is so nice right now, all you have to do is open the windows and you'll even get a little chilly!
I didn't take many pictures during the day on Saturday....we were split into groups and assigned to classes. My classes included: Lanyards, Leave No Trace, Nature Games and Down by the Pond.
It was fun to learn a new craft....making lanyards can be a bit frustrating, but I got the hang of it and made a cute half of a bracelet....the promptly forgot what I learned later that day and wasn't able to finish the other have of said bracelet! Whoops.
I about fell asleep in Leave No Trace....it was a great class, I was just up doing a midnight scavenger hunt, so I was uber-tired {plus...the cabins were nice, but dusty and full of cob/spider webs...eek, can't say I slept all that well}. But basically, leave it like you found it. She did have this interesting game where she gave you different objects and had you put them in order of how long it would take to disintegrate. Like a piece of paper, tin can, diaper, glass bottle....it takes a diaper like 100 years to be gone!  Good class...I love stuff about recycling, etc...I want to teach a class next year at this retreat on crafting with recyclables...wouldn't that be fun? I have an awesome tutorial for a soda can bracelet.
Nature Games is going to come in very handy...I'm actually going to use a bunch of the games we learned tomorrow at our next meeting! Including: Animal Yoga...hilarious stuff. Even more hilarious to watch a bunch of leaders try and do it!
Down by the Pond is the only 1st choice class I got....everyone else in the class said it was their 2nd choice. I felt like I could actually utilize the info used in this class by taking the troop to a lake or pond and having them explore. The teacher of this class was the best one I had...she had some really cool "science" ideas.

Saturday night we had a campfire after dinner...including singing {songs of which I CANNOT get out of my head, goodness gracious...}, a candle lighting ceremony and a flag retirement. Very cool. Before all this started, they invited those who had previously collected fire ashes to add them to the fire as it was started. Some of these ashes were from the 1930s. Sunday morning, we were given the chance to scoop up some of the ashes to keep and to share at future firesides.

And of course, there were smores....yum, yum...
Of course...I wish we would have been able to have more campfire time...just to sit around it and drink hot chocolate and eat smores, lots and lots of smores...but for some reason it was not to be. We did get to do some star-gazing, though. It's amazing how big the sky can be when you're out in the country, away from the city lights.
In the morning...gathering up ashes.
Sunday morning, they held a "Scouts Own"....which is like a devotional for campers. I think this is when I realized I needed an affirmation {see above} and the things that were said were very touching. I felt it was very appropriate and I was thankful for this opportunity, since being at the retreat made me miss church!
Blogger was being stupid...so this picture is supposed to be up near the top...
But just to show our cabins...total flashback to Camp Latonka.

The girls in my cabin. I went with the co-leader of our troop, Linda....and when I first got there I was so glad to have her, to ease my phobia of being alone, I guess. But I met such nice women there...just normal, down-to-earth women...very much taking to heart the Girl Scout Promise of being a sister to every Girl Scout.
We were in the Sleepy Unit...perfect, yes?
There were several trails winding around the campsite...so Sunday morning, before we left, we took a little stroll {the other leader with me is a power-walker, I guess....so it was more like a fast-paced hike than a stroll, really}. It was odd that we hadn't done more exploring till then...but they kept us pretty busy on Saturday!
Again...this picture should be at the top! Thank you, blogger...
I do have to say, I missed my little family a lot! I didn't get very good cell reception at the camp, so I didn't even try to call them. But I was able to get a picture of Jax, so that was a bright spot in my day!
I came home to this beautiful sign {so sweet, James putting it together for me...so thoughtful!}
Jax even contributed...chocolate and strawberry syrup handprints. Yum.
Bella likes to write her name on everything now...Ü
Fun, fun weekend...I'm excited for next year {I'll definitely be making SWAPS!!! So many cute ones given out this year!}.
I really am grateful for the chance to be a GS leader...it just isn't going exactly like I had planned, and I get overwhelmed so easily. But I'm determined to make the best of it...and hopefully not compromise to many of my plans in the meantime. Crossing fingers.

5 comments:

Jennifer said...

Total Camp Latonka flashbacks!! I never went but I remember picking you guys up and staying with Grandma! fun stuff! :) glad you had fun.. you're gonna be a great leader!! :)

Anonymous said...

also flashback to the camp where Jason from Friday the 13th lives. Did you see him?

And soda can bracelets?? Why not shards o glass bracelets?

Krista said...

Looks like fun!! That lake is beautiful!!

Jenni said...

James' comments make me laugh, but mostly because they sound just like the kinds of things my hubby would say.

Hannah said...

Yep, James is sure a funny one! Made me laugh like crazy! Shards o glass? Anyway, those pictures are beautiful!! Reminds me of the good ol' Missouri days... good times! I'm so proud of you for being a GS leader. I know you'll do a great job and make a difference in the lives of the girls you serve!!