A Camping We Will Go

It's Sunday afternoon and we survived the camping trip. I meant to journal this weekend so I could share with you every detail : ), but I didn't. Instead I'll just give a rundown.

Friday we were to leave, as a group, for the campground by 5:30. Girls were late, leader unorganized so it was more like after 6. Then, the girl that was riding with us didn't bring her bag lunch so I had to stop on the way to get her something, which meant we lost the rest of the caravan. I had directions from the leader but of course got lost, way lost. I called her once, she was no help. Called The Hubs at home and he wasn't having it much better. He and The Boy were locked out of the house. A little later I found my way back to where I needed to be, called The Hubs, he'd gotten in the house (thankfully I'd not locked the kitchen window: ) ). However this made me nervous about the rest of the weekend. It didn't help matters that I was transporting one of the two girls in the troop that is medicated for her behavior. : ) Yes, a fun ride.

So, we eventually get to the camp, hike in, carrying some of our stuff, to get our gear stowed in our platform tents. No biggie, I spent the summer in one in Texas in the heat with armadillos and spiders as a camp counselor. I quickly made friends with one of the other moms in our troop. I'd met her before but she doesn't attend meetings so this weekend in the trenches with her was pretty fun. She runs her mouth and has a thought process similar to mine : )

Friday night we made smores and they retired a flag---I'd never seen this done. This is where they have a ceremony and burn flags that are worn out, etc. I'm sure had the cadet troop (our troop leader's other troop--w/ her daughter---that joined us this weekend.) been better this would have been a more impressive ceremony, but it wasn't. My new friend and I ended up passing out marshmallows and being snarky about the leader and her cadet troop : ) I was struck by two things at this point. Kids are not polite. They do not say thank you or please or anything. Also, the Brownies that were there we so much nicer and sweeter than the older girls.

Girl Scouts have capers or chores when they camp and our patrols chore the first night was cleaning the bathrooms. You want this job first because basically you're just sweeping out the cobwebs and wiping things down since they've not been used since the last campers were there (who cleaned it before they left). Our girls shrieked and screamed at every spider, moth or bug. It was interesting and I did a lot of spider stomping. Then to bed. The Girl ended up getting into it with one of her bunk mates (the hyper girl that rode w/ us) and ended up in my tent on the floor. By this point I'd not had a smoke since we arrived and it was midnight. I know it's camp, you don't smoke, I didn't want to smoke around the girls, so after most of them were in bed I stepped off a little in the woods to smoke. Ah, sweet relief right? Nope, the effing leader (who I've begun to hate over the weekend) told me technically we can only smoke in the fire rings. I was like, yeah, I figured that but I didn't want to smoke in front of the girls. Beeotch.

The Girl is growing up though. My motherly attention was not appreciated--don't hug me, don't kiss me don't mother me in front of the girls. Sniff sniff. Not the best thing to be confronted with on Mother's Day weekend, but I noticed the other girls were doing the same thing so it wasn't just me.

Saturday we got up to start our activities at some Godforsaken hour, like 6 a.m. or something. It was crazy, who the hell WANTS to get up that early? Insane. Thankfully one of the girl's grandfather (we know them from church) went with us and he had coffee ready each morning. I also discovered he smokes too and so we he'd sneak off to smoke I'd join him since the leader wasn't about to tell him to smoke in the fire ring. Beeotch.

Off to archery. I should say that everything is not right beside each other at camp. I don't know if you've ever been to a girl scout camp, but that shit is spread out. Gravel roads, trails, nature and you hike from one place to the next. So we went to archery. The girls did great! Lots of fun and The Girl hit the target lots of times AND got a bulls eye : ) After archery off to the lake for water fun. They kayaked and canoed and I was so proud. The Girl got in the kayak and took off like she'd been doing it forever. She's never been in one. I was scared at first because it's her, in the water, in a boat alone; but she was great. They let the moms try it too.

First my new found friend and I tried the canoe. I'd been in one before, camping with my grandparents, but never really rowed one. It's more difficult than it looks, getting in sync etc. After that we tried the kayaks and I loved it. It is so incredibly cool. You're in total control of your movements, it flows easily, even for me, and it was just great fun. Out on the water in your own boat going as fast or slow, wherever and you are powering your movement. I really, really enjoyed that part.

The morning was a hit and made better by the fact the leader was not with us and was with her cadets : )

Back to the camp for lunch and a little break before the next activity. (Oh, so you get the full extent of this weekend, what, as a woman would make this even MORE fun you may wonder? How about starting your period Friday morning so your worst days of your cycle are spent in the woods with little kids in tents : ) )

Afternoon activities were to include a challenge course and rock climbing wall. After the challenge course that wasn't a challenge course it opened up and stormed, buckets of rain all over the place. Thankfully we were prepared with our ponchos : ) We did end up hanging out at the dining hall during the worst of the storm before going back to camp. Rock climbing was cancelled and we couldn't build a campfire that night because of the rain. The counselors that ran the challenge course cheated the girls out of most of it by wasting time on basic games. When my friend said something about it the counselor, a teenager/girl scout, got hateful. What the hell is up with girl scouts these days?

Thankfully all was not lost because though we were in tents we had a shelter/kitchen area and some propane stoves so we still ate dinner and had a good time. Then the girls decorated socks and made Mother's Day flower pots and we went to a sock hop at the dining hall. After that it was back to camp, get ready for bed and lights out. It rained during the night, very peaceful to sleep in a tent in the rain. I slept like a log both nights.

Up early again this morning, clean up, pack up, load up and a flag ceremony then home.

The worst part of the trip really was the cadet troop. These are about 8 girls in middle school who lacked any respect for adults, the leader or the juniors in our troop. They were obnoxious, rude, condescending and bitches. The leader/mom had one set of rules for them and another for our girls. The Girl will not be in this troop again next year even if my new friend and I have to lead our own troop.

We got home around 1. Though I showered yesterday morning I was so looking forward to a nice hot shower in my own bathroom. It was heavenly. Shower, some adult time with The Hubs, a nap and now he's grilling me ribs and making dinner for Mother's Day.

What a great weekend! Made better also by the fact The Hubs and The Boy did my daughterly duty of celebrating Mother's Day w/ my Mom : ) The Bro and SIL had everyone over to their house yesterday for Mother's Day and (sniff sniff) I missed it : )