There's no place like camp

Violet and I got home today at about noon. Another successful camping trip under our belts. For a while there late Friday night I didn't think it would be a success, but I'll get to that.

It took us both a while to get used to this new camp. But once we did, I think we both fell in love with it. First thing at check-in they inspected our heads for lice, our feet for athlete's foot and took our temperature. And confiscated my Seasonale. I've never had drugs taken from me at camp (as a grown-up). And in case you haven't heard my stories about how absolutely wonderful Seasonale is and how it has turned my life around since I no longer have horrible PMS symptoms two weeks each month, well there's my story. I was quite uneasy about turning it over. I DID NOT like that idea at all. I offered to keep it locked in my car, they said no.

Okay, got through check in, went to settle in our unit. Found out we weren't in tents, but in cabins. With 6 other cabin mates. And bunk beds. Not good. Violet has a love-hate, mainly hate, thing with bunk beds. She really wants to sleep on the top bunk, but would rather it be lower. Sigh, I was crawling up to the top bunk. Even bigger problem, her extreme nervousness about being away from home. We couldn't do our hand holding from 2 different bunks. This would be a problem. And it was.

Our cabin mates all arrived later, after we had headed to the pool. At least the pool was good. They didn't make us do the swim test unless we wanted to go in the deep end. Violet's not a strong enough swimmer, we stuck to the shallow end. A few mom-daughter pairs did it. One dad-daughter pair tried, the daughter wasn't strong enough swimmer to complete it. But kudos to her (and to her dad for encouraging her and cheering her up afterward, "we'll practice and try it again next year, Pumpkin") she tried her little heart out. That's what Girl Scout camp is all about.

The pool was really nice, I'll post pictures in a day or two. Then off to dinner, which was breaded porkchops, veggies, salad, fruit. There was lots of food all weekend long. Lots of variety and available often, just what campers really need! We did crafts after dinner, then had a campfire and made s'mores. Yummy.

Bedtime. Oh no. Oh yes, she didn't fall asleep until 12:30 am. She kept our cabinmates up (we got dirty looks from 2 of the moms the next day, sympathy and encouragement from one). She cried. She used the pit latrines 3 times (which were really nice latrines if I may say so). I ended up pulling my sleeping bag and pillow down off the top bunk and slept (more or less, mainly less) on her bunk with her. Buggers what the cabinmates thought about that. I am Freakmom, hear me roar! I do what my Freak-kid needs. Even if my shoulder is really sore in the morning.

Morning and flag ceremony came all too early. But wait, cabin 2 (that's us) report for hopper duty. Hoppers are the campers who set up for meals. It is quite fun. Violet got a kick out of it. Breakfast was scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese, bread with jelly or peanut butter, fruit, yogurt, cereal. Again, a really good spread. Violet didn't eat much. She wasn't awake yet.

After breakfast we had unit kapers. That's where you all pitch in and clean up. We got to clean our program building. Well, Violet and I and the nice mom and daughter did it. We didn't see the other two. I think they were in the cabin putting on their make up or maybe at their car (the other mom made several snarky comments about them running off to their cars all the time).

After kapers we had creek stomping! This was so cool. We put on our water shoes and climbed down into the cold, cold creek and walked along, splashing, singing and see the beaver dam. Violet said this was her favorite thing at camp. We were pretty wet and muddy when we got out. There will be a photo eventually.

We then got ready for our lunch cookout. Violet got to help out thereby mostly completing her Outdoor Cooking Badge (they gave us a sheet of various badge requirements the girls completed at the end). We had grilled steak (Violet's first steak ever!), foil pack veggies, salad, and cake baked in the coals - you campers know how that was done, I think I'll let the non-campers wonder. Another good meal, even if I did skip the steak, looked good but I really want to eliminate or really cut back on red meat.

After lunch we tried our hands at more crafts. We made windchimes (the night before we painted fans, made lanyards and bead animals, and pins). Violet enjoyed it. I had troubled getting my old eyes to be able to see what I was doing. I didn't finish mine but asked Violet to paint it for me next week.

My favorite activity was next: canoeing! I am a canoer, canoest? can-do-canoe paddler, that's it. I love canoeing. We got suited up in our life jackets and put our canoe in. Violet in front, I steered. We explored the pond. Then they started a game of canoe tag. One canoe had a buoy and they tried to paddle close enough to toss it into another canoe. We expertly paddled away from one meanie mom from our cabin with our superior paddling skills. Then we teased several other canoes by stalking them making them think we had the buoy. We won the game by being the last ones tagged (I told Violet we had to let them get us because the game wasn't going to end until we all got it). We didn't officially win, I just told Violet that to cheer her up. She didn't want to play.

We had some rest time after canoeing, then we went back to the pool. Violet had been wiggling a tooth all weekend. By the time we got to the pool it was super loose. She let me pull it in the locker room. I put it in a baggie in our backpack and tonight the Toothfairy will visit. As we were saying with our friends from the cabin, if you try to have the Toothfairy visit while you aren't home she gets her whole database messed up and she can't find you the next time.

Dinner that night was baked pasta, bread, salad, more fruit. Then a Jell-O whip thing for dessert. By the time dinner was over Violet was barely able to remain upright she was so tired. There was a family Olympic competition which we just watched along with another mom/daughter pair from the weekend before. (I didn't mention there were two groups there that had been at the camp the weekend before. Turns out there are a lot of us who camp-hop all summer hitting several the local Girl Scout camps. Campies I guess you could call us. We're getting to know some of them so it will be fun to see who we see next summer too).

After the obstacle course relay race there was a "Hootenanny" dance. We were supposed to get dressed up as funny as we could do and go to the dance. Violet wanted to watch the dance but not dress up or dance. Part of her wanted to fit in and dress up. Most of her was so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open. In fact when I went to First Aid to get my Seasonale tablet (the best drug on the planet) the first aider asked if she could take Violet's temperature because she was so droopy (we didn't tell her I had already given Violet some undeclared children's Tylenol I smuggled into camp).

Instead of a campfire that night we had a glow bracelet campfire. They cracked a bunch of necklaces and bracelets and put them in the fire pit. We sang songs and the girls wore the fire. Then we did memory sticks. Each girl took a turn saying what they liked about camp and put a bracelet or necklace back in the pit (typically you add a stick to the campfire, then save some of the ashes to take to your next fire). Violet spoke up and said she liked creek stomping the best. Isn't that awesome! She actually spoke up! After we had walked to our cabin they said the girls could take the "wishes" back and keep them. Some one else took the pink bracelet that Violet had put in, she was bummed. But we saw a counselor who was picking up the leftover and asked Violet if she wanted one. When Violet said she was hoping for a bracelet, not a necklace the counselor gave her both the ones she was wearing. Violet was over the moon.

We got ready for bed and Violet used the bracelet as a makeshift nightlight. She said that helped her fall asleep. She fell asleep much earlier, and much, much, much easier, and slept all night. I didn't bother trying to sleep in the top bunk. Instead I took the extra blankets I had in the car and used those to cover up on Violet's bunk with her. It was much cooler and far less humid than the night before had been. That helped too.

In the morning we just had our flag ceremony, breakfast (with the yummiest peach muffins ever), packed and cleaned up the unit. We took our time checking out. Funny, the other campies took their time too. The ones we'll probably never see again hightailed it out of there. In fact 3 pairs left the night before.

There was no rain. It was sunny, warm, and really good camping weather. The camp experience was very much like a miniature resident camp session, but with parents. There were 3 dads who had brought a total of 4 girls with them. Most of the people there were super nice. Mainly the snots were just our 2 cabin mates. And really, only one was mean, the other was just standoffish. We didn't care, especially after we met the other ones who were really nice.

I think we'll be going back there next summer. Especially if Violet can shake this not being away from home thing. I am seriously considering taking a bunch of glow bracelets with to act as nightlights. Hey, whatever works. That's the Girl Scout camp way.