Well That Wasn't So Bad

The key to Girl Scout Camp: Low Expectations. Violet cried much of the 2 and a half hour drive there. She was worried about Council Big Wig, she was worried about the weather, she was worried about the other girls. I tried to get her to calm down. I slightly considered just going to my parent's house and hiding out there for the weekend. But we went on.

We got to camp and checked in. I could tell right away that the counselors had been trained to be wary of us Moms and not give us an inch. They were so ready for us to break the rules they kept barking them out when anyone so much as looked at them funny. A couple of moms were chastised for wearing sleeveless shirts (the packing list had said "no spaghetti straps, halter tops or mid-drifts", their shirts were none of the above). Others were scolded to get their girls' hair in ponytails (lest the spontaneously combust at the camp fire) or to put on hats AT ALL TIMES (apparently it rains ticks under the trees).

No problem we were in T-shirts and hatted. We had tennis shoes and socks on (NO SANDALS - YOU MUST HAVE CLOSED TOE SHOES AND SOCKS ON OR YOUR FEET WILL FALL OFF). We were prepared.

Side note: counselors did not all wear hats or have their hair tied back. The camp director doesn't appear to own a pair of socks, she had these sandal like things on her feet all weekend. Oh yeah, that went on several evaluations at the end of the weekend.

That evening we had a campfire and made s'mores. One marshmallow and 2 graham crackers per person. We did get an entire Hershey bar between us. But who makes a s'more with only one marshmallow? Violet did really good in our tent. We had the best tent mates we've had since our very first year at camp. The girl was a couple of years younger than Violet and was even more nervous about it than Violet. She was spunky and fun and very nice. She and Violet hit it off really well, and the mom was definitely nice. We couldn't have picked better tentmates.

Turned out we didn't have to go into town to get our nails done if we didn't want to. Violet didn't want to. We stayed at camp and did archery, arts and crafts and swam in the pool. It was much more to our liking. There was also a rappelling option that Violet opted not to take. I wasn't surprised. Heights aren't her thing. I was fine with that. We did watch a little, it looked cool. But I was just as glad to stay on the ground.

Side note: At archery one counselor confided to us that they were understaffed and that was why they didn't have more at camp activities. The Council Big Wig at camp had miscounted. She had 29 for the weekend. It was 29 pairs. That was why they also kept running out of food. We were all fed, but not that well.

Just moments before we were ready to get out of the pool a thunder clap was heard and the pool was immediately cleared. We got to take quick showers before we were herded into the lodge. We actually had our biggest rebel moment then, when I insisted on going to our tent to drop off our wet stuff and pick up our rain ponchos (I was told we wouldn't need them. Turns out we didn't, but I had no way of knowing how long the rain would last or when we would be released from the lodge). Violet crammed all of her stuffed toys and her blankie into her backpack to bring with her to safety. It was less than 10 minutes and we were in the lodge where we were supposed to be. No drops of rain had yet fallen nor had any more thunder sounded.

We were rushed to the basement a few minutes later. Figured out when they seated all the girls right in front of some big windows and a TV, it was to watch a movie, not for safety (they had this thing about not telling us anything). Violet said she loved watching The Incredibles again. We did get some heavy rain and more thunder and lightning, but nothing overly severe and the power stayed on.

The movie took us to dinner time, after which we had a campfire. We pretty much skipped the campfire to relax in the tent instead. But I did come out to hear that the morning plans were that we leave after breakfast. Our paperwork had said we leave after lunch. Our paperwork had said a lot of contradictory things, so I think it was a clerical error.

Side note: one letter said we were to mail a health form in and bring it to camp, in the same sentence. They desperately need an English major at that Council office. I complained in my evaluation about the poor communication between the office, the camp staff and the moms.

The next morning we could jump into the pool and then have waffles or sleep in a bit and have cold cereal. I hesitate to call it a polar bear swim because the ones who did it were not allowed to actually swim (per a mom friend they were yelling, "DO NOT SWIM ACROSS THE POOL, JUMP IN AND GET RIGHT BACK OUT!" She said she was so tempted to swim across just to see what they'd do.) Since it was only a polar bear dip, Violet opted for cold cereal. I was good with that. If it had been a real polar bear swim, she had been very tempted to try. But jump in and get right back out for a waffle? Not good enough incentive. Mr. I. was stunned that they tried to make us do stuff for food.

Anyway, we are back home. I don't think we'll go back to that camp again. I mean, it wasn't horrible. But it wasn't warm and welcoming, you know? Violet loved the arts and crafts, loved the pool and loved the movie. She earned her Archery badge (but has decided she's really not as big an archery fan as she was a few years ago). In fact, Violet is suggesting we take next summer off from camp. She has been the last 4 years in a row. We have one more night coming up in 2 weeks. And several mom-daughter pairs from this last weekend will be there too (including the rebel in the pool). We are looking forward to that. I'll post the pictures in a separate post.