First Camping Trip of the Year

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 10SEP14

Girls from Troop 13405 camped last weekend at Camp Agnes Arnold, one of the most popular in our Council. This camp has a beautiful central lake, a big, beautiful lodge, extensive hiking trails, canoeing, archery, a swimming pool, a purple hippo, an elf, separate, air-conditioned classrooms, a nature center, and themed camping areas.This extensive property offers so much to our girls, we’ve spent numerous weekends there and still have not stayed at the same spot twice. This time we were lucky enough to camp at the Fishing Village. Fashioned after a Northeast coastal town, it even includes a lighthouse.

Members of Troop 13405 at the Fishing Village.

Though I doubt any town in Maine experienced the heat we did this weekend. It was in the high 90’s. Storm clouds threatened to drench us a few times in the afternoon on Saturday. Luckily, they took pity on us and kept moving. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Houston after a summer rain, it gets HOTTER, not cooler.

Some of our activities kept us cool, however. Our girls again benefited from the dedicated volunteers in our community. Ms. Susan generously came all the way out in the heat just so our girls could go canoeing! What a propitious life to be surrounded by such giving people.

 

After the fun on the lake, we had simple sandwiches for lunch. Then off to the pool. Our girls relished the dip in the cool water. I could see their demeanor change from slightly grouchy to cheerful. I have to say the pool water dropped my body temperature making the weather much more bearable. We were even a bit chilly when we reluctantly exited the pool. Sadly, the chill quickly wore off on our walk back to camp, but the girl’s spirits remained high! We sang John Legend and Bruno Mars songs all the way back. Not exactly traditional Girl Scout songs, but it is the girl’s troop, not mine.

The girls still need a bit more help on treating each other with respect. And they tended to disappear when it was time for their kaper. That’s why we’re camping, right? The fun is the reason we convince the girls to go, but the ultimate goal is to live by the Girl Scout law. For this trip,we concentrated on “Respect myself and others”. Hopefully, some of this will sink in allowing us to explore other parts of the Girl Scout law for our next trip.

What camping trips have your girls loved? What did they learn while they were there?

Share in the comments!

Kelly

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