Camping!

Camping was tiring freezing awesome! Seriously, we had a lot of fun. The environmental center people assured me the cabin was heated, but their definition of heated was perhaps a little more optimistic than ours. But we kept the fire going throughout the night, and we didn't freeze to death, and the girls seemed to have fun despite the cold.

A competitive game of "Down by the Banks" would take anyone's mind off the cold.

We made fire-starters and built mini fires, then cooked dinner over the fire. S'mores and dough boys were dessert, and most of us had seconds and thirds.

The smoke! Gets in your eyes!

The next morning we hiked all over the place. Hiking was very fun, and the girls made good use of their hiking sticks and earned a hiking badge. Everyone was tired, but everyone had fun!

The intrepid hikers conquer nature!

Alice!

The girls did a great job building a scarecrow. I had my doubts about whether we could get it all done in an hour, but we did! Thank you to the moms who stayed and kept the girls on track. I've taken Alice to the zoo already -- she is proudly on display on scarecrow hill and when we took her in, she was the first one up. So she's right in front, in case you decide to go to the Great Zoo Halloween!

Camping is going to be Friday November 2nd, from about 4 pm until 11 am Saturday morning. Details will be posted soon! Until then, enjoy Alice, the lovely Brownie scarecrow.

Scarecrow!

We have decided to make a scarecrow for the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo Great Halloween. It will be a Brownie scarecrow, of course! The girls have volunteered to bring things in to the next meeting. So, for the Oct. 8th meeting, please bring the following.

Camryn -- Hat

Mia E. -- Wig

Savannah -- Scarf

Chartrice -- Shoes, shirt, sign (the sign needs to be weatherproof)

Cate -- Bracelet, leggings/skirt

Ellie -- Necklace, lots of newspaper

Kaitlynn -- Earrings, paper to make the head

Makayla -- Umbrella, Halloween bucket

Katie G. -- Packing tape

Sophie -- Stapler, safety pins, markers

The scarecrows will be out in the open for about a month, so please don't send anything that you are really attached to. If it rains, the clothes might not come back in good shape. We should be able to return everything though. 

Let me know if you have questions!

Kristin

Time to start up again!

Hello, Brownie parents!

It's nearly time to start up again. I've updated the calendar on the blog so you can see the dates we are meeting (http://troop20048.blogspot.com/p/calendar-2012-2013.html). Basically it's still Monday nights from 6:30 to 7:30, same place as usual. The first meeting is 9/17 and the week after we are having a self-defense class taught by a local tae kwon do instructor. After that it's every 2 weeks with a few exceptions around the holidays.

This year we are going to have the girls do a lot more of the planning, since the meetings are supposed to eventually be girl-led. We're going to brainstorm all the fun things we'd like to do this year and talk about the water Journey we're also going to do, which focuses on learning about water and the environment. (I can see a trip to the Jorgensen Y's pool at some time in the future!)

I'm also planning to take the girls camping the first weekend in November. If you've never seen it, there's a really neat environmental center our near Homestead. We'll be sleeping in the heated cabin (there's a fireplace inside and everything) and learning how to cook and build our own fires outside. We'll be doing that with Lisa's troop (she formed her own troop this year at Whispering Meadows, where her daughters go). 

Please plan on staying for the first meeting to fill out paperwork.

 

See you soon!

Kristin

Brownie/Daisy Day Fun!

Brownie/Daisy Day was a rousing success. We stayed up late at night and ate s'mores, cooked over a fire, and earned a badge in Letterboxing! We're fired up now for camping and I'm thinking of planning another camping trip this fall. Pictures are below!

 The girls get ready for their first station, a hike to find letterboxes.

Taking the troop picture. 

Finding letterboxes... 

Reading clues... 

Playing freeze tag while in our down-time. 

Time to move on! 

On the troll bridge. 

At the wishing tree. 

When your stick falls out, your wish will come true! 

Leaving our mark (stamp) in the book. 

Snake! Not even dead! 

Lunch! 

Making our own stamps. 

These stamps did not work out so good. But we tried. 

Digging for treasure. 

 Ooo! Jewels!

Rings and necklaces! 

Tiaras! 

Gold coins! 

Playing games.

We are getting tired and a little loopy. 

Fierce girls! And one cutie pie.

 

Girls. Enough with the sand, already.

Making singing apples after dinner. 

Many apples fell into the fire. It was still fun though. 

Thank you Miss Amy ^ and Miss Annette for your help with dinner! 

Goodbye Camp McMillen!

Next meeting & Tin Caps

Cookie sales are officially over and the girls earned more than $600 for our troop! We talked at the last meeting about what we'd like to do to celebrate. They came up with a lot of good ideas: A spa day, Chuck E Cheese, Crazy Pins, Cedar Point (uh...no), Build-A-Bear, Painting Fun Spot. I suggested a camp I found a couple of hours away that has a rock climbing wall, zip line, and ropes course. And Lisa suggested the Girl Scouts overnight at the Tin Caps.

So the girls voted and the winner is...an overnight at the Tin Caps! It sounds like a lot of fun. The girls will attend the game with fireworks after. When that's done, they'll show a movie and have pizza, and after THAT we will all collapse into sleeping bags on the field under the stars or in a tent, exhausted. The Tin Caps provide breakfast the next morning, and then we all go home.

The nice thing about this is that families and siblings can do it too. Sure, you like your bed at home, but haven't you always wanted to sleep on a baseball field surrounded by hundreds of Girl Scouts? Wait, don't answer that. :-) Details will be coming soon.

Our next meeting would have been April 2nd but that's spring break, so we won't be meeting again until April 16. See you then!

Kristin

Cookies

Hello parents! We have a cookie booth coming up this weekend! The people I have attending are:

Sunday 2/19, 12:00-1:00 pm

Makayla Ryan/Kim

Anna Annette

Sophie Kristin

Savannah

Sunday 2/19, 1:00-2:00 pm

Sophie Kristin

Brooklyn
Savannah
Kaitlynn

Also...Cookie sales are nearing an end...we have about two weeks left to sell! There are several patches your daughter can earn for selling cookies. If she sells at least 25 boxes, she will automatically get the Cookie Patch for participation. Other prizes can be earned for selling more than that--they're listed on the order form you got.

If your Brownie is participating in a cookie booth, she'll get a patch for that. She'll also get a patch for any Cookie Share cookies she sells (cookies that are donated to the soldiers).

She can also earn a Goal-Getter patch by filling out Goals on the ABC Smart Cookie website. In the past, you had to print out this form and give it to the leaders. But not this year! This year she only needs to fill out the form and complete her goals to earn the patch. The Cookie people at Council will know who filled it out. Directions for filling out the Goal form and getting this patch are here:

1. Go to www.gsnim.org

2. Click on the COOKIES button (pink)

3. Click on COOKIE VOLUNTEER INFO button

4. Click on GIRL GOAL SETTING INSTRUCTIONS

**If the order form looks like you can't read it (items are blacked out), then you need to open it by using Adobe, etc.

If the girl cannot remember her GSUSA ID or her CookiEZone ID, have her select "Forgot ID" & proceed from there.

Please let me know if you have any questions. See you either Sunday at the booth or at Monday's meeting. We'll be practicing First Aid!

Brownie-Daisy Day

Brownie-Daisy Day is coming up and our troop is going! It's a super-fun day to spend with other girl scouts. The event will take place May 11-12 and 2nd graders are allowed to spend the night, if they'd like.

Because cabins are awarded on a first-come first-served basis, I want to get our troop's info in as soon as possible. Please let me know at Monday's meeting if you plan to attend.

For girls who spend the night, Friday's dinner and Saturday's breakfast will be provided. All girls should bring a lunch for Saturday. Saturday evening's dinner and campfire/smores supplies will be provided for everyone. After the campfire on Saturday night, everyone goes home.

We hope you can make it to this fun event!

First Aid!

On Monday we are starting work on our next badge, a first aid badge. We'll talk about 911 when the meeting starts, and at 6:45 we'll go into the fire station to take a half-hour tour. See you then!

Happy New Year!

The Father-Daughter Dance is coming up! It will be held February 4 from 6:30-8:30 at the Coliseum. If you need the sign-up form, please let me know.

Please plan to have one parent stay for the meeting on the 9th. I'll be talking about cookie stuff, and you'll be telling us how many of each kind you'd like. We are able to pick up cookies on the 13th, and if you want yours right away, you can pick them up at Kim Waugh's house after the 13th. Kim is our cookie mom. We'll have contact information for Kim at the meeting.

If you're not worried about getting cookies right away, you can wait to pick them up at our meeting on Jan. 23. Cameron is bringing snack.

See you Monday!