Fall Products- Almond cran-orange crunch

I am very excited to get back to my troop. I love my summer break, but I miss those girls.

This year I am the returning community fall product liaison. Fancy word for sucker!

Yesterday was my scout planning day and I spent it getting ready for the training session with the lower half of our community's troop leaders. We were joined with another service unit a year or two ago and we still function as separate service units. I take care of my local troops and another woman does her area. I have 11 troops to her 22. I got the better deal, I think.

Last year I had a training that I did at a service unit meeting, but there was only 3 troops there. Everyone else had to be trained at a different time. It was frustrating for me because what started off as a simple project turned into something that took way to much of my time.

This year the council is offering an online training for troops. I have everything prepared for the troops who will attend the service unit meeting and the leaders who can not make it can do training online. They have to print out a certificate that they finished the course and then I will give them their girl packets. Should be fairly easy!

I am also having the product rally at our troop meeting place. I think this is a great way to start off the year. Last year we had a nice turn out, and I am hoping for that again. I used the fall rally guide given by council to plan. The only thing I am adding new is craft. I think I will have the girls make lip gloss. I did this once before for my own troop at a sleep over and it was fun. On Pinterest it says to heat up the Vaseline, but we did not when we made it. I am thinking of using coconut oil instead of Vaseline. It really just depends on the budget.

We have a few new items on the product list for the girls to sell. One is English Butter Toffee, OMG is this wonderful. I will be buying one or two of these from my daughter for sure. I tried them at the training and man, instant love.

The other product is a nut and fruit mixture called Almond Cran-Orange crunch. It comes in a zip close bag similar to last years Blueberry crunch item. What it is, is almonds and dried cranberries covered in a glaze. I was really surprised at how good this product was. It is very sweet, but the almonds are nice and big. I am not sure if I will buy this one or not, mainly because I have two bags now from the product training, but it is worth a try. And it is gluten free!!

Juniors here we come!

I can not believe it has been so long since the last post. I have to get better at that. I think sometimes I just do not have it in me to go over all of the garbage all over again.

September 2nd my troop starts Juniors. We are a very small troop again this year. Officially we have 5 girls, enough to be a troop. But one of my registered girls said she is not coming back. I think that will be in my mind now for the rest of the year. Filling that spot so we can continue on.

I love the girls that are with me and I love their parents. My daughter and my #2's daughter have been in Girl Scouts since Kindergarten! And it is so exciting to see the changes in them.

The plan for the year is set but flexible, since the girls have to have a chance to lead. I have picked the badges that we will work on but they will have to decide how they will accomplish it. Last year when they did the "Making Games" badge, we caught a glimpse of their leadership skills in action and I can not wait to see more of it.

We had attended, as a troop, a day camp and my girls were awesome as a team.  I got misty eyed just watching them using all the skills that we have gone over for the last few years. They listened to each other, they came up with a plan and they followed through. If Girl Scouts has affected them in this way while they were just trying to figure out a pirate map, imagine what their future will be like.

We will start off the year with the Agents of Change journey. I have seen so many people complain about the journeys and they do seem so much like school work. I like to dissect them and make them fit our troop. Once we have completed that we can get to work on the bronze award.

This year I am also including a few fun patches with requirements. I think these should be call fun badges. I say fun patch and I think of the patch you get for attending an event, but these actually have requirements. Like fun little journeys that the girls have to earn. Nothing will be just handed over.

I am hoping that it will liven up the year.

We also have a winter camp set up! My girls LOVE to camp, and I rented us a cabin at Camp Happy Valley near Gettysburg in January. And right now starts the prayers for a nice weather weekend because I have been to this camp and it is WAY out there. I can not wait to tell the girls!

This is where we stayed in July. This is Camp Echo Trail and we stayed in the tipi unit called Hilltop. We invited a local 2nd year Brownie troop to come with us. Their leaders were not outdoor skill trained and we had a huge unit for our small troop. It was a BLAST! The girls had so much fun with the other troop. Everyone got a long. The other leaders were so helpful. The parent that came with them was helpful. It was such a nice change. I said I would go again with this troop in a heart beat. Plus, it kept the cost of camp down so much that it was incredibly affordable. Now our January camp will be more expensive as cabins cost 70$ a night over the 30$ we paid for these tipi's and Adirondacks, but we may invite them again and cut the cost in half!