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!