This past season, Eleanor has been a very, very lucky girl.
She got to go to Girl Scout Camp twice — with her grandmas!
The first camp was the “Mom & Me” weekend camp at Camp Robbinswold on the Olympic Penninsula. Brian’s mom, Kathryn, was able to come out for this event, which was organized by some amazing women in our service unit.
One thing to know about Girl Scout Camps: they have killer locations. Robbinswold is a narrow strip of land that runs right along the water. This was the first thing we’d see through the trees when stepping out of our cabin. Ahhhh, nice.
This is our cabin, which we shared with about ten other people. It was lovely, warm and snug. The Downside: our bathroom was an outhouse in the woods. C’est la vie.
This is from a hike to a little point on the water. We saw seals in the water, swimming closer to check us out. They were adorable.
One of the ongoing games at this camp was a challenge to find thirteen little paper cutouts of Alice (of Wonderland fame). You can see Alice #1 on the tree in the picture below. Eleanor and Kathryn hunted all over to find them all, and were rewarded with a bag of purple licorice from the game keeper.
There were also lots of games and activities in the lodge.
This past weekend we were granted a visit from my mom, Suzanne. We headed up to Camp River Ranch for a campout organized by Eleanor’s own troop.
Camp River Ranch is enormous, a beautiful mix of forest, lakes, and rivers tucked into the Cascade foothills.
So large, in fact, that we got a bit turned around and had to take a photo of this map to figure out where we were supposed to go:
We got there in time for a geocaching workshop taught by one of the camp counselors. Then we played “Strut Miss Sally,” a silly song-and-dance game that is a favorite with our troop. It’s kind of like the Virginia Reel, mixed with goofiness:
After doing another workshop on secret codes, we worked together to prepare, cook and serve a spaghetti dinner. Our troop is amazing!
After dinner, we built a big fire and made s’mores. My job was to lead the campfire songs, most of which I learned at the Mom & Me camp from September. Getting all the girls to sing and be silly with me was the best. I think it’s important for kids to see that adults can put aside pretension, loosen up, and play and be silly with them. On the other hand, I do hope that no photos of me doing the Jellyfish Song never surface on the internet. What a fun couple of weekends! What a lucky girl is Eleanor.
Casa Camisas 