Spring Camporee 2012

Spring Camporee 2012

Troop 1524

We've had rainy weather lately.............big storms, big wind, even hail.  But this weekend was gorgeous.  Picture perfect.  And it was my troop's first overnight camping trip to Camp NaWaKwa in Western Indiana.  I must've had some good karma saved up.  When we arrived at our troop's campsite, this guy was waiting for us. Upon returning from our flag ceremony, he was gone. He's no dummy. 

The girls learned how to make a bridge with their fellow campers right after the flag ceremony.

The first planned activity of the morning was learning how to pitch a tent.  Good thing our troop was staying in platform tents and yurts.  But it was a good learning activity with the other troop.  And they earned a try it badge for participating.

After that, our troop went creek stompin'.  They had a blast and found more wildlife.  And it was especially fun for them since two of the older girls from the red team escorted them.  And to their credit, they stuck with the younger girls for some additional activities.

During the creek stomp, the girls found a snail......................

And a salamander/newt sort of guy...................

Can you find the crawdad in this picture?

There is a team building/ropes course at camp.  The girls tried everything.  Except climbing the net.  The tree supporting the net fell just before our turn.  No one was hurt, thankfully.  Well, initially, anyway.  Note the poison ivy on the fallen tree?  The troop climbing the net when it fell decided to have their picture taken with it...................They were sitting on it when our troop arrived.  In shorts.  So only one disaster was averted with that tree. 







Our girls know "Leaves of Three, Leave it be......................".  I think that someone else needs to learn.  Not mentioning any names.............

The ropes course and the creek were the highlight of the day.  Though the water was a bit deep in areas.  All of us, including myself, ended up with water in our boots.

One of the "animal" highlight of the day for the girls was Mr. Toad.  They were enamored of him immediately.  Personally, I liked the snail best of the animals that we saw.  We heard a few others that night--an owl (very loud! very close!) and at nearly sunrise the next morning, we heard coyotes howling at the full moon.

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There were many, many activities planned at camp, but our troop still found time to hide our first geocache.  You can learn about geocaches here..............  www.geocaching.com 

It was a busy weekend.  Here are the girls at the start of the weekend.

And a couple of them at the end of the weekend.

Photos of myself, look quite similiar.  I took a big nap that afternoon, too.