Girl Scallops at the beach

Olivia and I had our first girl scallop camping trip. To a beach house! Come on, this is Florida after all. None of us really knew what to expect other than the Girl Scallop troops in north Florida have access to a beach house near Jacksonville. Turns out that it is a building in the middle of a city park a couple blocks from the beach. We don't know the history but I'm guessing that someone donated the property to the city with a request that the building be used for Girl Scallops.
Now, we all have an idea of what a beach house is and I'm sure this one doesn't fit the bill for most of those ideas, and while it has cement floors and one sleeping room for all of us to share, it sure was a lot easier than doing the tent thing with 10 or so six yr old girls. And it has a shower. And AC.

Okay, so maybe this really wasn't a camping trip after all.

At the meeting prior, we prepped by making beach buckets. Upon arrival, we ordered out pizza - no "poor boys" for these "campers."We really didn't have any structured activities - just lots of fun at the beach - which really is what this troop (and moms) needed. It was a great bonding, getting-to-know-you type of trip. Especially when we broke out the wine after the girl scallops hit the hay.

Thalia and Olivia...Amanda found a few live LARGE snails, which in all my years at the beach, I've never seen...Yes, that is my girl scallop way out there, giving all the other girl scallop moms heart attacks...A dried up girl scallop...Arts and crafts...At least five stories later, the girls went to bed. And the moms broke out the wine. Wish I had pics of that.The next morning we took one last stroll to the beach before leaving. Sushi for breakfast anyone?
And if you are wondering why "Girl Scallops" - that is Grant's translation for Girl Scouts. And I absolutely adore it.

Along with kajamas instead of pajamas.

Half Baked Brownies

Olivia's mid year ceremony for Brownies involved sharing projects, collecting badges they earned, and feasting. Oh, and parents were given cookie sales info...
Scott and Dara were in town and the hostess told me that Olivia approached her and said "My aunt and uncle came with me today." Awwwwwww.

Making the punch..."On my honor, I will try..."Passing the light...Checking out her hard earned goods...End of meeting tradition. I think it's their favorite part... not the ending, the tradition.The gang, er, troop! And I bet no one noticed that I mixed up Olivia's troop numbers... oops...

Shark's Teeth in the Woods?

Olivia's Brownie troop met for a day of hiking and sharks teeth hunting at a nature park. Ms. Angela (troop leader) is giving instructions...First we went on a bubble gum hike - the girls had to find as many colors as they could using natural items. Whenever an item was found that she wanted to use, she would pull a small piece of bubble gum from the wad in her mouth and use it as glue to hold the item on her card. Fun idea even if it was a bit slimy. This really isn't a difficult task unless your child is missing three teeth in the most inappropriate places.Searching the creek...Surprisingly we found many teeth just lying right on top of the sand at the bottom of the stream bed. But these sieves were most useful when we wanted to scoop deeper.Shark's teeth. Score!Olivia and Thalia... not shy about jumping right in, socks/shoes and all...

Daisies to Brownies

Olivia's days as a Girl Scout Daisy came to an end Saturday when she graduated to a Girl Scout Brownie. We had a nice "fly up" ceremony/breakfast for them. It was a fun, introductory year to Girl Scouts for both girls and parents. We are lucky to have a troop leader that is organized and runs the show - thanks Angela.

A human daisy...
Crossing the bridge (in her rad skull shoes)...
It's official...
Troop 476...