Asia had her first all day camp-out without me or John or Zach. I had to wake her up at 6:30 AM this morning and dropped her off at her friend Anna's house. Anna's mom kindly agreed to bring Asia to the camp along with her daughter and another friend. The camp was 40 minutes away. Check-in was at 8:30 AM and they had to have eaten breakfast first. Asia was ready to go this morning. When I woke her up, she practically jumped out of bed and started talking about camp. "Is Girl Scouts camp today? Now? I can't believe it's today!" I had to quiet her down a number of times since it was so early on a Saturday morning. It was with a little sigh that I watched her ride off without me to camp. Whatever happened to her was no longer in my control. And there wouldn't even be much cell phone reception at the camp. I'd have to wait til I picked her up late at night to find out how it went. Nerve-wracking.
Oh, and I can't forget to mention the packing list that we were given. It was like someone wracked their brain to think of everything and anything the girls would need in all kinds of weather and for a whole weekend. The Daisy troop was only going for the day. The list had 4 T-shirts, 2 sweaters, 4 pairs of socks, a pair of water-proof shoes, a pair of sneakers, 2 bandanas, toiletry kit including toothbrush/shampoo/soap, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, etc. Basically the list that the older girls would get minus some pairs of clothes. Oh yeah, a roll of toilet paper, a roll of paper towels, a bag of sticks for the fire, a bag of soap peelings, juice carton, flashlight, bug repellant, sun screen, towel, dish towel, face towel, a gallon of water. One of an earlier craft from a Daisy gathering was to decorate these big paint buckets. The girls then used that to carry all their stuff in for the camp. Anyway, I rebelled and didn't pack the gallon of water, then felt guilty and found a liter bottle of water in the pantry for ASia to bring. I also didn't pack sticks/wood for the fire since I figured they're in a camp in Pennsylvania! There's got to be wood around. And I didn't pack the paper towels because John accidentally bought two packages of toilet paper instead. Hopefully it wasn't a big deal. When I went to pick Asia up, I saw a table packed with rolls of toilet paper so they obviously had enough of that. The girls even had to bring their own washable bowls, cups, fork, spoon. Guess that's being conserving... not having to throw away paper plates and stuff.
I wasn't as worried about Asia though because I trusted the two troop leaders, Marianne and Bernie. I knew Asia would be comfortable with them. Asia said she did miss me at the camp, but she said she didn't cry. She also said that a bigger girl at camp was crying for her mom. The older girls were spending 2 nights at the camp. Poor Marianne is going to have a migraine tomorrow.
I picked Asia up around 9 PM tonight. She was sitting around the campfire finishing up a s'more. Yummm.... She looked tired but happy. She got to buy a little stuffed animal at the camp store too. And made a bird house out of the juice carton, and this special camp fire tinder out of egg cartons and water-proof matches with nail polish. Neat.
