Blowing Glass

As much as I wanted to stop the world and cry for a few days when my grandfather died, the world doesn't work like that.  It moves on.  And with active kids around there is never any shortage of stuff to do.  So after the funeral last Friday we went to Pennsylvania for a Bar Mitzvah and then on to Baltimore where we met DQ's Girl Scout Troop for glass blowing.  How freakin' cool is that?

We had planned to drop her off and run but I was mesmerized.  I've always wanted to see how it was done so I couldn't resist taking my camera out.  Then, since we were there (and another girl cancelled at the last minute) they asked if Stinkette wanted to try.  Ummmm... YES!!!

So this is what it looked like. Lots of pictures - few words.

Cooling the tools... they get really hot!



Adding a bit of color.

 

Smoothing it out.



Heating it up again.

 

Lindsey shaping her vase.



Daria shaping her pumpkin. It's red hot!



Check out that pumpkin.



And the pumpkin gets a cute, swirly, stem.



We couldn't take them home the same day because they needed to cool and harden properly.  I hope to share finished pictures when we have all three pieces.  Yup!  I got to do it too.  Lucky me!

Powder Puff Camping

I can't really claim ownership of the title.  When we told one of the Troop moms about the lodge we stayed at this past weekend, that's what she called it and she's right.  What else do you call camping in a lodge with heat, a microwave, a dish washer (which we didn't use), and a washer (unused by us) and dryer (only used to dry tie dye shirts)?



We still got out and hiked as part of a service project. We still ate s'mores - but over a fireplace instead of a campfire.



And we got crafty. We made CD campfires, bath salts, t-shirts, henna and more.



It was girls being girls and it was great.  Best of all - it completes my camping obligation until next year.  Camping with scouts is fun but all the potential for bad things makes it really stressful.

ECF - Indian Echo Caverns Edition

The second day of our trip started at Indian Echo Caverns. To get in to the caverns you need to walk down a long stairway with a lovely view of the Swatara River.


Inside, we saw sights like this and heard great stories.


After that it was a hop, skip, and a jump to Hershey Chocolate World. A truly sweet trip.

Traveling Girls

Isn’t it funny how you have the most to share when you have the least time to share it? Last weekend I took Stinkerbelle’s Girl Scout Troop on an overnight trip and we had a great time. Unfortunately since we got home I’ve been sick from exhaustion and now Miss M is sick too. But a trip as fun as this one needs to be shared so here it is. Our Lancaster trip in pictures.

We started at the Turkey Hill Experience which was new to all of us. We really didn’t know what to expect but I can sum it up in three words – Endless Free Samples! Really.


They had lots of great information there and I think that we all learned a lot. Some things were interactive like the exhibit above where the seals dispensed different scents on a slip of paper so that you could experiment with them together. Then again, there were free samples. Here is Stink eating one while learning about tea. They had samples of that too.


After that we headed to the Amish House and Farm where we checked out the farm in the bitter cold and met some very friendly goats.


We also took a really interesting tour of a real Amish home and I found out that I knew far less about the Amish than I thought and that most of what I did know was wrong. Good tour guides make such a big difference and we really lucked out on this trip.


Did you know that they use dozens of straight pins to keep these outfits together when they wear them. Straight pins! Ouch!



And this was just day one - part of it anyway. We finished the day at a hotel with an indoor pool with water slides. did I mention the unlimited free samples of ice cream and iced tea? These girls had energy to spare.

More tomorrow.

It Floated!

I sent out an email this morning to the parents of the girls in the Girl Scout troop that I lead with Exceeding Expectations as the subject and it was such a good feeling. It was truly the only way to describe the event we took part in yesterday. The annual Cardboard Boat Regatta.



No this was not our boat. It was built by another group and we all looked at it in disbelief but it really was cardboard. It was also kind of unstable which led to us referring to it as flipper - 'cuz it flipped to one side in one race and the other in the next.

Anyway, after building the event up for my girls for a very long time, we started building our boat about 6-8 weeks ago and it was anything but smooth sailing. We struggled with design and adhesives and then came the push to get it painted. We wanted to get as much paint on the boat as possible to prevent water from getting to the cardboard. In the end, this was our boat.



Note: no Girl Scout cookies were wasted in this effort - those boxes were empty.

Yesterday was the big day and most of the parents and the girls were convinced that we'd sink like a stone. However, you should never underestimate girl power (or the determination of their moms). Our boat floated!



We were able to participate in the 2 races that I had entered us into and - wonder of wonders - we were still in good enough shape to enter the Survivor's race where all of the boats that were still standing race for bragging rights at the end. We sank midway through that one but by then nobody was upset about it at all. In fact, we cheered when our boat went down. It served us well.



It was such a great day and all of the girls present had a chance to crew the boat. It couldn't have been a better day... except if we had won one of our races. That would've been nice. But sometimes just making a good showing really is a victory in itself and this was one of those times.

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Things to Bring on a Camping Trip

It's about a month and a half since the first camping trip as a GS troop leader. You have no idea how stressful I found it to prepare for that trip. I was so sure that I'd forget something major - like food - and we'd have an awful time. It all turned out fine but I did learn a lot for next time and now that a bit of time has passed I'm ready to think about what I'd do differently next time.



The things that I would (and will) bring on any future camping trips are:
1. Smores - Marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers - Yum! I get hungry just thinking about it.
2. Bug Spray
3. Allergy Meds - just in case the bugs bite me anyway.
4. A Soccer Chair - because the days that I could spend a prolonged amount of time on benches are long gone.
5. A Tent - Ok, this may seem obvious but on our last camp out we stayed in rough cabins and it's really not the same.
6. The First Aid Kit - ours got quite a work out on the last trip. My troop (and family) may be a wee bit accident prone.
7. Sticks for cooking hotdogs etc - we were advised to bring some this time and it was such a good call. Can't rely on finding good ones laying around.
8. Air Spray - for the bathrooms of course. They can be a little *cough* rough and a fresh smelling spray make them much more bearable.
9. Batteries for the flashlights - nothing like waiting 'till night fall to realize that your flashlight is kaput.
10. My camera - there is so much to capture on film out in the wild.