Camp Out!

Michela’s Girl Scout troop had a backyard campout last night. It was a complete and total success!

The 11 girls and six chaperone moms gathered at 5 p.m. We started with some unstructured playtime, then a fun make-your-own-dreamcatcher craft, then pizza dinner. Once it was dark out, we put a movie on an outdoor screen (thanks, Mike, for the projector and technical assistance in getting it set up) and had s’mores and popcorn. When the movie finally ended — at 11 p.m.! — the girls started bedtime.

The big question among the moms was, would the girls (who were all sharing one giant tent) all go to sleep? Would there be a lot of crying for moms not there? Would kids end up getting up in the middle of the night and getting into our (shared, large) grown up tent? I’m happy to report that it was actually pretty smooth! All the girls were asleep by midnight, they stayed in their tent all night, and no one pitched a fit.

This was only my second time camping (the first time being the campout last year at Michaela’s school), and I’m battling a cold, so I wasn’t sure how it’d go for me, either. Outside of some snoring (sorry, tent mates!), it wasn’t too bad. I had a little pad that made sleeping on the ground much more comfortable. Our sleeping bags are really warm, so I wasn’t cold, and the weather was good.

At 6 this morning,  giant crow started squawking outside the tent. I thought for a minute it was one of the girls, until I opened my eyes. The girls were waking up, too, and we were off to the races. The kids worked on another craft (coloring bandanas, which was brilliant) while the moms got breakfast set up. Then the kids ate and cleaned up their stuff. We were all to be done at 8 a.m., and Michaela and I, and her friend who lives a couple of doors down from us, rolled out the door at 8:05.

It was a really wonderful experience and I’m glad we did it!