Camp Pine Valley

A few weeks ago Sophie's Brownie troop went Mother/Daughter camping. "Camping" would be a loose term, as we bunked in a cabin, complete with a kitchen and indoor plumbing. But for eight 7-8 year olds and their mothers, it was perfect.

The weather could not have been nicer, sunny and about 65 during the day, and in the 40's at night. We arrived Friday night, and on Saturday morning we went on a "Color Hike" where the girls were paired off and given a color. They had to find items on the hike that were their color.

The foliage was at it's peak, and it was so nice to be outside. For me, it was a pleasure to spend the time with Sophie, to see her interact with her troop and the leaders. Just a joy to have the one on one time with her.

Here they are examining some mushrooms they had found. One was very tiny, the named him Fred and carried him around in half of a nut shell they they also found. But Fred was lost when the girl carrying him took off running. There was much trauma over Fred's fate, and a search party was even convened, with no success. Sophie still talks about him 3 weeks later.

The girls had their own bunk room. There were enough bunks for the mothers to sleep in there as well, but we decided a better idea was to pull our mattresses out to the common room and sleep in front of the indoor fireplace. ( My 6 foot frame would never have fit on those bunks!) This worked out well; we were able to stay up and chat after the girls had gone to bed. This troop is from 3 different elementary schools, so it was a nice chance for me to get to know the other mothers.

Here we are relaxing after our hike and lunch. All the moms had brought books and cell phones to keep up with the kids left at home. (Can you ever truly get away?) We decided to start the outdoor campfire early, so we could do smore's right after dinner. This also gave us an excuse to have to watch said fire vigillantly. During this time the girls played games and explored, it was very relaxing.

Sophie decided to make up a new Try It: Beginning texting for Brownies. Note the sit upons on the bench, I made the exact same kind when I was a Brownie, although they had crib bumper padding in theirs, ours were filled with folded newspaper.

Another one of their Try It activites was on Fire Safety. They learned about this by making an edible fire ring. As you can imagine, that was a big hit.

And of course, no camping trip is complete without s'mores. Just as yummy now as when I made them as a Brownie 30 plus years ago!