I never thought I would have a home full of scouts. I was a Girl Scout when I was a child, but much like every other activity my parents signed me up for, it was short-lived. I did a year or two, went to a sleep away camp one summer (had a blast!) and that was that. In retrospect, I am pretty sure I survived more than three months of Girl Scouts because someone else’s mom could give me a ride. I seem to recall going to a friends grandparents house before or after meetings. We played with non-gender biased Legos in the basement. Oh, how times have changed.
The Husband isn’t really much into being outdoors, although he indulged me this summer. He sort of grew up being outdoors, and is just not into it right now. I sort of grew up outdoors, but not in the way he did. We never went camping or fishing or hunting or anything (although I did all of those things at day and sleep-away camps in the summer). I was mostly left to my own devices to explore the woods around our house. Like most kids of my generation, I just had to be sure to be home when the streetlights came on.
Our oldest wasn’t having it either, seeing as he is almost 15 and this is really the first time we’ve ever forced outside time on him. You would think living in the permanent vacation state of South Florida would make us outdoorsy people, but nope. It’s so hot. And none of us really like the beach. Whenever we go I just lament over missing Ocean City and having real waves and grainy sand and the Boardwalk. I mean, we get outside, but not in the great outdoors kind of way I was obsessing over this summer. The two little ones though (who aren’t really so little, at 10.5 and 13)…. they are my campers. When the Zombocalypse comes, I want them on my team! I’m claiming them now. The 13-year-old especially. He is very into outdoor survivalism.
We had our first Girl Scout meeting a couple of weeks ago. Our troop hosted a pot luck to get the kids together and give the parents a chance to fill in their paperwork for the upcoming year and get caught up with each other.
Because of my work schedule I took last year (and part of the year before) off of helping out with the bulk of my kids troop stuff. Happy to say that my schedule is quite different this year and I can get back to helping. Or pretending to help. Or something. Truth be told, our troop leaders are amazing and there doesn’t seem to be much left to do once they’ve done their thing. I’m hoping we can take the girls actual tent camping this year – that’s my planned contribution. We’ve got quite a few local parks and campgrounds we can explore. Well, that and taking The Husbands giant SUV and helping out with carpool to our events.
We missed pretty much every summer activity for Girl Scouts – either we were all out-of-town or just E was out-of-town, so she hasn’t seen her troop since the end of May! We missed all the summer meetings for Boy Scouts too, although both kids went to a scout camp over the summer.
The Divine Miss E just told me her favorite thing about Girl Scouts is getting to see all her friends and all the activities they do. I’ve been told our troop is one of the top badge earners in our council area. I have no idea if that is true or not. We are pretty active though, so maybe. I’ve been more excited as each year has gone by because they do more and more. Watching our group go from Daisy’s to Junior’s has been so great. Seeing them build their skill set and become more themselves has been even better. I can honestly say I can’t wait to see who they are when they’re Seniors!
The Husband has Tuesdays off again this year, so he took Mr. Man to his first meeting of the year this week. They were still meeting at the park instead of the school, so I guess their first “official meeting” is in September. We’re already looking into his upcoming hiking trips, camping trips, what merit badges he’ll be working on. He has only been in scouts for two years now (going into this third), but even accounting for skipping Cub Scouts, he’s doing pretty well. He really took to outdoor skills. It makes me wish we were a little more rural. He was the child that had taken best to the short time we lived in rural West Virginia too. I don’t know if he will make Eagle Scout or not, but I am pretty sure he will try his hardest.
We are slowly but surely getting to be more and more outdoors as a family. I’m having a lot of fun in the process. Who knew? I can’t wait to see what the year will bring as far as what adventures we will find ourselves being a part of or even starting!
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