Board of Directors

Esme had the opportunity to speak to the Board of Directors tonight! Turn the volume up to hear her - I was kind of far away with the camera.

Going to the Mall

Both my troops have had recent mall experiences. My Cadettes earned a mall overnight with approximately 750 other girls in their council. We arrived at the mall just before 9 pm and after the stores closed down the council offered all kinds of activities like crafts, games, juggling shows, movies, nail painting, yoga, dancing, video games, and more. The girls got about an hour of sleep each with Lisa and I staying up all night. They girls had a great time and LOVED this event.

My Brownie troop went shopping at the mall tonight. They broke into small groups and had a budge of $10 per group to spend on toys to donate to Toys for Tots. Different moms led each group and the girls did a great job, picking a tea set, a baby doll, accessories from Claire's, and a stuffed giraffe. After the big unveiling we went to Target and purchased some food for our pet food drive. I was very proud of how the girls did on this trip.

The Day My World Collided, and my thoughts on Journeys

My goddaughter came up to earn her Leadership in Action award while my Brownies did their Quest in a day at a local Girl Scout camp. Kristina is not one to be happy with sitting and listening so the planning section was not her favorite, but she did enjoy working with the littler girls, and Esme got to be in her group.



Initially, I was very skeptical about the Journeys. As a die hard leader, I am not sure I like something that takes weeks and tells me exactly what to do. Consequently, when Lisa (Kristina's mom and my Cadette co-leader) and I were making plans for the year, we were trying to decide if our girls should go do aMaze in one day in a council-sponsored program, or if we should do it as a troop. The more we weighed options for activities, the more I actually got excited about doing it. I can't speak to other troop's experiences, but for a brand new, very small Cadette troop, the aMaze Journey was actually the perfect first activity for us. Girls had never been Cadettes before, and one who had never been a scout at all, actually had a good way to get started and get some direction, while learning a bit about Girl Scouts and a lot about each other. We did adapt it quite a bit, mostly to keep the girls physically busy while discussing the issues outlined in the program - we found this kept them much more engaged.

My daughter is also almost done with her first Journey. I am so glad my Brownies had the opportunity to do this in one day - I think it worked much better for them. I have some non-readers in my group from what I've seen, it would be difficult for them with so much reading and writing to do. However, when they had Cadettes assisting them and the stories read aloud, it worked out perfectly. Also, I am very proud of what they chose as a group for their Take Action project - a pet food drive to help people who are out of work keep their pets.

Field Trips, New Members, and More

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for us. We've been helping out with recruitment nights, going to meetings, and trying to keep up with all the other activities in our busy family's schedule.

I am happy to say we finally have enough girls to be an official Cadette troop! Hip hip hooray! We went on our first field trip this week, a corn maze, since we have just started the aMaze Journey. A couple weeks ago we talked about first impressions and what is on the inside, and made some awesome T-shirts. I was especially happy to do this because my goddaughter has expressed interest in fashion design, and I want to make sure we are pursuing her interests!


Brownies is continuing to go wonderfully. A few weeks ago we had a police officer from our city come in and talk about bike safety, and at our last meeting the woman who runs a local bike clinic came it and showed the girls how to do some basic work on a bike, like taking off, patching, and putting a tire back on. They LOVED this. I don't think I could have predicted how much they would love this. They were super engaged and even started the closing ceremony without me while I wasn't looking, because they were so excited to share it with their new-found friend.

This past weekend we finally set out on our bike trip to a local trail. I was disappointed with the attendance on this trip, but right now it seems like sports is a big conflict for lots of families. The girls who did come had a great time and I was really glad to see my own daughter having a blast.

We have three new members who will join us at our next meeting bringing our Brownie total up into the teens. Hoping everything will continue to go smoothly with a bigger group!