Encampment Weekend

At the end of every school year Girl Scouts holds their annual Encampment Weekend.  Each year it is at a different location in Connecticut for us.  This year is was very convenient and at the closest Girl Scout Campground to our home. 

The older scouts are able to spend one or two nights camping out while the younger ones come up for the day on Saturday and then return home.  I currently lead three troops so it was a bit challenging figuring out how to organize my time.  Brianna's troop is very young so we decided not to send them up this year.  It is a fun but very long and tiring day and the young girls often have a hard time especially in bad weather.  Maia's troop came up for the day on Saturday and two other leaders stayed with the girls on the bus ride up.  I let Maia drive up with me and some of Keira's troop Saturday morning.

 Keira is in 5th grade and this year we decided to stay one night.  We were assigned the cabins you can see in the background of this picture.  They had bunk beds inside which made things a little more comfortable.

It was so nice to let Maia see what she will be able to do in another few years.  I think she is really excited about being able to one day camp out like her big sister. 

During the day, we had a parent volunteer stay with the older girls and my co-leader so I could go spend some time with my Brownies and Maia.  The girls were excited and for most of them it was their first time coming to Encampment. 

 We enjoyed fun activities including hiking, making God's Eyes, playing a game of Eye Spy and judging the cabins that the older girls decorated for a contest. 

 These are all of the different patches for Encampment over the years. 

For lunch, we went back to meet my Junior Troop where we treated the Brownies to Girl Scout Stew and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  I think the girls were amazed at how well you can eat off of an open fire :)

 Delicious!

I was totally in my element this weekend.  I slept the best I've slept in years and love nothing more than being outdoors with children in nature.  I spent most of my time tending the fire and loved singing Girl Scout songs and watching the girls learn new things. 

During the day on Saturday, the girls enjoyed the long time tradition of sharing SWAPS with other Girl Scouts.  Maia was so excited to get this cool hiking stick one of the older scouts made.  It completely made her day. 

Brian met me up at camp since it was so close and picked Maia up and showed Brianna the campsite so she could get excited for next year.  The rest of the Brownies returned home on the bus tired but full of beautiful memories. 

And we spent the rest of the night with the older girls roasting marshmallows, singing songs and playing games. 

Can't wait for next year!

Any other Girl Scouts or Campers out there?  I'd love to hear your memories or experiences in comments.

xoxo