Family Camp: Trail Life and AHG

My favorite scout leader and me

This has been an outstanding weekend! Our Trail Life (boys) and AHG (girls) troops had a combined family camp weekend that turned out SO well!

Friday night, everyone arrived and set up camp. After it got dark, the kids all got to do a flashlight scavenger hunt that they all enjoyed. It is a lot harder finding things that are fuzzy, or sticks, or alive when it is dark, but that's what made it more fun, too.

Saturday morning, everyone was on their own for breakfast. While our AHG gals broke off into units to do group devotionals, I handed my camera to some parents and asked them to help me get snapshots of the day.

Afterward, all the boys, all the girls, all the parents, and all the siblings worked really hard to rebuild and clear some of the camp trails. We also built a large fire-ring for the church camp where we were staying. The kids all worked so hard, and they were so proud to see all that we accomplished as a team of about 75 people working for about two hours.

After we finished our service projects, we stopped for lunch. The younger boys worked with Adam and created nature journals in which they did rubbings of different leaves and identified plants. Allen led the older boys as they learned some new knots, and practiced them by tying ropes to trees and building tents out of tarps. To test the effectiveness of their tent-building skills, they had water battles. Meanwhile, the girls spent the afternoon working on the Fire Safety and Fire Building badge. All three units of girls finished what was needed, and I loved watching the girls confidence soar as the learned to light a match and build a one-match fire.

We had dinner as a group, and all the kids had a task; some set up for dinner, some served, some cleaned up at the end. Since many of the kids were doing something they hadn't done before, the leaders really appreciated that so many parents were willing to help show the kids what was needed. We finished the night around the campfire -- built and managed by the older gals -- the Trailmen units each had a skit for our entertainment.

VERY determined little boys who would not let any adults help them carry this 50-pound jug of lemonade.

Sunday morning, we packed our gear, then stopped for a group chapel service at the fire ring. Afterward, we finished cleaning up after ourselves and headed home just about five miles away. The weekend could not have gone more smoothly. All the parents and kids participated cheerfully, the weather was gorgeous, we got a lot done, and we all had a blast doing it! ... but now Allen and I need a vacation to recover ;)