American Heritage Girls Camp

 A few days after Peanut's birthday the girls and I packed up for our second American Heritage Girls camp.  We camped at our favorite place, Michigan Christian Youth Camp in Attica, Michigan.  This is the same camp my girls attend for summer camp and is merely a 30 minute drive from us.  When we arrived on Friday night we got the younger girls set up in the dorms while Sissy began setting up our tent.  

The Pioneers were camping in tents to continue to work on their camping badge.  This is where I would be sleeping as well since I am a Pioneer leader.  As it turned out, I ended up in the dorm.  Now, don't be thinking, "OOOH, you are one lucky girl to have been able to get out of sleeping in the tent!"  The reality of it is that Sweet Baby has been having a hard time being away from me and she couldn't sleep.  So...I ended up IN her bed.  Trust me, sleeping outside in the tent would have been more comfortable!  Those beds are not made for comfort and they certainly were not made for 2 people!!

We started the night with unpacking and then moved to the fire for smores, popcorn, campfire songs and a devotional.

As the girls were getting ready for bed I was helping wipe the crusted marshmallow of Sweet Baby's cheek when her tooth fell out.  No worries, it was very loose so it was time for it to fall out.

The next morning the younger girls all headed to the lodge for breakfast.  The tenters began cooking their own breakfast.  We made simple egg mcmuffins and had fresh fruit.  Here Sissy is lighting the grill that we would be using.

Now, I know this isn't the best picture, and you may be thinking - hmmmm, is this really worth seeing?  But for me, it is.  This is one of the only pictures I have of Sissy at camp.  Shortly after breakfast, within about 15 minutes of eating she said she wasn't feeling well.  She skipped horseback riding (which was so hard for her because she had been looking SO forward to riding) and she sat through about 15 minutes of the outdoor skills ramblings before she ended up in a dorm in a bed.  After about 2 hours of laying down, hoping it would pass, we ended up calling dad to pick her up.  Poor girl missed all of camp!  This is especially sad because she is my girl that LOVES to camp.  She looks so forward to each outing and was very upset that she missed it all.

After Sissy left I was able to sneak away 2 times to see how my other girls were doing and try to get some pictures of them enjoying camp.  Here Sweet Baby is at the Adventure Challenge.  This course required the girls to use teamwork and problem solving skills to complete.  In this challenge the girls had to get from one platform to another using various boards that were not attached.  Don't you love those shoes??? Sweet Baby forgot her shoes and luckily one of the other girls brought a second pair - groovy!

I ran into Peanut toward the end of the day while they were working on some Outdoor Skills requirements.  They were learning how to read a compass.

At the end of camp I asked the girls what their favorite part was.  I was shocked when this horse lover did not say, "Horseback riding!"  Instead she said, "I loved learning how to use a compass."