Bridging Girl Scouts and our End of Summer Camp Out!

 Saturday was our bridge ceremony, we had one Junior becoming a Cadette (congratulations Kailyn), two Brownies becoming Juniors (congratulations Andrea K and Rehna), and four Daisies becoming Brownies (congratulations Jordyn, Andrea S, Serenity and Hope), so we had a lot to celebrate!

 To celebrate, we decided to have an End of Summer Camp Out!!!  The girls were really looking forward to getting together...some of them havent seen each other all summer, so there was a lot of giggling and fun!

Here are the girls...all lined up and ready for their ceremony...

 I didnt get to take any photos during the ceremony, as i was in charge of running it, so Melody was kind enough to snap a few pics for me...Thanks Melody!

Im so proud of the girls and all their accomplishments over the past year.  Each bridging girl scout was asked, "Share one really cool thing you learned this year"  and then, "what was your favorite thing we did this year?"  Each answer was unique and sweet, some of them shared learning to be kind and helpful, some of them enjoyed learning and earning patches, and of the girls favorite things was selling cookies, but almost all of them agreed, the sleepovers at the fire station were their favorites, so i foresee more of those in our future! :)  I was also impressed with Andrea S. and her memorization of the Girl Scout Pledge...she needed no prompting and proudly spoke her pledge!  Well done Andrea!

 At the end of the ceremony, we did a group hug....which grew and grew....

 I love our girls...they are all kind and considerate, smart, funny, and tough!  Gotta love mountain girls!

 Next it was time to set up tents...

 Great job girls...now its time for some river fun!

 For dinner, we enjoyed some hot dogs, brats, baked beans, chips and other assorted yummies!

The girls couldnt get enough of the river though, so after dinner they splashed around some more until it started to get darker out, then it was time to get warm by a fire...so Justin gave the girls a demonstration on flint and steel fire starting.

 We have a spark...and now we have a fire!

 and whats a fire without some S'mores and marshmallowy goodness...

 Andrea enjoyed roasting marshmallows and tasting a s'more for her very first time! 

 While the girls enjoyed drumming and giving the didgeridoo a try!

 After s'mores, it was time to run around and burn off some of that sugar high, so the girls ran around in the dark playing in the meadow and on the trampoline with glowing toys, illuminated frisbees, light sabers, and glowing rockets.  Their laughter was infectious, and while they ran around having fun, us moms relaxed and had a great time too.

 For breakfast we enjoyed pancakes and sausage (thanks for breakfast Sharon), and thanks for being our pancake helper Aspen!  While breakfast was being prepared, the girls decided to explore the island.

 Kennedy and Kailyn seemed to enjoy climbing the tree fort...and pretty soon, all the girls were up there!

 Then it was back to the river for more water adventures!

 I love this shot of Kennedy...if you look closely, you can see a deer in the trees watching her...that deer watched them all morning on Sunday!

 Andrea has been gone all summer on family trips, so we just got around to giving her her cookie gift incentives....and as you can see, she loves her little puppy, which she named Honey.  She was one of our top cookie sellers last season! (Andrea, not Honey)  :)   Well done Andrea, enjoy all your new goodies!

 And to troop 4288...i hope we have added a new "favorite" to your girl scout list of adventures!

Happy end of summer girls...see you at school!

Poudre Canyon Quilt Show

 It was time for the annual craft fair and quilt show in the Poudre Canyon last weekend, and once again, there were a lot of lovely quilts to be seen!

 

I try to participate each year, but it doesnt always happen.  This year was a perfect example...although i had a few new quilts to show, i was crazy busy and never found the time to enter them.  Jordyn was disappointed, as she likes to show her quilts that i make her, but she'll just have to wait till next year.

 They had a new display this year showing all the quilts they were donating to Baby Haven...it was an impressive display, each one a treasure!

 This is the quilt i chose for best in show, and it just so happened to win this year....but then again, Barb's quilts win quite often...and theres no wonder why!  She really does lovely work, all by hand, and lots of applique!  Shes a neighbor of mine, and has offered to teach a class, and included Jordyn too...which i thought was sweet.  Im looking forward to learning from her this fall.  Just look at the detail of this quilt.

 and this was the quilt they raffled off...which they do every year, though i was particularly fond of this one....alas, i didnt win :(

 And this was another favorite of mine...Roonie always does wonderful quilts too...and ive always wanted to try a stack n' wack.  Maybe one of these years ill get around to it :)

Anyways, i hope you enjoyed the quick stroll through our quilt show...we really do have some very talented ladies up here in the canyon! 

A Visit From the Zoo!

The Denver Zoo sent up some ambassadors to visit us up in Red Feather Lakes on Saturday!  The library organized the whole event as part of the end of the year summer reading program, and the kids loved it!  The zoo docents introduced us to 5 animals...the Kookaburra from Australia...

the Tenrec from Madagascar...

a very cranky tortoise...

this awesome little screech owl...

and for the grand finale...a 30 pound Boa Constrictor!

At the end of the presentation, the kids each got a turn petting the Boa...naturally i snuck in line to give it a feel! :)

After the animal demonstration, there was cake and treats at the library for the kids as part of the reading program celebration, and then afterwords, i took the kids to gnome road to stretch our legs!

Jordyn had quite the busy weekend...she spent Thursday night at Grandma and Grandpa Bruens house, and after that they took her over to Olivias to attend her birthday party and Jordyn got to spend the night there.  They had a bit of a scare, as Jordyn was stung by a wasp while she was there...but thankfully she had a "typical" reaction with lots of redness and swelling at the sting site on her thigh, but no other dangers! (Benadryl was all she needed) We had a scare a few years ago, to which she was then prescribed an epi-pen, but we were thankful that they didnt have to use it on her!  (although Olivias dad is a paramedic, so she was in good hands).  We saw Rehna at the library and decided to invite her along to our adventures on gnome road.

They had such a good time that we decided to have Rehna over for a sleepover on Saturday night...to which they too stayed up way late, and then played hard all day on Sunday!  Jordyn denied being tired at all, but just look at the dark circles under her eyes in this last photo, poor thing!  She actually fell asleep on the drive to take Rehna home :)

Im so happy we were able to squeeze in some more sleepovers and good times before school starts in a few weeks.  I will be busy with training for my new job over the next two weeks, while also working at my present job, so things will be a little hectic till school starts!  Happy Summer little one!  I love you!