Welcome to the 2022 AHG Spring Campout out Wind Creek State Park near Alexander City, AL. What a fun trip and another one close enough to bring both van loads full of gear for two nights. I arrived at the campsite early on Friday, as Magan was with Ruby on a zoo field trip. I was able to get our tent and campsite up and running by the time Magan was about the leave. We were tent neighbors with the Quicks, and after seeing her hooked up to electricity with a heater inside the tent, I quickly called magan and told her that she might want to bring one as well. With heavy winds off the lake, and temperatures into the 30s in the morning, I knew it was going to be tough at night.
The first night was very chilly, but the oscillating heater helped cut the cold at least a little bit. Magan woke up to a slightly deflated bed at 2:30 AM that first night, and I had to blow it back up. Ruby never moved, she just slept right thru it, slowly rising as the bed inflated. Belle also had her own heater in her tent, and said she did not use it much, but to help warm up the tent in the morning. Magan learned a valuable lesson at 2:30 AM to keep a Hot Hands down in the sleeping bag on her feet, worth the wait while I was getting it ready for her.
Ruby was the first one up that next Saturday morning, and I still remember her giggling as she turned back to me. I was in my mummy bag and trying to call her name and not wake up Magan...but I could not get out of my bag, so I slithered up to her like a snake saying Ruby...I wish I could have seen how I looked, because she thought it was hilarious. She told me she was going to the fire looking for Mr. Jimmy to get it going. I was up pretty early with Ruby as well, so my first job was to get the breakfast ready for the girls when they woke up. So off I went to Alexander City, first hitting Chick-Fil-A for Magan's order, then over to McDonalds for the rest of our order. There is only a slight embarrassment that I can't cook on a grill, but it is much easier delivering the warm food and coffee to the girls. And the older girls get a kick out of Mr. Scott and his "cooking", so it gets a laugh, and laughs are my goal.
Ruby and the tenderhearts had a fun day planned learning the "Fire Safety" badge requirements, then joining up with a State Park easter egg hunt they had just found out about the day before. Those girls loved the easter egg hunt, getting their picture with the bunny, and also all the prizes they found. As for fire safety, these girls are already getting better at building fires than their outdoor ignorant dad (I say this after taking 30 minutes to light a fire in my backyard yesterday, then failing to put it out properly, sam and davis say I can't do fires without them around now). After the easter egg hunt, they got some ice cream, where Magan said Ruby ate that entire cone, no problem.
I took Belle and the explorers on an Orienteering hunt along a trail in the park. Each of the girls had their own compass and topographical map to locate 10 markers that have been placed near the trail. I don't think we did really well with the compass, but I think some of the details of the topographical map did sink in with some of them. We found all 10 markers, only having to use the hints a couple of times. Once we went off trail to find a "shortcut" to the next marker, and found it no issues. We even found a greensnake during our off trail excursion. After the last marker, I told the girls to look at the map and see if they could find a "shortcut" back to our camp, and we found one down a steep hill. It was fun, and luckily no injuries, altho Bella Douglas slipped and slided all the way down one section. Bella also cracked me up when she asked me to hold her coat for her on one section of the hike. Sure, I said, then grabbed the coat and it felt like a bag of rocks. "What do you have in this coat Bella?" She laughed and replied "Oh, I put all my rocks in there". And marker 9 was my favorite because Belle (Yeah, confusing, there is a Bella and a Belle, there is also an Annabelle in the troop) came up and said she wanted to find the next one, so we looked at the map, and pointed, and she was able to find it first. She also got the biggest blister on this hike, and this also made its way onto her paper plate award.
After lunch, the explorers took a survival at sea test, where we found out that all of them would probably die with the preparations they made. Then we had to train for our "Outdoor Survival" badge by running an obstacle course while others thru Orbee balls at us. Because every good obstacle course requires you to have people throwing things at you while you run. Belle was not the fastest, but she was faster than old man dad trying to not bust my knee running the course. After that, we met up with the tenderhearts and played mini-golf there at the state park. A pretty fun course, and one where Anabelle got so many "holes in two" that she later received a paper plate award for those honors. Ruby got a hole in one on the last hole.
That evening, we prepped 6 flags to be retired, which is much more than we have ever done before. But our girls worked together, worked hard, and got all ready. We also got ready for our Tacos in a Bag troop supper. After supper we had campfire activities. The tenderhearts had a skit prepared, but Helen was sick and had to leave with her mom who was the leader, so Mr. Scott stepped in and really just followed their lead. They had the skit prepped and ready, and just told me my one line and when to say it, and the punchline was that they had prepared a "short" skit because of how little they were. hahahaha. The explorers did a fun skit where Mr. Gary (Bellas Dad) was a monster named Igor that killed all the people that came to the door. The girls all knocked on the door selling cookies, selling magazines, selling a can of beans (?? I don't know??). Anabelle had a funny line to ask "Do you want to build a snowman", but that line was hijacked by another AHG girl, but I liked her humor and it worked well, so I gave her props on the addition to the skit. Anyway, even the mad scientist was killed at the end by her monster Igor. As for the Pioneers and Patriots, those girls are into some crazy anime and sword fighting stuff right now, and it cracks all the girls up...as for the adults, we just don't get it. After skits, songs, and stories, we finished with the retirement of the flags, which is also a nice way to ease into going to the tents for sleep. I can't remember all the other fun memories, but I have some notes that say "Magan was giggling in the shower", "Lights went out while Magan was in shower", and "Magan curling the girls hair"...and I don't really have all the stories that go with those, so girls...Here is a question to ask your mom if you're ever reading these blogs. And the fox...well...I don't know much about it...except it was always around the campfire.
After another cold cold night, we woke up some grits and oatmeal I actually cooked myself. I looked over to see Ruby struggling to get out of the tent as apparently the zipper was stuck...I laughed and was able to get my camera quick enough for the picture below. I had brought the leather working gear so all the girls that wanted to could make a keychain for this campout. This is probably my favorite part of the Sunday mornings is seeing what the girls make on their keychains. Ruby made one that told about all the fun stuff she did that weekend. The Pioneers helped present a good devotion. Then lastly, the paper plate awards were passed out to all the girls. Were the grits enough...nope, so we hit huddle house for a big breakfast and some hot coffee before returning home.
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