So happy that my girls have finally got to enjoy the trip that has always being one of my favorites in the boys. They were originally planning to spend the night in 2020, when the world shut down, but the overnight adventure was finally resumed in September of '22, and their AHG group was one of the first back on the ship. And it almost did not happen again, as a newer lady with AHG Council (Kristine) was coordinating this event for multiple troops. Magan and I started pinging her about 1 month early to make sure all was still on track. Magan's troop had moved many events to open up this weekend, then this lady sent Magan a message saying that no one would return her call or emails at the battleship, so it looks like we will have to postpone. Magan read this message to me, and I quickly said "I got this", and went into campout coordinator/facilitator gear for an immediate entry into organizing this event. A couple of calls to the battleship got me to the right person, collecting all the necessary information, then relaying it to the AHG council lady. Then some texts and calls with the Council Lady to make her at ease with coordinating an event of this size, and boom, we were back on track. I took over the Dinner coordination, and then provided her with meal prep numbers and materials for the breakfast. I don't think this lady recognized the facilitating super power team that is ScottnMagan!
On our trip down, we were followed by Crystal and Ansley, and stopped for lunch at Peach Park. This was a first time for the Deans, but always a treat for our crew. BBQ and Peach Pies, can it get any better. The girls finished quickly so they could go run play on the playground, where Ruby hurt her "butt bone" sliding on one of the slides (painful for a week afterwards). I stayed to the side also to go ahead and order our pizzas as I knew an order of 24 better be made early. And then we were on our way making it to the battleship around 3:45PM on Saturday.
The waiting was all that I remember, sitting next to the gate with all of our gear. The girls lounging around, sign in with the Council Lady Kristine, some safety instructions given. I don't think Magan overpacked, but the giant 6 foot pillow she brought onto the battleship was a little overboard. We also had a large cooler and wagon with our load, but all had wheels, so not so bad. We were all led up to the front of the ship, and had to go thru a small port down to the decks. We left the coolers on the deck, and I helped the girls get down to their area, then I went to make sure all was good with the pizzas.
When the pizzas were delivered, the driver told me that they had shut down earlier in the day due to the Mardi Gras (Yes, Mobile was PACKED) crowd, but luckily our pizzas made it out of town and to the battleship. Then the girls had the coolest dinner out on the deck of the ship as the sun was setting. I have never had this opportunity, as it seems we have always eaten inside. So dinner was done, and my role in this event was complete, now I could rest for a moment. Then Kristine walked over and said, "Hey, I forgot to ask, but can you lead the Tenderhearts and Explorers in this badge work on US Military Heroes". WHAT, we have traded texts over the last two weeks, and you didn't give me a heads up! That is what I thought, but what I said was "Sure". She handed me some material to "just read" to the girls, and then walked off. Luckily, another dad was there, and said do you need any help, I said YES, then I told him what our subject was and Finny said "Hey, I am a Marine", to which I replied "Well, you are now a key part of this badge work. And you are going to help me simulate a fun Basic Training for the girls". Haha. It worked well, we got all the girls engaged with the questions, then had them doing pushups and jumping jacks, and ended with a made up Marching Song to help them remember the 6 branches of the military. Thank you Finny! That guy was great! And the girls were smiling and happy at the end of our badge work, so now I could get back and rest.
We next started the scavenger hunt, where Magan quickly called me as I was helping clean up dinner..."We are lost!" Haha, oh well, I went down, and they were all trying to answer some tough scavenger hunt questions at the tenderheart level, so I quickly turned our scavenger hunt into "Find the next number in the tour" which was much more fun for Ruby and her friends. She ended up mainly with Ansley and another girl from a different troop, Audrey. Prior to going on the trip, I had challenged all the girls at an AHG meeting that they had to find the bunk where HOF Bob Feller slept while on the ship, and the bullet hole on the back of the ship. Well, on the red tour, I started getting text from Belle that they found IT! then we ran into Belle and her large gaggle of girls that had found the bunk, so I awarded them each with the prize of a miniature clothes-pin, to which they all thought was a treasure, at least for the moment or two while it was slightly humorous. And then it was almost 7:45PM, and I had to be off the ship and out of the gate by 8. I made sure our group made it to the machine area to get a picture with Ruby where I always got one with the boys. I gave Ruby and Magan a hug, before running up the stairs to leave the ship...and luckily I looked to the back of the ship and saw some flashlights. I wandered over hoping it was Anabelle, and it was! They were looking for the bullet hole, and had about given up, so I pointed it out before I left. But more importantly, I got to give my Belly Boo a hug also before leaving the ship.
I heard later that the older girls had an amazing game of capture the flag that night. And Ruby told me that she, Ansley and Jocelyn played cards on the bunks. My favorite story I heard about the next day was Belle and the older girls searching for Women of Integrity on the ship. At least that is what my bad ears originally heard, and I thought that was pretty good idea, since AHG promotes "Building Women of Integrity". But then Hadassah corrected me, and the girls pointed me to an example of the "Women of UNIntegrity" that they were counting on each of the tours of the ship. Hahaha, these were the Pin-Up girls that are in several of the mock displays. That sounded like something the Boy Scouts would do, but hilarious to hear how their search uncovered 20 of these women on the Red Tour, and 11 of these women on the Green Tour. That still makes me smile.
What did I do that night? I drove up to my hotel at Saraland, and after picking up a few things for the AHG breakfast at publix, made my way to the hotel room. And what do you watch, when you are winding down for bed...I found the Vladmir Putin interviews with Oliver Stone, and was immediately engaged. Magan was not that into this during our ride home on Sunday. Wow, I am looking forward to finishing these interviews as I find hotels with free Showtime.
The next morning, I was up and at the battleship by 6:30AM with some hot coffee. The girls all had breakfast in the large area with couches. This is where I heard about a lady that had brought a baby on board and kept it overnight...crying all night long. Shaley mentioned some pretty bad thoughts about what she would have done with that lady. They didn't seem to have as many problem with the banging bathroom doors that I remember. I went on another walkabout with Belle and Ruby and some of the other girls, they wanted to make sure they had a full account of the Women of UnIntegrity. We also heard Sara Bath scream at the balding mannequin on the yellow tour. Getting ahead of the girls at another point, both Sarah Beth and Ruby jumped when they looked down to see me lying in the sick bay. On my way out to the car with the luggage, I noticed that pooh bear was stuffed into Belle's pillow case with her pillow. And that image is something I love, because she is my big girl now, but still keeps that little kid inside.
We next visited the Submarine, and talked about all the fun adventures the night before. We were actually talking bad about the baby lady, when Magan motioned for us all to be quiet...then we realized the baby lady was right behind us in cramped sub where she probably heard all the mean things Shaley wanted to do to her. There were NOT supposed to be anyone on the boat less than 6 years old. Oh well. We took a few more pictures, then went into the store for last minute souvenirs. We all had another laugh, when Ruby brought a cool keychain that had the battleship on it, but she did not look at the flashing message on the other side which read "Sexy". Giggling, both her and Belle ran it quickly back to the shelf to grab one with a more appropriate message.
And after the battleship, we headed back up to my hotel in Saraland, where we arrived to have a hot breakfast with some more coffee. And then back up to the room for showers and naps. I had a late checkout at 2PM, which worked well till the housekeeping knocked then began entering the room as I stumbled to the front door. Staring at her with my deep blood red eye, while I slurred "We have late checkout"...She jumped then quickly left the room. It was funny in hindsight, as me waking from full sleep is VERY SCARY. But then we all woke up, and the girls kept ticking me for some reason, which was not cool.
Before leaving the hotel, the girls got their hair fixed for a photoshoot that evening. As we left the hotel, we saw the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile ( I am writing the whole thing, as apparently I did not type it out when Sam and I saw it years ago in Chelsea, and now I can't find it in our blogs), and got a picture. We next traveled back south passing the battleship one more time, and heading down past Daphne to Fair Hope where we scoped out an amazing neighborhood with some castles as homes. That was to be our photo shoot at sunset, but we first needed a late lunch. We stopped at a Marina, where I am sure the seafood was great, so we got three burgers and some chicken fingers.
The session at the castle went great. I am sure the pictures from lily white will be much better than my behind the scenes pics. We saw a crazy guy drive his truck over the fancy bridge, then later drive completely over a lady's flower pot. Magan just kept shooting, the guy that owned the home welcomed us to take pictures, but I am pretty sure he was surprised when we were still doing that 90 minutes later. So then at 6PM, we finally headed back to Birmingham. A long day, a fun weekend, bathroom stop at Target for some coffee, and off we went arriving around 10PM, in time to sing Happy Birthday to Davis.
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