There was a lot on the front end preparations for this campout that I think made this a success, but there were definitely some doubts up front. I had volunteered to arrange for this campout, and our troop has been trying for years to get to Dismals Canyon to see the glowworms at night. And I called Dismals last Fall, and they told me when to call them to get tickets, then I arranged for a campsite nearby with what seemed not to be the best campsite, but there were no other options in the area. I am sure it would be fine, but it was smaller, and limited facilities. Then as March was coming to an end, Robbie Lewis sent me a text showing me that Dismals had some storm damage, and would be closed this spring, but also said they would open up hopefully by Easter. Our trip was the weekend before Easter, so the decision was made to just keep all the reservations, but have a backup plan in place. I went forward with that plan, and booked Lake Guntersville State Park as a backup. Then apparently some discussions went on about Guntersville having duck poop in the camping field and the field was slopey. So they elected to just stay at the site near Dismals without any adventure to Dismals. I try my best to not influence where I think bad decisions are being made, but after sharing with Magan this plan, I snapped into action, calling around, and finding Cherokee Rock Village was available that weekend. Magan and I had family pictures here, kids will remember the giant rocks and Dad being terrified...but the view was amazing, I knew climbing on the rocks would be fun, and it had a playground, which I have found makes an amazing campout for AHG. So with some last minute calling around, we had a group site for the weekend.
Because Belle had a theater practice, Ruby and I drove separately to get to the campsite and get set up before dark. Since we got there early, and because we now had the advantage of plenty of space, we took our bikes to ride around the park after we got set up. Near the end of our bike path was a large set of rocks that Ruby and I went to explore. And on these rocks I found out quickly that Ruby was terrified of heights even worse than me. She had one place where she would not drop the 2 feet down to where I was clearly standing right next to here. I named her the scaredy cat climber. Magan and Belle joined us that evening, and we got our one family picture with the tent.
I love an April campout, because typically in Alabama, the weather has warmed up a bit, but on this first night with the wind chill (and a very heavy wind all night) taking us into the upper 30s, it was a somewhat difficult night to sleep. I know I woke up many times, and from Magan's complaints and continuous napping the next day, I know she did not sleep well either. And did I mention the full moon this weekend was like sleeping almost in daylight?
The next morning was too far away from a Jacks, so in the bitter cold Belle and Magan got our breakfast hot water started, while I slept in a little bit. I did wake up pretty soon afterwards. I don't know the full story, but I heard Ruby spilt Sharon's breakfast that morning, which could not be a good thing.
I went on our AHG hike with Ruby's group and we visited all of the rock formations, letting the other kids (not Ruby) climb on all the rocks. Ruby's group had a BINGO scavenger hunt that kept the girls busy looking for various items during this hike. One of those items on the BINGO sheet was "scat", and when one of the leaders asked the girls "Has anyone seen scat", another leader quickly pointed to me and said "He's right there". We got to see a tree that looked like it was getting eaten by a rock, we got a group picture near a rock formation that looked like a crown, me and Ruby got our picture coming up thru a little fat man squeeze, and we saw many many professional climbers attempting the rocks at the steep sections.
Back at the campsite, I prepared an obstacle course, which worked for a handful of AHG girls, but was basically ignored by others. But they were all having so much fun with the other activities, this was not a problem at all. The wind stayed up all day Saturday, and I brought a kite that Ruby, Hazel, Olivia, and Kayley enjoyed flying for a bit. We had our typical sandwiches, chips and oatmeal creme pies for lunch. This is also where I found Magan slowly burning in the sun, which was something we all learned this weekend...It can be a bitter cold and windy 60 degree day, but if the sun is out, you can get burned. I think we all got burned a little...maybe not Belle, but the other three did. But Magan was tomato red in the face after falling asleep looking directly at the sun. I will also remember this campout for still getting big smiles and even unexpected laughs from makayla and Kessa, with my typical crazy communication. All those little girls are now in high school, and making them laugh is a rare occurrence, but it was working...which in turn makes me smile.
Magan went with Belle's group on the hiking trip later that day where they climbed on similar rocks. Apparently Kessa climbed one formation, and could not find a way down, which probably did not cause a problem for most, but Magan seems to have a heart attack about a lot of things these days, and was scared for Kessa. Or so I heard. The PIPAs later created some silhouette pictures of the rocks they saw that day.
Our evening included our normal campfire activities after the normal tacos in a bag, but since Mr. Jimmy had to leave, and the Pipas surprised the younger girls with a glowing egg hunt, we did not have time to do a flag retirement ceremony. But at this campfire, I was super proud of Anabelle, who took her normal MC role for the campfire activities. She is a natural leader at that, and as I have said many times in these blogs, she has a really good witty sense of humor that flows out well. And I was proud of both Ruby and Belle for jumping in front and leading songs for the troop. They even took the lead on "Hey Joe", which just makes a scout dad almost tear up. I can't remember all the skits on this night, but I think the PIPAs did a really funny version of "Bloody Finger", with Avianna cracking me up with a deep voice dad role. And then the skits turn into jokes, and jokes into complete nonsense, then nonsense came back to Anabelle from one of the little girls that asked her "Is skit time over?" Anabelle said "Let me check", and after looking at her bare arm, announced "Sorry, the campfire activities are complete, it is too late o'clock". haha...maybe you had to be there, but to me, that was pretty funny.
The second night was again poor sleep for magan, but for me and the girls, we slept much better. And our morning began with breakfast prep, and starting to take down the tent where we could. I also love bringing the leather stamping material so that all the girls can have a souvenir key chain for the campout. And I also love love seeing even the older AHG girls also sitting down with us to make a key chain. And only one good hit to my thumb as I continously hold the striker while these little girls swing a hammer so close to my fingers.
Once the key chains were complete, we all moved to the campfire, where Magan and the PiPas had prepared some devotion thoughts for that morning. All of the girls did really good reading verses then telling what it meant to them. The Pipas also passed out some trinkets with bible verses to keep in mind after the campout.
As the final part of every campout, we handed out paper plate awards...Ruby received "Most likely to BLAZE the trail (possibly leaving you behind)"...Belle received "Best tiny Kessa scissor sculptor and Best Campfire MC"...And Ms. Magan received "Most likely to have a Kessa induced heart attack" and she also accepted on behalf of "Sunscreen - For being there when we needed it, even when we chose not to use it"
Other quick memories were singing Hatten Burten Dayton to Dominic...Ruby making Orange Rolls with Mr. Jimmy after telling him at the last campout that Orange Rolls are better than the Cinnamon ones...and Ruby was SO excited to get one of the levitating wands from Ms. Robbie.
On our way home, we gave up a probably very late departure from the campsite with the Pipas to be with them for lunch, to instead go to Noccalulu Falls on our way home. It was on the way, and a fun quick stop for lunch at Jacks, and a special treat of Frio's popsicles for dessert. I love that all three of my girls love these outdoor adventures, and hope we can keep making them part of our family trips.
No comments:
Post a Comment