Mother Daughter Campout

Olivia's Girl Scout group had an overnight at this ranch in Provo Canyon. It was a Mom-Me campout on the Friday before Mother's Day. Olivia and I drove up around 4:30 that evening. It was about a 45 minute drive from our house...

so we were very relieved when we finally got there!

Little Miss Organization wanted to settle right in, arrange her sleeping bag, set her things out, etc. It took like 10 minutes for her to get everything set up...I have no idea where she got that from!

This is one of the lodges up at Trefoil Ranch. Not bad for Girls Scouts, eh?

This was the awesome fire pit where we roasted hot dogs. We also had salads, chips, fruit, veggies/dip, etc. It was such beautiful scenery and the weather wasn't too cold. After dinner the girls had a class about the stars and constellations (since they are earning patches). It was really fun for them to create their own constellations, name them, and create a story to go along with it. We also had a class all about the moon.

This was the lodge we stayed in (this must be the 3 star version!) but it wasn't too bad. Thank goodness it was heated b/c it was still pretty cold up there. There were two sets of bunk beds in each room, so we had some roommates for the night. The lodge also had bathrooms and kitchens so we weren't really roughing it.

Here's Olivia and I as we headed out to the campfire for S'mores and hot chocolate! We relaxed by the fire and chatted with the other moms. After that it was lights out at 10:30 pm. Olivia's friend, Anna, slept in our room too since her mom had to go home for the baby. She and Olivia slept head-to-foot on the top bunk. They were really good and went to sleep much faster than I thought they would... that is, after some giggling, flashlight games, and multiple pillow-sleeping bag-rearranging of course.

The next morning we were woken at 8 am. It seems like there was a class of some sort but I was probably in a daze so I can't remember what it was! After that it was breakfast time. Pancakes, muffins, bananas, oranges, and scrambled eggs. There were about 60 people in our group, so the girls had to be patient. They sang some fun Girl Scout songs while they waited, then they lined up by birthday to get their grub (see photo).

We had a craft activity next. All the girls got a pillowcase to decorate and color on. After drawing some pictures, a lot of them started signing each other's pillowcases which I thought was really cute.

Olivia also wrote, "My teacher's name is Mrs. Candland and I love her." This makes me a little sad b/c Olivia's 1st grade teacher is fabulous and we are really going to miss her! On the other side of her pillowcase, Olivia wrote "I love my family" and had everyone's name. She also had a list of "Things I like to do" which included, "play, paint nails, dro (draw) coler (color), do face pant (paint)". What a cute little snapshot of who she is right now.

Next we had a class about seeds and planting. All the girls got herb seeds like Basil, Cilantro, Thyme, etc. They planted them in little egg cartons while we talked about how they grow and what they need. 

After that it was hiking time and I was really looking forward to getting out and moving around. We threw all of our snacks into a Trail Mix that got very interesting... sour worms, smarties, cheerios, gummy bears, M&Ms, pretzels, Chex, chocolate chips, fishy crackers, etc.

We took a group photo with the girls' leaders, Jeanne and Susan, who do so much work- they are fabulous! Front Row: Mia, Bethany, Natalie, ? Back Row: Ambry, Jocie, Grace, Olivia, Anna. We hiked quite a ways up the trail, rested and ate snacks at the top, then came back down. It easily took about 45 minutes or so- I was impressed- and we later found out that we had passed the "meadow" that we were supposed to turn around at... we had climbed to the top of the hill where the horse pasture was. We're such over achievers! 

After the hike, we ate lunch, packed up our things and cleaned up. We checked out and headed home about 3 pm. I think we had a great time and we'll do it again in December, when we'll hopefully be staying in the 4 star lodge!!