Girl Scout Overnight at SeaWorld

Rosemary’s Girl Scout troop chose to spend the night at SeaWorld as the end of the year party. In early May, we headed down to Orlando for the overnight trip. It took four hours to get there, but we made it! It was a little bit overcast that day so very few people were actually in the park and the girls got to do so much.

At Wild Arctic

We literally all weighed a ton.

The girls.

Late that afternoon, we made our way over to the education area of the park. There the girls did a craft, played a game, and had dinner. Once the park closed, we unloaded all of our stuff into one of the Turtle Trek aquarium rooms. We were going to sleep with the manatees! After we were unloaded, we headed out to see a few of the animals after dark. The girls kept having to stop to go to the bathroom and it was rainy so we didn’t see too much before we headed back to get ready for bed.

Rosemary slept right in front of the glass and I was up with the other moms on the platform behind her. We both actually slept really well.

Enjoying our ice cream whale desserts.

In the morning, we got up, got dressed, packed up and headed to breakfast in the Seafire Inn. After that, we got to see some of the dolphins behind the scenes then the girls went to put the stingrays. By then, the park was about ready to open so we had to make our way back to the cars.

Having been to SeaWorld a lot, I wasn’t sure how much different this would be, but I have to say, actually spending the night with the manatees was pretty cool.

Bridging to Brownies

On her last Girl Scout meeting of the year, Rosemary and her fellow Daisies bridged to Brownies. Prior to that night, she and I had researched not only where to put her badges on her new Brownie sash, but how all future vests and patches will be done. She was very excited to have reached this milestone.

The newest Brownies

The entire troop. All Brownies now!

Overnight at the Zoo with Girl Scouts

Rosemary’s Girl Scout troop sold a lot of cookies this year so they were able to go on a pretty amazing end of the year trip. Her leader organized an overnight trip to the Jacksonville Zoo. All but one of the girls was able to make it. I chaperoned along with four other moms.

It was pouring rain for most of the drive and for most of the night, but the zoo staff did an excellent job keep the girls interested.

When we arrived, we had a quick pizza dinner then Sammy brought out a screech owl for the girls to see.

Then we all got our ponchos on for our nighttime behind-the-scenes zoo tour.

We all wore glow necklaces (so helpful in the rain and dark) and walked in straight lines as we made our way through the park.

They tried to get us inside when they could and showed the girls lots of animals up close. Here they are checking out a bearded dragon.

Next, they brought out a python for the girls to hold.

Yes, that’s right. A PYTHON!!! My heart started racing as soon as it came out of that room. (Even looking at these pictures I can feel my pulse quickening).

Such brave girls.

Then they let the moms hold the snake.

I have a huge fear of snakes. Little ones terrify me, but by God’s grace I managed to do this. I guess you just sometimes have to face your fears. I think you can tell from my expression just how terrified I am.

Not a small snake by any means. I was certain it would haunt my dreams that night. In reality, there was no concern for that since I don’t know that I slept at all, but I have had a dream about this snake slithering around in our backyard in the weeks since. No lie.

After that, we headed outside and saw the goats.

From there we spent a good chunk of time navigating muddy puddles and walking around the perimeter of the zoo, sometimes along the train track. We caught a glimpse of a black panther, a cheetah, and a giraffe. Then they took us to the African snake house (can anyone who has read Harry Potter go into a snake house and not think of what happens in book 1?) and told us (among other interesting facts) a story about how the green mamba had gotten out of its terrarium once. Very comforting.

We got back to where we were staying a little after 10pm, well past these girls’ bedtime. They changed into their pajamas, got their beds ready and watched some of the Jungle Book. Rosemary had a hard time sleeping too, but I knew it was only one night so we could survive that.

The next morning, Sammy got everyone up at 6:30 to get ready for the day.

The girls saw a chinchilla.

Then we headed over to feed the stingrays. A couple of the round ones were really aggressive, but the more square shaped ones were okay to feed. It felt really weird to feed a stingray! Rosemary tried but as they came near she would pull her hand out. I can’t blame her. Seeing how the rounded ones acted, it was a bit intimidating.

That wrapped up our tour, so from their we went back to the cars…

…and got a few quick photos before loading up to head back to Gainesville.

This is just such a great group of little girls.

Girl Scout Cookies 2013

This year Rosemary sold 300 boxes of cookies during presales. Jonathan and I spent an evening sorting them then Rosemary and I spent the next two weeks distributing them. It was a big job, but she did a great job!

The Nutcracker Ballet

Rosemary and I saw The Nutcracker last weekend with her Daisy troop. We had attended the school show last year, but this was the first time that she got to see the whole performance.

 

Getting ready for the show to start

Our beautiful green-eyed girl

First Day of Daisies

Rosemary went back to Daisies this week.

Rosemary was so excited to get back together with all of her friends.

Finally, all of the kids’ activities are underway. We are ready to get into the routine of our year.

Girl Scouts Bridging Ceremony

Rosemary didn’t bridge this year, but she did help with setting up the reception for the girls in her troop and others in Azalea Trails. I have loved watching Rosemary grow and make friends through her experience with Daisies.

Lisa, Rosemary, and Jordin

100 Years of Girl Scouting at North Fork

The last Saturday of April, we met up with Rosemary’s Daisy troop and drove to North Fork for a special event celebrating Girl Scouting’s 100th Anniversary.

It was a pretty warm day, but these girls were troopers!

Waiting for things to kick off.

We were told we all had to wear hats or something covering our heads. I don’t even own a hat (just a visor) so I had to borrow one of the leader’s hats. We got there and found out it was more strongly suggested than required.

We made a family day of it. Charlotte and Ben were really pretty amazing with how well they handled the heat and the activities of the day.

The kids got to swim during their troop’s swim time. I think this was one of the highlights of their day.

Waiting while Rosemary finished up her stomp rocket.

3-2-1….

Blast off!

It was a full day! We stopped in Starke on the way home for dinner at Arby’s then made it home. I think everyone but Jonathan slept on the drive back.