5/1/09 to 5/3/09 - girl scout camporee

[alantani]

may 1st - last year i volunteered to chaperone my daughter's girl scout camping trip.  this was before my wife was layed off from work and my 90 year old father-in-law took that spill the put him in an ICU for two days.  well, we were committed, and we were going camping, rain or shine.  just our luck, the forecast called for rain!!!!!!!!  the leader put a call out for canopies and got no reponse, so on thursday i headed out the nearest home depot and bought two.  i figured we were going to need them.  the girls had brought their gear over to the leader's home the night before, so on friday morning i took the excursion over to carole's house and loaded everything up.  glad i got the rocket box!





the girls walked over to from the school for snacks and a bathroom break, then we broke out the rain gear.





meet tanvi, shailja, lauren, simran, winni, hannah, cate, christina, kelly and nicole (left to right)



we drove an hour through the rain and got to the san mateo county campgrounds where the girl scouts were set up.  yup, rain everywhere!  we hustled and got the canopies set up, then the tarps, unloaded the luggage, set up the tents, and transferred all the luggage and sleeping bags into the tents.  to their credit, the girls worked pretty hard. 







since i was the only male in the group (and maybe the entire campground) i got to sleep in the excursion.  it was a blessing in disguise because i stayed bone dry.  the tent you see in the center belonged to our two troop moms.  it will flood overnight. 



after dinner, it's off to the first campwide meeting, then back to the tents.   i crawled in the excursion and was out like a light.  the kids were up late yakking.  the moms were dealing with their leaky tent.





saturday, 5/2/09 - i slept like a log.  the girls woke me up a little late.  breakfast was already started and we started hearing stories about water getting into the tents.  the two moms had it the worst.  their tent flooded and they spend a good part of the night trying to keep the water out.  after breakfast was their first campwide event and everyone brought their banners.



then they moved around to several areas in the camp that here hosting different crafts events.  this one was painting.





origami......







this was a snack making event, hosted conveniently at noon.





walking back, the kids started climbing an old stump.  posing for pictures takes the fun out of everything!





this was a relay race that was alot of fun to watch.



we had a quick lunch back at the campsite, then i took the kids on a short hike down to pescadero creek.  it was really pretty down there. 







i figured it would be a good time to get some individual shots.  here's lauren.....



our fearless leader, carole.....



me and christina.



carole and her daughter, hannah.



kavita and her daughter, simran



winni....



shailja.....



tanvi.....



nicole....



kelly....



cate .....



while down by the river, christina grabbed my camera and took a few more shots.











back to camp!







at the top of the trail, i stopped for another photo op.  the ultimate indignation!



dinner was prepared that evening by girls and included spaghetti and a fresh fruit salad.









a very popular troop leader, i believe bob miller, came by to visit.



we had another evening campfire that the girls really enjoyed.





sunday, 5/3/09 - more rain and a long drive home.  the girls were beat.  a couple of them were pretty stressed.  hopefully next year we won't have to deal with the rain.