Abby Goes To Camp

Abby's troop headed out the Camp Wah-Shah-She to celebrate the camp's 50th birthday.


The girls decided to camp for two nights and Jon and I went out on the first day (after the first night) to help out with the festivities. When we got there, the girls were making lunch.
Who would have thought that you could cook on the top of a coffee can?! It was so cool! These cool little cans are called "buddy burners". Under the large can is a smaller can (tuna fish can size) that has rolled corrugated cardboard with wick in the middle and dipped in wax. Who knew?! So cool!

The girls also made pineapple upside down cakes on the "buddy burners". I heard they were delicious!

Jon did a dutch oven cooking demonstration. The girls loved it!

These girls are inseparable!

Abby's troop hosted several activities in their camp. Soap carving, yarn doll making, lashing, sand art. This is also where Jon did his demonstration.

Luke had a blast being out at the camp all day! This boy is all about the outdoors! He was FILTHY when we got home, but he sure had a great time!

It was neat to hear the story of the camp and to hear the lady behind the story talk about it. I hope that Abby will continue to make memories with her fellow Girl Scouts!

Abby Bridges To Cadets

It was nice to take a break from Girl Scouts for the summer, but now it's time to get back after it! What better way to get started for fall than with a picnic at the park? It was a beautiful day for a picnic!


This is Abby's sixth year in Girl Scouts and she is in sixth grade which means she bridges up to Cadets this year. I am so proud of her for sticking with it!

Ready to cross the bridge.

Officially a Cadet! :)

Abby with Sheila and Sam.
Sheila is Sam's mom (and my friend!) and is helping out with the Cadets this year.

Abby's whole troop!

Last year Abby said that she would like to continue with Girl Scouts through high school. I would love it if she did it! However, she is getting a little bit wore out with it. She didn't want to continue this year. She was already registered and has way too much cookie credit (money she earned from selling cookies last winter) to quit right now. Jon and I asked her to continue right now and we will reconsider at the end of this year. I am hoping that with some of the changes being made in her troop that she will reconsider. I won't force her to do something that she doesn't want to do. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Washington County Free Fair

Last year was the first year Abby entered anything in the fair for Girl Scouts. (We had never even known anything about the fair!) After her experience last year, she was eager to do it again this year. (Abby was especially eager due to the fact that if you win a first, second or third place ribbon, you win a little bit of cash!) We came up with two things that we thought would be great for the fair and then, at the last minute, Abby threw in another entry that she had made at Girl Scouts this year.

She did great!

First place for her Girl Scout!

Third place for her rag doll and honorable mention for her pillow. (Let's not get started on the pillow! It was great! Definitely deserved better than honorable mention!)

Abby and Miss Joy, Abby's sweet Girl Scout leader.

Luke was pretty excited to check out the (few) animals at the fair!



Turning corn...

...into cornmeal.




Abby made a rope. Cool!


Any trip to the fair wouldn't be complete without some kind of food! We opted not to eat at the fair, but we did pick up some cookies!

The fair is very small, but it was fun for Abby to participate and it was fun for me to take Abby and Luke for a little while.

The wheels are already spinning thinking about what Abby can enter next year!

Abby Learns To Sew

I was thrilled for Abby when Grammy offered to teach her how to sew! I love that Abby will always get to say that her Grammy taught her how to sew! Abby still needed to make something for Girl Scouts for the county fair, so this was a great opportunity to work on that as well.

I wasn't home the night that Abby and Grammy worked together, so the pictures in this post will have to do most of the talking.


This is the same way Mom taught me how to sew. She drew lines on paper and we used the machine to poke holes in the paper. No thread.


Abby did a super job! I was very impressed!


Grammy and Abby had to go out to get a few supplies for their project and made a pit stop at Cherry Berry.


Cherry Berry has been opened since last spring and, much to Abby's dismay, we hadn't been there yet. This was very special for Abby!

Back to work!









The finished product turned out GREAT! I am so proud of Abby for doing such a great job learning how to sew!

Thank you, Mom, for taking the time to work with Abby and make this a special night for her! I know she will always remember when Grammy taught her how to sew and took her to Cherry Berry!

Now we'll just have to see how she fares at the fair!

Girl Scout Bowling & Birthday

Abby's Girl Scout leader is really good about planning activities during the summer so that the girls have something to do and so that the girls can all get together. This week we went bowling!



Abby got progressively better with each game! I was pretty impressed with her score on the third game!

Since Abby's birthday was the next day, we thought it would be fun to treat this bowling day a little bit like a birthday party. Unfortunately, only three girls from her troop made it. I made Abby's favorite cake (Well, in the cupcake form.) and brought along some ice cream.
She was a little bit embarrassed that we were singing to her in the bowling alley!
(I'm not sure if you can tell in the pictures or not, but there sure weren't very many people in the bowling alley, so she really didn't have anything to feel embarrassed about!)

This is Abby and her great friend, Sam. These girls are, pretty much, inseparable! They are in Girl Scouts together and play on the same softball team.

The girls and their leader, Miss Joy.

Silly girls!

I love Girl Scouts and that Abby is involved! It is still her desire to continue through high school! I hope she makes it!

Prom Night With Dad

One of the things that Abby has always looked forward to in Girl Scouts is the father/daughter dance. She loves the opportunity to get dressed up and go on a special date with Dad. As I was getting started with this post I was thinking about all of the past father/daughter dances. What she wore, how her hair was done...you know, all of the important things. :) I couldn't resist posting a picture from each of the years that she has gone so far! My baby girl has grown up so much and is becoming such a beautiful young lady!
2007 ~ First Grade
2008 ~ Second Grade
2009 ~ Third Grade

2010 ~ Sadly, there wasn't a father/daughter dance this year

2011 ~ Fifth Grade
I love that Abby is learning how a girl is to be treated on a date. So sweet!
My sweet, beautiful girl! :)
This is Abby and her friend, Sam. These girls are inseparable!
I love these last two picture so much! It shows me how much fun she was having at the dance.
I am happy to say that Abby wants to be in Girl Scouts all the way through, so there will be several more father/daughter dances to come. What a precious time for Abby and Dad!