Joy Hollow Overnite!!

Our overnite trip to Joy Hollow was November 13-14th. It was a dark and stormy night... well, it was raining!! I thought that sounded like a good beginning to a story!!! Anyway...

After loading up our cars with Girl Scouts, food and overnite supplies, we made the trek through the drizzling rain to Joy Hollow campground. The trip took a little bit longer than anticipated because of the detour we had to take due to road construction, and because we missed our turn to the campground (hahahaha!!) but luckily the ranger/groundskeeper for the Joy Hollow lodge was watching for us! He saw us miss our turn and was able to get us to pull over and turn around! We got to the lodge and everyone helped unload everything. The girl scouts ran around checking the lodge out, then launched into a game of charades while the leaders got supper ready. We had chili, chicken and noodles, cinnamon rolls, carrots and dip for our meal!! It was awesome!!!

Once supper was cleaned up, we decided to play games and do some face-painting!! The girls really had a blast with this... they could have done it all weekend! Most of them would paint their faces, then wash it off and paint something else on it!! We had cats, flowers, fairies,...

Since it was getting late, we pulled out the sleeping bags and put in a movie and had snacks while we watched the movie. Everyone was alseep by the time the movie was over, and the girls got a good 6-7 hours of sleep before they started waking up in the morning!

Breakfast consisted of french toast, sausage, bananas and hot chocolate... YUMMY!! After breakfast, we got dressed and went to the craft room and made "stained glass" votives. The girls ripped up pieces of colored tissue paper and glued them on to candle votive cups -- very cute! We also managed to act out skits while waiting for lunch. Once lunch was over, it was time to pack up and head back home... this was a very fun trip and the girls were great!! Hope we do it again soon!!

Upcoming Events!

Tuesday, December 1st:
*** Turn in Money from Nut Sales***
Please meet at Washington Heights Church between 5:30PM - 6:30PM to turn in all money!Thank you!

Thursday, December 10th:
*** Troop Meeting***
Meet at Washington Heights Church from 6PM - 8PM
Christmas Caroling at the Countryside Senior Living Center! Girl Scouts can be dropped off and picked up at the church at our regular scheduled meeting times! This is our community service project and anyone is welcome to join us! The address is 6120 Morningside Avenue. We will be caroling for the residents and handing out our cocoa mugs we made as gifts! We will be back at the church in time to be picked up at 8PM.

Thursday, January 28th:
*** Troop Meeting***
Meet at Washington Heights Church from 6PM - 8PM

This has been a busy and exciting Girl Scout Year with lots of fun and learning to follow. Always feel free to offer suggestions for ideas and activities that we can do as a troop! We wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

November 17 -- Meeting #4

Tonight's meeting was all about the upcoming Holidays and our community service project... We had "stations" set up for different crafts/gifts. We split into groups and then went around taking turns at each station. We also made our own gift bags! Sorry we don't have any pictures to post of these stations, but we don't want to ruin the surprise!! Some of these things might be your Christmas present!!

One of our stations was making hot cocoa gift packs to take as part of our community service project. We mixed the hot cocoa mix from scratch, then put it into bags with marshmallows and placed them in Christmas mugs. We plan to hand these gifts to the residents at the Countryside Senior Living Center where we will be Christmas caroling!

Upcoming Events!

Friday, November 13th - Saturday, November 14th:
***Joy Hollow Overnite!!***
We will meet at the church by 5:30PM on Friday night and will return to the church at 2:00PM on Saturday afternoon. Please be sure the Girl Scouts have packed the following:

Sleeping Bag / Pillow
Clothes / Shoes
Pajamas
Jacket
Towel / Toiletries
Flashlight
Journal or Book (for "Quiet Time")

Monday, November 16th:
***Pick Up Nut Orders***
Please meet at Washington Heights Church between 5:30PM - 6:30PM to pick up your nut orders! Girl Scouts have approximately two weeks to deliver these orders and collect the money!

Thursday, November 19th:
***Troop Meeting***
@ Washington Heights Church from 6PM - 8PM.

Tuesday, December 1st:
*** Turn in Money from Nut Sales***
Please meet at Washington Heights Church between 5:30PM - 6:30PM to turn in all money!
Thank you!

Any questions, please call Gay @ 712-389-5370!

Girl Power Event

Our "Girl Power" event was held this past Saturday afternoon at Johnson's ATA downtown. Ryan Johnson is the owner/instructor of the academy studio and he presented a very good program for our Girl Scouts. Ryan talked to the girls about "Stranger Dangers", how to build your confidence and self-esteem, and even how to deal with bullies. He also taught the girls several martial arts techniques to be used as self-protection. The girls were fingerprinted and given their fingerprints with an identification kit to take home to their parents.

Our Girl Scouts had a lot of fun learning the different martial arts techniques! You've been warned!... BE CAREFUL if you ask them to show you what they learned! You just might end up with a bloody nose!!!!

Masquerade Madness

The Girl Scout Council held a Halloween party for all the troops in our Morningside area. This party was called "Masquerade Madness"! The girls (and the leaders!) were encouraged to dress up in their Halloween costumes and enjoy a night of lots of fun!!!

There were several stations set up for each troop to rotate around and participate in... there was a station where everyone got to decorate their own masquerade mask, and a station called "Pumpkin Toss" which was a lot like a ring toss game you see at a carnival -- you just needed to get the rings around the stems of the pumpkins! There was also a face painting station and two more stations that were games -- one game consisted of tossing a ball that looked like an "eyeball" into buckets lined up across the floor. The other game was with donuts hanging on a string and everyone had to see who could get the donut off the string without using their hands!

The two favorite stations of the night were "Fear Factory" and the "Glow House"!! "Fear Factory" had dark boxes set up on a table that were labeled as "Maggots", "Brains", "Eyeballs", etc. You put your hand in the box and felt these things!!!! The objects inside the boxes seemed quite realistic and you could hear the shouts of "Ooh... YUCK!" and "GROSS!!" as each girl dared to put her hand in the box!! The "Glow House" was a dark room decorated with glow sticks and items that glowed under a black light! There was music playing and the girls entered into the room and danced around!! I think most of them would have stayed in there all night, they were having so much fun!!

We ended the evening with a snack and helped clean up the stations before heading home! When the council members asked if everyone enjoyed the party and had fun, there were many shouts of approval, so we hope they do it again next year!! FUN! FUN! FUN!!

Some pics from our evening: