Ireland's Camp Mary Ann Beebe

The Girl Scout pillowcases Aunt Katrina made for the girls got lots of use this summer! Not one of them went to camp without one and they always received compliments from fellow Girl Scouts and leaders. They are so lucky to have an aunt that supports them like this.

Ireland's new troop is into camping. I mean really into camping and that suites Ireland just fine. It doesn't hurt that the co-leader is also a nurse, which sets my mind at ease. The first night they were supposed to make sloppy joes over a fire pit but they discovered their campsite had wasp nests and didn't want to chance it. Rather than sleeping outside, they took advantage of the activity center. 

Even though they were indoors, it was really dusty. Ireland had some asthma issues and had to take her inhaler but got through it OK. I'm glad she's learning to manage her own medication as she grows older.

They did make breakfast pudgie pies- Ireland is fanning the fire to make the flames bigger. She instantly became a fan of pudgie pies!

This girl's name is Reagan and she happens to have a little sister who is in Brigitta's troop. Small world!

Next was tie-dying some t-shirts and bandanas. That shirt became one of her favorites for the rest of the summer.

These are called God's eyes and oh man, Ireland loved these. She made several and continued working on one even after I picked her up. She felt like this was fidgeting but better because she could create something really cool. 

I'd never heard of this one- crate stacking- but apparently it is a THING!

While attached to a bungee cord, a partner hands crates and you see how high you can go. The partner always has to back away facing the person making the tower. If they are knocked over, the partner is less likely to get hurt. After 5 black crates, you get a colored crate to make counting easy. 

The highest Ireland was able to stack was 8 or 9 and the troop record was 14.

When her crates fell over and she slowly floated to the ground, she did Iron Man hands. 

The zipline is over a pond. It's a good thing we eradicated Ireland's fear of ziplining- she tells me she was more nervous about the creaky platform than the actual zipline. Another girl named Reagan had a broken arm so Ireland and some friends showed her she didn't need it to do the zipline. Ireland had a blast grabbing random sticks and dropping them in the water as she flew by.

At the other end, they needed to get them on the other side of the ramp so the zipliners wouldn't go back out over the pond so here is Ireland catching another scout and running her up the ramp. 

They made banana boats: cut a banana open, stuffed marshmallows and chocolate chips, wrapped them in tinfoil and cooked them over the fire. Ireland is on the chocolate challenge so she just did marshmallows but said it still tasted awesome.

Until she can go back to church, this is a pretty awesome alternative. She really has a great troop here.

And really, she made so many of those God's eyes so I feel like she was pretty close to heaven.