Girl Scouts around the world are working to make the world a better place. They are exploring interests, developing new skills, discovering their passions, and growing into strong leaders.
And yet, in the immortal lyrics sung by Cyndi Lauper,
When the working day is done, girls just want to have fun.
This year, before even thinking about organizing service projects, our Girl Scout troop took time to have some fun.
Whitewater Rafting Trip
For the second year in a row, we marked the end of summer with a white water rafting trip on the Sacandaga River.
It’s not a long trip, just over an hour, and it’s not exactly an extreme adventure, with its mild Class 3 rapids. But, it was scary enough for our novice rafters, and nothing beats a summer day floating on – or in – the river.
Of course, we couldn’t go on a rafting trip near Lake Luzerne, NY without a stop for the old-fashioned dairy treats at Papa’s Ice Cream Parlor.
Girl Scout Slumber Party – Henna Fun
The white water rafting trip was a sweet start to a great year, but we still had a lot of planning to do – hours and hours of talking, gabbing, chatting, and thinking of future activities.
Mostly, the girls needed time to “chillax” and reconnect after a summer apart.
We could’ve held this meeting around a conference room table, using parliamentary rules. Instead, we held a short town meeting style gathering to select the Cadette level programs, organized by the local Girl Scout Council, that we will register to do as a troop.
Then, we lounged and enjoyed a classic Girls Slumber Party with pizza, movies, and primping time.
We also had a special treat – Henna. Previously, I had picked up two ready-to-use cones of liquid Henna at the Indian Spices store. All we had to do that evening was to have the girls select and download patterns, and allow them draw on themselves and each other. This is a time-consuming project, as the henna has to dry for six hours, but it’s perfect for an all-night slumber party.
Warning – Two tubes of henna can go a long way. And, if they’re anything like my daughter, they won’t just decorate their hands. By morning, my daughter had henna patterns on her hands, arms, feet, legs, and face.
Oh, yes. As Kayla describes in her Elferkid blog, the girls just had to have some Henna Fun.
