Wordless Wednesday - Ready for Camp #WW

#Popcorn, Chick-fil-a & #Coffee - Oh My!

It's that time of year again. Everyone is trying to sell something to raise money. My kids included. This year, my son is selling Popcorn for Boy Scouts. His goal is to pay for summer camp next summer as well as to pay his yearly dues. If you'd like to help him out, just let me know. I can send you an email with the link to order online.

My daughter is selling Chick-fil-a calendars (LIMITED quantities!) and Coffee/Tea for American Heritage Girls. The calendars are $7 each and CFA has changed the way they work. It's a card (assigned to an email) now, instead of individual coupons. If you're interested, contact me and I'll see what I can do to get one to you. If you like Coffee/Tea, you can order through this link:

[ Giving Bean - a coffee/tea fundraiser for American Heritage Girls Troop GA0593 - Lawrenceville]

Please assign my daughter's name to the sale during check-out so that she gets credit for it.

For my friends with kids also doing fundraising.. I'm willing to do a swap.

2012 Chick-fil-A Calendars for sale

My girl is selling 2012 Chick-fil-A calendars for her American Heritage Girls troop. The calendars are $6/ea and are loaded with coupons that don't expire. I'm happy to mail, but it makes more sense to mail more than one since it looks to be about $4 to get one mailed.

We love to take multiples of the coupons in and end up with a 'free' (or greatly reduced) meal. Though if you use 2 coupons you've pretty much paid for the calendar.

Princesses on Parade

My daughter's AHG troop was invited to a Princess Party by one of the Explorer level groups within the troop. Most of the girls dressed up either in a nice dress or as a princess. The girls seemed to really enjoy themselves. They started off the evening by making valentine's day cards for vets, which will be dropped off at a local VA hospital this week. They then played 'princess' games such as "Walking with book on head" and "Pin the crown on the Princess". Several were also caught practicing the royal wave.

My daughter with one of her 'bestest buddies' (in blue) and a couple of other girls.

The McLure princess herself

Angel Food @ McKendree UMC

I found out about this mission from a fellow American Heritage Girl leader. At McKendree United Methodist Church in Lawrenceville, they have a ministry called Angel Food. It's a cool idea that provides quality food at a substantial discount. It also provides the church with a donation for each package that it delivers. It's definitely worth checking out if you're in the area. For those that eat Gluten-free, there's a gluten free option for you too. The menu changes month to month, so you have to check back each month for what's offered.

The deadline for ordering for December is this Sunday 12/12. Pick-up on 12/18. You can find more information about it at the McKendree Angel Food page.

Operation Christmas Child

My daughter's American Heritage Girls troop sorted and donated items for Operation Christmas Child as donations in kind. The girls were able to go to the warehouse and tour it to see how the donations are put to use and the boxes checked. It's a great way to donate your time (there's only a week left) and kids 13+ can help.

AHG Stars & Stripes Award Ceremony

My kids and I were honored to be able to attend a special ceremony last night. A girl from our American Heritage Girls troop was being honored with the Stars & Stripes award. She's the first girl in Georgia to earn it. It's essentially the equivalent of an Eagle award for a Boy Scout. I tried to take pictures, but my camera (as usual) didn't cooperate. I think it was just too dark for it to manage. The Scout Master from our troop (593) presided over the whole thing, with an Eagle Scout from our troop, the 2nd recipient in GA (her ceremony is still to be held), and many other people participating. She was read a letter by one of the Snellville city councilmen (sorry, can't recall name) honoring her. She also had a Resolution read from one of the outgoing Snellville Georgia State Representatives. It was an excellent ceremony. My daughter and her group of Explorers, as well as several other girls from the Troop, were given the opportunity to participate by carrying flowers.

So, while I didn't get pictures of the ceremony, I at least did get to attend. The only picture I took that DID come out was pre-ceremony of my daughter in her uniform.

Victoria Bryant State Park

My daughter's American Heritage Girls troop set up a family camping weekend out at Victoria Bryant State Park. My son chose not to go as he's going camping with his troop next weekend and temps were expected to get below freezing on us. We were the 3rd family to arrive and set up our tent.

We had a cool view of the creek/river running behind our tent.

We survived the night of cold and were woken up by a wild turkey right behind our tent. (I was actually already awake, not having slept much during the night.) We climbed out of our sleeping bags and had a warm breakfast. This is my daughter with one of her AHG friends.

Some time after lunch we decided to 'hike' over to the play ground and check it out. The night before we had stopped in a small field to check out the stars. We decided to go back in daylight to see what the field looked like. We found a lot of turkey tracks all over, mixed in with deer tracks. My finger is beside the turkey track to show how big it really was.

This is a view of the creek over by the playground area.

The kids spent at least 2 hours running around the playground. It had some really cool things for the kids to climb on and play iwth.

This thing would go up and down at the joints depending on where the weight was. The kids had a blast trying to make it jump so that kids would jump/fall off.

Around 4pm we decided it was time to head back to the campground and get ready to go home. I wasn't willing to stick out another night of freezing temps. We crossed the creek on the way in and on the way out of our campground at this crossing.

All in all a very beautiful area. The park itself was rather small, there are a few hiking trails in the area as well.