Cooper and I talked Michelle and Teagan in to attending the Mother/Daughter overnight camp at Prairie Schooner Girl Scout Camp in Kansas City. When we heard August was the only date available, we thought it wouldn't be much fun in the heat of the summer, but the weather surprised us. That wasn't the only surprise we had on this adventure.
We had to leave Manhattan at 6:30am to arrive by 9:00am check in. Chad, Campbell, and I had visited the camp in April to check things out, so we kind of knew where we were going. The weather was cloudy and a little rain, but that was better than 100 degree heat! We arrived in time and found our Permatent. Both girls asked "is this really our tent" and "are we sleeping in here?" It was quite a sight to see the look on their faces. This permatent has 3 canvas walls that you can roll up or put down, but they don't close down all the way, there is always about 2" of gap, just to get air, or to let creatures run through your tent at night. The fourth wall is solid, but has some slots in it for air. There are 4 metal cots in the tent, each with a 2" thick mattress on it. We unpacked our essentials and toured the camp.
Cooper in front of our Permatent! Looks inviting - right??
Cooper and Teagan laying down on their cots in the afternoon breeze.
Michelle and I showing the girls how excited we were to be camping with them.
There are little camps inside the whole big camp. Our camp unit was called Flint. They put the youngest girls here. It is supposed to be close to everything, but I think it was still pretty far away from everything. The camp has a big main building, where we ate meals and did crafts, also the place with a "real" bathroom. There were tents all around, a trading post (to buy your patch, water bottle, and t-shirt at), a nice swimming pool with showers, a chapel, and of course the camp fire with leveled logs to sit on. The latrines and showers in our unit were supposed to be the cleanest in the camp, but let me tell you, it was a SCARY and SMELLY sight! The girls were NO WAY using that latrine. And after a long night, Sunday morning Michelle and I wised up and used the showers at the swimming pool.
We played games, sang songs, did all kinds of crafts, ate meals family style, did challenges, and of course roasted marshmallows to make s'mores at the campfire. By 10pm it was pitch dark and it was time for sleep. How can a place with no hustle or bustle be so relaxing, but make you feel so tired??? Our first discovery of the adventure were all the daddy long leg spiders around. I killed 8 in our tent before we went to sleep and found one in my backpack. Ugh-gross!! As I finally calmed myself down and fell asleep about 10:15, I was quickly woke up an hour later by a strange growling sound. I was scared. Luckily as I called for Michelle she was awake too. She took the flash light and searched around the tent. There wasn't anything to be seen. But, unbeknownst to me, earlier in the day Michelle had found a mint in her bag and threw it out the back wall. So here we were in the middle of the night and there was some kind of animal out back snacking on a mint. Michelle could smell the mint. I was freakin' out. I didn't know what to do and I couldn't calm down to fall back asleep. I thought I might have to go sleep in my car. And now I needed to go to the restroom, but knew I couldn't go by myself and I couldn't go with Michelle and leave the girls alone. Finally, after a long time, I fell back to sleep.
We had packed per their suggested list and found ourselves sweating under our clothes and sleeping bags and blankets. But I was protecting myself from spiders and mosquitos! Sunday morning we woke up at 7:30 am and breakfast was at 8:00am. After breakfast the girls attended the church service, while Michelle and I cleaned up and packed up. That morning they had a Spa session you could attend and do an oatmeal facial. Both Cooper and Michelle did that. Check out time was 11:00 am. We left with great memories and lots of laughs. It was a really good time and I am glad I could share that with Cooper.
We went right to P.F. Chang's for lunch and then on to the Legends for a little shopping. We arrived home about 5:30 pm. Campbell and Chad were glad to see us and hear all about our adventure.
Cooper ready for sleep.
Teagan ready for sleep.
Cooper with her oatmeal facial.
No comments:
Post a Comment