HobcawChaos

Wow, what a sticky situation to deal with as a leader. The mother and girl should definitely have given you a heads up beforehand. A 16 day trip at 2 months seems really early, IMHO, but not my place to judge. What to do now? The girl is/would be a Girl Scout regardless of her parenting status. The baby would be a tag-along - same as the baby of a leader. So the baby may not attend meetings or events to which other tag-alongs are not able to come. As for cookies and other fundraising that the troop is sure to be doing in advance of your trip - to me that's the really tricky part. Perhaps she c

Sounds like you have a great trip planned! If the trailer falls through and gear needs to be checked on the plane, remember to budget for the checked baggage fees. They've gotten downright onerous. Northwest, for example, charges $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second bag if the fee is prepayed - add $5 to each if not. Ugh!! Negotiation is everything though. Maybe give a Scout a challenge - see if he can get the fee waived for the trip (with confirmation on the airlines letterhead to take to check-in).

The USS Laffey safely made it up the Cooper River to Deytens shipyard at the old Navy Base. Should be there a few months.

Not too far. About 3 hours.

Great pictures! How long did it take the crews to make the boats? Did they make and race on the same day? About how much cardboard and duct tape was needed per boat? Can you tell I'm thinking of adding this to an upcoming Raingutter Regatta as an Older Girl event??

If a separte junior troop can't be formed, one proposal would be a muli-level troop. This would include both the Juniors and the Cadettes. Would one of the other 5-6 girls' parents be willing to sign on as an assistant leader to lead the Junior Patrol? Sometimes stepping in as an 02 is easier. They would need to go through the full training for your Council if they wanted to do separte Council-sponsored Junior events. I would personally at least recommend Junior level training so that the 02 would be comfortable with the programming. The Juniors and Cadettes could continue to meet and camp tog

Sorry narraticong - gotta save up for when they come a-knockin' Won't be long and there is a SUCKER light on our door, too. 'Course we get the boys back come cookie time so all's fair in love & fundraising!

Gotta ditto Boomerscout. Check a big box as hunting season gears up. Mine are camo but a good deal and have fun little magnets to hold the mitten portion when you flip it back. Warning - will mess up a compass LOL. Kid size available as well. Very reasonable $.

The Scout's Outdoor Cookbook is well worth the $14. This link also shows the Camp Cooking 100 years that a previous poster mentioned. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=scout%27s+outdoor+cookbook&x=11&y=17 A favorite of our troop is walking tacos: crunch up individual Doritos or other corn chip bags, add ground beef/turkey and other taco toppings directly to bag. Walk and eat. This is apparently great fun. Adults usually turn this into a taco salad.

To and from campouts - no. Council events and anything out in the community - yes. Okay, except for seenig a play at a local high school - there was no way the girls were going to go for that.

Earlier this month my family stayed at Pohick Bay Regional Campground. It is around the corner from Ft. Belvoir. You could hear taps at night at 11 pm. On the bluff overlooking the Potomac, easy 1/4 mile trail to it. Good tent sites are 34-37. Decent bathhouses with enough hot water. Very nice pool on-site. Drive about 15 minutes to the Springfield end of the blue line and park for $4.25/day. About 45 minute via Metro into the city. Or HOV lane in and park in a garage for ~$15/day in about 20 minutes.

I know (said in angst)! I was able to edit the spelling in the post but not the subject. Ugh!! Mea culpa!

cclman - I'm glad that you are helping with the fundraisers and working on your own. As Lisabob suggested, do make your SM aware of the situation. You would be surprised at how often people discretely help out others - with sports fees, camps, school, etc. I could personally make a pretty good list of examples. You are not alone in your need or your willingness to work for it or with others who will gladly help out.

Many of you have been to Patriot's Point to visit the Yorktown. While there you may also have toured the USS Laffey, a WWII destroyer. The ship that wouldn't die was struck by 3 kamakaze pilots and two 500-lb bombs. Say a little prayer for her on Aug. 19 for high tides and light winds. She will be towed to Georgetown, SC for major repairs to the hull.(This message has been edited by HobcawChaos)

My husband used to advise the Geology Merit Badge. The troop he worked with always camped near the Pisgah Cradle of Forestry in the Dupont Forest area. I'd also propose checking out Chimney Rock State Park http://www.chimneyrockpark.com/education/scout.php. They put on Scout Days and also offer year round programs that can be tuned to merit badges if desired. Excellent hiking. Primitive group camping areas. Rock-climbing (on rock not a wall!) can be arranged with Fox Mountain Guides http://www.foxmountainguides.com/Boy%20Scouts%20Girl%20Scouts%20Rock%20Climbing.htm and you are also near a ple

We present earned awards quarterly: just before Christmas, end of March, end of May, and in September. September covers any earned at camps. This way the badges make it onto uniforms while the Scout is still excited to have earned them. Having rolling "deadlines: also seems to encourage finishing up any badges that may have started while not being demoralizing if it takes longer since the next ceremony isn't too far off.

This ran in our paper this week. There was a cute picture too but I couldn't find it on-line. Last week the Patriots Point Sea Scouts, Ship 510, held their annual Sailoree, a 3 day event of camping, sailing and camaraderie. The first such event three years ago had 25 participants compared to over 60 this year, a testament to the worthiness of the Sea Scout program whose mission is to expose young men to the potential for a maritime career. Chartered by the Boy Scouts of America, Sea Scouts likewise strives to instill only the best of qualities and character into its members such as lead

The buck seems to stop with the SM or leader in charge. But hopefully that individual will pull from the experience of anyone present to make the best decision. Last cabin camping trip we had to cancel our planned hike up "Big Boy" mountain. It had been raining for days but was only a light drizzle that morning. The forecast called for straight line winds, thunderstorms, and possible tornados. We had no idea of the trail condition after ice storms during the winter. The only ones who had hiked the trail before were 2 11-year old Juniors. They weighed in that the last part of the hike was very

Our troop has a similar policy. Cellphones are allowed at meetings but need to be off or on vibrate. Cellphones are kept at home for campouts and other events. They are a distraction and I hadn't even thought about the web surfing. Many places we go in the NC mountains have terrible coverage so then they are just dead weight to get lost and/or broken. In the car, just relax and interact with your fellow scouts. It amazes me how the concept of a short, say 1 hr, car trip can be horrifying without an ipod, Gameboy, DVD, etc. But once turned off the conversations get really funny and the singing

For many reasons other posters described, substitute "dads" should be allowed on events. Ideally for a campout it should be a male extended family member. For other events, maybe that could be loosened a bit. At a recent Father & Daughter dance, two girls in my troops had dad standins, an older brother and a mother, because their fathers were deployed. No way am I telling them they can't go while their fathers are serving our country.

LODGE seems to distribute the heat better than others. I have a knock-off griddle that doesn't heat up worth a darn. On the other hand, my LODGE dutch oven is an absolute favorite. You can sometimes find at yard sales, Goodwill, or a retiring Scout leader. There is also an outlet store on the GA, AL, TN border in South Pittsburg, TN.

That sounds a bit nuts. A weekend Camporee should be set up to help Scouts earn some components of a badge, especially those they may not have easy access too (i.e.climbing wall, range, high-ropes). But it seems a stretch to earn even one during a weekend much less "see how many". To turn it into a "I earned more than you" competition is whack.

Ours are $225-295 this year depending on the activity focus. Higher for equestrian and high adventure. Four years ago they were $195-225 so there's been an upward trend.

We keep it simple so that people (namely me) don't get disappointed when Scouts can't come due to vacation/camp/other summer plans. Jun: Scout Day at Whirlin' Waters (local waterpark)- Family Event Jul: Harry Potter Movie Night - Bring a Friend (note: 5th & 6th graders) Aug: Swim Party and Planning Meeting

If they aren't holding anything up, the adults allow the patrols to take care of it. The last troop campout was a relaxed first morning as we were in a cabin and it was rainy and cold outside. Our resident sleepy head was being ran around on the cabin floor while breakfast cooked. She was on clean-up and her patrolmates did roust her to help (i think by threatening to all tickle her at once). Her breakfast was leftovers: cold biscuit and piece of fruit. She got up much better the next day, which was good 'cause we were heading home.