World Thinking Day 2012

I think everyone who attended World Thinking Day yesterday had a really good time. Our troop had chosen Norway for our country so for the last couple of meetings we did all sorts of activities related to Norwegian culture.

The first week, after finding Norway in an atlas we talked a bit about its climate and what sort of animals live there. We passed around some Norwegian sweaters and jewelry and looked at a traditional dress. The girls then learned how to finger knit, made little woven heart decorations and had a snack of open-faced sandwiches.

During the second meeting we listened to some traditional Hardanger fiddle music and learned a little dance. The girls drew tons of pictures of gnomes, animals and flags for our display. And for our snack, the girls made krumkake, a cookie baked on a flat iron and then rolled into cones.

Many thanks to all the parent volunteers, particularly Kari, Jenn, Amy, Josie and Keira for helping out with the event.

Girl Scouts 100 Birthday

Girl Scouts will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012. Mark your calendars for a sing along on the National Mall on June 9, 2012. 200,000 Girls Scouts, friends and family will travel to Washington, DC from around the world. I think our troop may have the shortest trip to make in order to participate in the event!

Campfire at Greenbelt Park

A few weeks ago troop members and their families gathered at Greenbelt Park for a campfire complete with roasted hot dogs, marshmallows and songs.

Makemie Woods

Cicadas were out in full force. The girls weren't squeamish at all about them -- just the opposite. This was taken out on on our nature hike.

After the nature hike, we went swimming, had lunch, went canoeing, more swimming and then had dinner. After dinner the Girl Scouts built a campfire where we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. The Brownies performed a skit they had prepared, and the Daisies sang "I'm a Little Daisy Dressed in Blue" as well as a few other songs learned during the day.

And finally, here are the lyrics to a couple of the songs we sang...

Chicago Fire Song
10 nights ago, when we were all in bed
Old Lady 'Leary lit a lantern in the shed
and when the cow kicked it over,
She winked her eye and said
There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!

(Divide into four groups so that each group shouts the following in turn.)
Fire Fire Fire Fire!
Pour on water! Pour on water!
Save my children! Save my children!
Jump, lady, jump! Jump, lady, jump!

Sing the song 10 (or start with a lower number!) times, singing it faster each time.


Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe

Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe with the moon shining all around.
He paddled his paddle so...you couldn't even hear a sound.
So they talked and they talked 'til the moon grew dim.
He said you better kiss me or get out and swim!

So what you gonna do in a little canoe
With the moon shining all a...
The girl paddling all a...
The boy swimming all around!

Spinning Honey

This past Saturday, some Daisies were able to join our family in spinning honey from a beehive that we keep on a second floor porch. Ordinarily we wouldn't spin our honey so early in spring, but we were joined by a film crew making a documentary on urban beekeeping and they wanted some interesting footage.

Everyone got a turn scraping off the wax caps of the honeycomb to reveal the honey.

The big yellow cylinder is the honey extractor. The newly uncapped frames are placed inside and then someone strong turns the crank which rotates them at high speed. The honey flies out and falls to the bottom of the extractor. Open the spigot, honey pours out.

Tasted delicious!

It Rained

I had high hopes for today's meeting at the community garden, but what can I say...it rained. We did manage to read the third chapter of the Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Journey story and we talked a bit about how Mari the marigold shows that she is responsible by repelling bad insects from a garden just like we are responsible to take care of the plants we are growing. This earns the girls their Watering Can Award, but we didn't get to give it out because of the rain. The downpour also washed out a treasure hunt around the park. So we mostly huddled in the storage shed. Oh well.

Harbor Patrol Outing

After today's trip to meet the Metropolitan Police Department's Harbor Patrol, all other Daisy meetings will pale in comparison.

The girls started out by learning from a Harbor Patrol officer that when they they are near the water -- boating, fishing or paddling -- they must always wear a life preserver. They colored iron on patches with the slogan "Life Jackets: They Float, You Don't" which were then ironed on to t-shirts.

After everyone made t-shirts, we all donned life preservers and headed out to three police boats. I think the officers liked showing us just how fast they could go and how tight a donut they could turn! And the girls laughed hysterically the whole time. As one girl shouted "This is the funnest day of my entire life!"

As my husband remarked, it's a wonder their hair didn't get knotted together!

Thanks, Kevin (Cassie's dad), for organizing!