Happiness is...being a Girl Scout leader

One of the best things about being a Girl Scout leader is not only that I get to do all kinds of fun stuff with my daughter, but I get to be super creative and come up with fun, new and interesting experiences for a bunch of girls who may have never experienced something like this had it not been for Girl Scouts. The time they spend in a meeting or out in the community or going on an outing with their "sisters" is time they might have been sitting on the couch or just playing in their backyard (not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not the same as doing some of the things that our Girl Scout troop has done lately). Last Friday, I hosted my first Girl Scout event at the house open to other troops - a Brownie Book Swap. The event was open to only Brownies and they each brought old books that they wanted to exchange with other Brownies. I had more than 35 Brownies and some of their moms in my house. We made popcorn for them and they exchanged books. It was a blast! We are definitely going to host it again in the future...but not at my house. I was so proud of myself for offering something like this to the Service Unit.

A couple of weekends ago, we released our adopted pelican back into the San Francisco Bay with some of his friends. It was an amazing experience and I am so glad that we got to give the girls the chance to do this. Last weekend, a group of my girls went orienteering in Sacramento. This is something that only I had done before but I knew that Girl Scouts must experience. We all had a great time. And by all, I mean girls and moms included. I love watching the girls interact with one another and work together to solve a problem. For our orienteering outing, we didn't have to use a compass because we were on the beginners course. That was fine with me because I struggled to figure out the compass during the orientation. The girls just learned how to read the map - which at times proved to be a challenge of its own.

Surprisingly, my youngest Girl Scout led our group through the first four controls. Then she got hungry and snacked out of her sack pack the rest of the morning. My girls got tired as the adventure wore on...especially when they realized that our other group probably finished before us (even though they started two minutes after us). But it was great. It's definitely something we will do again and that I recommend everyone try once. This weekend, we are participating in our second Coastal Cleanup event in Vacaville. We did this as a troop last year and it was so fun. I was amazed at how much fun the girls had. They worked so hard picking up cigarette butts in the park and along the creek in Vacaville's biggest park. They were all looking forward to doing it again this year and I am glad to lead them. Diana has been involved with a lot of different activities and sports over the past three years but the one constant that she says is her favorite is Girl Scouts. I like to think that me being the leader plays a big part in that, but I know that it's the surprise around the corner also. These girls never know what I have up my sleeve for them to participate in!