Angels in Camp Dust

This year we sent the 3 oldest girls to Girl Scout camp in a red VW bug. In previous years our amazing neighbor had volunteered at the camp and drove our girls to and from every day.  Those neighbors moved away, so this year I expected to be the camp taxi. Then a college aged friend, Sarah, who volunteers at the camp called me and asked if the girls wanted to ride with her and hey did I want her to turn in our paperwork. Uhhh really??  Yes!  Each year I have stood in line for 3-4 hours in order to sign the girls up for camp. She was like an angel, skipping line and getting out of taxi service. It was like heaven.

Our girls were excited to go to camp with one of the counselors and to get there in a punch bug. This is the first year the 3 of them have gone together (Rae didn't go last year) and the first year that Emma has gone as a Program Aid (PA). The camp encourages them to pick a camp name.
Emma was Narwhal,
Rachael was Captain Obvious,
(She labeled all of her stuff with sayings like "This is a lunch box" etc.)
and Megan was Hungry.
Sarah their ride was Pepto.
They all knew the routine; including the daily sunscreen and bug spray application. Each morning they threw their gear in the back and piled in Sarah's bug. Then each afternoon Sarah dropped them off and they dragged themselves inside to cool off from the 95+ degrees temps and crazy humidity, full of camp songs, craft projects and a cloud of dust.

Each day has a different theme and they adjust their t-shirt appropriately.. One day is their groups color, another patriotic colors and one day is dress as your camp name. The night before we used the computer to print a Captain Obvious logo that said "This is a logo" and Food items for Hungry. Emma turned striped wrapping paper into a horn and attached it to a headband. On Friday they each made a bag of small swaps, which is a trading item on a pin. Emma made blue clothespin narwhals, Rachael made "this is a Swap" swaps, and Megan made burgers that had a bite out of them. They came home that afternoon with many swaps from the other campers and dragged home all of the gear. I felt like I was watching Pigpen as a visible cloud of dust hovered around them. We washed the dust off of them but the camp memories will linger a lot longer.