I revisited the days of my youth and went to girls camp in the woods of New Hampshire for four days in August. I hadn't done that in a long time (because I'm old). It was a lot of fun and it was the perfect thing to do while the boys were away on vacation with Peter.
Packed up and ready to go! This was my gear before I left.
I drove up with Meredith and her daughter and our friend's daughter.
The camp is really nice. The church is fortunate to have it. I might have to try to bug out here if/when the stuff really hits the fan! (Always thinking like a prepper, ha ha!)
"Gather round in strength of youth"
We stayed in this cozy cabin by the lake. It had a bathroom and electricity and a little kitchenette and a screened-in porch and five sets of bunk beds. Having a bathroom was great, however, one bathroom for ten woman was not cool! 😱 That's right, there were ten of us in this cabin. Originally Meredith and I were going to have our own little cabin in the middle of camp, but we got switched to this one. I would have definitely preferred the smaller one without a bathroom, because it was a lot of people and not a lot of space and it was hard to get ready in the morning, so if I go to camp again in the future, I'll try to nab a smaller more private cabin. I'll take one for the team and sacrifice a bathroom. 😉
That said, it was fun to get to know the other ladies from my stake and the Boston Stake (which was the stake of my youth) better. And I had a top bunk with Meredith next to me and Sharalyn below me, so I was with two of my BFFs.
This looks like it's right out of The Parent Trap! (One of my favorite movies from childhood 💚)
The leaders did this camp cheer on the first day.
I helped Meredith in the craft cabin for the week. I'm not very crafty or artistic, but I'm good at organizing supplies and setting things up and cleaning up and that sort of thing, so I think I served a useful purpose. 😁
The craft cabin was really nice. The big project the girls did was paintings on canvas of Christ.
The girls did a great job with their paintings! Much better than I did with mine! 😂
Meredith, Caitlin, and I had a lot of fun together in the craft cabin and around camp!
This is supposed to spell "Framingham," the name of our ward. Can you see it? No? I don't know why not. 😄
I made a somewhat pitiful "A."
I enjoyed doing rifle shooting and archery and would have liked to do them more. I was bad at shooting (which was disappointing because the emergency prepper part of me likes to imagine myself as quite the sharpshooter!), but I was better with archery--I somehow managed to get a bullseye!
I should have stretched my left arm back more. Next time!
Just call me Katniss Everdeen. 😉
We had good weather the whole time except for the last full day, which was rainy, so everything had to be moved inside and lots of girls came to the craft cabin during their free time since they couldn't go swimming or do archery or shooting or anything.
The camp food was so good! We got these gourmet-type cookies on the last night.
We had a delicious breakfast cooked over the fire on our last morning there (technically there was one more morning but Meredith and I left on Thursday night instead of Friday morning!).
At the talent show we leaders did a fun song from Hamilton with re-written lyrics for girls camp.
I'm third from the right. In case you were wondering. 😊
Where's Waldo Donna? 😄 I'm in a blue shirt near the middle, left side of the picture.
Kind of unflattering pic of me but I like it enough to include it!
Sharalyn is so fun!
Meredith and I short-sheeted her bed on the first day and I giggled with glee the whole day waiting for her to discover it at bedtime, but it didn't work--she didn't even try to get under the sheets! Foiled! 😜
I really enjoyed camp. The girls and the other women were so fun, the activities were good, the Spirit was there, and the food was delicious. I'd do it again! Especially if I get my own cabin! 😁
And a quick acknowledgement of Young Men's Camp, which was the following week at the same place. I drove an SUV full of deacons there and that was my contribution! I had volunteered to come up again to help out on one of the days, but Sam only lasted the first night and came home the next day. The heat at night was too much for him and he insists that he's never going again, but he will. I will send him with a more powerful battery-operated fan next time! John is made of hardier stuff and he had a great time the whole time. He came home dirty, stinky, and completely exhausted! So he had a good week. 😉
