The start of this 2 night Girl Scout weekend started with lots of laugher and excitement. Here are the girls just before we loaded up and headed north to Blanchard Springs Recreation Area, just north west of Mt. View, Arkansas.
We got to our campsite about an hour and half later then planned due to several traffic delays on Hwy 5, but we got the tents up before dark and got the girls fed. We had 6 brownies and 5 junior Girl Scouts this trip and 6 adults. The campsite was beautiful with a clift to our south, an open field to our west and restroom facilities to our northwest. We had 5 tents, though you only see four in this picture. Two of our dads went and their tent was located to the south east of the girls. The brown patches in the grass show the location of tents from previous campers.
We woke to a beautiful morning on Saturday and after breakfast we allowed the girls to explore the shallow cave at the base of the clift just beyond the fence of our campsite. Below you can see a picture of us at the mouth of the cave.
We did some try-it/badge work and then loaded the vehicles for the short drive to the Ozark Folk Center in Mt. View (about 14 miles away). Upon arriving at the center, the girls were asked to help make soap and wash clothes as they did in the pioneer days. We headed from the soap making to musical instruments. The girls were allowed to try different musical instruments such as spoons, guitar, lyre, and mandalin. Several of the girls showed some real musical talent. Next was a visit to the candle maker's shop where each girl received a pair of candles that they each got to dip in hot, colored wax to decorate.
The Center offers a program called Pioneer Kids that at specified times has activities for them to do. We headed there next and the girls were able to work with clay to make pinch pots. They really seemed to enjoy making a creation of their own. It was lunch time so we headed out of the Center to the picnic area for our lunch and rest. Then it was on to more adventure. We visited: the toymaker, basket weaver, broom maker, art gallery, blacksmith, country kitchen, seamstress, cooper, wood shop, quilter, pottery maker and finally the jewerler. It was a very busy afternoon.
They learned many new things. Below they are pulling cotton seeds out of the cotton boles. We had a very hard time getting them to leave. They wanted to stay until they finished the whole basket of cotton.
We headed back to camp and gave the girls a break while we started prep for dinner. The brownies gathered up to work on a try-it while the junior began working on their outdoor cooking badge. They learned how to prepare food for cooking, what a dutch oven was and how to use it. They learned how to do dish clean up using the 3-wash basin system. They were cooking tater tot casserole and brownie cheesecakes in the dutch ovens when a small rain shower hit. It was just an hour light rain and then back to business. Since they hadn't learned about fire and fire maintenance yet, after the rain they listened to Mr. Marty and Mr. Kevin on what they did to keep our cook fire going during the rain. They then prepared their hamburgers with the option of carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, onions and celery in foil packs. They gave them to the dads to place in the fire then helped the Brownies make their foil packs. Dinner was a real delite and the girls heard lots of praises from the Brownies and the adults on their hard work. After dinner, the Brownies headed to the showers while the Juniors learned about clean up, then they got their showers.
Quick note: Never sing "Johnny Appleseed" grace before dinner while camping, even if it has already rained that day and the weather report said that there was only a 20% change of showers. We all agree that this songs must be completely erased from the Girl Scout song book.
We set around the camp fire for about 10 minutes then s'mores were the next on the list. We had just gotten everyone theirs and had just started the adults when drops of rain began to fall. We had already received a weather report from home and knew that we would likely have rain for about an hour (according to what the radar showed). So we were expecting it, we just thought we would have enough time for S'mores first. Not so. The girls headed for their tents, while the adults started getting everything under cover. The light rain turned in to heavy rain quickly and all I can say is never trust the radar. Trust your gut. The rain grew heavy and set in for the night. Everything was going well until Tent 2 hollered that they were getting wet. I head to check out what was happening there and discover that the floor of their tent was indeed taking on water. It was like walking on a waterbed at first then it started to seep through. We moved these girls to one of the leaders tent and moved their wet gear to the other leaders tent. Did I mention that it is still POURING down rain? We get the girls in the new tent and then we have a discussion of what options we had. We decided that since most, if not all, of Tent 2's sleeping bags and clothes were wet that it was best to get them home. We decided to leave the adult men behind to stay with our stuff and us leaders would take the girls home to warm beds. We went to Tent 1 to let the leader who was sitting with those girls during the storm know, only to find that those girls were sound asleep. I mean dead to the world asleep. Oh well, they were dry now but it wasn't going to be long before they weren't, so stick to the game plan. We woke them up and started loading cars. We loaded all of them in two vehicles. Every trip to the vehicle, we noticed that it was getting deeper and deeper. Not a good sign at all. We finally got them all loaded in and I must say I'm very proud of the girls in our troop. Though they were in a scary situation, they cried some but we were able to calm them down easily and no one completely freaked out on us. We got them all back to Cabot safely around 1:15 am and everyone's parents came and picked them up.
After 4 hours of sleep, Kristi and I headed back up to get the equipment that the guys couldn't get loaded in their two trucks, while Cris watched our girls and had her husband cook us a wonderful lunch/dinner (what do you call it when you eat at 3:00 pm). Below is our rain soaked camp site. 
After getting everything loaded, we made a quick stop to walk the short trail to the Blanchard Springs Caverns exit. Below is the picture of the exit. This was what the girls were suppose to get to see today and then go in the caverns to see what the water made inside, but I guess we'll be planning another trip.
We made it home with everything and then started sorting all the stuff. We washed all the dirt off the tents and now have them hanging out to dry on my back porch.
We had a great time that I'm sure everyone will remember but I'd rather not have a "River Run Through Our Tents."
Then in the afternoon we went to the Launius' house and swam in the pool for a while. It was really nice to cool off and relax. Now were going to watch Mary Poppins before we go to bed. Family is a wonderful thing to have.
