She's gone!

I woke up before 6am this morning. I don't know why because I had the alarm clock set for 6:15am...but I do that every time I know I have to be somewhere.

Darly asked me to wake her at 7am...I went in there about 6:55am...she didn't want to get up yet...of course. LOL!

She was already packed and I put the bags in the car last night so all we had to do was get her some water and go.

The drive didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, so we got there early. Luckily not the very first person to show up though as we were car #4. After parking we leave her bags at a horse trailor for them to drive them to the campsite and then head over to the dining hall to meet the counselors and wait for a group of girls (at least half) to show up. We learned that she would be in a camp with 22 other girls...

We also learned that unlike when I went to camp, she won't get to go shopping at the trading post each day. The folks who run the store only come on opening & closing day so she has to wait until I come to get her. When I went to camp your parents would leave you some money on account at the trading post. Then every time you were finished with meals you could head over and shop until you were out of money. I don't remember how much money my parents gave me, but I do remember buying a Monkey's Fist necklace kit...that one of the counselors put together for me since it didn't come with instructions.

Parents got to walk with their daughters to the camp site. Darly & I were both very suprised to learn that she would NOT be camping in a cabin with bunk beds...instead she would be in a Platform Tent with 3 other girls. Darly didn't understand what that was but after I explained it to her she cheared up "Oh! Just like Molly?" Me: "Yes, just like Molly."*

So we get to the campsite...boy is it a HIKE from the dining hall! I told Darly to try to eat as much as she could because she was going to need the energy! I'm sure by dinner tonight she'll be hungry. And learn that the girls don't have "flushies" they have "biffys."** And they have to hike to a shared bathhouse for showering...this is also where their toiletries will be stored to keep critters out of their tents. Quite a bit more rustic than either of us were thinking acording to the camp brochure! But Darly wasn't upset about it at all after the Molly realization, before she had expressed some disappointment that she wouldn't be sleeping in a bunk bed.

I stayed as long as I could. The counselor had told me politely that I could leave whenever I wanted. I was waiting for Darly to tell me it was okay for me to go, but she kept saying that I could go if I wanted to. I guess that was as good as I was gonna get.

So with a heavy heart, I started to leave. I didn't look back, so I don't know if Darly was watching me or not. She has an assigned camp buddy, so hopefully they get along well. As I was leaving Darly suggested that she & M go check in the other tents to meet the other girls. YAY! I guess she got the idea from another set of girls who were visiting everyone.

I wanna be camping too...but instead I get to clean my house. *sigh*


*from the American Girl Books. Molly goes to Camp Gowonagain.
** flushies are toilets that flush, biffys (short for "bathroom in the forest for you") are outhouses. I think they have flushies in the showerhouse.

Comments & answers:

Goofy Girl said...
Awwww, I bet she is going to have a great time. :) I know you'll miss her a lot!
Yes I do miss her a lot…even though if she were home right now she would still be asleep in bed. LOL! It’s mostly that I know I can go get her until tomorrow afternoon. Last night we had a thunderstorm and I was worried about her being in a tent for that…not the wet, the noise. She is sensitive to loud noises.

Lynn said...
Wow. Reading your description, makes me wish that I could go to the camp. It sounds like Darly will have and absolutely fabulous time, and will return with loads of great stories. (Have I mentioned that I don't like BIFFY's, and that I like cleaning them even less!)
I know that she’ll have lots of fun. I hope that has made friends with everyone. I was worried because it seemed that the majority of girls in her camp were also from the same troop. I didn’t want her to feel left out. Luckily the girl that she got buddied up with was also a “solo” so at least she’ll have her and perhaps the other girls will be true scouts and accept her as another sister like they’re supposed to.

Joan said...
I'm jealous. Your description of the camp sounds wonderful and certainly more fun than my experience at "sleepaway" camp when I was young. I'm sure Darly will have a fabulous time and will come home with lots and lots of great stories to share.
I’m sorry to hear that your sleep away camp experience wasn’t as fun as a Girl Scout camp. I have such fond memories and that’s why I love camping so much. I can’t wait to hear her stories and hopefully get a great letter from her.
TC said...
I wanna be camping too...but instead I get to clean my house. *sigh*

Sucks to be an adult sometimes, huh?
You said it!

Catzee said...
Aw, are ya furry sad? I can come an' tear aroun' yur house fur ya a coupla times. I'm furry fast.
and give the wolfies someone to chase? That’s very sweet of you. We’ve already had one of the neighbor kitties try to come through our backyard twice so far. Lilly & Princess had to run him off and make sure he knew that he was not welcome. I suppose you could stay upstairs though since the wolfies aren’t allowed up there…but they would have a very hard time staying downstairs if they saw you.

Leigh said...
Sounds like the girl scout camp I went to an eon ago. Except I think we got store every day too. I know she'll have fun, but will you???
I kept comparing it to when I went to camp. I had planned to go clean up her mess in the basement and I’m having a gal come over to learn my LLL job. So I have stuff planned. Not necessarily fun though.

Jen said...
It's not too late to come camping with us!
I wish I could, But Lilly AND Princess with Heather’s poochies? Hee hee!

Heather said...
How sad for you but exciting for Darly! Oh the stories she will tell!
I sure hope so!

Uisce said...
biffys -- that sounds so... rustic? :)
yup! Rustic. I just hope not too smelly and that Darly uses them. She may just hold it and hike to the bathhouse to use the flushies instead. She can be determined that way! LOL!

Judy Thomas said...
Darly will have a wonderful time. Some of my fondest memories are of summer camp. We had camp store every day too.. what's up with that??? Anyway, I know you'll miss her.. but you can spend your time doing memes :-) BTW (speaking of memes) you've been tagged: http://jhthomas.blogspot.com/2007/07/because-im-brain-dead.html
The thing with the camp store is that they don’t have anyone to man it. So someone from our counsel comes up at the opening & closing (when the money is there!) and brings the supplies from our counsel store… so I could just get her stuff here in town, but I know that’s not the same as getting it from camp. Funny though. I was reading her camp paperwork when I got home and it said she was supposed to go to the Lodge first to check in, then to the trading post and then the dining hall, but the gals there told us to go straight to the dining hall. Oh well…I bet the trading post folks weren’t happy about that. Hee hee.

Heather said...
I want to go camping too! Sounds like she will have a good time - I hope you hold up well. Clayton went for the first time this year by himself and I was a little nervouse....
Darly had been getting more and more nervous about this for the past month. I wasn’t completely sure that she would even want to stay. So I was very happy when she cheered up about the tents and she seemed really chipper when she suggested they go meet the other girls. That made my heart feel good about leaving her. I was just so worried that she would “shut down” and just refuse to have a good time…as she has been known to do sometimes when she’s unsure about a situation.

LadyBugCrossing said...
Enjoy your time while she's at camp. She'll be fine. She'll be more than fine, I'm sure! I try to do all the things I can't do while they are home... Like paint the dining room :-)
Or clean out a basement? LOL! I warned Darly that everything that wasn’t put away would be given away. Did she go take care of the mess? NOPE! I’m not sure I’m willing to really get rid of it all…but there is always the crawl space. HAR HAR!