Helpful Information on the Try-it Changes

I thought this link might be helpful to anyone who is confused about the changes going on with the try-its and other badges.  This site seems to have very helpful Q & A.  The thing I was happy about was that unlike what I thought, it appears the council's own try-its will still be able to be available, they are just issuing new guidelines so that might tweak or eliminate some, but should still allow for them as our scouts grow.

I am thinking about ordering one or two of the "reg" try-its that are discontinued, but then I think about the 100 or so council own's we still have and it makes me think twice.  LOL!

Triple C Camp..7 try-its down!

This weekend was a blast!  We got to work on 5 try-its on Saturday and finished on Sunday with 2 more.  Here are some pictures and the try-it's Seasan earned:

This is the patch from Triple C.  Cool thing is that it interlocks with the other lizzard patches so you can "build" it as you go back.

Watershed's and Me 

  The girls got to go down to the creek for this one..and get wet!  They had a blast.

Water Everywhere

This one is a normal try-it from the book, but they still enjoyed earning it.  The camp workers were very excited to teach the kids and you could really see it in the way they ran the program.

Climate Change

One of my favs for the cute bear. (My boyfriend hates this one as he thinks climate change is mostly propaganda from the government.)  He would have objected to this one had he known she was going to be earning it...so it was our secret :)



Forestree

 LOL!  I was going to work on this one at home with her.  Glad I didn't get around to it as I forgot it was on this weekends itinerary.  She had a great time doing the leave prints.  The mobile they made was unique to say the least :)

Fun with Flight

   -  Sorry, left it at home so will upload pic later.  Here is a picture of them doing their paper airplane!

Wild Flowers 

 They got to go hiking for these on Sunday.  The pictures they drew were beautiful.

Flower Frenzy

 They planted some clover in pots to take home with them.

After the weekend I took her to the orchard on the nearby mountain.  Here are some pictures from this one:

And here is the "buddy" we saw on the way out.  Yuck!  (Pic was taken from my car..right next to the snake.  I stayed in the car.)



Places of Interest

For those of you in Virginia, I highly recommend doing some searching on programs available for try-its.  This last weekend we went to the Triple C camp and had a blast (I will do this recap next).  Here are some interesting places with programs to check out:

Virginia House

Lake Ridge Park  - I do not see anything coming up, but they just had a try-it weekend so keep your eyes out.

Carlyle House

Triple C Camp

Random DC/VA/MD locations:

Fun in the Forest

Tonight we are going to work on this try-it. 


Yes, we are finally going full steam ahead!  I am going to have to pace us at about 3 try-its a week to make up for last years laziness.  LOL!

1. Tree encounter.  I am going to use this site to help with this one and print it out to go over it. 

2.  What's in the forest.  We are going to take a hike in the woods.  This may have to wait for this weekend as it is raining outside.  We will make a list of the things we find and talk about the textures and scents in a forest.

3. (4)  Leaf investigation.  Seasan can pick 4 leaves from our neighborhood and we will identify them.  This leaf site will help you on this one.

4. (6) Indoor scavenger hunt.  This one will be good with the rain.  I am thinking we can then use the computer to help us do part 2 about learning about the product.

Brownie Pen Pal!

Seasan has been communicating with her pen pal in California.  We are teaming up to order the council's own before they become "extinct"..lol!  All I can say is both myself and my leader are annoyed at how Girl Scouts seems to be changing their program every two years or so...and now the council's own will be phased out as the try-its go to patches.  (I am sure they will bring them back in that form, but come on, can't we have some consistency?

Anyhow, back to the pen pal.  (I do not want to list a name until I check with her mom.. :)  Seasan was very excited to receive her letter a few weeks back and four cool try-its from North Dakota Wildlife.  Here are two of them:

 

We can't wait to do these this summer when she goes to Michigan.  (My dad will take her on all the outdoor activities.) 

We just sent her pen pal a letter with a few try-its we got in and should be sending another letter soon with more.  I encourage you to try out this pen pal activity because the girls think this is so much fun.  (Especially since they are on opposite ends of the USA!)

Discover the Nations Capital Patch

So we started on this one this week.  We went on the DC boat tour which is part of the transportation patch.  It was a very nice 1 hour boat tour..and the best part was that there were only 10 people on the tour!  I will post pictures soon.  We are looking forward to heading into DC to finish more items on this patch.

Tudor Place

We went to the Tudor place a week ago.  Seasan got to tour the house and build a bird house.  They also learned about gardening.  This helps them with the Eco-explorer badge.  It was downpouring most of the day and we got good and wet :)