Girl Sports Try-it

So this try-it is a normal one out of the book.  Seasan earned this one on Saturday when she went to the gymnastics center for their girl scout try-it program.  They got to do sports and gymnastics for an hour and Seasan had a blast. 

Future Ideas

So I pulled Grandma and Grandpa into the loop for our try-it goals.  So far we have these activities planned to help with some of the requirements for different try-its.

1. Make Moose stew with Papa- Athabaskan Culture Try-it  (We got lucky on this one.  Papa has his buddy Rick that just went Moose hunting this fall and gave him some meat.  So he is saving a roast for Seasan to cook when we visit.)

2. Have a pasty making party- UP Heritage  (I love pasty's...so this is my excuse to help make them and then bring a whole bunch home with me.)  I tried to explain to Jon what a pasty was..and he made this "blah" face.  I guess saying that it is like a pot pie, but without the gravy doesn't sound to appealing..but I love them!

3. Teach Seasan about Nursing (grandmas job)- Nurse and Nursing Exploration  This includes teaching her about the equipment used and also seeing if she can do a tour of Grandma's facility. 

Then in the summer, Papa is going to work on the Fishing, Fishing, and Aquaculture  try-its.  The aquaculture one will be right up Papa's ally so to speak as he worked for the USGS studying water quality.

Skating Try-it

So I talked to Seasan's troop leader and she is going to incorporate the skating try-it into the skating outing they are doing in two weeks.  Good news for the troop...bad news for me.  This means I have to pick a new try-it for that week, as troop earned try-its are not counting towards our "52" goal for the year.  Okay...back to the drawing board.

Fall Product Sale- The reality

So we just turned in the forms for the fall product sale.  Seasan (aka Mom & Jon) sold 40 items...of which 15 Grandma and Grandpa bought :)   I had to laugh when you add up the cost for all the items and then look at the little stuffed animal she is so excited to be getting.  Kinda cracked me up a little.

Needless to say, I have been pushing fundraising this year as the troop has taken on an individual award system for fundraising.  What that means is that whatever each member sells and brings in for profit is kept in an account for that member to use for troop activities and camps.  As a semi-single mother (yes..Jon gets a lot of credit for all he does even though we are dating and not married) this is a great opportunity to offset some of the cost of all the things that she wants to participate in. 

So the curiosity part of me wanted to see how much this equates out to in real money..so I did some research and here is the breakdown for our council:

Avg Selling Price                       $5.84
Avg Cost                                 -$2.40
Avg Gross Profit                        $3.44

Troop Incentive (ie Seasan)       $0.76
SU Incentive                             $0.02
Girl Patches                              $0.09
Council Income                        $2.57

Compared to cookies.. (keep in mind my Council did not have cookie profits up..so this info is from another council for the 2011 year)

Box of Cookies                      $3.50
Sale Expenses (cookies)        -$0.90
Gross Profit                           $2.60

Council and Admin                $1.70
Troop                                    $0.55            
Incentives                              $0.35

So putting all this to use...I think we will push the cookies over peanuts.  Consider this:

Sell $350 of cookies for 100 units and you get $55                                Profit Margin      15.7%
Sell $350 units of nuts at approx 60 units and you get $45.60                 Profit Margin      13.02%

You have a much better chance of selling cookies as nuts are much harder to sell.  And, on top of the profit, girls earn cookie dough for camps and council merchandise.  Cookies are the no brainier.

I know I am probably going to get crucified by those who say "well it is all about the lessons they learn by selling, who cares which is more profitable?"  In return, I ask this.. what lessons are we teaching if we don't also teach them the accounting portion of the sales too?  If my daughter wants to learn the business aspect of sales in order to be successful later in life, this is the perfect opportunity to teach her about economics and supply and demand.  By showing her the breakdown of sales and return of profit on sales she can understand these economic principles in a very useful manner.

Rededication Ceremony

So last night was the Rededication ceremony.  I got to watch them all line up and get ready.  Then I had to make a mad dash for the door to attend the Parents meeting for her Company Dance.  (I even tried to call in on the meeting and was told I had to be there!)  At 28, I still feel like a kid sometimes.  Good thing was that Jon was able to stay and take pictures and keep Nicholas occupied while I got to vote on fundraiser activities.  (Needless to say, I really felt I could have been excused on that so called "Parent Meeting".)

I talked with Seasan's troop leader about the patches and she said to just document all the activities we do and keep a log/journal of the completed items.  That works out great as I already had began to mark the items and dates as we did them.

Black Dimond Council

We got the badges from the Black Diamond Council in the mail today!  They are as follows:

Aquaculture
Coal
Insect
Mystery
Underground Railroad
Weather
Native American Lore

and..
Aquaculture Junior Badge

Yes, I know..a little weird to pre-buy a Junior Badge.  I figured with the shipping and handling I might as well just buy it now as her grandfather worked for the USGS and will love teaching this to her.  When she becomes a Junior she can do it again and do some of the older activities with him.

The Coal badge was for her to do with her dad.  He was a coal miner in Tennessee until he got hurt.  I thought it would be a good activity for her and him to do together when they see each other next time.

The rest of them are just fun activities to work on.  Although I have to admit, the insect one is cute, the Native American one is a really cool design, and the Mystery one has pink trim..need I say more?

Why the Challenge?

Some people might ask why?  Why the goal of a patch/try-it a week?  All I can say is I want my kids to experience everything and I think that this may help with that.  I love arts and crafts, largely due to three factors in my life.  1. My mother, 2. My father, and 3. Girl Scouts.  My mother taught me how to sew and cook, my father to hunt and camp, and Girl Scouts taught me how to have fun hiking, and campfire cooking, and beading, and, well you get the picture. 

As I read through the over 200 council's own patches about activities to learn about native American culture, early settlers, every sport imaginable, different cities, historical structures, nature, and so many more items, I can only look forward to the array of activities offered.  This challenge will not only help my daughter experience a lot of new activities, but it will also create some great family memories for Jon, Nicholas, and myself as well.  I think these next two years will be exciting and interesting and I can't wait to see the scrapbook I can make from all the adventures!

Gymnastics Try-it

So this is the first one we are going to work on together.  It should be rather easy as she is in gymnastics.  Some of the activities we have to do are as follows:

1. Learn basic safety rules
2. Learn about the 4 events and try 2 basic moves (class)
3. Discuss taking care of your body
4. Make a short routine
5. Observe an event



Gymnastics Try-it

Sewing on Try-its

I learned why my mom hated me earning try-its back in the day.  Sewing them on is a PITA.  I can't tell you how many times I stabbed my finger last night.  And in a 40 minute time frame I got a whole whopping 3 patches and 4 numbers sewn on.  (I had to start from scratch as I removed all her patches off of her sash that were ironed on and put them on the vest.)  PS..iron on patches are not a guarantee.  I was easily able to peel off most on her sash and she had lost a number so I had to re-buy it and thus the sewing of the badges from here on out.

The neat thing was I discovered another Council's own for the Common Wealth when I visited the store.  It is called Umoja.  It is about African American Heritage.  They also had Behind the Scenes, Horses are Fun, and Art of Illusion.

Jon and I decided yesterday that we are going to do some of the "tour" badges with Seasan and his sister Lauren when we go to Texas for Christmas.  Laredo is number one on the list and then probably one of the other local cities.  We will also be aiming for the San Antonio Walking Tour and Missions.  (Some how a family visit trip is turning into a Girl Scout badge trip..lol!)

Contacts for Council's Own

If you see a try-it on here that sounds interesting, but can't find it on the web, let me know.  I have a spread sheet with a list of all the locations/web sites for each badge I have found.

Today when I get home I am going to take the print-outs of badges and organize them into a binder.  This way we can track some of the activities that overlap try-its.  It will also let me find the ones we want now and then I can refer to the spread sheet to order all try-its from that council.  (No need to pay shipping twice).

I found an explore Loredo patch today which will be great for when we go to Texas this Christmas.  I am going to look at the other cities that fit into it and see how far away they are and if we would have time to fit them in.  (We already planned on San Antonio).  Keep in mind that the badges I listed are try-it's only...a lot of places have badges/patches for locations visited which is really cool if you are going somewhere.

New Badges in the Mail!

It was like Christmas for my daughter...we got some of the try-its in the mail.  (She still has to earn them, but she is excited to see what there is to work on.) 

From Juliette's Closet we got:
Horse and Pony
For the Love of Books
Doll Collector's
Drama Queen
Homelessness
Fashion
Lighthouse
Ocean Discovery
Wild West

We also got the package from Michigan and were so excited..only to realize they sent the brownie try-it book, but no Michigan Try-it :(  We had to call and they will send a new on tomorrow.

Brownies Try-it Challange

So this year Seasan is a Brownie.  She keeps me to busy with all her activities to be a leader, but I still want to actively participate with her in the Girl Scout Journey.  Her troop is fairly large and seems to be focused on doing most of the traditional try-its.  I am all for that, but I found there are so many different try-it's available out there that I want to help her work on some of them.  These try-it's are called Council's own.

This blog is going to be about our journey to earn try-its from places around the country and maybe even a few from outside the country.  I hope you enjoy following us along on the journey!