girls only camping adventure...with recovery night at resort

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Emily and I spent Friday afternoon through Saturday evening on an overnight Girl Scout adventure. In all, something like 200 people participated over the course of the weekend. It was an extremely well organized event with some amazing volunteer super moms getting this major event planned and executed. I want to put my praise and gratitude out there before I describe the highs and a few lows of the weekend.

I am not a big fan of real camping. I am a fan of the log cabin with wi-fi and jacuzzi tubs. Rustic on the outside, not rustic on the inside. This was real camping. We arrived by bus at the Daqian Ranch near Sheshan (home of Le Meridien Resort and Spa...foreshadowing). We were dropped off at a parking lot and hauled our bags and gear to the cabins. We were sharing a cabin with moms and girls from another school and they had already arrived and dropped off their gear. We found the cabin and after waiting outside our locked cabin for a bit, our cabin mates and discovered that the 11 of us (6 girls, 5 moms) would be sleeping upstairs in a loft area on bamboo mats on the floor. The 2 beds had been claimed by our cabin mates (3 girls and1 mom were sharing the beds) and since I didn't know them, I decided not to say "no fair!" and make a big scene. Plus, we were supposed to set a good example for the girls and whining within minutes seemed lame. I thought it though. Trust me, I'm still thinking it.

So I claimed my painfully hard mat on the floor in the corner and prayed that exhaustion would aid in my ability to sleep later that night. The girls were giggly with excitement and started to mingle nicely before we even left the cabin for dinner.

Dinner was in a huge covered pavillion with wooden picnic style tables. There was a big stage and the organizers were playing fun music so the girls were dancing and playing on the stage the entire weekend. The food was western (hot dogs, watermelon, chips). Moms were delighted to find a few cases of soda had been hauled in for the adults only. Sadly, no cases of beer--I kept asking in that joking but not really joking way. I knew there was a no alcohol policy but I felt like it was counter productive. Had I been allowed a beer or three at dinner, my mood, my attitude and my sleep may have been slightly improved. My kids like me better with a little cocktail action, and frankly, I like me better too! But alas, it was to be a quite literally painfully sober night of sleeping on the floor.

Emily's very best pal from school and Girl Scouts had to move home before the campout. We had planned to be in the same cabin, so this was sad for us. Emily rallied, however and made a lot of new friends. She was swapping numbers and making plans to meet up with her new gal pals again. I was so proud of her fearlessness and bravery. She made the most of this weekend and was awarded "Friendliest" Daisy in our group's awards ceremony at the end of the campout.

We went to the bonfire after dinner and it was a festive scene. We were with our group, but the rest of the groups were there as well. We lined up to light a Chinese lantern--a paper lantern the girls wrote their names on and blew a wish into before a man from the ranch lit a candle and let the lantern fly off into the sky. One mom and I mused that perhaps somewhere, in a nearby town, all these lanterns are landing and causing all sorts of trouble. Hopefully not.

Then it was time for s'mores. The fire was so hot, we had to roast the marshmallows for the girls and after a few seconds, I declared the marshmallow "done" even though it was not even warm. Emily was a real trooper and ate the s'more without an authentically charred marshmallow center. Interestingly, I had to instruct a few moms and kids on the art of s'more making since the Girl Scouts in our international community of scouts are not all from the USA. Even those girls who are US Passport holders have not necessarily spent any or much time living in the US.

I won't describe the sleepless night beyond this--I set an alarm for the next day and this was highly unnecessary. I woke up every hour from 10:30pm until 6:00am when I gave in and got up. The attic where we slept was 84 degrees and I know this because my unnecessary alarm clock has a temperature reading on it. The air conditioner was either lame or someone turned it off during the night. I was itchy and sweating and miserable and the only good part of the night was when it was over. Emily slept pretty well right up against me after she relocated to my twin bamboo mat at about 11pm. Yeah. It sucked.

Next morning we had breakfast at 7:30am and then a day of activities which included a bamboo raft ride where we saw fish flying out of the water--a little freaky. We also rode past a "monkey island" and saw and heard screaming monkeys who wanted us to feed them. We did not participate in the monkey feeding due to our Girl Scout instructions--and those who know me know I was happy to enforce this policy in my group.

The girls also got to go on pony rides and we spent time doing a treasure hunt later in the day. The girls made a craft called a SWAP which they traded at the SWAP meet later in the day. The groups made all sorts of cute and creative crafts turned into pins. We got these adorable hats as part of our weekend loot, and the pins were decorations for the hat. Flair if you will for you "Office Space" movie fans.


I was a co-group leader for our group of 13 and overall, think I did okay as a leader. Emily had fun. There were no injuries in our group and I think, after careful reflection, that my kid was the only one in my group who cried (3 times) but all towards the end and it involved spilled food, being yelled at by another mom who saw Emily sneaking bites of her dinner before we were supposed to eat, and there was a third time--oh yeah, she fell on some rocks. That one was fair and it happened as we were entering a taxi to get out of that campsite.

We took a taxi, which I had arranged with the aid of a kind mom in my group, to meet our menfolk. Mark and Nathan were strategically located at the Le Meridien Resort and Spa on Saturday afternoon. We met them there with our sweaty selves and grubby bags of dustiness and spent the night in paradise.

Soft beds. A shower with soap and shampoo! Emily took a bubble bath. It was dreamy. Mark brought a bottle of wine from home and I put back 2 glasses and promptly passed out. I slept. I had earned this night of peaceful slumber.

Sunday morning, we went swimming and hung out until it was time for brunch. There was a situation with getting a table, but I'll just say that feedback has been sent to the general manager, and I am waiting for his reply. The brunch was good despite the drama, and we then returned to the pool for a couple more hours of sun, snoring (me) and splashing.

Our taxi back to Shanghai proper dropped a droopy crew of Slavens off and we prepared for one of our last weeks of school the following day.

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Photos

"pole" dancing
bamboo pole dancing

Comments

[Linda]

Only yooo
Soooze, yooo is a hooot! Only you could have those three classic experiences...osing the good bed because someone got there first, wishing for beer when all they're serving is soda, and critiqueing somebody else's s'more-making...all in the same 12-hour period.