Girl's Camp

Well I promised to post about our church's Young Women's Girls camp that the girls and I attended the last week in July. Actually, you could hardly call it camping, but I loved it! It was somewhat like camping Hilton style.

Our camp this year was in Lafayette, Indiana at a Boy Scout Camp. Here is a picture of the wonderful lodge that we ate in, that my craft "cabin" was in, and that I slept. It was equipped with central air conditioning, Wi-Fi, a fully functioning kitchen, (all the meals were prepared for us) beautiful flush potties, sinks, and a terrific shower. I slept directly under the air conditioning vent. Ahhh…


As the girls and I were packing up for camp I needed a cot or some sort of air mattress. Lee proudly showed me the cot that he had used when he camped with the boys about 10 years ago. It has been stored in our garage all of these years. We set the cot up in the living room to test it out and he showed me how he would put a small inflatable mattress on top of it. He encouraged me to try it and was proud of the comfort it had provided him. I tested it out, it seemed just fine and I proceeded to pack it up by deflating and rolling up the mattress on top of the cot. As I did this a piece of plastic that held two poles together broke. This should have been my first clue as to the future of this cot and me, but I thought no problem I'll just get a clamp, fasten the two poles with clamp and all will be fine.

At camp I had four other roomies. They all had brought air mattresses. I was the only one with this "deluxe" set-up. That night I as I climbed into my sleeping bag and was settling down to sleep every time I moved my cot creaked. I was concerned that I was disturbing my roommates so I tried not to move very often. Additionally, as I slept the plastic pieces that were holding my cot together would break and all of a sudden a shoulder or foot would jerk downward. I was sure I was going to wake up on the floor. When I awoke in the morning I looked under my cot to discover many plastic pieces on the floor. So off to the dumpster my cot went.

Fortunately, we were close to town and every small town has a Wal-Mart, so I purchased a super and quiet Coleman air mattress! WOW, I was livin' now! Not only was my air mattress comfortable, but much to my roommates delight, it was quiet too!!

My main purpose to attending camp was to run the craft cabin with another leader. I honestly feel I had the best job at camp! Below is one of our crafters with her craft. Cute huh? If you haven't guessed her name was Abbey. (And, by the way notice the wonderful facilities!)


We also offered the girls opportunities to make their own "license plates." I made one for my classroom that said ED U K8 and below where the state goes I wrote Mrs. Hartman.


We offered many other crafts of which I don't have pictures for but included, mini-scrapbooks, washer scrapbook paper resin necklaces, sand art, beading, felted beads, and more. We were a busy and popular part of camp.

So that sums up camp according to JoAnn, but I did take Kristen and Katie with me.

Kristen went as a leader over the 1st year camp girls. Unfortunately, she didn't get to sleep in the Camp Hilton Cabin, but slept in a tent 2 out of three nights. The last night she was able to join me in the Hilton Cabin.

Katie went as a 2nd year camper. She slept in another cabin that also had air conditioning and bunk beds with box springs and mattresses, a small kitchen and a bathroom. Her successes included completing a 5 mile hike on a terrifically hot day, and learning how to shoot a BB gun. She actually was very good with the BB gun and made several bullseyes. She also enjoyed swimming, camp fires, and of course the crafts.