Camp Elk River....

One final camp this year. Camp Elk River- 30 miles NW of Minneapolis. When I signed Jazzy up for this camp, I briefly looked on a map to see where it was. It didn't look very far, but I didn't actually map it out. Stupid stupid me!! It was a 4 hour drive in heavy traffic, 90 minutes to "check in", and 4 hours to drive back. Minneapolis drivers are more rude than any place I have ever driven. Super heavy traffic on a Sunday!! Anyway, I think this is the largest Girl Scout Camp in the state, and the busiest- since is it so close to Minneapolis. They have such a variety of "camp themes"- just wish it was closer, or at least had bus service like they do in Phoenix. Of course, we had to go to the "camp store" and get a Camp Elk stuffed animal, snow globe, and patches:) Hopefully their Facebook page will have lots of photos this week. Here is Jasmine and her counselor "Kicker" from England. All of the Girl Scout counselors are from England. I think that the American girls go to England- kind of like an exchange program.

Photos from camp this week.....

Jasmine is at Camp Cormorant Wilderness Camp this week where she is supposed to be learning plant identification, outdoor cooking, etc. I'm not sure why she is in her pajama top in almost all of these photos.

More photos....

I picked Jasmine up from camp today, and wow...her laundry reeks of horse urine!! I'm not sure how she did this. Her backpack, suitcase, everything....yuk!! Here is Jasmine and Mercedes- Cabin 2 Counselor- the "grumpy one":)) Jasmine LOVED this camp- even more than Girl Scout Camp. She rode her horse "Slim Jim" a 25-ish year old mare for 2 hours every day. They went into the lake with the horses, and went on a very long trail ride. One of the horses, (not Jasmine's) tried to lay down in the lake with the kid on his/her back! Luckily, the kid jumped off in time! This is second hand from Jasmine, of course. They did a few crafts- the beads that you shape into a form and melt them together with an iron. She also did a tie dye shirt- which was so gross, it's in the washing machine. Also, lots of swimming, no jumping off the trampoline though, but she did climb the iceberg- or so she says. Jasmine is looking forward to going back to camp this coming week while I am in Billings, MT getting more dental work done. If I would have known I was going to Billings this week, I would have made the camp reservations for different time. She could have come with me for a little "vacation". You have to make reservations for these camps as early as February. If you wait any longer, they are already full. Oh well! She will have more fun than me next week! I've just been told this very moment that the reason her bath and swimming towels were so smelly is that the Horse Camp kids were finger painting the horses. It's nice-- the horses get a little massage, and the kids can get creative. No pictures of it though. Apparently, the towel was just thrown somewhere....? Playing bingo:) Going to the Thursday night dance!

Photos from Cormorant website

Cabin 2 for girls age 10-11 yrs. Horse Camp girls- Not sure what they're doing here- Trampoline is supposed to be in the water!Jazzy in the background- I did get a letter from Jasmine today. She said that the "counselor is a grump":))) Probably because the counselor told them to be quiet at night or something- so therefore she is a "grump":))

Camp Cormorant Lake Park, MN

Today we drove to the YMCA Camp Cormorant. It's much closer to us than the Girl Scout Camps. Jasmine slept in, then we played a few board games until it was time to go to camp- so she was in a better mood for the drive this time. This place looks like SO much fun! I wish I could go!! When we got there, there was a long line of families waiting to check in. The line went pretty fast though. Then we found Jazzy's cabin- Girls #2. Next we walked around the place! A big beautiful lake - Lake Cormorant- with a trampoline to jump on into the lake, the "iceberg" which is a huge climbing wall, slide, swimming area, a really nice dining hall which is partially outside, ropes courses, a big campfire sitting area, and stables for the horses. Outside the stable area. They also have many kayaks and boats. One big boat is called the "banana boat" because it's shaped like a banana-duh!- and you just sit on it with your legs hanging over. There is also "the shark" which is a huge "boat" shaped like a shark:) Outside Jazzy's cabin-

Photos from Shingobee Website

I didn't even know that they posted any photos. I found two photos from this year and two photos from 2016. Jazzy's Outdoor Art group: 2016 photos- at least she's smiling!

Back from Shingobee....

On the days I dropped Jazzy off and the day I picked her up, there were perfect blue skies and perfect temperature. The other two days she was there were cloudy and drizzly. Apparently, they still went hiking, swimming and boating in the rain. Jasmine's counselors were "Lolly" and "Patch". I am not sure why all of the camps always have international counselors. Most of the counselors were from England or Germany. I guess one of the big camp events was when Lolly had a dental emergency, had to go to an emergency room in the middle of the night because she was in so much pain, then had to have a tooth pulled the next day. What else- I heard lots of camp songs, stories of the "ropes", rock wall climbing, canoeing in the lake, a tick found behind Jasmine's ear:(( (it's Minnesota- the tick capital of the country), and Jasmine couldn't sleep because they leave the lights on all night long- weird. At least when she came home, she was in good spirits. A "galaxy tee shirt" made by splashing chlorox on a black tee shirt and putting glitter all over it. A "sand candle" with real daisies on it, a jewelry box made out of popsicle sticks, a purple and pink paper mache globe with lots of glitter on it, a piece of soap in the process of being transformed into a star, and a murder mystery invitation. Apparently, one night they had a "murder mystery" game:) I also heard that they had "super sessions" - a British baking class where they made "butterfly buns"- something like cupcakes? and a British party game where several small "presents" are wrapped up in many layers of toilet paper. You pass the ball of TP with gifts inside around the circle of girls. When the music stops playing, the person holding the TP ball gets to take one layer of the ball off and get the candy/gift underneath. Here is Jasmine's roommate "Macey" from Walker, MN- right down the street from the camp. She took the photo with her little camera. Standing in front of the lodge- going home!