aMAZE Journey: First Impressions in the Maze

Today we did the first session of the Cadette journey aMAZE - First Impressions in the Maze.

After we read some of the girl book and did some of the activities, we drew a maze with sketches, balloons, and phrases describing our personal maze. We also picked papers with discussion starters for "Beneath the Surface" questions discovering similarities and differences, and about how first impressions and assumptions might hinder relationships.

We also brainstormed relationship issues and the ones we would like to solve for ourselves and put them in a sealed envelope for later.

The Great American Backyard Campout!

We participated in The Great American Backyard Campout- it was so awesome! We camped out in a tent from REI- the Hoodoo 3, which is a 3-person tent. It was easy to set up and kept the bugs out. The weather was sunny and warm but not hot- and it got really chilly overnight with a low around 55F which made sleeping comfortable.

We also set up a tarp shelter that we used during the day as a shady spot, and created a different covered area for a camp kitchen. We cooked spaghetti and chocolate chip pancakes using the propane camp stove, hamburgers on the gas grill, and made brownies and potatoes in the box oven. We had S'mores the next day!

We played fun games while we were camping such as chess and Pay Day, and at night we brought out my telescope and looked at the moon and stars. It was really cool!

American Flag at the campsite

Tent (w/fly) and gear (tarp shelter in back)

Tarp shelter

Camp Stove

Homemade charcoal chimney

Box Oven

Tent at night

Bridging to Cadettes!

I bridged to Cadettes at a park that I hiked at since I was 4 years old. It was a nice day, and we had the ceremony at a bridge over a stream that was flowing energetically due to recent rains.

Many people passed by as they hiked and thought it was nice that we had the ceremony there!