Write My Life

The element for week #11 is type. Cathy emphasized the idea of only really needing a few fonts. Often the same font can be used for the journaling and the title. The act of making a font bigger for the title can be enough. Additionally using size contrast on a title can be enough as well.

In one layout, we used the same font for the journaling and title. I used Helvetica here.

In another layout, we contrasted the size of the type in the title.

Jennifer’s troop ended the year with a day at Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park. I had presented the troop with several options of year-end events. This is the one thing where we had a unanimous agreement. The scheduling worked out and all girls were able to be there for the day at the park. The evening beforehand was Girl Scout overnight camping at the park. 5 out of the 9 girls attended the camping portion as well.

We arrived mid-afternoon and set up tents. Jennifer and I stayed in the smaller tent. One other parent and two girls slept in the other tent. Two girls slept outside under the stars.

The park provided dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day. It was nice not to prepare meals, although the food was mediocre. In the evening there was a stage show with girls from various troops singing and performing. It ended at 10:10 p.m. The girls were really tired but the camp didn’t quiet down completely until 11:30 p.m. We had some tired girls the next morning! It showed the most in my own child. Jennifer cried once during the day, frustrated and tired. That was a low point of our adventure.

When we met up with the other girls the next day, we agreed to tour the park together, eat lunch, separate into smaller groups for a while then return to our entire group. We started together fine, but we got separated due to people wanting to be on different rides and some people going on to other rides, etc. This is when Jennifer got upset because she wanted to stay together and she didn’t want to miss the rides. We regrouped and things got better. After lunch we broke into the “thrill” riders and the “moderate” riders. I took the 4 thrill riders and they had a blast. We jumped from one thrill ride to the other, repeating some of them. By the time we agreed to meet up with the other group, they had been sufficiently “thrilled.” All together again, they ate a snack, played in the water, explored the maze, played in the water some more (it was hot!) and rode one final roller coaster. They were all very happy.

As a leader, I was pleased to seem them enjoy themselves. I was working with some of the girls on patience and making individual and group decisions. It wasn’t entirely easy so I was working on my patience as well!

Even though, Jennifer cried at one point she ended up having a wonderful time. Mike put her to bed that night and he told me about her excitement about the day. I was glad to hear that she had had a wonderful time.

Jennifer’s Brownie troop bridged to Junior Girl Scouts today at a ceremony in the park. We had been working on learning about Junior Girl Scouts throughout the year so they had an idea of what to expect.

After receiving their last Brownie awards, I gave them their wings. They symbolized their bridging by doing something the girls had planned by themselves. The took a small bowl and put a brownie into the bowl. They put it on a tabletop bridge made from Popsicle sticks. They added a Junior Mint to the bowl, then placed their bowl on the other side of the bridge. Each girl did this one at a time.

Then, they received their new Girl Scout pin and the green tab.

We handed out Thank You cards to the parents who helped this year, then recited the Girl Scout Promise.

Finally, we had snack and playtime.

The Cadette Girl Scout troop chose to use their cookie earning to go kayaking and to stay overnight in Santa Cruz.

We started Saturday by kayaking in Elkhorn Slough through Kayak Connection. Elkhorn Slough is the largest tidal salt marsh in California outside of San Francisco Bay provides habitat for hundreds of plants and animals, including more than 340 types of birds. Kayak Connection did a great job outfitting us and leading us through a tour (about 2 hours) of the slough.

Jackie and I kayaking together with her in front and me in the rear. These kayaks have foot petals that control a rudder so they are very easy to maneuver. Along the way we saw small jelly fish, harbor seals, sea otters, birds and sea lions. We cruised by a large group of harbor seals laying on the small beach on this overcast day.

One harbor seal was sitting on the bank along one of the thinner side passages of the slough. We got a real good look at him.

At other times we saw sea otters popping up out of the water. One sea otter we saw pretty close and he was resting on his back cracking open some food. We could hear his pounding!

The girls all did really well kayaking. We were wet when it was done, but everyone had a great time - even the girls who were apprehensive at first.

From there we drove to the hostel in Santa Cruz where we had one of the cabins to ourselves. We cooked a taco dinner and did some scrapbooking. Before sunset we walked down to the beach boardwalk, which was only a few blocks from the hostel.

After breakfast the next morning, we packed lunches and headed to Natural Bridges State Beach. The girls played on the beach, exploring and playing games. I am amazed that some of these girls (12-14 years old) still play “pretend” games. It is fun to watch them laughing and using their imaginations!

More typical for their age, we left the beach and went shopping! We walked down main shopping road in Santa Cruz. They stopped at a shoe store, the bookstore (many items purchased here) and the ice cream shop.

It’s hard to believe but the Girl Scout year is winding down. We’ve done many Try-its and done several field trips this year including a visit to a horse and a tide pool tour at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. In addition, we hosted a booth of Japan at our Association’s Thinking Day event. We have a year-end trip, Camporee and ceremony/party yet to come!

The girls wanted to do some crafts so we are ending the year with Art to Wear and Scrapbooking. The scrapbooks (I’ll post more after they do them) will feature their experiences as Brownies. At our last meeting the girls decorated visors and made gorgeous beaded necklaces. It was great to see their creativity and to have fun with the craft materials.

From selling Girl Scout cookies and doing a babysitting fundraiser last spring, Jackie’s girl scout troop earned the money to go to Tahoe for three days, staying in a cabin a few blocks from the lake.

Following a 4-hour drive, we unloaded our gear at the cabin and relaxed with games and puzzles. Jackie found a (stuffed) black bear at the cabin, whom she adored and named Black Berry.

After a bit we walked to Regan beach where the girls enjoyed the water. Tahoe’s beautiful clear water was not the same as usual due to a large fire earlier in the summer. The water looked murky and brown. Regardless, the girls enjoyed playing in the water.

In the evenings the girls played interactive games like “Mofia” and card games like “war.” Other times they would break into pairs but the never the same pair or clique. It was nice to see them all have fun and interact so freely, which is not always the case with pre-teens.

On the second day, we drove to Sand Beach. It was a nice, sandy beach with the more typical clear blue Tahoe water. The girls enjoyed collecting rocks, swimming, playing in the sand and climbing on boulders.

On the third day, the girls played minature golf and played more games at the cabin before cleaning and driving home.

It was a relaxing and enjoyable trip - a great way to end the summer.

With a our cookie profits, we embarked on two Girl Scout field trips with the Brownie troop.

May 26. First, we hiked on Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve. We ate lunch afterwards, using reuseable plates, cups, etc. It was a no trash lunch. We talked about the concept of a no-trash lunch. I showed two lunches (one which is no trash and one that is full of all that prepackaged stuff) so they can see the difference. We ate with plastic plates and cups - no paper here!

June 3. Our second trip was to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. We toured the museum and particpated in a program called “What is Wild?” The wildlife museum tapped into this troop’s love of animals.

Spring Girl Scout Camporee featured a pirate theme. The girls took part in several pirate activities including creating treasue maps and treasure chests, participating in a scavenger hunt, cooking banana boats and dancing a jig.

Another activity involved teamwork. The girls stood on two long wood planks, one foot on each, in a line. They were to life one plank, move it forward, then put the plank down all at the same time. It was a very hard thing for the girls to do. It required lots of coordination and cooperation.

From Brownies…

On to Cadettes.

Jackie’s troop celebrated and bridged to the next level of Girl Scouts. They planned and led their own ceremony and did a super job. They have come a long way from those Brownie days.

Sweet.

Our Girl Scout troop and others in our Association spent the day down by the San Francisco Bay at the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City. The girls spent a fabulous day with lots of hands on activities and learning opportunities. In a series of stations they

• took a “mud grab” of the bay and investigated the invertebrates in the mud
• touched invertebrates, fishes and a leopard shark from the bay
• collected fish for examination
• collected a water sample and looked at the contents in a larger viewing microscope
  

Every girl thoroughly enjoyed the visit!