The good, the bad, the girl scout day camp

I'm a counselor at a Girl Scout day camp this week. It's kind of an old-school camp, with a council and opening and closing flag ceremonies, we cook lunch every day, even the tiny little girls. Not a lot of BS crafts. Archery. And so forth.

The good thing about this camp is that it allowed Daisy and Fiona to go half price and Billy has free child care.

The bad thing about this camp is that the child care provider is a blast from the past, my old friend Cookie Mom.

The good thing is that she was just as nervous about meeting me again as I was about meeting her and it's gone really well.

The bad thing is that Billy really likes camp because of the one-on-one attention and next week will be a big bummer of a boring time for him.

The good thing is that the girls really seem to be having a great time. They each have friends in their units. Fiona's friend is my coleader's daughter.

The bad thing is that my coleader goes to work early in the morning and her daughter arrives at my house at 6:30. This is early for me.

The good thing is that I'm getting a lot done between 6:00 and 8:15, when we leave for camp.

The bad thing is that I'm later and later each day because I'm so busy in the mornings to make up for my utter exhaustion the night before.

The good thing is that I'm just a coleader, not a leader, for my unit of junior girls.

The bad thing is that, if you haven't noticed, I'm more of an alpha than a beta. I like to lead.

The good thing is that the leader is easy-going with me, seems to like me fine, and let me run the show for leatherwork and lunch today.

The bad thing is that the reason for this is that she is involved in a visiting program to different units so a couple of times I've been flying solo with 16 girls. Not really solo--the yellow unit is right next door--but it's a lot of jugging.

The good thing is that I'm getting to flex my teacher skills.

The bad thing is that I've been standing up for 3 days straight, pretty much, in 97 degree noon times.

The good thing is that your body adjusts to the heat, especially if you start in the mornings when it is cooler.

The bad thing is that each day involves building a charcoal fire to cook over.

The good thing is that I have a few of my troop's girls in my unit who know how to cook and do work.

The bad thing is that we don't have power over the menu. Beanie weenies anyone?

The good thing is that the heat makes me not very hungry.

The bad thing is that every night I eat whatever Jake eats and then crash into bed. The really bad thing right now is that he's at a meeting until 9 and I'm stuck awake with 3 crabby kids.

Overall, it's been a great time. Except for one of the women at "headquarters", who told me the very first day, I had Billy, I was coming up to HQ at the end of the day for a meeting, we were all exhausted and hot, and I sat him on the picnic table, the picnic table in an open air pavilion, sitting down on the bench in front of me, and she told me, "Tables are for glasses, not little boys' asses."

Yep.

Then today she barked at me and my unit leader for getting our own snow cones after the girls had theirs--and after the aide had gone back to HQ and there wasn't anyone there to serve us--telling us if the girls saw us doing that, they would think they could do it that way too. I noted that my unit leader completely ignored her. And so I did too.

But I think she'll keep me away next year. Which kinds of sucks. But I don't need to be treated like a 7 year old in front of other adults. Or anytime, frankly.

But the good thing? The best thing? It's Wednesday evening and I'm more than halfway through. Whee.