Daisy Girl Scouts

Last fall after school started Viva's Daisy Girl Scout troop resumed meetings. We like the troop because it is very conveniently located at the grade school two blocks from our home, but the troop only meets every other week and the meetings are only one hour. Viva liked doing activities with the troop, but she never made any friends at the meetings. She was okay with going to meetings, but not enthused about it. Then Kara learned that the first grade class at the school (all the Daisies in this troop are first graders) had a major ongoing problem with lice. (Our school district changed its lice policy from you cannot attend school if you have lice to you can attend school with lice.) Kara decided to check out other nearby troops.

She found one that was taking new members. The first week we planned to attend the leader's daughter was sick and the meeting was canceled. The next week Anchorage had a major snow storm and the schools were closed, so the meeting was again canceled. We finally met with the new troop in the middle of December. 

The first meeting with the new troop was interesting. The leader was very enthusiastic, but also very unorganized. She showed up fifteen minutes late. She had recently attended cookie training so she brought all the cookie info and spent the entire meeting (over an hour) discussing cookie sales. She entertained me with her over-the-top commitment to cookie sales, but there were no activities for the girls. We learned the troop plans to use their cookie sale funds to go charter fishing in Valdez. When I asked Viva on the way home what she thought of that idea she surprised me and said she liked it. Really?

When Viva and I left we agreed we'd come to one more meeting before we made a decision about the new troop. Our second meeting started on time, but was still disorganized. Viva enjoyed the meeting because there were two craft activities. First the girls (with lots of help from the adults) made duct tape headbands to wear at the cookie sale booth and then they made a foam snowflake ornament. A major problem with this new troop was its size. There were only two other Daisy Scouts at the two meetings we attended plus another one or two Juniors.

We have decided to put Girl Scouts on the back burner for now. We will look in the fall for a troop.

Daisies & Playgrounds

Every other Monday Viva has Daisy Girl Scouts. I like to take the boys with me to pick her up so everyone can enjoy the school playground. Without an excuse to be there we don't visit the playground very often even though it is only two blocks from our home.  

A few weeks ago it was a beautiful fall afternoon when we picked her up. It was delightful to be outside. Last week a frigid wind was blowing and it was an endurance test for me; the children were happy to stay as long as I was willing to let them. Unfortunately Monday is also karate day so we have a limited window of time.

First Cookie Sale!

Viva had the chance as a Daisy Girl Scout to participate in her first cookie sale this year.  I knew she probably wouldn't be up for selling to too many people - she is a bit shy!  So we kept the numbers down and she did a decent (in some cases, not so decent in others...) job with working on her sales skills.  After presales (about 100 boxes) we had the chance to sell cookies at the store with our troop:

Aren't they cute?!

Girl Scout Event

Last Saturday Viva and I attended the Women of Science & Technology Day that is put together by the Girl Scouts of Alaska. It is their signature (!!) event: "Women who have fascinating careers in science and technology lead fun, hands-on workshops." Hundreds of girls K-12 attended this annual event. The workshops were done in small groups. Viva and I attended three half hour workshops with groups of twelve to twenty Brownies. We did not get to choose our workshops. She was the only Daisy in our groups. Viva's troop didn't attend the event; she and I went on our own.

Our first workshop was about geology. It was presented by two young women who work at Pebble Mine as a geologists. They had lots of visual aids and for the last half of the workshop they did two hands-on demonstrations of plate tectonics. Viva got to eat the demo materials (graham crackers and icing). She enjoyed this workshop. 

Our second workshop was on the many different types of engineering jobs available. The presenter used a slide show to help explain what civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical and other types of engineers do on the job. The topic wasn't really comprehensible to a five year old and the hands-on demonstration wasn't until the last few minutes when the presenter pulled out an antique sextant and the girls got to look through its scope. Viva thought that was cool, but it wasn't enough to redeem 25 minutes of lecture. I'm disappointed that the Girl Scout office assigned a first year Daisy to this workshop. 

Our third workshop was with a bird biologist. Her job is to fly around in an airplane and count birds. I didn't know such a job existed, so I found the topic interesting. Three girls in the group got to put on helmets and sit in a mock cockpit, but the other 17 just sat on their chairs for 40 minutes (the workshop ran over 10 minutes). Viva remembered a few things from this workshop, but it was much too long for her age group.

I was impressed how well Viva behaved during the three workshops. The event was not what we had promised her (fun science experiments!), but she maintained a good attitude nonetheless. The highlight of the morning for her was when we were walking between the second and third workshops and she found the tip of a pine branch on the walkway. Viva loves to collect leaves, rocks, and branches. She played with the pine branch during the last workshop and then she took it home to meet her acorn (!?!) and to poke her brother Bentley.

I asked her if she wanted to go again next year and she said "Yes!" Her answer surprised me. It wasn't a fun event and she had to get up early to attend it. I'll take her again to Women of Science, but probably not next year. 

Hula Hoops & Neon Rings

Last Friday evening I took Viva to the Girl Scout Cookie Sale Kick-Off Event which in our service unit is the PJ DJ Palooza Party--a dance party with a live DJ that you can attend in your pajamas. Viva was eager to go and asked to invite Cassidy, so we did. Although we arrived on time, the party was already in full swing. We checked out a few tables with cookie information, but as the girls are only five years old they were not very interested in cookie trivia. Viva already knew that if you sold 2013 boxes of cookies you earned a prize of an iPad. (No we are not selling 2013 boxes of cookies!) Viva and Cassidy got their nails painted. Then we hit the dance floor. The girls had a good time. They danced together for a while. They played with hula hoops. (I don't recommend letting a hundred girls loose on a dance floor with dozens of hula hoops!) They ate popcorn and cup cakes. They hooked up with four other girls from our troop who were at the dance. Cassidy stayed with the other girls and Viva wandered off on her own. I tried a few times to get her to hang out with the other girls, but she wasn't interested. (She's like her mother in this regard.) Instead she collected glow bracelets. The dance was in the gym with the lights off and the girls were given two glow bracelets when they arrived. A lot of bracelets came off while the girls danced and Viva collected lost bracelets.

When Viva got home she shared her bounty of bracelets with her brothers. They found that they spun quite well. They showed their tricks off to opa who took photos. A good time was had by all!

Daisy Scouts

Kara put Viva in a Daisy Scout troop. Kara did it because she thought it would be good for Viva to meet some other little girls since she has only brothers. I urged Kara to do it because Girl Scouts in a family tradition. I and Kara were both Girl Scouts. We hadn't planned on putting Viva in a troop at age 5, but then I realized that troops form in kindergarten and stay together for years, so it'd be better for Viva to start with the other girls and not have to join an already bonded troop. (Bentley and Jake won't start Cub Scouts until their 8th birthday because our church sponsors Boy Scout troops, but only for boys 8 and older.)

Last Monday was the first official troop meeting. I took Viva and stayed for the meeting. Here is Viva's report to Jake and Bentley on the meeting when she returned home:

"It's not a meeting. It's my first day of Daisy Scouts."

"I got to name an animal."

"I got to color a picture."

"I got to use big, big scissors."

"I got a snack."

When the leader asked the girls to introduce themselves, Viva surprised me because she introduced herself as "Genevieve." In the past Viva has told me emphatically that her name is not Genevieve. Amrita, Kara's friend, tells me that Viva's ballet teacher is named Genevieve and Amrita heard her daughter Cassidy and Viva discussing this topic when she was taking them to ballet last Thursday. Viva said she likes her name Genevieve, but she can't spell it.

As for the big, big scissors, they certainly were a lot bigger scissors than she is ever allowed to use at home! They were on the tables in the schoolroom we were in. The schoolroom is used by K-6, so I'm not sure why such large scissors are out on the tables.

The name an animal game was interesting. The girls got to choose a small stuffed animal (most of which were teddy bears) and give it a name and say one thing about it. There were 8 girls. 3 of them named their bear Heart, 1 Heartbreaker, 1 Amanda, and then there was Viva who named hers Alaska Flag. Most of them told us that their animal was shy or that it liked snow or it liked to play. Half the girls just copied what a girl before them said. Again Viva surprised me--and all the adults in the room. She said "My bear kills." I had to point out to the other adults that killing is what real bears do. (Kara attributed Viva's statement to living with brothers.)

I was amazed at how much pink there was at the meeting. Only one girl had no pink on. Girl Scouts is definitely girlie which was our goal for The Princess.

Viva liked her first Daisy meeting. They will be meeting every other Monday, so there wasn't a meeting today and Viva will miss the next one because she will be in Mexico with her dad and older brothers. We'll let you know how it goes next time she meets with the troop.