Ok....I survived. Thank you for any and all who said a word of prayer on my behalf. I did live through the ordeal. Honestly, it could have been worse. In fact, let's focus on the positives first.



1. The "lodge/barn" was heated.

2. They did have a bunch of mattresses (please use term loosely) to sleep on.

3. Refrigerators were available.

4. The other mothers were very kind.

5. The Quik Trip is just about 2 miles down the road. Perfect for sneaking a coffee at day break.



Not-so Positives:

1. The barn came with a sparrow flying through it and pooping and landing on our pillows. ick! I don't even have a bird phobia and this was grossing me out.

2. Mud everywhere. Wet wood for a fire...loads of fun digging for wet wood in mud!:)

3. No running water.

4. Hence, The outhouses.



This deserves its own paragraph. Please, please, please help me understand that after months/years of selling 10 gagillion boxes of over priced cookies that they can not afford to get flushing toilets anywhere on girl scout property. What sense does this make? These toilets are not fresh smelling Johnny on the Spots that are occasionally emptied. No, these look to have been built when the settlers moved to Kansas sometime at the turn of the century. They are horrid. May i please remind you that it was nearly 40 degrees outside, so the true swampy scent was not really even full bore! No, in fact it was actually very limited to only the minutes that the lid was actually opened. Which pushed all dainty little girls into screaming, crying freaks because the smell nearly knocked them off the pot. When little girls volunteer to pee in the woods we know we have a problem. It was nuts-o, i tell you.

At one point my daughter started crying, "Mom, I don't want to go to day camp. (In JUNE) I cannot go potty in here again!" I caught myself trying to talk her out of this ridiculous notion.

"You can do it, it's no big deal. Breath through your mouth."

Then it struck me, the wind might be blowing in the right direction after all. Perhaps my daughter will put a permanent end to camping altogether! This may have been exactly what we had been praying for. So maybe outhouses needs to be moved to the positives list!! Thank you, Lord!