great american backyard campout

The last Saturday of June is the Great American Backyard Campout, a program put on by the National Wildlife Fund. Always up for a theme-based party, Sunshine and I invited her Girl Scout troop over for a faux campout.

Don pitched our tent in the backyard and rigged the grill so that we could pretend it was a campfire. Sonic and Chick Fil A have been passing out insect catchers, bug homes, and monoculars for the past two months and I had collected enough for everyone in our troop to pass out as party favors.

When the girls arrived at 7 pm in their hiking/running shoes and with their backpacks, we let them choose their "insect toy" and we headed on out to our local park on a hike. They went on a nature scavenger hunt and finished enough work in the Adventure Journal I downloaded from REI's website to win a prize from REI.




Then we headed on back home, sang songs around a "campfire" and roasted marshmellows for s'mores. Once it got dark, they told "scary stories" in the tent. It was hilarious. The leaders were all out of the tent manning the fire and helping build s'mores when I heard someone suggest scary stories. Sunshine responded, "But I don't know any scary stories!"


By the time I was finished up, I snuck over to hear what they were talking about. I saw them sitting in a circle with their flashlights illuminating their faces and heard Sunshine say, "The monster stole the marshmellow and THEY NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN!!!!!!" At that point, every girl screamed. It was too funny. I heard a few more scary stories, like "Once upon a time there was a girl with PINEAPPLE HAIR!!!" They would all scream and the next person would tell a nonsense story. I just love the innocence of young play.


Once they were done with their stories and smores, the girls played flashlight tag until their parents came to get them at 9 pm. Good times were had by all!

*a few things to notice about Sunshine - she's started to actually smile in photos, she's using her backpack from Uncle Dr. Ben's mom's gift package at the Great Wedding Weekend, and she always, always, always wears one shoulder strap hanging off of her shoulder.