An American Heritage Girls Weekend

This weekend, we had a first visit from American Heritage Girls!  This is a Judeo-Christian focused organization that was established in 1995 as a Christ-centered alternative to Girl Scouts.  There are actually several 'troops' in Madison County.

They arrived Friday afternoon and got busy setting up tents.  This was a family camp out, with a group of their older girls branching out on their own (pitching their own tents, setting up campfires, etc.).  There was a total of 66 participants and at least twelve different families! 

They even had a family pull their pop-up camper up!

There were children of all ages; seriously, I saw a woman carrying a baby who couldn't have been more than two-three months! 

Like hardcore campers, they stayed out in the main campground, and did all their cooking at the site and over the campfire.  We came up Saturday morning to see how their night was.  Everyone we talked to said they slept great -- the cool, camp air with a tinge of wood smoke does that!

They did some badge work that morning. . . 

They were working on a fishing badge . . . where to find bait, how to bait the hook and how cast, etc. Several of the dads gave demonstrations.

After they worked on their badges, they had their closing flag ceremony.  After that, the families were free to wander the camp and do their own thing.  Several took to the trails, some packed up, some enjoyed the camp fire circle for a little longer and some headed over to the playground and obstacle course.  One family took their gear and a picnic lunch down to Serenity Pond for a little fishing . . .

And another hit the trails and found a turtle!

Sweet girls!  They'd heard about the turtle sanctuary, so they came knocking on our door.  We were thrilled! It's the littlest box turtle we've ever seen . . . 

And not long after letting it down, she (dubbed Fredrika the III) headed for water and a hiding spot!

We thoroughly enjoyed having this group up here and meeting some awesome families.  We had a lot of inquiries about family groups camping -- we're so glad they had a great time at the camp!