The Camper Returns in time for July 4

Sofia & Anna at camp
Anna returned July 3 after a week at Camp Potomac Woods for girl scouts.  This year she went with her good friend Sofia for a week of horseback riding camp.  She declared this year even better than last year and is already planning a return trip next year with Sofia.

There were 23 girls in her program with 6 girls in a cabin.  She and Sofia knew some of the girls from last year.  A few highlights from Anna:

  • The food is good and Anna "likes helping" with the chores.  The girls have different tasks to do each day, including serving meals, cleaning the bathrooms, etc.... (Mom LOVES this camp)
  • Anna got to ride a new horse this week - Fancy.  She learned to canter this year and learned to jump over small fences (very exciting)
  • A "trajerous" event took place one night when one of the girls in another cabin woke up to find a mouse by her bag.  Screaming ensued.
  • The girls got to try archery.  Anna and Sofia both want to do more of this at the next camp.
  • One morning the girls found a frog in their cabin.  Someone got him out.
  • Anna "always forgot" her soap on the days they went to the showered.  We are pretty sure the major bathtub for the camp is the swimming pool.
  • Anna only wore one pair of jeans and two pairs of socks the entire week.  You can imagine what they smelled like when she unloaded her laundry.
Despite taking Mom and Dad's old digital camera, she has very few photos.  Apparently she needed to delete the photos (including a photo of her beloved parents) to make space for the hiking video that she recorded.

Anna was clearly busy the entire time as she was completely exhausted at pick-up.  She nearly fell asleep in her dinner.

July 4 was a bit non-traditional this year.  Instead of going to the Fairfax Parade, we went to Anna's Saturday morning swim meet.  Once again, it was raining.   Anna was very happy when the whole thing was over.  The neighborhood events were delayed due to rain until the next day, so that afternoon we headed over to watch some of the competitions for the World Police and Fire Games, which were going on in Fairfax.  We concluded the day with a quiet meal at home and watched the fireworks from the comfort of our living room couch.

The neighborhood activities resumed on Sunday, beginning with the annual bicycle parade.  Anna decorated her bike and joined the mass of kids on the short parade route.  The parade was followed by field games and pool games.  Anna entered the belly flop competition and we are happy to report that she did not even come close to winning!  The weekend concluded with watching the U.S. Women's Soccer Team win the World Cup title.  Awesome!

Happy July 4th!

Neighborhood July 4th bike parade

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