Sparks gone Wild!

I was lucky enough to go to the Zoo with a Sparks unit for a sleepover a few weeks ago! I have done this program before and I am always to proud of how well the Sparks do with the program. It can be kind of scary to see all of these new animals and touch them- they all did a fantastic job!

 

I took a lot of pictures (like always...) but I wanted to show just a few of them, mostly of the ADORABLE animals! Enjoy! :)

 

We got to visit a lot of "behind the scenes" areas of the zoo as part of the Being a Zookeeper area and one of the places was where birds like owls, parrots, and chickens lived. A lot of the animals are looked after but are not necessarily okay to be in the public (a parrot with a potty mouth for example) so they are housed here. The girls got to pet a chinchilla and a rooster and see some beautiful owls, one of which was named Errol, the loopy owl from Harry Potter.

 

 

 The next area of the zoo we saw was the Polar Extremes exhibit where the sea lions and seals live. They were adorable and even the zookeepers said that they are never as active as the night we saw them. The girls were full of giggles as the sea lions splashed and played in the water and the seal lounged on the ground. It was a lot of fun to see.

 

One of the neat things about sleeping over at the zoo is you get to see the nocturnal animals in action. We got to see the sloths "move around" and little armadillos scurry about. I got this cute picture of a sloth and the girls got to touch an armadillo. I was really proud to see the girls who were a little scared to touch its back do it with huge smiles. It was awesome!

We got to take a walk around the zoo at night and see the tigers, wolves, and a few other critters and I came across this bridge that was all lit up. I thought it was beautiful!

After an actually restful sleep (one of the best for a Girl Guide event) we got up bright and early and got to see some more cute critters. Look at this momma and baby, they were adorable!

 

These ducks are so cute! I love their bouffants. :)

 

I don't remember what this little guy was called but he was a little bit scary... or trying to be.

The Sparks loved watching the monkeys swing around and play together. There were a lot of squeals and giggles while we watched them.

 

This is Lucy the Elephant and she is adorable. (How many times have I said adorable in this post?) You can tell that all of her handlers love her so much and they were giving her enrichments when we saw her. How many people can say that they have seen an elephant kick their feet to Dancing Queen? This Sparks group and I can! It was the most precious thing I saw at the zoo.

We did another walk around the zoo in the day time and got to see river otters, take a visit to the lemur enclosure and see a few more creatures like the cutest arctic foxes!

 

 

The last animal that the Sparks got to play with was a little tortoise named Frodo. He was so sweet and he suited his name perfectly!

 

 

One of the majestic tigers we saw the night before. These animals are so big! I was really impressed with this picture too!

 

 

And a snake... I am not a huge fan of snakes, but this is a cool picture.

 

 

And that's that! Thanks Sparks for letting me join you on your wild adventure!

 

December 2013

 

 It is hard to believe that it is already December! This year has been so crazy- so many unexpected things have happened and even though it has been wild, it has been a lot of fun. :) I really only had one Guiding event in December, our camping advisers meeting where we had a few crafts and a potluck and the coolest kind of Christmas gift exchange I have ever done!

 

 

These adorable ornaments needed a bottle cap, a few snowflake cut outs and scrapbook paper, a few beads, a jingle bell, some adhesive, and glitter glue. It is pretty self explanatory to create, and they are so cute!

 

 

 

 

The gift exchange was my favourite part of the evening. We were asked to bring a toy that reminded us of our childhood. We passed the gifts around and as we opened them we shared the story behind why we chose that toy. It was so interesting to learn a bit more about my fellow sisters in Guiding and have fun while were doing it too!

 

 

I loved my Christmas decorations this year and could not resist to share a few pictures. :) I hope you had a splendid holiday season!

 

 

Well this is the last post of 2013- it has been a crazy year! Here is to all the best in 2014!

November in Review!

November was a month that zoomed by but was very busy at the same time! The biggest thing that happened to me was that I moved out of my childhood home and into my own place! I was certainly happy to have so many cookie cases on hand for the move! :)

 

 

 

I attended a Team Council meeting in November to go over the area budget, share what has been going on in the districts, and have a bit of fun too! We made these pretty ornaments by curling paper and putting into a clear glass ornament. A little bit of glitter glue was added to the outside for some sparkle and voila! A pretty ornament for the Christmas tree.

 

 

I went to the Festival of Trees with my sister at the end of the month and was happy to see that Girl Guides were participating in such a special event in my city.

 

 

This tree was sponsored by Girl Guides and it had a button theme, it was so cute! I loved all of the hand made ornaments and the charm the tree had among some of the other more extravagant trees.

 

 

There was also a Sparks' village in the Gingerbread house contest! They were so cute!

 

 

It is hard to believe there is only one month left of 2013! It has been a crazy year so far!

Make it Monday: Tin Can Lanterns

At Guide Camp a few weeks ago we made these really cool lanterns that are quite easy and have excellent results- it is kind of hard to mess up so I thought- it is a perfect craft for a Make It Monday!

All you need is a tin can, nail, hammer, and a sharpie to make this lantern! Let's get started.

 

 

The most important thing about this craft is that you fill it with water and freeze it so that when you are pounding a nail into it it does not collapse on itself. Do not forget this step!!

 

 

Because I am a very detail and plan oriented person I wanted to plan out exactly what I was going to do on my tin can before I started banging holes in it. I used a sharpie to outline what I wanted to design on my lantern. My Guiding name is Starshine so I wanted to go with a star theme...

 

Once everything was planned out I got started punching holes into the tin can. I was wearing gloves for a few reasons, first it is the end of October and second the frozen can was really cold!  

 

 

Here is one of my designs so far. I am actually happy with how this craft turned out so hooray!

 

 

When you have finished creating your design  put the can upside down so the ice can melt. Here are all of the lanterns together!

 

 

Here is my completed lantern. I think it turned out really well and I love that the candlelight goes through the lantern and spreads the light in the designs. I love it!

 

 

 

If you put a whole bunch of lanterns together in a trefoil it makes for lovely pictures!

October in Review!

 October was another busy month for me. (Is there ever not a busy month!?) I started it off with a visit to one of the Guide units in my district. I went to camp with them later on in the month and they wanted me to come to show them how to make a bedroll. I was very impressed by the girls, they did an awesome job! If you need to do a bedroll and are not sure how, you can watch this video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7386_TVsxZg  

 

I attended the Commissioners Conference in Red Deer and it was a lot of fun. I am a deputy district commissioner so I found a lot of the information very helpful and I got to meet a number of other commissioners from around the province. The event was mostly training sessions so I did not take too many pictures, but I did take a few!

 

 

 

This is a picture from one of the training sessions I did. It is what my group decided a good commissioner should look like. Compassionate, a good listener, connected through technology, etc. It was interesting to see what we came up with and how similar the drawings were to each other.

 

The theme of the weekend was a "sleuthing out the answers" sort of thing- kind of a mix of CSI and James Bond. The Saturday evening activities included playing Clue (one of my favourite board games), jelly bean taste tests, and even a surprise visit from an "agent." It was a lot of fun to just hang out and relax playing games and getting to know other sisters in Guiding.

 

 

I attended a Sparks unit enrolment ceremony as well in October. It was the unit I was in last year so I was happy to see the girls who are now second years and the new girls to the unit as well. Each girl being enrolled got a flower from a returning Spark- it was a very sweet ceremony and I was so happy I got to go!

 

 

I saw this rock outside of the Guide House before one of my meetings and I was excited to take a picture of it to celebrate Alberta Girl Guides 100th Birthday!

 

 

I finished off my month at another Guide Camp! It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing the seasons change from fall to winter overnight. I made a full post about this camp here.

 

 

Thanks for reading! So begins the winter...

Guide Camp 2.0!

I was asked to come to camp with a group of Guides at the end of October so of course I had to go! I went to their unit a few weeks earlier to teach them how to do a bed roll so I was very impressed to see how well prepared they came to camp!



 

 

 

The sunrise in the morning was absolutely beautiful! It was an excellent start to what was going to be a great day!

 

 

We brought tents so the girls could practice setting them up before they actually have to use them in the spring at district camp. It was quite an experience to watch them try and figure out where the poles go and what to do with the pegs... I quite enjoyed it!

 

 

We did a really cool craft in the afternoon that was a part of their surprise enrolment in the evening. I will have a full blog post up on it soon so stay tuned!

 

 

The fire looked so cool in the evening

 

I decided to be kind of fancy and make a trefoil out of all of the lanterns the girls made and it looked so nice. I loved being outside by myself setting this up and taking pictures. It was a nice way to end Saturday night.

 

Here is my lantern, I was really proud of it and I think it turned out really well!

 

 

This is a genius thing that is a s'mores ice cream cone. It is delicious and it isn't messy which I think is a definite bonus! It is a sugar cone with marshmallows, caramel sauce, and chocolate and it is very tasty!

 

 

We woke up to a winter surprise! I guess it is October in Alberta so what can you expect! :)

 

 

 Camp is so beautiful in all seasons! It is crazy to think that just the day before it was autumn!

 

 

Here is the tree shot that I was talking about in my other Guide camp post... maybe I will compile them all and post them!

 

 

And so begins the many artsy-fartsy pictures of winter!

 



 

Thanks to the Guides for letting me come to camp with you and I hope I get to do it again!