Sunday, September 16, 2012

Camp Tonkawa

This past weekend, the girls and I joined our friends at Camp Tonkawa for a Girl Scout camping trip. Last spring, the girls decided that they would like to go camping, horseback riding and do some archery with their cookie money. We have waited a long time for this weekend!
When Friday came around, we were worried for a little while because the weather forecast was calling for rain all weekend. We are not seasoned campers like the Boy Scouts in the family, so rain didn't sound like much fun. We also would not have been allowed to go horseback riding if the weather wasn't cooperative. By 3:00 though, it was looking pretty good up by Gainesville and they hadn't experienced the rain that we had gotten in McKinney. The girls and I packed up, went to ballet class and then headed to Camp Tonkawa.
We arrived at 7:30, just in time for the sun to sink into the horizon and the rain to start. Our friends arrived and we go 3 tents up in the semi-darkness...in the rain. It was just sprinkling, so it wasn't really interfering with anything.
The girls were all so excited. They ran around exploring and, periodically check in to lend a hand. Once the tents were up, it was about time to turn in. The girls giggled and talked until about 10:30.
We got up bright and early (some of us earlier than others) to start our day of Horse Camp.

April and Randy had pancakes waiting for us to start our day and then it was off to see some horses!



 The girls had to go get the horses from the pasture.

 Then they had to get them ready....


 Then off to the corral!





 This horse wanted to make sure everything it saw wasn't edible.


 Besides riding, the girls learned about caring for horses and horse anatomy.
 Back to the corral!

 Trotting!
 At the end of the day, the girls had to groom the horses.




 Off to the barn to get hay for the rest of the horses.
 After some play time, the girls helped prepare dinner.

 And washed dishes.

 Saturday night, we had a campfire and a girl scout bridging ceremony for one of our friends.




 After another late night and a breakfast, courtesy of April and Randy, we headed off to do archery. Well, the girls did. The moms broke camp after a morning of rain. Yuck.



 We left Camp Tonkawa, tired, dirty and happy. The girls had a great time and can't wait to go back!