The forecast for the weekend was RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN. We woke to pouring rain on Saturday. I called my friend, Jennifer, to see if we could cancel. She said NO! I really did not want to spend the raining weekend camping. Elle said she wanted to go in the rain. At least we had made arrangements to go in our vans instead of the bus. We had three families traveling by van so we needed two vans each way. We decided the kids in one van and the adults in another…looking better all the time! The other two families were Faith with her girls, Avery (10) & Riley (8) and Jennifer with her daughter, Sophie (8).

We arrived at camp at Daqian Ranch…in the rain. We loaded our luggage to our cabins…in the rain. The cabins were nice – my kind of camping. Each cabin had a bathroom with a common area space downstairs. Upstairs were mattresses on the floor. Sleeping in our cabin were four girls and four Moms. All Daisies had to have a Mom attend with them. We had a 5th girl, Allie, joining us for activities, but sleeping in a different cabin. Her Mom was doing ALL the cooking – a very big task. There were over 300 people at the camp-out. Allie and Elle were the only Kindergartners at the camp-out. The other Daisies were all first graders.

The Ranch had these covered walkways throughout the grounds.

After dropping our bags, the first item on the schedule was lunch – good as I was hungry! Lunch was grilled chicken, cheese and burrito wraps. A very kid-friendly delicious meal!

Emmy’s group was given these headbands. It was great for me as I could look for the blue headbands to find her group. The headbands were given to the Junior Girls.

Our first activity was making a edible campfire. We did this in the covered pavilion since it was still raining. The girls had fun making this campfire. I do have to add that the girls had red licorice nibbles to make their fire – someone must have planned because you can not find them in Shanghai. The crafts were all pre-planned and organized for the weekend. As all of camp organization was parent volunteer, some Moms did a lot of work for our girls to have a good time.

The next craft was the God’s eye. After the Moms got a making lesson from the 8 year-olds Brownies, we were ready to show the younger girls. Elle got the hang of it right away, which was amazing for being the youngest one in the group.

We went back to our cabin to enjoy our snack of popcorn and pretzels. The girls had fun jumping on the beds. Next on the scheduled was water activities. About the time we were to begin our raft ride, the rain had stopped. The raft was a bamboo raft with about 5 benches. The girls had to put on a onesize fit all life vest that would have slid right off had anyone fell in, but it wasn’t deep.

After the raft ride, the girls had time in the balls. Elle was ready to go – a surprised since she had no interested in Phuket. She had fun running like a hamster in the ball.

Dinner this evening was ‘hobo packets’ the girls made. The girls put ground beef and cut-up carrots and potatoes on foil. They wrapped it up and put their names on their packet. It was put on the grills to cook for 10 minutes and dinner was ready. It was a fun and tasty meal. As an adult, my packet could have used some spices, but a fun meal.

After dinner, the girls wrote notes on a lantern to be sent off. A candle was added to the base and the lanterns were released.

The most important after-dinner activity was smores! Graham crackers are hard to find in Shanghai and when you find them, they cost 68rmb/$10 a box. Both the girls love them, so when I can find them, I pay the price. Marshmallows aren’t cheap either – these were expensive smores the girls were enjoying. Emmy’s group was the smore helpers. They would help the younger girls put their smores together as they came back with toasted marshmallows. Everyone enjoyed the smores. The rain began again as we were finishing. I do have to say the rain has been kind to us – the breaks in the rain have been at the right time.

We went back to our cabin to get four little girls ready for bed. With jammies on and teeth brushed, they settled into the fun upstairs. We heard many giggles and jumping from the upstairs. The girls went to bed around 10pm. The Moms stayed up talking until 12:30am. It was a fun group of Moms as I only knew Molly’s Mom, Julie. I had to go all the way to camp to meet a Yanlord family – Maddie and her Mom, Roz. The other Mom and leader of our group was Missy, Faith’s Mom.

Sunday morning began with breakfast at 7:30am. My friends, Faith and Jennifer, got up at 5am to help cook. They had 8-year olds with plenty of parent help. Also, both are the type to jump in when help is needed. Faith helped to cook all day yesterday, also. I don’t think she will be back as she worked extra hard this weekend. Again, breakfast was amazingly good with fresh potatoes and egg muffin sandwiches.

I tried to take photos of Emersyn when ever our paths crossed. This was a weekend for Eleri. It was really good for both girls. Emmy was given more independence as I had to be with Eleri. Eleri had me all to herself all weekend.

At one point, the Moms had decided to take our bags to the front building in shifts since the girls were not going to help much with the carrying. I took my stuff and then helped Emmy. I was gone longer and at some point Elle lost the other girls. Jennifer found her wondering around all alone and was bring her to the covered pavilion. Missy gathered her back to the group. When I saw Jennifer and Faith, they were giving me a bad time about having ONLY one child to watch and she was lost!

We had no rain on Sunday. The girls were schedule for pony rides. The horse area was muddy, but the girls were given a ride around. They were only allowed one ride. However, if they went with an adult, they could have two rides. I had Emmy go with Elle on my turn as Emmy’s Junior girls were not doing pony rides. They had different activities.

After pony rides, we enjoyed snack and fun on the playground.

Our last activities were a scavenger hunt and water balloon toss. The girls enjoyed the water balloons the most.

Emmy at the covered pavilion doing her knot activity that Jennifer was leading. Jennifer was practicing her knots in the van on the way to camp. Elle wanted to know why she didn’t get to do knots with Jennifer.

We had hotdog lunch and said good-by to a fun weekend. Elle can’t wait to go again next year!