love is in the details: Zoo Camp

A couple weekends ago, I went on a fantastic adventure with my Girl Scout troop to the Phoenix Zoo for ZOO CAMP!!!!

The girls and I had been looking forward to it for nearly a year now since I had first learned that it existed. Luckily, every girl was able to attend along with our troop co-leaders Karen and Dana. So, we packed up a night's worth of gear, and made our way to the bridge to start our fun. And what FUN we had!

Here we are standing at the entrance to the Zoo, with gear in tow.

Each girl could only bring what they could carry!

That went for each adult girl as well! Here's co-leader Karen with her camp gear.

Here's Dana- the snow-camping pro looking fabulous!

Here are all my girls on the bridge waiting for the fun to begin!

I had to squeeze into ONE picture!

Ever feel like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders?? Dana makes it look so easy! :o)

It was soooo cold! Everyone was all bundled up!

Little miss Lauren was my pretty Eskimo princess!

There were so many beautiful things to see on our walks around the Zoo.

Here are the girls entertaining themselves waiting in line for dinner!

Silly Anna Banana!

We had an all-you-can-eat pizza dinner!

We were lucky enough to eat next to the lake where we could see the ducks, geese and hear the monkey's across the water.

We even got cool Night Camp water bottles to take home.

We hung out a little while after dinner....

....and enjoyed some time just being girls!

After a hike around the Zoo grounds, looking at and learning about some of the Zoo's nocturnal creatures, we gathered for a snack and an up-close and personal view of some other creatures like this milk snake.

All of the lessons were very interactive and the girls learned so much! Here are Makenzie and Aria demonstrating how snakes constrict.

We weren't allowed to touch the snake....

... or this scaly guy.

But the girls got pretty excited when they learned they could pet the rabbit!

Here's Rowan demonstrating proper petting technique using 2 fingers.

We even got to see a cute little frog.

After snack, we went on the long hike up to our camp site. No one knew what to expect. But we were all so excited when we saw the beginnings of ice-blue lights.

They were soo beautiful! And so welcoming! It was the perfect surprise!

The girls sat around the fire awaiting the next adventure for the night.

I especially loved the lights- can't you tell??

Next stop was into one of the bigger tents for a game about birds and how different species gather food.

Then they got to see some more creatures, including a tarantula....

... and birds like this Tawney Frog-mouth that a friend of mine presented!

They sat and listened so nicely. They were the best behaved group there!

I was so proud to be their leader!

Then of course, it was off to our tent where most girls (and leaders) got immediately set up in their sleeping bags!

Rowan was so excited that she didn't need a flashlight to read the comic book she brought with her!

We had a WHOLE tent to our little troop! It was great!

The next morning, after a really nice breakfast and some more hiking, our troop went on another adventure to Sting Ray Bay.

We were lucky enough to get there around feeding time. Someone who didn't want their fish pieces, gave it to the girls to share in the feeding process.

I know Anna! Those fish heads were pretty gross!

Just before it was time to leave, we squeezed in some time at the tree house where the girls worked together to build a walking path across the stream.