What lessons do we teach....

Let me set the stage....

Last year - new girl scout leader, 6 girls, 5 involved parents.  Parents not super impressed with the way things went & two parents step in to be additional leaders this year.  As progress is being made in training and understanding the girl scout way....red flags started popping up everywhere!!

Last year:
Year started with $219 - girls earned $944 in cookie sales - girls had about 8 meetings, with all being dollar tree type crafts - year ended with $203.  Starting to see a problem?

Request was made for the original leader to bring the statements to the two new leaders so that we could figure out how to budget for this year.  After a million and one excuses why she couldn't - she finally did provide.

Below is the activity that was pulled from those statements and the receipts we were able to obtain (from Wal-mart - the rest we have not received yet).

As you can see - before we even had a first meeting - this leader was buying personal items.

All total - there is almost $700 in non-troop related purchases.  (no highlighting are assumed troop related, although there are still some questionable ones, like the Hungry Hobo -- all the parents were to supply food for the end of year event....but I guess if you are the leader, you just have the troop supply your portion.  She openly admitted that she "accidentally" used the troop debit card for the chili's and hannah andersson purchases.

So -- what happened with this leader that for many other reasons was not a good role model for the girls?

So far she has had to pay restitution of $346, and is supposed to pay another $125 and the rest we are going to "forgive".  At first she was even going to be allowed to remain a leader, as long as she got her name off the account and didn't deal with the money.  I kid you not!!

Thankfully - it was determined that she will no longer be a leader, but no charges will be filed of any kind.  So -- if she moves onto another girl scout council, or to her church, or to any other organization - there will be no record of this bad behavior!

The so called leader has given many many colorful excuses - "her husband is legally blind and didn't know the difference between the cards" - her husband works, drives and is no more legally blind than I am!

"she's not good with numbers, it's not her thing" -- another HUGE reason not be in a leadership role - especially when you are not even going to take the accountability for your actions and determine why the girls earned $944 but there is less money in the account then it started with...

and the kicker - for whatever reason, the new leaders are not getting the support from the leader mentor - who for whatever reason is protecting this now previous leader.  All I can say is - WOW!  what possible story (stories) could have been told that excuses that type of bad behavior??

And we are not supposed to mention this to the girls or the parents, we are supposed to say, "XXX is very busy, so she decided she would no longer have the time to be a leader".  That it is no one's business what happened.  I beg to differ -- if she left being a leader for some personal reason - it is no one's business.  But she left being a leader because she STOLE from the girls she was entrusted to take care of!!

What type of lesson are we teaching here???  We are a small school - all the parents already know - guaranteed!  The girls have probably overheard more than they should.  Wouldn't a simple, "XXX made some mistakes last year and has now decided it would be best to not be the leader this year.  She is very sorry, but she is making up for it and we are going to have a great year.  It is important as girl scouts that we forgive others and treat all adults with the respect they deserve."

And what are we teaching this ex-leader?  Here is a good start - bring on the crocodile tears, blame everything on everyone else and keep weaving the tales -- you can find someone with a tender heart that you can lie and deceive that will keep you out of trouble!!

I am not that tender heart - I've seen too many times when people have lied and gotten away with it!  I am much more the cynic than believer.  And these type of examples just make it worse!!

Coconut Funny

For whatever reason - Amie decided (after we left Florida) that she wanted to eat a coconut.  They happened to have them at the local store and Grandma bought it for her...so Darwin needed to open it up for her!

First - gotta get a hole in the eye to drain the coconut milk!

Now it's time to break the coconut open!

But YUK!!  The coconut was super gross on the inside!  Good thing we hadn't given her the water out of the coconut yet (only because I was still shaking it up with the thickener!

About a month later - we found another coconut and Darwin opened it and it was nice and fresh.

We thickened the water & Amie thought it was gross!  Then we scraped out some of the coconut meat & she tried it and thought it was gross too!  LOL - so hopefully we've stopped that obsession!

Florida - first week of June 2012

Last summer while planning this summers vacation - we decided to head south....way south to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area.  Darwin and I had been there many many years ago.  We thought it would be a good chance to take Grandma down to the everglades, as well as show Amie and Tim some alligator fun.  I also have always wanted to drive the keys down to Key West & we wanted to stop by Give Kids the World to visit Amie's star.

June 2nd

So after driving for two days - we finally arrived & within seconds of arriving, Amie was bugging us to get in the pool!!  That is where she loves to spend her time!  It was the first salt water pool we'd ever been in also - so that was a little different, but if we ever have a good pool of our own -- I think salt water is the way to go!

 

June 3rd

Sunday we had a great opportunity to meet up with some friends we have not seen in years.  On the way to meet them, a bridge opened, we told Amie the road broke!  It was interesting watching her think through what might be going on with the road.  

Our first little lizard we saw on this trip (we saw many less this time then last time we were in Florida).

Cathy, Kiley and Mike!  It was great seeing them!!

After lunch, we had our first trip to the ocean, little did we know this would be the best ocean weather day of the week.  The water was excellent & Amie had a great time!

After swimming and getting cleaned up and a little R&R, we had dinner at a nice little restaurant on the beach.....even though the service was as if we were on "island time".  LOL - so the "kids" went walking on the beach while Grandma and I waited for the bills to arrive.

June 4th

On Monday we drove the keys.  Tim decided to stay in the condo for the day, which turned out to be a great decision, because it was a very long drive and it was very hot when we got there.

Miss Amie talked Grandma into another stuffed animal - this seahorse's name is "Eyeball".

On the way, we saw the old road -- Darwin started showing his trivia knowledge with which movies had been filmed on this road.  It was neat and kind of creepy too.

Part of the bridge even had trees and other greenery growing on it.

Once we got to Key West - it was HOT!  It also took longer to get there than we anticipated.  We decided to ride the "train".  Here we are waiting for the train.

Once we got down to the shopping area - there were some interesting "visitors" all over the place!  Here chicky chicky chicky!

A sponge man...

A hammerhead shark - Amie wasn't crazy about it!

Miss Attitude!

A little tour of Key West

We saw the bobber - but we didn't get to stop and take our own pictures.

Loved those trees!

Heading back to "upper" Florida (Miami) - it was very cloudy.....

And Darwin says - look over there.....

So I logged onto accuweather & it says "tornado warning Key Largo" (which was exactly where we were at) -- Darwin was convinced it was just a water spout, but it was a tornado!

June 5th

Another broken road!  ;)

We headed south to Miami (our condo was north of Ft. Lauderdale in Pompano Beach) to do a boat tour of the intercoastal waterways.

Waiting for our boat to leave, we watched a very expensive boat come to the marina across the water....

After it was in place....

They winched it up out of the water to take it into the "garage" for repair.  Kind of cool to watch.

Picture taking time.

Amie took all of these:

I forgot to take any pictures once we got going on the cruise!  LOL

Here is the side of the marina -- It says "Tiara Yacht"!  We told Tiara that we wanted a cut of the millions she must be hiding from everyone!!

Just a pretty sky!

Walking back to the van -- I noticed that the police car that was parked on the side of the road had a pair of handcuffs hanging from the rear view mirror!  I thought that was funny - you can get a ticket in Illinois for anything hanging from your rear view mirror.

We took a picture of this bikes tires and sent to my sister Janet -- thought it might be cute for her Harley!  LOL

June 6th

We spent the day not doing too much of anything (Miss Amie had been quite crabby and tired).  In the afternoon, we got to meet a special friend that lives in the Ft. Lauderdale area.  Miss Maddie also has the 16p11.2 (although hers is duplication where Amie's is deletion).

Miss Maddie is effected in different ways than Amie is - but it is always so neat to talk with other families!

Maddie's older sister Lauren and Amie hit it off immediately!

Amie and Maddie!  Maddie is mostly non-verbal, but she gave us lots of beautiful smiles...I just didn't capture it!

At the end of the day, Amie got to do one of her favorite things - take a little bubble bath.

June 7th

We drove down to Billie's Swamp in the Everglades to see some alligator & taste some alligator!  As we were driving - we passed an alligator that was walking up on all fours on the side of the road across the waterway from us!  Of course I didn't get my camera out quick enough (and Darwin wouldn't stop and go back either LOL!)

This guy looked like he wanted us to feed Amie to him!

We got in an airboat & not too far from the dock was the closest gator (not in a pen) that we saw.

Water spraying everywhere!

Couldn't really get a good picture of everyone - but Amie and Tim both did great!

Back on dry ground - checking out the turtle

We went to the restaurant - of course to get everyone to try gator!

Amie, "That weird"

Tim, "It good"

Grandma, "I'm not eating this"

She finally did take a tiny little nibble of the breading...

Sibling fun!

We also took a 4 wheel drive jeep on steroids kind of thing through the park.  This little foal was two days old!!

Darwin was teasing Amie that the lizard was going to drink her juice!

And of course she wound up with another stuffed animal!

June 8th was our last day at our resort - we spent the day at the beach and packing.  The beach was quite a bit rougher on this day then the previous day we'd been there.  But Amie loved every minute of it!  I was quite nervous several times (and wait until you see what I captured on film towards the end).

Miss Amie at the edge of the water having fun in the water and sand:

Of course she wanted to throw water on me!

If I'd centered it better this would have been a great picture!

So here Darwin and Amie go out in the water a bit - we were definitely getting some rolling water!

Grandma getting her feet in the ocean!

Noticing how the water is getting a little heavy there!  Darwin noticed it and went running to grab Amie!

He's talking to her after the last one came in.

And then it picked up & he picked her up & the water parted and went around them!!!

How incredible was that!!!  I couldn't hardly believe what I was seeing through my lens!

Water is a little calmer now - so a little more play time.

And then one very tired little girl!

After getting cleaned up - we had reservations to go on the Jungle Queen Boat Cruise.  This is a cruise Darwin and I went on the first time we were in Florida back in 1990.  You cruise down the intercoastal waterways to a little "island" where you eat a BBQ dinner and see an act.  There are also a lot of animals on the island.

The weather did not look like it was going to cooperate.

But it turned out pretty good - a few sprinkles but not much heavy rain.

Seeing the sights:

I just love these trees -- I think I said that before!  :)

After dinner - Miss Amie was ready to go!

June 9th

Time to head back to Illinois.  But we purposefully set up the trip so that we could stop in the most wonderful place on earth....Give Kids the World Village!

Tim had never been there - and that was one thing he was looking forward to on the trip as well.

Walking down the street - like old America when walking down the street was safe.  

The Castle of Miracles has a new addition - they have added this structure that is filling up fast with stars on the inside.

It's difficult to really make it out - but the next two pictures are the inside of it - the circle at the top of this first picture is the inside of the peak.  All of those dots on the wall are children's stars that have been placed there by the star fairy (just as Amie's was in January 2010 when she was at Give Kids the World).





And there's Miss Amie's star - right where the star fairy left it!  Safe in the Castle of Miracles for all time!!



Give Kids the World is so magical!

Amie and Tim waiting to ride on the carousel.  

And of course they have to do a tongue picture!

June 10th - a full day of driving.  When we stopped for lunch - someone thought they were clever when she locked us out of the van!

June 11th,  and another day of driving.  A certain little girl was pretty crabby - but she did manage to fall asleep for a little while after she covered her head with the blanket!

It is amazing how fast time flies when you're on vacation.  We purposefully scheduled the summer vacation early in the summer long before Amie was scheduled for her heart surgery so that we could get in and out of Florida before the worst of the summer heat hit.  Amie's surgery certainly left us wondering if we could/should still try to go.  But her surgeon and her cardiologist cleared her as long as she continued to not lift and not get overly busy (yeah I know - hard task for any kid, especially one as busy as she is!).

She did fantastic.  Tim did pretty good too.  And the rest of us enjoyed our time together.  Time slips by so fast - it really doesn't seem possible that Tim is 26 anyway...shouldn't he be closer to Amie's age??