Kwic Gifts

I happen to be one of those gullible moms that “volunteered” to be the Brownie Troop leader. I am the proud leader of 17 first and second grade Brownies. And in the Girl Scout world, spring means one thing – camping!

I happen to love camping. Since I was a kid, many family vacations have been spent sleeping in a tent or cabin and sitting around a campfire. But taking 17 little girls out in the wild isn’t the same thing as a family vacation! So, to start our Brownie camping experience, we decided to go “indoor” camping by attending a lock-in. The girls actually got to sleep in tents and learned how to pack for a camping trip, but we didn’t have to build a fire, use an outhouse, or sleep in the cold. It turns out, our biggest hurdle was keeping track of each girls’ belongings. Very few of our first graders had been away from Mom, so keeping their belongings in one place by themselves was a whole new concept.

We are now ready to graduate to outdoor camping – at least the girls think we are. I am prepared with a list to the parents. It includes bringing a good bag to keep everything organized. I am also prepared to get very little sleep and to give myself the gift of some pampering when that wonderful camping trip is over!

What can be better than spring break vacation?! We happen to live in the southern part of the midwest, and it’s been a long cold winter. Right now, nothing sounds better than some sun and fun. My husband’s family happen to live in sunny California, so we are escaping there for our spring break vacation, and we couldn’t be more excited.

But do you ever feel like the planning and packing it takes to go on vacation is more work than its worth? Who will watch the dog? Who will water the plants? What will the weather be like so we know what clothes to take. Then you discover your kids have outgrown all of their warm-weather clothes, so you need to shop for two days to get that taken care of. Just packing a weekend bag can be a pain in the neck, let alone for a whole week.

Thankfully, my kids are getting older, and are pretty good at packing for themselves. We have gotten to our destination only to discover the toothbrush or underwear have been left at home. But that’s remedied pretty easily.

But once you get to your vacation site, all of that packing stress seems to melt away. Then after that all-to-short vacation is over, the stress of unpacking sets in! But forget about that for now, and enjoy your spring break. I know we will!

My brother recently took a business trip to Japan. He was told that it’s customary in that country to give small gifts to those you meet. The Japanese present visitors with gifts, and it’s considered rude not to return in kind. A friend of mine had the same experience when she spent a semester studying in Japan.

The gifts the Japanese hosts give are not terribly costly or large, but they are usually uniquely Japanese. So, the debate began. What should my brother take along with him to give as gifts to his hosts? It needed to be something small, packable, and something that could not easily be broken. To be in keeping with the tradition, it would also be helpful if it was something uniquely American or Midwestern (where he is from).

In the end, he ended up taking some hard candies that are hand-made in a local candy factory. They are beautiful creations in many flavors and colors! Also, his father-in-law grows and packages sunflower seeds. Since the Midwest is known for growing things, he took some of these delicious seeds along as well.

His trip was a wonderful experience, and he is planning on going again next year. I wonder what gift ideas he will come up with for his next trip?

This year for vacation we went camping – yes, good old fashioned tent camping. Tent camping has improved a bit since I was a kid. Most camp sites now have flush toilets, and some even have showers. They also have this wonderful new invention called an air matress.

If you are a clean freak, camping is not the vacation for you. Between the smoke from the camp fire and the dirt that’s everywhere, you will not come home with anyting that’s clean. My youngest child thought she had died and gone to heaven. We gave her a shower to get one layer of dirt off, and five minutes later, we discovered her literally rolling around in dirt piles she had constructed herself with a look of pure joy on her face.

Despite the dirt, it was a wonderful vacation. Without the distraction from television and computers, it’s amazing how much fun you can have. We watched deer graze near our campsite, watched a hummingbird chase a squirrel, played lots of card games and frisbee, and roasted marshmallows. We came home rested, relaxed, and with a whole batch of new memories.