Girl Scouts at the Mall

Our local Girl Scout council has this activity that is a lock in/sleepover at an area mall. It was this past weekend and ran from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the next morning. We were there, heaven help me! I went along with both of my daughters and my niece. The Eldest was with her troop, The Niece kind of did her own thing, and I stayed with The Middle Child, two girls from her troop, and one other mom. (More girls were supposed to go but they got sick.) It was EXHAUSTING but fun. The introvert in me had a hard time coping and I'm really drained even today, but it was worth it and I'm planning to do it again the next time. ~:-P They didn't keep the whole mall open for us- none of the larger stores and only some of the smaller ones stayed open- but there was enough to keep us all entertained and fed. The most popular stores were Build A Bear and an accessory place. We managed to get checked in with the first group (we got there over an hour early to line up) so we were in way before the crowd, so we went to Build A Bear first thing. That was the first time we were able to go to that store during that event and we were lucky! By the time we left the line was a mile long and moving sllllooowwwwllllyyyyy. They also had non-shopping related activities like a DJ, a band, face painting, bounce houses, hop scotch, a story area, and so forth to get away from the materialistic aspect of having an event at the mall. (Which some of the parents really have an issue with, and I can understand that.) It's such a fun event for the girls, though. The little ones have the fun of hanging out someplace with big girls so there's the "cool" factor for them, and the big girls have fun hanging out with each other. The Eldest had a blast. Her troop is old enough to be able to go around by themselves so they pal around acting silly all night. She got temporary tattoos and had her face painted with flowers down one side. She bought a sword. (!!!) OK, a fake sword. They came home tired but happy.

Now if I can only recover! (I don't think my sore legs will ever be the same.) ;)