For 5 years we have taken part in the Thinking Day postcard exchange Over the years we have received postcards from troops in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico, as well as from girls in Ireland, Barbados, England, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Slovak Republic, Spain, Kuwait, Turkey, Japan, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia. It's always so interesting to read about what all the other troops are doing.

Again they started off the month of March, by going ice skating at their favorite indoor rink. They have been doing this every year since their first year of Brownies, and they never get tired of it.

The second Saturday in March is the day our council hosts Girl Scouts on the Mall. Each year there is a theme and each service unit sets up a table with displays. In the past, three of our girls have modeled outfits in the fashion show, and many troops put on skits or sang songs. We've also set up a table set up to sell GS cookies. Fundraising again!

For Girl Scout's birthday one of our girls planned a "baby sprinkle" meeting complete with games and food. This is similar to a baby shower only on a smaller scale. It started out with the girls just bringing in a small baby item, but the gifts kept coming and our basket grew! The idea was to present it to a girl born on March 12th. However our hospital had just opened their maternity wing and we had to wait until March 24th for a girl to finally be born! We hope baby Madison and her family enjoyed their gifts. This idea came to us from a troop in Connecticut . They had written about it in our mascot's journal when he visited them last year.

We finished off the month by working at the Carnival. This is a major fundraiser for our older girl's Wider Op Program and was held for the Brownies and Juniors in our council.

Last year some girls went to the Backpacking Clinic, and learned about the different types of packs and what to bring and not bring with them on a trip.

This month they finished working on the Cookies & Dough IPA and the cookie pin, and started on the From Fitness to Fashion IPA. At one meeting they made their own glitter and lip gloss. It didn't turn out the way it was intended but it seemed they had more fun with their mistakes than they would have if it had turned out right!

The weekend before Easter the girls host the township's Breakfast with the Easter Bunny. They provide the pancake breakfast, work on a craft with the children and each child gets their picture taken sitting on the Bunny's lap. It is always a big hit in our area, and is a great fundraiser for them.

The girls finished up on the quilts they were making. This was an ongoing project that took up a good part of the year. Material was donated by various groups and individuals and the girls washed and ironed it all. Then they chose the fabrics that they would like for their quilts. When they were all finished they had 18 quilts which they donated to theABC Project which distributes them to at-risk children.

As first year cadettes, one of their favorite trips was a tour of radio station B98.5. They even managed to stay perfectly quiet when they were in the studio while the DJ was broadcasting. Most of the girls were surprised to find out that the station prefers its employees, including the DJ, to have a college degree.

Some of the girls in our troop that are on the council's canoe racing team, the Jersy River Runners, went up to NY on Memorial Day weekend for their big canoe race . They have been practicing hard and one of the 4 girl teams placed first in the 10 mile race.

In their last year of cadettes they were treated to an afternoon at the local beauty parlor, where they had their nails polished and their hair done in fancy upsweeps.  They looked so grown up!