Oceanside scouts visit Kalahari

Over 80 Oceanside Girl Scout families piled into cars and vans and headed for the Kalahari Water Park in Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania on the Sept. 24th weekend.

It was a “kickoff” trip before the 2016-17 scouting year began.

Christie Lockwood and Sue Kastin, both troop leaders for Troop 2049, put the trip together.

Lockwood said the girls needed to bond somehow, so they thought that by getting the families all together, the dads too, everybody could see how the girls are can do everything together. She said it took lots of phone calls and emails.

“Having 80 Oceanside families in one place was amazing,” Lockwood said. “We can’t get them to come to our leaders meeting but they’ll drive five hours in traffic to get to Kalahari. As a group we were able to share an experience. It was such a great time and it was a bonding experience.”

The troops regular outside meeting activities include roller-skating, ice-skating and sometimes a trip to Rocking Horse Ranch in Highland, NY.

“We try to do one large event for everyone in the association,” Lockwood said. “Try to do something so the little girls see the big girls and the big girls see how excited the little girls are, and they remember their own excitement about being a scout.”