Camp Gowonagain 2016 - A story by Chris

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell"

Belle from Beauty and the Beast

This is a little tale from before the blog started but we thought we should share it.

Camp Gowonagain is an event that any doll can take part in and have fun, organized by MyLittleMegara every year. A link to the second camp (2016) first day.

(Note by Meritre: Yes the picture I'm usindg as a header right now was taken at the camp)

Remember we went camping during that hot summer week? A year later, we went again. And we can’t wait to go again this year!

The Camp started on Monday, August 1, 2016 and ended on FridayAugust 5, 2016

 So, last summer, Meritre almost missed the information that the Camp is going to take place. A last minute adventure, so to say. Well, people go on last minute holidays and we go on last minute camps.

’Can we take the others as well?’ the four of us asked in a choir, meaning the Frozen minis. Well, we only thought about Philippa and Hazel to be precise.

’Sure, they can go as well!’

But she didn’t want to take them out of the box yet. We did our best to let them take part in our adventures. We had to carry the box to the camp ourselves. It wasn’t easy.‘I can’t reach it’ Annis complained.

‘Bella, would you mind helping us?’

‘I’m helping, I just use my head instead of my hands, it’s so much easier this way!’

It took a while but we finally arrived at our camping spot. We were all quite tired so we just threw the box on the ground and sat or lay down to enjoy the sun. The Frozen friends were not really happy about it, the journey was hard enough for them, we shacked them so much while transporting them that Hazel became sick and landing wasn’t that pleasant either. They hoped for some nice days, when they could see at least some new things, even if they are still in their box and it was horrible so far. We didn’t think about that, we were sure they were having a great time, being carried and all. We were not the only ones who were tired; a little insect thought that the box is an excellent place to rest.

This year we went to see new things all together, since all four of us were needed to carry the others. Most of the time, we helped them to move but sometimes it was just the other way around. With their help we could reach a sunny spot on something that looked to us a bench made of wood.

I’m not sure what it actually was. Maybe Meritre knows, I’ll have to ask her. Sometimes it was really hot and we didn’t know where to hide from the sun. Until we had the idea to use the box as a sunshade.

Annis got a stick and we set up a perfect place to rest, all four of us hade room and it was there, wherever we went. It was really comfortable, at least for us. The poor dolls in the box couldn’t feel worse, stuck in a box, it was a bakingly hot day and no hope of change. We on the other hand had a great time, we even saw some other dolls camping in the garden and climbing trees and just hanging out. On one of the campdays we planned to have a big party, with lots of food and music provided by Nature itself. This year we came prepared, cups and plates and all. The only thing we forgot was a table. What should we do?

‘There is a lot to do so I suggest we split up the work. I’ll do the cooking.’ Annis said, sensible as always.

‘I’ll help you and make the desserts’ Rosemary said.

‘Chris, you are so good with handcrafts, could you get us a table?’

I nodded.

‘I’ll try.’

‘And what is left for me?’

‘You can set the table once Chris is done.’

‘Let’s get to work!’

Where to get a table? There is not enough time to go and look for materials and afterwards make the table as well. And I’m not that good with carpentering. My eyes slided to our Frozen Friends once more. Philippa made an ‘I know what is coming’ face. And yes, they ended up as our table.

‘Could you help us out just this time, please? You’ll be looking up to the sky, it’ll be fun.’

They were not enthusiastic but in the end they agreed to help once more. Arabella started to put out the plates and some ice cream and chocolate and other sweet treats to eat while preparing for the party.

‘Thank you so so much!’

Philippa just looked at her sister.

‘I want to get out of the box’ Hazel replied in a small unhappy voice.

‘I’ll see what I can do and talk to Meritre.’

But Phil shook her head.

‘We already tried that. But she won’t let us out before all the princesses are in her collection.’ she sighed.

‘I’ll try anyway. Now I’ll go and see what the others are doing. I can’t let Rosie burn the pancakes.’

‘It sure smells heavenly now but who knows what she’ll do.’ she smiled.

Annis was busy cooking a stew and a soup and Rosemary was patiently waiting for her turn at the herd, she had already mixed the batter.

Bella was almost done with the table.

She was sorry for the girls in the box so she gave them some chocolate through a tiny split.

We enjoyedthe last day of the camp very much but the packing wasn’t fun at all. And after we were done with that we looked at the Frozen box.

‘Not again!’ Arabella had had already enough.

‘Well, they helped us so much during our trip, it’s only fair we carry them back.’

Philippe showed us an impish grin.

‘Yes please, we would like to go back.’ she said.

‘Next year, you’ll hopefully walk on your own!’

‘I hope so, too.’ the queen said, still smiling.

Arabella sighted.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be rude, it’s just so hot and even if there is four of us, you are four dolls in the box as well and it’s quite heavy.’

‘That’s okay. You can complain as much as you want as long as we get back to our spot.’ said Hazel.

'We wanted adventure. And we got it.'

And so we went home after another memorable camp. I wonder if there will be a camp this year as well?

Camp Gowonagain 2015 - A story by Chris

"How far I'll go"

From Disney's Moana

This is a little tale from before the blog started but we thought we should share it.

Camp Gowonagain is an event for any doll can take part in and have fun, organized by MyLittleMegara every year. A link to the first camp (first day)

The Camp started on Monday, July 6, 2015 and ended on FridayJuly 10, 2015

So Meritre decided a while ago that this Camp Gowonagain would be fun and asked us if we wanted to take part. All four of us – Arie, Rosie, Annis and I – were overjoyed. A real adventure out in the world! We had to fill a form which was a lot of fun but the question about our age was tricky. How old are we actually?

’At least 15 months old’ thought Arabella. ’But I’m not sure how long we’ve been at the store.’

’15 months? But that’s still a baby and we are not babies!’ argued Rosie.

’How old are the characters we are made after?’ asked Annis.

’Ariel is 26, Jasmine is 23, Rapunzel is 5 and Merida is 3’

’No you are totally wrong, Ariel’s 16, she mentions it herself in the film!’

’Jasmine is said to be 15, almost 16 and Rapunzel is celebrating her eighteenth birthday. Oh and Merida is also in the 16 years old group.’

‘But Rapunzel was created 5 years ago so she is 5!’

They discussed it for a while and were as noisy as possible for even Meritre noticed it and asked what we were quarelling about. When we explained, she thought for a little while and said that we all should give 18 as our age.

’It’s not that important you know. You go to that camp to have fun.’

I guess she was right about that. We started to prepare. Annis got a new dress since Meritre thought she can’t go camping in that ballgown she came in. Everyone packed their stuff and precisely on the 6^th July, we started. Meritre choose a nice, sunny spot for us. We let her decide where we shppuld camp since she knows the garden better than any of us.

 Arabella of course had to complain.

‘Do I have to carry those bags? They are so heavy!’

‘This is it, we are there’ I said, not really paing attention to what she was saying.

Rosemary came a bit closer.

‘It looks fine. I like it’ she commented.

Then Annis arrived, too, carrying a huge black backpack.

‘So this is it. We are going to find lots of flowersbecause it is not at all windy and quite sunny. Perfect for camping.’

Arabella had already thrown herself on the ground and stretching out her limbs.

‘The sunshine is so pleasant.’

Of course, I thought, Jasmine comes from a warm country so no wonder Arabella likes the sun. In my opinion, it was quite hot. Tired from the journey we all fall asleep quickly.

The plan for the next day was to do some crafts, anything we liked. 

Annis, practical as always, tried to make a little hut, where we would be protected from the sun. It kept falling apart so in the end we had no hideout. Arabella collected some flowers to make a flowercrown.

‘Arent they beautiful?’ she asked.

Rosemary found something else to protect her fom the sun.

‘Look, these flowers are like hats! I’ll get everybody one so they won’t get sunstruck!’ And with that, she was off to find more big, hatlike flowers. This seemed indeed a good idea if one planned to stay outside all day, like I did. I put on the flowerhat she gave me and started my adventures. Climbing trees, exploring the yard, watch the cats come and go, listen to the birds singing, it was quite an eventful day. I went back to the camp, expecting to find a nice dinner. But everybody was still busy with their own crafts, Rosemary dropped off to sleep with the hat on her face.

‘Looks like it’s my turn to craft something, preferably dinner. But I can only make an omlett.’

‘That’s fine with us. Let’s go find some eggs!’ Annis answered.

I was the lucky one to find some eggs first.

‘Now, we need a campfire.’

‘’Here is the wood I collected for the hut’ said Annis and broght all the wood she put aside. Then she went away to find more since she knew that inexperienced campers will need more firewood than necessary.

It wasn’t as easy as I had thought it would be but the four of us working together, we managed to cook a decent dinner.

‘Hmm, Chris you are a fine cook. You are hired for the whole week!’ said Rosie after we ate.

‘Fine, you’ll have omlett all week’ I gave back.

Nothing helps getting sleepy as a good meal and a cup of tee we prepared with a little help from Meritre. We all slept without stirring until next morning. Another fine day I thought and went off looking for adventures again. It was quite hot so I returned quite early. But what did I find! Everybody seemed to be sad and lonely.

Arabella found an arabian-looking pot and was staring at it.

‘What’s wrong, Arie?’

‘Huh? You are already back, Chris? It’s nothing just… I was thinking… you see, I found this vase today that reminded me of Agrabah from Aladdin. And I just thought that I’ll never, NEVER get to see it…’

That was indeed a sad thought.

‘Uhm… How about we bake some cookies?’

‘That’s very kind of you, but I would like to be alone just for a little longer.’

Well, I respected her wish and went off to find the others. Turned out they were kinda homesick too. Rosemary at least. Usually she is the one to make everybody smile but sometimes she remembers that friend of hers from the factory. She wanted to go back home and help Meritre look for that friend or at least write something down, she felt like she was going to burst if she can’t do something about it. Poor Rosie.

Annis was trying to comfort her and I left them, too. Annis was better at this then me. They’ll be all right. The best thing I could do to make all of us feel better is to bake some cupcakes or something similar.

And I was right, they all loved them!

‘What do you plan to do tomorrow?’ Arabella asked.

‘It’s likely it’ll be another hot day so… I’m not sure. I wish I could use the cool night hours.’

‘’That’s it!’ Annis squeaked ‘Let’s do that! How abut some star gazing tonight? Who’s coming?’

Everybody of course.

We spent a lovel night looking for shooting stars.

I spotted an especially bright star but that wasn’t actually a star but an aeroplane.

We had so much fun together exploring, talking things over and strengthening our friendship.

Then the last day came and we had to leave the camp. Arabella of course started again.

‘Do I have to carry thos heavy bags again?’she asked.

‘Mine is just as heavy as yours’ Annis said.

Rosemary didn’t say anything but she turned away rather quickly. But not quickly enough. I saw something shiny on her face. She was actually sad to go.

‘Don’t be sad, we’ll come again next year.’ She smiled.

‘And we will bring Pihilppa and Hazel, too?’

‘But of course!’

The four of us walked happily home.

I turned back before going and waved the place goodbye.

‘Goodbye, Camp Gowonagain! We’ll come back, I promise! And with new friends, too’

(Now I can add that we did keep our promise, we returned next year and brought along Phil and Hazel. But perhaps not like you imagined it. Look out for more of our camping adventures!)