Never did I think that my daughter and I would get the opportunity to go to the Maldives or the UAE. Katie has been in Girl Scouts for 10 years, and she has sold cookies 9 of those 10 years. Right before COVID in 2020, she had set her goal to 3000 boxes, which I thought was such a challenging number. Then when she surpassed it, her amazing troop leader, Dana encouraged her to go for 5000 and she told me she wanted to. I had one of those proud Mom moments, but with reservation, if you know what I mean. Not wanting my child to be disappointed if she couldn't quite get there. However, I don't know how many booths later, she did it! Then COVID hit. The Spain, Italy, and France trip that was her 5000 trip reward was "postponed" and eventually they had to turn it into Hawaii because there were still travel restrictions internationally. Thanks, COVID!
Then as restrictions started lifting and life became a new normal, 2022 cookie season came around. This time the promise of reward was Dubai & the Maldives! Katie was ready to conquer that goal and get a dream experience. The day before the cookie season began, when she was ready to hit the ground running, she tested positive for COVID. This is when the quarantine was still two weeks. Well as careful as we were, the entire household still came down with COVID. We were down for the count the first three 1/2 weeks of the sale. If you've ever sold Girl Scout cookies you know that the first two weeks are the best selling of the entire sale. Yes, she sold some online, but at the end of our little battle with COVID, she was at 168 boxes and she wanted to get to 5000. However, being the determined Girl Scout she is, she still set out to meet that goal. Then we were told the cookie cupboard is out of cookies. Really? Again her fearless troop leader Dana, said, "Well I guess it's Yay All Day!". Lemonades and Toast-Yay's here we come! This girl worked so hard, at least 30+ hours each weekend doing cookie booths! Then guess what....the last weekend of the sale, she did it! Dubai & Maldives here we come!
If you are one of the many people for whom she sold cookies, thank you! You made a girl's dream come true.
Disclaimer: Yes, I brought my professional camera across the entire globe. However, I was unable to use it because it didn't do well with the humidity in these locations. Therefore, all of these photos are shot with my iPhone. In Dubai, I didn't think ahead and shoot in RAW (big lesson learned there), but the Maldives photos are a bit better quality because I did shoot in RAW for those.