BUTLER TWP — A light, intermittent drizzle fell as young girls, their mothers and their grandmother gathered around a backyard campfire — chatting, singing and roasting marshmallows as the flames flickered against damp wood in the chilly evening air.

For Alice Carbin, 82, and her two daughters and four granddaughters, it was more than a gathering. It was a decades-old tradition rooted in Girl Scouts and passed from mother to daughter.

What began as one girl’s introduction to Scouting in the late 1940s has grown into a multi-generational bond, linking them through campfires, leadership and shared rituals.

It was the final evening of a holiday weekend. Before her daughter, Alicia Udovich, returned to Virginia with her family, they gathered — as they have dozens of times before — some wearing sashes lined with badges that tell their Scouting stories.

Ashley DiCriscio, 42, had just returned to her mother’s house with daughters Madeline DiCriscio, 7, and Julia DiCriscio, 6, after their late-afternoon troop meeting in the North Hills. The girls are about the age their grandmother was when she became a Brownie. Ashley is a troop leader — just as her mother once was.

For Julia, a Daisy, the Scouting experience is simple. She loves identifying birds in the woods, especially after spotting a hawk. But her favorite part isn’t the activities — it’s being close to her mom, who leads her troop, during meetings and activities.

“I can hug her anytime I want,” Julia said.

“I always liked Girl Scouts,” Ashley said. “I wanted to show my girls there’s a nice group learning new things together, going on trips and having a blast camping.”

Carbin still remembers her Scouting journey beginning at age 6, when her best friend’s mother, a Brownie leader, invited her to join.

“I loved playing in the woods, identifying creatures and searching for fossils,” she said. Swimming was a favorite, too.

But there were challenges early on.

“I was a scaredy-cat,” Carbin said. “I cried the first night at Camp Trefoil in Butler County every year for three years and spent that night in the nurse’s office.”

Those experiences with kind nurses stayed with her. Carbin said she believes they helped shape her career as a nurse.

As the family prepared s’mores, they swapped stories about campfire cooking, one of their shared favorite activities.

Not all their recipes were familiar.

“Banana boats and stuffed toads,” Carbin said.

Stuffed toads?

Carbin laughed.

“You take two hamburger patties, put stuffing, potatoes and carrots in between, wrap it in foil and cook it over the fire.”

After growing up in Scouting, Carbin became a troop leader, welcoming daughters Ashley and Alicia into her Brownie troop. During the ensuing eight years, she helped them earn the Silver Award as teens, Girl Scouts’ second-highest honor.

Though less active in their later teen years, both eventually returned as leaders.

Alicia Udovich, 44, mother of Annabella, 13, and Maria, 10, moved to Virginia after college, became a camp counselor and started a Brownie troop before she was married.

Her leadership style mirrors her mother’s, emphasizing traditional skills like outdoor activities, camping and campfire cooking.

“But my mother was more fun than I am as a leader,” she said. “She wasn’t afraid to dress up or sing — she went all out.”

In her first year leading her daughters’ Daisy and Brownie troop, Ashley relies on her mother and her sister, Alicia, for ideas.

“I’m always asking my sister for ideas on what works,” she said.

For the Carbin women, favorite activities are rooted in Girl Scout traditions — investitures, yearly rededications, campfire cooking, candlelight ceremonies, earning badges, singing familiar songs and the three-finger quiet sign.

Carbin’s daughters laugh about their mother still using the quiet sign in crowds outside Scouting.

Each ritual has helped connect the generations.

Founded in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, Ga., Girl Scouts has long encouraged girls to explore the outdoors, build confidence and serve communities — traditions that endure in families like the Carbins.

Even as those traditions remain central, Scouting today also encourages individual growth.

“We did so much as a group,” Carbin said. “Now activities help girls grow as individuals and choose what they want to accomplish.”

STEM activities — science, technology, engineering and math — are popular now. Ashley’s troop recently designed and built Peeps cages using marshmallows, spaghetti and toothpicks, and engineered bunny cars powered by cups, rubber bands and bottle caps.

There is a lot of work behind the fun for leaders, too.

They all agree that annual cookie sales, a longtime tradition, are demanding, requiring patience, planning and math skills.

“We call it ‘cookie math,’” Alicia said.

The youngest generation is carrying traditions forward but wonders about future leadership roles.

Annabella notices her mother’s workload.

“It’s a lot of work, planning meetings and buying supplies,” she said.

Still, Annabella is excited to pursue her Silver Award, prelude to the Gold, Girl Scouting’s highest honor. She is planning a program training new leaders in traditions and sharing campfire recipes like mountain pies and chocolate cake baked in hollowed-out oranges.

Even miles apart, the bond endures. Carbin attends Alicia’s Virginia troop meetings when she visits, and recently helped Ashley’s Pittsburgh troop prepare for a nursing home visit. She’ll travel to Virginia this spring for a bridging ceremony, where her granddaughter will move from Junior to Cadette.

“Seeing the Girl Scout journey across three generations — from mom to us, now our daughters and nieces — has been special,” Alicia said. “And it all began in Butler.”