Bridging to Juniors!

After Lia's Kindergarten year, she switched to a fabulous Girl Scout troop led by the mother of another little girl who attended Lia's school.  For the past three years, Lia has been a member of this wonderful troop with her fearless leader, Nancy, at the helm.  Nancy and her other two assistant leaders, Angi and Haley, have done the most wonderful job leading this troop of girls.  They have constantly gone above and beyond with every activity and event they planned.  They always paid such attention to every little detail and I have loved that Lia and so many of her friends from school have benefited from these ladies' service over the years.  So, you can imagine how disappointed we were when we learned that Nancy was moving to Alaska this summer.  After talking it over with the other moms of girls in the troop who go to school with Lia, we decided to break off this fall and start our own troop.  So, although we will be parting ways with Troop #44340 this summer, we are grateful for all of the wonderful memories our girls made during their time with them.
So today was one of the last activities that Lia participated in with this troop as the girls bridged from Brownies to Juniors.  The leader decided that she wanted the girls to go on a long, scenic walk through some farmlands of Orting to "bridge" over the Puyallup River.  Luckily, I thought to bring our old, double stroller last minute which saved me big time as Logan and Ella would have never lasted walking the entire time.  We had an enjoyable time walking to this bridge and watching Lia cross over it.  Ron was able to catch up with us on the walk back to the park in Orting where we ate a picnic dinner and watched all of the girls receive their cookie rewards and remaining patches that they had earned this school year.  It was fun way to celebrate Lia's fourth year in Girl Scouts and her time belonging to this troop.

A darling picture I managed to snap of several of the girls in Lia's troop holding hands while walking to the bridge.  Lia is second from the right.

Logan and Ella posing for me with some cows in the background.

Lia and her troop walking over the bridge.

Lia walking under a human bridge formed by some of the other girls in her troop who has bridged previously at another event.

Lia walking away as a Junior with her new vest on her arm.

The girls getting a new Junior pin from their leader, Angi.

Lia with her entire troop and leaders.

Logan, Lia, Ella, and Mollie eating their dinner back at the park.

Lia receiving her certificate, awards, and patches from her three leaders.

Lia also presented in front of her entire troop in order to earn her "My Promise, My Faith" pin.  In order to do this, Lia has to talk about how her religion connects to a line from the Girl Scout Law.  This year, Lia chose to talk about how choosing the right connects to the law.

This is the handmade picture frame that Lia and I made for her troop leader as a farewell gift.  We used the picture I took today of the troop today standing on the bridge.