Rylee has been in Girl Scouts since she started Kindergarten. I got suckered into was asked to be a leader when she started her first year, and have had this troop ever since. Over the years, we have made so many memories together through Girl Scouting! Rylee has earned countless badges, worked on numerous service projects, gone on several awesome trips, sold boxes and boxes of cookies, and made sooo many new friends!
At the end of each year, our troop decides where to go for the end of the year trip. We try to make it someplace fun, where none of the girls have ever been, and somewhat adventerous. This year we went to the Ozarks for 3 days. We took an 8 mile canoe trip! It was so much fun! Since we had 2 adults and 6 girls, we had to have one canoe with NO adult in it. Yikes! Rylee has the most canoeing experience, so she was the head of that boat, and the girl with her didn't even know what a canoe was until we put her in one! These two amazed me in every way. The maturity, teamwork and responsibility they demonstrated was like nothing else! At the end of the day they were the only ones who hadn't tipped their boat (that's another story!) or crashed into anything! Rylee was the ONLY person in our group who was dry after 6 hours on the river!
This year was pretty special. She finished her third year as a Junior Girl Scout, which allowed her to bridge to Cadette Girl Scouts.
She earned her Bronze Award, which is the highest honor a Junior Girl Scout can earn. It is also the third highest honor one can earn as a Girl Scout. (The highest is the Gold Award~think the female equivalency to the Eagle Scout) This award was a 2 year undertaking. It was a lot of researching, planning, and executing of a project that had to take at least 15 hours to complete.
She went to Girl Scout camp this summer, too. She has gone several times, but this year was a little more exciting for her. She wanted to go to the LIT (Leader in Training) camp this year since she wants to be a camp counselor when she is old enough. For the LIT camp, she had to fill out a 4 page application and get 3 letters of recommendation (from people NOT related!) Once all the applications were in, they were reviewed and only 12 from the state were offered a spot in the camp. And yep, my girl was one of them! She was soooo excited! She had a blast at camp! She made a lot of new friends and made memories to last a lifetime!
Could only get 1/2 the tent since another mom kept sticking her hiney in my pic!
Patiently letting me take pics so I would leave!!!
Rylee & her cousin Samantha. They are 2 months apart in age and were at camp at the same time!
Apparently, when mom's not around it's OK to draw all over yourself! No wonder she loves camp!
I am glad that Rylee wants to continue with Girl Scouts even though some of her friends are dropping out since it's not the "coolest" thing to do. She is excited to begin working on her Silver Award and continue with service projects. The lessons she is learning are invaluable and it is making her a better person. And as long as she wants to continue, I will lead her through it!!!
Girl Scout Law:
I will do my best
To be Honest and Fair,
Friendly and Helpful,
Considerate and Caring,
Courageous and Strong, and
Responsible for what I Say and Do,
and to
Respect Myself and Others,
Respect Authority,
Use Resources Wisely,
Make the World a Better Place,
and be a Sister to Every Girl Scout.
2 comments:
Congratulations to Rylee! You two look like twins in that last picture. WOW -- can you say, "Mini-me?" :)
Love of course! I wish I could say that I was the one who twisted your arm into being a leader (we do that??). You are an awesome leader and Rylee is lucky to have you!! She has really grown up--I can't wait to hear what she does for her silver! She will go far!!
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