I'm Full of BS!

Blue Ridge Spirit that is…

As soon as I get caught up I get behind again!  Oh well.. that’s how life goes sometimes!  Never fear faithful readers (where is that sarcasm font when you need it?), I shall get you caught up with my adventures!  The first one we shall tackle is…

CONA
a.k.a.
‘Conference on National Affairs’
a.k.a.
‘The Hella Awesome, Best Week Ever, Conference that the YMCA Youth in Government holds every summer at the Blue Ridge Assembly in North Carolina’

(I hope you read that last bit really fast… Its more funny that way…)

CONA is the conference that I went to every summer while in high school.   Since I am still involved in Y-Club through College Alumni Staff, and because I’m awesome, I was invited to go back as an advisor this year. 

Truth be told, CONA quite a nerd fest.  It is basically a national mock congress.  Students write proposals, present them, debate them, and try to get them passed.  It is also one of the most inspiring places in the world for me.  CONA is held the same week each year—July 4^th week.  Since I went there every summer, I don’t really have any deep rooted family traditions for July 4^th.  It wasn’t until this year that I realized that CONA is my July 4^th tradition.  CONA—A place where students from around the country come together and propose their ideas to try and fix our nation’s problems. A place where 500+ kids, despite political ideologies and religious beliefs, join hands and sing God Bless America.  What could be more patriotic than that?  

(Please don’t say fireworks. I hate fireworks--they go boom!)

I feel like this is realization is extremely timely and significant for me.  I am about to move to another country.  My 'gypsy soul' (thanks Zac Brown) wants to see the world and experience different cultures, but I feel as though I could very easily lose sight of my American patriotism.  I don’t mean my annoying American abroad, ‘I must eat McDonalds and drink Coke,’ patriotism, but simply a love and devotion to my country.  These are the kind of revelations that this view will cause..

Eureka!  I found it!

And just on the off chance that my CONA kids are reading this..  We will have to play some Purity Ball at YA after we have a discussion about aquaculture.  Taylor, keep that swan a swimming!  I love and will miss y’all terribly!   

“Y’all Can Go To…

hell, I’m going to Texas”  Davy Crocket

I saw this on a coffee cup and I REALLY want it on a koozie.. Just saying, keep an eye out! 

Mama and I went out to Texas to meet my AuPair family.  Talk about a nerve racking situation.  Imagine meeting your employer only after you’ve gotten the job!  Plus these are the folks that I will be living with for the next 15 months.  I think that everyone seriously and sincerely wanted to get along! 

Thank goodness we hit it off!  Mareike and Stefan are great and very genuine!  Their dynamics seem to be very similar to my mom and dads, so something I’m comfortable with.  They are very easy to talk to and seem as sincerely interested in making this a great experience for me as I am for them.

As for Bennet… I’m in love!  He is the sweetest, most laid back, easy going baby I’ve ever met!  And I get to take care of him for my job?!  How did I get this lucky?!  I’m so excited that I will get to see him grow and see that personality develop even more!

Mama and I flew into Dallas/Fort Worth.  They picked us up at the airport and we went to the Dallas Arboretum where we had a lovely picnic lunch with lots of German food and the best potato salad I’ve ever had!  After that we walked around a bit, but it was hot and Bennet was sweating a lot so we called it a day! 

The Greilers live in Wichita Falls, TX which is about 2 hours north of DFW.  Since we were only there for like 36 hours instead of spending all that time driving we all stayed in down town Fort Worth. 

(I must share this.. I used my reward night from hotels.com so we stayed at the Hilton for $30!! I love getting a good deal!)

We all got cleaned up and met up for dinner.  We went to a Brazilian steakhouse, which I had never been to.  It is basically a really high class buffet.  You pay a certain amount and you help yourself to the ridiculous salad bar (orzo pasta salad, sundried tomatoes, 5 different tyes of cheese including grilled mozzarella and parmesan carved out of a big wheel) and lobster bisque (yes please!).  Then at your table you flip a little card over and these guys with big ol skewers of meat come by and carve you a piece.  I had the top sirloin, garlic pork, and bacon wrapped filet mingon (the best).  SO tasty!  Mama and I even splurged and got key lime pie!  I took that opportunity to give presents.  Bennet is turning one in August and they will be in Germany so I wanted to go ahead and give him his birthday presents.  I got him some connecting toys and I made him a shirt to wear on his 1^st!  Let me just say, its hard to find shorts for little boys that aren’t cargo shorts (its like they are trying to make little GDIs) but I did it!  I also made Mareike and Stefan a plaque for their house with their last name on it.  It’s how I show that I like someone.. I make things =)

After dinner, the Greilers headed back because it was Bennet’s bedtime.  Mama and I walked around the downtown area a bit more and then headed back ourselves.  It had been a long day!  The next morning we met up with them for breakfast in the Hilton Honors lounge.  We stayed up there for a good 2 hours just talking and playing with Bennet.  While at breakfast the Greiler’s asked if we were by chance interested in going to a Rangers game because they had 4 free tickets.  Um, do wookchucks chuck wood?  Heck yes I want to go to a baseball game!  After breakfast we went over to the stockyards (the old part of Fort Worth) and we saw a cattle drive!  Then we grabbed a quick bite and headed to the game.  They lost but it was still a great game.  I always enjoy rooting against the Mets.  We had to leave the game a bit early to make our flight (which in the end ended up being delayed for a few hours because of the rain in Atlanta, but no one knew until we were already on the plane).

All in all, while we weren’t out there for long, we did a lot and got to spend a good amount of time together.  All that anxiety about would we like each other is GONE and I’m more excited about my new adventure than ever!  

Back to Reality

The last sea day was spent much like the first (minus the mixology contest).  I had finished both of the books I had brought to read (The Host and the first book in the Hunger Games series—both of which I highly recommend) so on my way up to Serenity I stopped at the ships library and got the book about Christian the Lion. I had seen the YouTube video of the reunion so I was interested in reading the story about how they raised a lion in a London furniture store!  It turned out to be the perfect, uplifiting book for our last day! 

The whole disembarking process went really quickly so we were on the road a lot earlier that expected.  Mama and Daddy were dropping me off in Warner Robins on the way back because that night it was Kelly’s wedding.  Since we had so much time to kill we decided to make a detour and have lunch on River Street in Savannah.  After my delicious crab cake, we went to the candy kitchen (because you can’t go to Savannah without getting a praline…it’s a crime) and the peanut shop which had Paula Deen’s AMAZING salt mix that makes green beans taste PERFECT!  It’s the little things in life.. =)

We eventually made our way to Warner Robins and Mama and Daddy dropped me at Katelyn’s house so I could get ready and meet up with the rest of the group.  Kelly’s wedding was gorgeous.  It’s the first Catholic wedding I’ve been to where they did a full mass.  It was good to see that I remember a good bit of what to say from my Catholic days =)  I loved her flowers and all the little burlap touches she incorporated!  The reception was at the Terminal in downtown Macon.  It was a great airy space that used to be a train station.  They had a few tables set up, but most of the seating was on the benches that people would have sat on while waiting for trains.  They had a great live band and a super fun photo booth!  They had a two different favors for their guests—a candy bar and koozies!!  Best part.. I FINALLY got wedding cake!  Key Lime Cake to be specific.  I was one happy girl!  After their send-off we all went back to Katelyn’s and kept the party going.  Until 6 am.. This DD was SO TIRED, but it was worth it to get to hang out with my friends!  I sure am going to miss them!

Me, Michele, and Ashley

Costa Maya: I still got it!

Got what you might ask?  The ability to take some killer pictures while riding a bike.  

Y’all might remember from my study abroad days, but a bike tour is my favorite way to see a place. Before Costa Maya was a cruise port, it was just a little fishing village.  The port area has built up, but along the coast its very cute and more authentic. 

We biked along the coast for about 20 min where we got some clear bottom kayaks and paddled out into the ocean.  Difficulty wise it was a lot easier than our potentially deadly activities adventure in Veiques where we paddled into a thunder storm, but it was more difficult than paddling the Broad.
 

We swam for a bit and then paddled back.  We got to lay out and dry off on the beach for a while and then we biked back.  It was a great excursion for our last day at a port.  Relaxing but still required a bit of physical exertion.  The port area at Costa Maya is basically a big swimming pool with chairs, restaurants, shopping, and a dolphin enclosure surrounding it.  We ate upstairs at one of the restaurants where we have a great view of all the goings on.  After that Mama and I got in the pool for a bit and witnessed some raunchy middle schoolers have a dance off (those parents should be ashamed!).  Then we called it a day because we were all in desperate need of a shower!

Belize It!

The next morning we were in Belize.  Belize has a barrier reef (2^nd largest in the world!) so our cruise ship couldn’t dock at the port.  We had to tender instead.. (i.e. get on smaller boats and take them to the dock)  Since we were doing an excursion we got priority tendering so we didn’t have to wait too awful long. 

Once we got to Belize City we met up with our excursion and got on a big bus that would take us through the city and out to the jungle.  We had a fabulous tour guide whose Cajun accent was a bit hard to understand at times but its okay... She knew each hurricane that hit Belize, when it hit and what category it was.  She also sang for us.  Here are some pictures from the city.  There is definitely a lot of poverty, but, according to our guide, their unemployment rate is really low and most people are employed by the tourism industry.  Glad we could help!

After a long, LONG very bumpy ride we made it to our destination.  They outfitted us with helmets and harnesses and off we hiked into the jungle.  We got to the mouth of the cave and it was for lack of a better word EPIC!  It was so big it made people look like midgets.  Along the way our guide told us about the history of the cave and how the Mayans used it for different ceremonies because it was believed to be the entrance to hell.  We made our way into the cave and began our decent.  Most of the time we just hiked but at times we had to crawl and repel!  Along with repelling we got to zip line twice (a first for me!) and we had to walk across two rope bridges. 

We did eventually make it out of the cave (without anyone getting sacrificed) and made our way back to the bus.  The bus took us to a lunch area where we had kabobs with a tortilla and beans.  We also got to try cashew wine (their version of whiskey)…strong but sweet.  I liked it.  After lunch they took us back to the port and we made it back to the ship just in time for one of the last tenders!

SCUBA duba doo!

I apologize for the incredibly cheesy title.. I was trying to come up with a good pirate joke for you, but you got this. 

Our next port was Roatan, Honduras.  This island’s history is what inspired the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  Its where the real Port Royal is, but I didn’t see that… I saw fish! 

I have always wanted to scuba dive.  I loved the idea of really being down there with the sea creatures and being able to stay down there for a while.  I’ve snorkeled a lot and done snuba (where you have the regulator in your mouth but its connected to the tanks that are floating on top of the water) but I was ready for the next step!  How hard could it be, right?  WRONG!

We rode in a van over to the Anthony Key Resort (a destination dive resort) where we went to a classroom to learn how to dive.  After our Canadian instructor sped through the instructions they put us on the boat and took us to a shallow patch of water next to the dolphins to test our skills.  That is when we got our dive leader, Joe from Mississippi.  He was a bit easier to understand.  Before you know it we were in the water getting ready to dive!  To be completely honest, I didn’t have any problems.  I thought the whole thing was a fantastic experience!  I didn’t have any problems equalizing or controlling my breathing while down there (thanks synchro!).  My parents were a different story.  There had a really hard time equalizing so their ears hurt the whole time.  They are just now starting to hear normally again.  Despite their issues, we were able to see a bunch of extremely colorful coral, lots of conch shells, some star fish, and a HUGE eel!   HUGE!!

I loved it!  I know that mama and daddy won’t be diving again, but I’m seriously considering getting certified!

Dinner that night.
(I'm putting this one on because Daddy deserves it..)
=D

Wasting Away Again in Margaritaville

When we awoke the next day we were docked in Cozumel, Mexico. A lot of my friends that had cruised before told me that they never really did excursions, but since it was my families first time cruising and we love organized trips we did excursions at each port.  We had a list of things we wanted to do on vacation so we tried to pick excursions that combined those things.  

In Cozumel we were participating in the Amazing Cozumel Race.  Most of y’all know I would give anything to be on, obsessed with, kinda like the show Amazing Race, so this was super fun for me and my dad.  My mom isn’t quite as competitive as us but she had a great time as well.  They taxied us to the downtown area where we got our first clue and we were off!  I can’t remember the exact order of things but these are some of the things that we did at some point:

We went to the Cozumel History Museum and did a scavenger hunt to find our next clue.

Dad got a henna tattoo that was our next clue.

We snorkeled to find out the name of the sunken ship which would lead us to our next clue.

We had to play a round of putt putt to get our next clue.

We ran by a school when the kids were getting out.  (This had nothing to do with the race.. it was just precious and so authentic!)

The race ended at a little restaurant that was basically a pavilion with a kitchen.  We ended up coming in 5^th but the time difference between the top 5 teams was pretty close!  Whatever, I got guacamole and a free pina colada—I was happy!

After the award ceremony we made our way to Margaritaville (on the suggestions of Katelyn Heck—thanks Katelyn!)  They had a bunch of inflatable out on the water including…A TRAMPOLINE!!  I was so excited!!  My cover up was off and I was on the trampoline in less than  5 min.  After that we climbed a few of the other things but then showered off and Mama and I split a big slice of Key Lime Pie…delicious!

I got to jump on a trampoline!! 

Mom on top of the slide you had to climb up.

Back on the ship for dinner.