Turtles Take Hershey

I can never clearly recall why my girl scout troop had a turtle for our mascot.  I think it had something to do with national turtle day one year and some embarrassing moments for one particular girl. Thinking back it was cruel at the time but the one girl was so excited about it that it just sorta stuck.
As we did every summer we went on a weekend trip somewhere.  In July 2013 we went to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.  The drive was always difficult with seven of us we didn't fit into one car.  But that was okay we made it work even with all the things that some girls need to bring on a weekend adventure.

Hotel rooms always had interesting moment for us.  Choosing who was going to sleep in the same bed and who was maybe gonna sleep on the floor so the didn't have to deal with sleeping with one of the girls who always took over the bed every night.  Once that was settled we got to work making our t-shirts.  We always made a shirt for every trip, and this trip was no different.  We drew a candy on out shirts that and instead of writing its proper name we wrote turtles to fit with our theme and our personal expression.


One thing that was always nice was we could be ourselves around each other. We went swimming in the hotel pool and then we went to Hershey Park.  We went to Chocolate World and had a lot of fun buying chocolate and seeing how it is made.  In Hershey Park we went to the water section and enjoyed all the great rides that we could in the short amount of time. Then when we were finished we met up with our leaders and the other girls who didn't com with and we went on regular roller coasters for  the rest of the day.

Life Lesson #23: When Going to a park with water rides also pack flip flops so you don't have to walk around barefoot on the hot ground.

Summer Camp Round Two

That feeling you get when you return to a place you fell in love with is unforgettable and difficult to put into words.  I simply loved summer camp in the summer of 2012 I decided it was an opportunity for round two! SB2W summer of 2013 would be my second and last time I was a camper.  The picture to the left depicts the cabin I was in, I was still a Legend in Cabin 12 but our group was a little different this time.  My best friend didn't have the opportunity to come, but I found my old friends and new ones.

We had a lot of pride in our cabin and my counselors where the coolest of them all.  I still have the opportunity to email back and for with one of them as I go through my college years.  To the right is both of my counselors for my cabin  the one on the left eventually was added to the roman team "the enemy" and the one to the right was a Galatian so she was on the right team. 

I still struggled with wrist issues on this trip and had to keep myself in line with some of the activities.  During the faith pole i luckily was able to get on top of the telephone pole and jump with a little help from some of my friends.  Heights remained to not be enjoyable and when the high ropes corse adventure came around I found myself cheering from the ground...safe!  I returned to the white water rafting adventure and survived for a second time.  The weather seemed to be against us as it poured most of the afternoon and night meaning we got a little wet while camping.

I kept many of my friends from this adventure but I knew all to well that I would not return to the wonderful Que, so I said my goodbyes and prayed that maybe there was a chance I could return.  The outdoors has always brought me a sense of piece and when the two weeks came I didn't want to leave.  My brothers came with on this adventure though I rarely saw them.  Unfortunately for them the weather most of that summer was rainy and kept us inside for some of the day.  They found this boring and I got the chance to grow closer with my cabin mates and counselors.  This term also turned out to be a blue summer and the cool blue Galatians went home with another victory over the red hot Romans.

Life Lesson #22: Sometimes the weather can ruin your adventure, but you must improvise and turn it into becoming something much better and never let the weather ruin your fun.

Track Team Over Night

When they say that you run your fastest while in a hotel hallway, many people don't realize how truthful that is.  Overnight school trips are amazing and are a great opportunity, but sports overnight trips are even better.  During Track season the biggest meet for us during the regular season was ACSI in Bangor, PA.  This was May of 2013 and the first time we stayed overnight.  previous years we enjoyed torturing ourselves and decided it would be way more fun to meet at school at 4 am and drive to the meet.  This messed up our sleep schedules and hurdlers went first and I was barely awake.


Between athletes there is such a saying as "I run faster in the hotel hallways then I do anywhere else"  is probably the most realistic and truthful statement about athletes I know.  We went around the town and just admired the smallness of it all.  It was the cutest center to a town I had seen in awhile.

The food that we had for dinner was your usually carb load up, the classics like pasta.  We were a small team at this point with no that many girls and we were able to place 3rd over all.  I wasn't able to achieve my goal of getting first place for my number 1 event and all time favorite the 100m hurdles.  I knew I was coming back the next year to face the same girls and I wasn't going to lose to them again.  We placed 2nd for the 4 by 100m relay and it was the best time for the year and we were happy about that.

The trip was an adventure and the track meet took all day and my whole team waited till I finish javelin and then we headed to the nearest sonic for our classic post meet dinner.  That day each of us accomplished somethings that we never though where possible.  But that day we might have run faster on the track then through the hotel hallways no matter how creepy they were.

Life Lesson #21: There might be people out there that are faster and stronger, but as long as you push yourself to do your best then you can't walk away with your head low.

1st Summer Camp

Going to a summer camp for the first time that is six hours away from home brought some nerves.  It was a sleep away christian sports camp for two weeks. Summer of 2012 I went off to Summer's Best Two Weeks with my best friend.  With intense competition between the Cool Blue Galatians and the Red Hot Romans, the octatholon, swim meet, track meet, canoe meet, overnight trips, and dinning hall singing.

Immediately I loved the entire camp atmosphere and my cabin.  I was with my best friend and six others girls my age and two consolers that where in college.  I quickly made friends with girls of all ages.  As someone who eats constantly it was hard to adjust to the rule of no food in the cabins.  We also weren't allowed to have any electronics, but for me that wasn't a major issue.

I enjoyed every moment of camp and as the weeks passed I didn't want to leave.  The Galatians ended up winning camp for the term and it was a great victory for us.  My best friend was put on the Romans and I was a Galatian.  I helped the soccer team win and I received first place in all my events in the track meet.  The canoe meet wasn't in my favor when in the doubles my partner and I flipped our canoe and it started to sink into the lake.

This camp pushed me to the limit and I spent a lot of time with God.  I went white water rafting as the Legend trip.  which the legends where Cabin 11 and 12 for the boys and girls, which in camp is the oldest group and why we go on an overnight trip.  It was a lot of fun and we named our raft the Titanic 2.0 and ironically we were the only raft not to flip over or have anyone fall out.  In the end I had such a great time that I decided to go back again the next summer.

Life Lesson #19: The more time I spend away from home the more I can be myself and forget what really goes on.

Touring a City in One Day: Philadelphia

It is quit interesting that I haven't yet alluded to the amount of times I have been to Philadelphia. By this time sophomore year of high school I had already been about 14 times, and that was just to the museum/historical areas.  I wasn't all to excited for this field trip because I had already seen everything we were going to see many times over. We also went with the freshman class which we didn't entirely like and thought they would ruin the whole trip.

This trip I then decided to make it more interesting and recall all the facts in which I had learned over the years and pretended to be a tour guid for a group of my friends.  They thoroughly enjoyed the show I put on.  We laughed when a family joined the group because they thought it was their tour, I think they were very embarrassed.  

It was a day well spent and we saw all the classic stops and got our pick of some good cheese steaks.  The class below us wasn't to much of a problem and most of them were civil the whole trip.  I enjoyed the difference of going with my friends and not different people in my family.  Against my teachers wishes it became more of a social field trip instead of an educational one, but it was still a day off from school.

Life Lesson #17: Never pretend to be a tour guide otherwise you will get people listening in on your explanation for free.