Back Home

Well, we're back in Washington again. Ian and I spent the majority of yesterday in airports and airplanes. The second flight and the drive home were rather grueling because of how exhausted we were. But we got to sit together on every flig
ht, which is pretty awesome!

Yesterday wake up time: 9:00am
Bedtime: 4:00am (But we were 3 hours ahead... so) 7am

Exhaustion.

I can't measure my experience against Ian's. He traveled 2,369 miles to compete against 44 other kids in a program he spent 2 years studying. I can't imagine all the feelings and thoughts going through his head for the entire week.

On the way back from the award's ceremony, Brent and Chef Becky are talking up front and Ian leans over and whispers "Dude, I got sixth place!" and we high five. 

We had fun together. A lot of fun. We both learned lots and made memories that will last a lifetime!

Competition Day Observer

Kentucky Expo Center is a 1,200,000 square foot building. It is gigantic. Ian was one of 78 competitors for the diesel competition, but half of those were post-secondary students. He competed at 14 different stations for 30 minutes each, so it was a long day.

A culinary friend was competing in the culinary arts competition, so I bounced between competitions observing, taking pictures and supporting as best I could. The competitions were fascinating to watch. I find it interesting to see who is nervous, who gets in the zone and how people deal with mistakes or the unknown. 

I hung out with another kid for most of the time and also spent a good deal of time with Chef Becky and Brent. It was fun to catch up or get to know them better. 

After the competition was done and everyone was tearing down the competitions, an announcement was made. Due to weather, they wanted everyone in the main part of the expo with the doors closed and to stay away from windows. Basically, it was a weather lockdown. The weather was truly crazy. It took us at least forty minutes for a bus to come and pick us up... 

Ian and Brent talked about the day for a long time before we headed out to Kentucky Kingdom. The amusement park free for all SkillsUSA people and we were excited to do a few roller coasters, but the moment we got in line for our first ride, the weather got bad again and fork lightening and loud thunder, but no rain. the rides were temporarily shut down. As the storm didn't pass, the entire place was shut down and we went back to the hotel with new tickets for today. 

On the way home, we stopped to pick up ice cream and while running into the store, were running in an inch or two of water on the ground. It was REALLY wet, but still warm. Ian and I ate ice cream and watched the storm before editing pictures and heading to bed. 

He's super thankful the competition is over. :-) He says he did okay, but had fun, which is the main point. 

Exploring Louisville

Today, Ian and I went to the Big Four Bridge, which crosses the Ohio river between Kentucky and Indiana. It was a pretty sweet little walk. The drive to the Kentucky side was pretty impossible because of the construction, so after getting to the Indiana side, we finally got to walk across...

After that, we drove to Historic Louisville. It wasn't super impressive architecture, so we did a drive by on the way to Churchill Downs. We got there 8 minutes after a tour started and another wasn't set until an hour later so we got lunch before heading back.

The museum had a massive room with a 360 set of screens, which they played a fifteen minute video on. It was amazing. The tour was cool, we got to see part of the grounds and track as well as the grave sights of some of the horses. It was pretty sweet tour.

After the tour, we checked out the rest of the museum and the gift shop. They had a great selection of expensive screwy hats...

After that, we spent a few minutes in our hotel room before heading out to meet up with Ian's instructor, Brent. We had dinner and Ian had his first test and welcome speech, but tomorrow is looking busier. I also saw Chef Becky, my former culinary instructor, so that was fun. We'll probably get a chance to hang out later this week. 

Mega Cavern Zip Lining

I've always wanted to do some serious zip lines. Quite different from the ones we used to make and use in the back yard as kids. So I made it happen...

Ian and I left Samuel and Lisa's at 2:40. We had to be in Louisville by 6:30 and technically it's only a 2 hour and 56 minute drive. Somewhere along the way we switched time zones and blah, blah, blah, we ended up with an ETA of 6:40. Don't tell anyone, but I made up like 15-ish minutes, five of which we lost on a bathroom break. I just couldn't wait to go and we needed gas. We ended up getting to Louisville's Mega Caverns at 6:31 to check in for the zip lining tour.

The cavern was huge. The guides were nice, informative and funny. Sarah, the girl, was super sarcastic and perky and Michael had some fun stories in response to our questions on people afraid of heights and such. There were six zip lines, two long suspension bridges and a few other walks high up in the cavern. It was awesome.

The suspension bridge challenge was to keep your hands on your helmet instead of holding on to the edge. I thought it was going to be easy, but then the ground vanished way below me and it felt a little weird. I still did it without touching the sides, but it was very Indiana Jones-ish. They even played the theme song.

The last zip line was a racing one, so Ian and I raced. I guess winning that one made up for the fact that at the water park yesterday, I lost every water slide to Ian.

Anyway, if you're ever in Louisville, I totally recommend this place, although I'd not bring Moms who would be concerned for the well-being of her kids around heights, kinda like my Mom would be.... ;-) It was spendy, but well worth the cost in my opinion.

Adventures in Tennessee

Ian and I made it to Tennessee last night with no real problems. I thought, for a moment, that we missed our connecting flight in Detroit, but in reality, I had just misread the ticket. We got there just in time to board the next flight. I picked up my first rental car, a little hatchback Hyundai Accent. It was pretty easy and the entire drive to Samuel and Lisa's house I didn't use a GPS. I guess Tennessee really is my home away from home.

Today, we went to Nashville Shores. An awesome water park. I forgot how much I hate crowds of people. They tend to be selfish and rude. At least it's rather entertaining. I've never see so many disturbing bathing suits, hilarious tanlines and over (fake) tanned people. Ian and I went down several water slides (a first for him) and while waiting in line for one, we saw the most hilarious I-didn't-wear-a-shirt-under-my-overalls tan ever. It was hilarious.

They had a wave pool and Elsa and I hung out while Ian battled both the waves and the masses of peoples and their floating devices. Samuel and Lisa got a chance to try out the water slides and Elsa and I had fun catching up.

She loves Ian. She got really tired while we were at the edge of the wave pool and had her head resting on my shoulder. It popped up suddenly and she exclaimed in an excited voice "Uncle Ian (en)"

Anyway, we had a blast at the water park and all of us left a little on the burned side. I'm barely burned, just a bit around the edge of my current tan on my shoulders and a bit on my shins. Not bad, just feels a little hot... We got Dairy Queen on the way back and within a minute and a half of driving, Elsa was asleep.

A Package Arrived

I have always wanted a Kitchen Aid. Like, seriously, forever. Not just any Kitchen Aid, a big professional one. I was tired of making small batches of things in our Bosch mixer, tired or having to make single recipes on repeat for three or four batches, or mixing in chocolate chips or chunks of anything by hand. When I say by hand, I mean, quite literally, by hand, as in with my hands in the dough. I was tired of the not-quite-soft-enough butter that would make the plastic part of the beaters snap off and I'd have to throw away butter...

So finally, after a long time, I finally bought the Kitchen Aid I wanted. A Professional 600 Steel Blue Kitchen Aid. It is beautiful. From the second I opened the box to every time I walk into the kitchen and see it sitting on the counter, I knew it was perfect.

Of course I had to make a batch of cookies to christen it. Or maybe I'm just weird. Ian does approve because it "doesn't have flames", but seems to still eat what is produced from it. Already it's made a batch of cookies and a double recipe of vanilla biscotti. I'd say it's a keeper!

Hit the Ground Running

I got home last Saturday night. Ian picked me up at the airport and we had a fun drive back up home. I stayed up late to see Dad and the rest of the kids who were watching Ax Fights. I didn't end up going to bed until 1:30... 3:30 my time.

Sunday morning, Ev and I went to Church, then helped outside with a project. Jane and I went shopping for Rose's piano recital refreshments before we headed to volleyball.

Monday, Jane and I spent literally the entire day making food. We made Neapolitan rice krispy treats, lemon cookies, watermelon with mint and mini chocolate cupcakes. Plus gathering all the catering gear we would need

Overall, the spread looked great and went over well, even though we had a lot leftovers....

Tuesday, Jane and I did grocery shopping for a couple weeks. It took us a long time. We went thrift store shopping after with Ev and then after that, we played tennis. I use the word played lightly. We chased balls around and missed a lot. 

Wednesday, Mom and I went out for sushi and Costco shopping. After that, Jane, Ev and I went thrift store shopping in Everett. I have uniform pieces to put together for my main summer camp this year. 

I was rather sucessful, even though I only got one item. I got a nice pair of black tactical 5.11 boots. They're comfortable. When we got home, we made curry for dinner, then played more tennis. 

Thursday is already expected to be a busy day. I finished my ICUT training. Required radio training for Cascade Falcon. I've managed to get out of doing that course for four years, so it's finally almost done. I have a hands on evaluation tonight. I'm making cookies for the tester. It's not bribery... ;-)

The rest of today will be making cookies, getting together with Gracie and then CAP tonight... 

Basically, my life is crazy.... Crazy, but good.