Vacation with my family!

we are all so very muscular

seriously have no idea what he was doing, icing something.

walking around at the museum of science and industry

me and my momma!  she's getting more beautiful every time i see her.  look at that great hair.

luis and i on our lonnnng drive home

the musician, the camp counselor, and the writer.  who is the joke, hmmm?

jon was trying to jump simon in the zippy cart, outside the lincoln park zoo.  we do this stuff in public.

mike and betsy, the last of the...mohicans...er, i mean, nature staff...

Dawn, Mike and I playing on and inflatable alligator in the Atlantic Ocean.  we are so mature.

cat and i on the trawler trip

poking through the wreckage

sea nettle jellyfish at the aquarium

hoe down night!

Final Marine Science Camp, they're here til this Saturday.  They are a fantastic group and I'm having a really good time with them.

Me and this little boy Chad caught an OCTOPUS! WHAAAT!  I was convinced I could find one when we went snorkeling, and i actually found one hiding under a rock.  I was too freaked out to stick my hand under a rock because seriously, how scary is that.  what if the octopus bites my finger off?  i mean, granted, octopus could never bite fingers off, but maybe this one was an exception.  I ended up making Chad stick his fingers in there, and we caught him when he tried to swim away.  I tried to convince Dawn to let us keep it for the nature hut, but we don't have anything that we could keep it in because they're so smart they can get out of any tank unless the lid is nailed on.  crazy, huh?

Last weekend, at the beach.  Mike's last weekend here! 

This is a photo that i really like, but it is actually from way earlier in the summer.

The Parasailing Adventure during my week as a counselor for our Lookout Adventure Camp.  We went on an overnight sailing trip, and then spent three days at Cape Lookout National Seashore -- a barrier island.  Truly, my favorite place in the world.  Here are some photos of the week!

The sweeet looking parasail

Dawn and i getting ready for takeoff...notice I look cool, calm and collected

And there, I am the picture of serenity.  No, of course Dawn isn't trying to comfort me.

Sorry about the terrible photo quality but look at how far out we are!  650 feet of line, we were up in the clouds and we could see everything.  It was so chill, you just kinda hang out up there.  So cool.

Group photo on Cape Lookout

Um, kayaking...hardcore...look at how fast I am going.  I'm a blur; you can barely see me.

Hamp, cutest kid i've ever met.  I'd marry him if it wasn't inappropriate and illegal.  Seriously, though, he got in trouble all week because he never wanted to wear his shoes.  And he surfs.  *sigh*

 more to come!

MARINE SCIENCE CAMP #2

looking at the crabs and snails in the touch tank at the aquarium

camp staff outside the aquarium

Luis and I on the trawler trip

a bonnethead shark...how sweet is that.  i was HOLDING him.  WHAT?!?!?!

mike and i-- nature staff unite!

so the summer has been crazy, and long, and i'm ready for a break.  hopefully there'll be more photos coming soon.  we're done here the 16th of August, then i'm heading home to Chicago to see my family!!  it'll be a great vacation.  then i'll head back to NC for the fall season here at don lee, then hopefully off to Wyoming for a Wilderness EMT course through NOLS.  as of now, i'm hoping to join the peace corps and leave around february of 2009, but all that is up in the air until i get my medical evaluation completed.  i've been accepted, but will not know any details until i can get my physical, dental and eye exams.  which may cost an arm and a leg.  so if anyone out there lives in chicago or nearby and knows of a place to get those exams done for minimum cost, i could sure use some help.

be blessed today!