Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Adios Amigos

Hi Family and Friends!
I'm leaving at 6am for Ft. Lauderdale, where I'll be boarding the M.S. Zaandam for the next two weeks. I'll be working in the youth program but I'm not sure which age group yet. I've told my parents that I'm not sure what the email/phone situation will be, but I will try to call home on Christmas at the very least, hopefully more if I can. I'm really going to miss being home at Christmas, I've never been away for the holidays before. But hey, this is the chance of a lifetime, so I'm ready. Lucy will be arriving at my mom and dad's house tomorrow if anyone is wondering. Linny, feel free to relocate her to your place if you want, just don't let her get out! She runs fast! I'll try to post while I'm gone if I can to let you all know what life is like on the high seas. I'm so excited to see what crew quarters are like and what life is like behind the scenes on the ship. I'd like to send a thank you to Auntie Ronni and Uncle Lee, because if they hadn't brought us on vacation with them last month, I never would have had this chance...I'm so excited!!!!! Okay gotta finish packing. Merry Christmas everyone, see you soon!

Love Me

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Picture Time

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Well the people have spoken and the people want more pictures. Acutally I guess "the people" is Linny...but she counts just as much if not more than any other people, right? Here you will see the deer-man being shot with an arrow in mid-leap. Doesn't it just transport you to a Mayan forest? I'll post more later...Have to keep you wanting more, ya know???

Love Me

Sunday, December 11, 2005

More New Spectacles

nu=3244>756>549>WSNRCG=323336;64;847nu0mrj"> Hi Readers!!!

I'm sorry it's been so long, but I really had a hard time getting back into the swing of things after vacation. Can I just say we had a fantastic time? As you can see in the photo, we all went to the eye doctor together before the trip and found out that we were all a little near-sighted. We didn't want to miss any of the scenery so we all got some new glasses. Don't we look stylish? Haha. We wore these all over the ship. The crew laughed their butts off at us. Among other things, we went kayaking, saw sea lions and whales, and zip-corded through the jungle from treetop to treetop. Linny and I got facials, layed by the pool, and we all experienced the highlight of our lives watching a man dressed as a mostly naked dear leap around the stage and then die a very dramatic death in Mazatlan, Mexico. It was a once in a life time experience. I was so very sad to leave the ship, but alas, I have news. I have been offered a job to come back to the ship for two weeks over Christmas break to work in the youth program. I will be a youth counselor on board and do stuff like face painting, playing board games, basketball, volleyball, movie nights, pool olympics, arts a crafts and more (I'm not sure what else but there must be more if we are supposed to keep these kids busy for the whole cruise so their parents can have fun doing grown up things...). The cruise line will fly me back to San Diego, supply me with all the delicious food I can eat, and PAY ME to cruise for two weeks and play with kids. Is this a dream?? No. It is reality. Cool, right? If everything works out and they like me and I like them, I may be able to work full time over the summer before I start grad school! Sooo...the other big news is that I am going to be moving back to Chicago in February-ish. While I love my job here...is a job really enough to keep me in Florida when all my friends and family are in Chicago? I will miss my new friends here, but I think it is time for me to spend some time back home. It may be short or long term, depending on if I get hired back on the ship and where I get accepted to grad school. But either way, I'll be home soon and unemployed at least for a little while so I'll have time to visit everyone! I'm going to be living back at my mom and dad's till I figure out what the heck is going on with work and school, so that's where you'll be able to find me (and Lucy too, of course). That's pretty much it, although I guess that is a lot. I'm going to miss everyone on Christmas, I've never missed Christmas before...but I will try to call, and we can have a belated Christmas when I come home. Love you guys...

Amy