Mini-Adventure time: My time in the Pond

I found another adventure. I know surprising right.  Ha.

During one of my daily scans of my Facebook newsfeed, I happened upon a post from my Toledo Walleye that they were looking for people to join the Pond Patrol team.

{We interrupt this post to define what exactly the Pond Patrol is...}

The Pond Patrol are the wonderful people that host little games during the intermissions of the Walleye Hockey games.  They also get the crowd going, toss out prizes, dance to the random music....you get the idea.

{Now back to your regularly scheduled blog post.}

I've always wondered how those people got those jobs.  I mentioned to my roommate that I was thinking about it, and she agreed I would be awesome at that job.  Why not.  I love hockey. I love the team.  I can be silly and amazingly fun.  Ok, I'll try out.

And try out I did. 

Getting pumped up before I head over to the arena.

We learned a little dance number, played a couple rounds of musical beanbags, and ended with a impromptu solo performance of pretending to wash an imaginary dog.  I'm sure we all looked rather ridiculous.  

After that they sent some people home and interviewed the other group.  

I was in the interview group.  :)

I got the call!  I'm in!  I'm also pretty sure I'm crazy, but this will be quite the experience.  Looking forward to learning all the behind the scenes secrets...already learned a few. 

If you go to a Walleye game this year look for me!!

High Five for Friday! Snakes, fireworks and a prize...

What a week!  The first week of my summer vacation has been an eventful one...just to my liking.

I found many adventures this week and if this is an indication of what my July will be like, I will be super happy.

5 awesome things that happened this week

1.  Sort of went camping a couple days at the Heartland Conference Retreat Center in Marengo, Oh.  I have a rough time with camping.  I very much enjoy the campfire, the campfire food, the company of friends and the fun adventures one can find.  

 

{Campfire breakfast, bacon, sausage, steaks and eggs...yummy}

One thing I don't enjoy....the bugs.  6 bites on my legs and counting.  If I can go camping without all of them joining me, I think I would go a lot more.  {As long as I sleep in a camper... with heat or air conditioning.... and have a real bathroom and shower.  My demands are small.}  I had a fabulous time, despite the creepy crawlies....

2. Speaking of creepy crawlies...I'm a little weird when it comes to that.  Bugs, spiders and the such creep.me.out.  As witnessed by my friends when a beetle was flying around the car, dive-bombing at my face on the way home from fireworks the other night.  To quote my friend Rachel "Jenny, I wish I could get my voice up that high."  I apparently go up a few octaves when I am having a freak out session.  Now you might be saying, I don't see how this is weird. 
Wait for it...

Snakes, lizards, frogs, basically reptiles and amphibians....LOVE them!!

At the campground I went to they have a nature center with all sorts of animals.  Well, mostly reptiles and amphibians.  They also have a couple possums, a skunk and 2 chinchillas, but everything else is scaly and possibly slimy.  Does that bother me?  Not at all.  I'm so mad I didn't get a picture.  {We go to the same place for kids camp, so maybe I can get some then.}  I held 3 different kinds of snakes, a salamander, a gecko and a frog.  If I ever have a pet, it will probably be some type of turtle...or frog...or lizard.

Now do you see how I'm a little weird. Bugs- no way, even though they are usually small and can be sqquished.  Snakes and frogs- yes...they are so cute. 

3. Remember how much I love the 4th of July? So far I have seen 3 nights of fireworks.  Hoping to find at least one more.  Went to the Mud Hens game again this year for the 4th and saw two fireworks shows in the same night.  Double score!   P.S. Mudhens people....you did an awesome job with the new fireworks show.  Really enjoyed the new types of fireworks.

If you are in the Toledo Area and are looking for some family fun tonight, the Mud Hens play at home and will have fireworks again.  As an added awesome bonus they are showing The Sandlot movie after the game.  How AWESOME is that!!!!  We are so cool.  Here is the link to get tickets.

4. Besides enjoying America's favorite pastime, I won a prize!

I don't know about your local ball team, but we have little games and such between innings.  Every game I go to I sign up.  It totally pays off.  I have fun and win something....heck yeah I'm signing up. And because of my "being bold" post the other day I talked my roomie to sign up too.    We played a base shuffle game.  On the giant screen they show 3 bases with a logo under one, then switch them all around and you have to know which one had the logo.  We have gone to so many Mud Hens and Walleye games (there it's the puck shuffle), we knew we had this.

$25 gift card and our new friend Anthony

5.  You can now call me Katnis Everdeen.  Heartland also has a little archery range.  {How cool are they.}

Ok, maybe not quite Katnis just yet, but not bad for my first time.  I really liked it, and think I would like to do more.  Wait!!!! I think that is on my bucket list!  I need to go a few more times before I can justify crossing that off.  

Well there you have it, my week.  What adventures did your week include?  

A new Christmas traditon in the making...

Every family has tradtions for major holidays, even if you think you don't...you do.  Trust me.

We have many tradtions for Christmas that I didn't even realize until my new roommate (more on that later) asked me one evening while we were eating dinner at IKEA.  {Have you had their meatballs!!!}

Here are a few things that came to mind:

• Spending the night at Grandma's house
• The yearly debate between my aunt and dad about when is the right time to open presents: Christmas Eve or Christmas?
• Still getting a stocking from "Santa" on Christmas morning
• Having waffles for breakfast
• Having a wrapping paper fight (think snowball fight with wrapping paper)
• Playing games and laughing until Icry
• Watching White Christmas

But as the title suggests, there is a new tradtion that I would love to install commission incorporate into the yearly festivities....taking my niece {and anyone else I can talk into going} to Disney On Ice.  This year's show was Disney on Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic. 

And it was, dare I say, magical.

Even though she is only 1, she very much enjoyed it this year.  She was laughing and clapping and doing her little dance during the whole show.  Being the huge Disney fan that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

My only complaint is that somehow Princess Aurora didn't make it into the princess bit.  We had Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine and Mulan but no Aurora??? 

And she's my favorite!

Don't they know who I am?!  Oh, they don't?  Hm.  Still, she should have been there.

Other than that, Disney really delivered.

The costumes were amazing!

They had newer Disney and classic Disney.

It was super cute.

 When Christmas rolls around again, I'm going to make sure Disney On Ice is part of the celebrations.


*Feld Family Entertainment provided tickets for me and 3 guests to see the show and give my honest and eloquent opinion.  It is definitely honest, maybe not so elequent. *Uhem* Sorry the pictures are a little jank. Phone Camera, enough said. 

Random Saturday thoughts

I've been rather random of late and it is time you were forced joined the fun.

When I least expect it.....

This is what happens when a first grader challenges you....and someone is there with a camera...and puts it on Facebook.

Don't be jealous.  {Is it healthy to laugh that hard?}

If you can't do this, you can blame your mom.  No really, it's a heredity thing.  For the record my mom can still do this.  She showed me yesterday.  :)  Maybe not the cross-eyed part, but the tongue on nose thing yes. 


This game has recently made a reappearance in my life.  I played this in middle school all.the.time.

It's not a super popular game, and is hard to find in game stores.  It is really fun and worth hunting down to the ends of the earth! 

{Dramatic much} 

 Or you can buy it on Amazon.

You have a pile that you need to get rid of faster than anyone else.  And you do so building piles in the middle going 1 to 10.  But everyone is adding to those piles so it gets crazy. :)

 Someone compared it to Nertz? I've never played Nertz so I have no idea.  I do know that I'm kinda awesome. 


Last week I went to a preseason hockey game with my dad.  You know, the guy that told me lies as a child.
We could sit anywhere in the arena.  Guess where I picked. 

Right behind the bench.  *sigh*  Tonight is the opening game.  Yeah!  Let's get a win Walleye!!!



Last random thought for the day....

I'm trying to brush up on some Spanish.  I bought this fun book to help me out...

They break Spanish words into English words so you know how to pronounce it correctly.  
So con gusto becomes Cone Goose Toe. 
Lol.  Hey, it works!


Oh wait I forgot one! 

Have you heard Adele's new song for the James Bond movie Skyfall?  In typical Adele fashion...it's awesome!

Very important question....Can you touch your nose with your tongue?  

Be cool *uhem* like me and post it on Facebook.  Tag Men, Money and Me!   
Even if you can't quite reach I want to see you try.  

You know you are trying anyway.

One of my happy places...

You may be shocked to hear that one of my happy places involves cold and ice (usually it is places more like this), but tis true.  And here's why...

Folks, hockey season in Toledo starts in 2 months!  Isn't it wonderful?

Saturday was their annual pick-a-seat event to purchase season tickets.  I went last year as well, and watched the free-agent try out practice/scrimmage.  This year they added more to the event.  He he he we had so much fun!  

 

This might also have been one of those "I know I am a dork." moments. 

 

Hmmm. 

 

Yeah, it was.

We shot some goals....

Take notice of the age of the other "players" on the ice at the time.

 Put us in coach!  Sitting on the Walleye bench. 

 

Watch out!!! Wow that is a super cheesy smile.

2 minutes for being too close to the zamboni.

She got caught too. Bummer.

We stuck around and watched the first round of the scrimmage games, enjoyed our free hot dog, chips and drink and went on our merry way.  Super fantastic fun! 

Another reason it's not easy being me....

Every once in a while I feel the need to remind those around me, that in fact, it's not easy being me. 

Here's what happened the first time I filled you in on this fact.

Sigh. 

Yesterday was a tough day.....I was blamed twice throughout the day.  Yes, it's true.

First friend:  "Thanks to Jen Thompson I am now on Pinterest... I blame her!"

How she has made it this long without Pinterest is a surprise to me....think of the brand new world I just opened her up to. 

Later that day another friend decides to blame me....." Guess I've made a lot of memories recently because my current memory box (you know, the cute little box where I toss things like ticket stubs, school i.d.'s, baby announcements, wedding programs, etc.) is full! I mostly blame the wedding boom of 2010 (you know who you are!) and my partner in adventuring, Jen Thompson."

This is the friend that I dragged went with to DC and NYC recently.  (We are also going on an adventure soon after I post this.)  

Well guess what friends!  I fully accept the blame and you're welcome.  :) 

May I continue to be blamed for more awesome things in the future.

Got to run...I hear some hockey calling my name. 

That's right. 

My unbirthday party

Why do you have that quizzical look?  You mean you don't celebrate your unbirthday?  Gasp!  Well you are missing out!!!  Knowing how much I love my birthday, are you really all that surprised I celebrate my unbirthday?

Disney so graciously explains to us what an unbirthday is in Alice in Wonderland. Don't freak out unbirthdays don't normally include singing animals that seem to be high on something.

Ingredients for an unbirthday:

1. Cake or other yummy dessert
2. A little present
3. A fun activity
4. A friend 

This is the third year that my cousin and I have celebrated one of our unbirthdays. 
Really its just an excuse to eat cake and do something special.  This year was no exception.  My cousin Ashley, who writes the blog  Happy. Pretty. Sweet., made little cupcakes drizzled in chocolate and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Then it was on to the festivities!  We exchanged little presents.  I am the new owner of 3 fabulous paperbacks, and Ashley is the new owner of a Star Wars Moleskine notebook and a pack of 6 famous mustaches.

We had an Einstein, Dali, Chaplin and Magnum.

After cake came the adventure...geocaching!!!  I have to reach my bucket list goal after all!

Did I mention we went geocaching with our mustaches on?  The cache sites were pretty deserted so we didn't get many odd looks. It was so hot we only went to a few and quickly headed back to the air conditioned home.  Ahhh.

To end the party we watched Mirror Mirror, one of the Snow White movies that has recently been released. I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually funny and not just corny.  I was nervous after seeing the preview, but the writers did an excellent job.

So there you have it!  The unbirthday celebration of 2012.

Did you just say it was your unbirthday today!!! No way!!!

Well it just so happens I have some gifts for you.  Remember my drive in movie experience last year? Remember I had hoped to have a giveaway?  Well here it is!!!  Field of Dreams drive in theater has given me 15 Buy One Get One free admissions!! Oh snap!  They have two locations: Liberty Center and Tiffin.  For my fellow Toledoens, its not a bad drive out to Liberty Center and they they have so many activities to do before the movie starts.

Enter using the form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How to make normal things fun.

Well folks, we made it back!  It was a long week full of adventures and now you get to hear the stories.  

In case you missed the Facebook updates I was in Washington DC last week.  This trip was part of Operation: Adventure.  This summer I want to have as much adventure as possible, because that is what summer breaks are for, right? Right.  

I try to enjoy life as much as possible. That means that even the normal things in life can become fun.  Last week I told you about our first challenge: The Metro. We took the Metro many times in a day and it is safe to say that 99.9% of the people in DC find this as a chore or just another part of their normal routine.  

And then there is me and my friend Hannah.  

We made it fun.  

Yes, people, you heard me right.  

Maybe you can figure out what we did....

 

As the train pulled in to the station we would stand where we thought the door would be. The record was Hannah with 4 consecutive correct guesses.  She was good.  

This just proves that if you think a little outside the box you can have fun doing all sorts of things.

I can't be the only one out there that does this.  What things do you make fun that usually aren't?

My mini-adventures in Florida

This past week I went to Florida.  I went for several reasons:

1. To visit some friends (miss you guys already!)
2. It's winter in Ohio.  :(  But it is warm in Florida!
3. I have Belongitis Southernexia

 I am trying to figure out how someone who loves everything about the beach, warm weather, palm trees and sunshine so much lives in OHIO!  It's just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  Oh yeah, because my family lives here.  Hmmm...I'll have to see what I can do to change that. 

That's a problem for another day.

Focus.

I didn't keep you up to date with my adventures during my trip, so now it's time to get you caught up.

One of my mini-adventures was going fishing.  LOL!

I didn't make a good fisher-woman.  I had no idea what I was doing and even though I tried to help; I was kind of an epic fail.  It was very exciting seeing the pole twitch when a fish was nibbling on the bait.  Of course after I let out a girlish sequel of excitement, I would try to set the hook with not so much luck.  I had fun though.  I mean who wouldn't have fun sitting on the pier at Ft Myers Beach listening to the waves lapping up on the beach.

It was slow going, when the gentleman next to us got a bite on his line!  And boy was it a BIG one!  I was so excited.  We (uhem...my friend) helped pull his catch in.  It turned out not to be a fish but a stingray!  Amazing!

It was dark and not very good lighting, so sorry about the crappy picture.  He was a good sized stingray.  In this picture my friend is pulling the hook out of it's mouth.  Mr. Stingray was then returned to his watery home. 

An hour or so later we finally got a fish!  My friend pulled this guy in....

We decided to name him Fred.  As my friend cleaned and sliced him up, I thanked Fred for giving up his life so we could eat him.  It was kind of a sad moment for me.  I guess even more sad for Fred. 

He was a tasty speckled, spotted, freckled, polka-dotted trout.  I can't remember exactly what kind of trout, but you get the idea he had spots on him. 

I can now say I went fishing.  Too bad that wasn't on my bucket list.  I'm kind of tempted to add it, just so I can cross it off.  I think in this case that is cheating though. 

Best Game EVER!!!!

One of my friends told me about this game and now I want to share it with all of you.  It is called telephone pictionary.  Telephone, the game where you say a word and by the time it gets around it's not what you said +  Pictionary, the game where you draw words or phrases = Extremely funny times!

Need:

1. A group of people I'd say at least 6+.  
2. Each person needs a stack of papers (one paper per person in group). I would have a stack of 6 papers if there were 6 people.  Papers need to me at least 3" x 3" They don't need to be full sheets of paper.
3. Writing utensils

Directions: 

• On the top piece of paper each person writes a word or small phrase.

•  You then pass the whole stack of papers to the person on your left.  That person looks at the word, moves that paper to the back of the pile, and draws the word or phrase.  Every person in the group performs these steps at the same time.  So in this case everyone is drawing a picture of whatever word is on their stack.

•  You then pass the stack again to the left.  This person looks at the picture, moves it to the back and writes what they see.  

•  The process continues.  If you get a word, you draw a picture on the next paper.  You get a picture; you write the word.  Just because the drawing may be amazing doesn't mean the next person will know what it is.  That's when it gets really funny.  

Here is the rest of this particular stack...

Well, there you have it.  We went from "Wookie" to "a person being tasered".  TOO FUNNY!!  I was literally in tears from laughing so hard.

A great game to play with the family at Christmas!