Visitors and Visiting.

If you read my last post, you know I've been traveling to Champaign the past few weekends to geocache with Lush, but this weekend was a bit different.  For one, this weekend was the longest I've spent in West Lafayette since the middle of May!  But I still didn't spend the entire weekend here, lol.  So what did I do? Well, I'll tell ya.

On Friday night and Saturday morning, Syd and I got some good workouts in, and boy can I feel them. Since she had been on vacation, we had both kinda slacked on our physical fitness, but hey, whatcha gonna do. Let's just say that it kinda caught us off guard how weak you can get in one week...

Saturday afternoon rolled around, and Lauren and Julie, two of the girls I nannied for last summer and the summer before, came to Purdue to visit me!  I had invited them over so their parents could have a date night in Indy, and we had a blast! 

After they arrived, we immediately set off to campus with Syd so we could be their campus tour guides and so we could go on a fountain run. The girls had a blast running through (and drinking out of) the fountains, even though it got pretty chilly when the sun went behind the clouds. We dried off on our walk home, changed, and then headed to the Columbian Park Zoo. I had never been there before, but what better excuse to go than if you have kids with you, amirite? I was really impressed with the zoo. First of all, it was free, and if free stuff doesn't make you happy, then you need to see a psychologist. The animal exhibits were really unique and interactive, too.  For example, in the groundhog exhibit, you got to crawl through this tunnel and pop your head out through this bubble so you were actually inside the exhibit!  You could also crawl through a tunnel surrounded by water in the river otter enclosure. It was really neat! Perhaps the best part though was the petting zoo. There were SO MANY GOATS. If you sat down on the rocks, the baby goats jumped into your lap and tried to eat your clothes! The girls (and Syd and I) loved them.  They were so cute!

We headed to Triple XXX for burgers and root beer after the zoo. Lauren got a peanut butter burger and really liked it! When we got home, we Facetimed Faith, the other girl I nannied for the past few years, who wasn't able to come up this weekend. We then watched a movie and headed over to the Silver Dipper later to get ice cream. The girls loved the fact that you could get mini scoops and try a bunch of different flavors! We got to bed pretty late, and in the morning I made chocolate chip pancakes for the girls (as was tradition when I nannied for them). Their parents came around 10 and we sat around and talked for awhile before they took off for their own family vacation. It was so great seeing them and I just love that family!

The girls with John Purdue!

Triple XXX!

Once they left, Jess and I headed down to Bloomington, IN to visit Elaine for the day because we missed her! We went out for lunch, walked around the Indiana University campus (which is gorgeous, I hate to admit...IU still sucks though), and explored her house. It was so cool! They even have a secret little attic room, which was awesome! We played Wii up there (lol, throwback to high school) and then went out for dinner. Her mom made homemade hot fudge too, so of course we had ice cream sundaes when we got back. Essentially, the visit to Bloomington caused me to gain 5 pounds, because all we did was eat. It was a grand ole time though, and I'm so glad we got to go.

Yay Elaine!

In other (boring) news, still trucking through my Fulbright essay revisions, and I even got to Skype with a Fulbright ETA in Mexico who graduated from Illinois State! It was neat to get her perspective on her experiences, which makes me even more excited to go if I am blessed with the opportunity. I'm also slowly but surely making my way through my student teaching books to prepare myself for student teaching when it rolls around. "Yippee!" she said sarcastically.

Plus last week our work volleyball team CRUSHED IT at our first game. Can't wait for Thursday's game!

Don't mess with the Underdogs

Oh, also, Lush and I celebrated our "Swipe-i-versary" earlier this week on the 7th because that was the day we were matched on Tinder lololol. I can't believe I've known him for a year already...it's been one of the best years of my life though. He's the best :)

Current...
Weather: Rainy, boo.
Mood: Blah.
Wish: That I had Elaine's mom's hot fudge recipe. And that I was watching Game of Thrones with Lush. Preferably with that hot fudge.
Outfit: My pjs, lol.
Dread: It's leg day again...
Thankful thought: I don't work today!
Excitement: Annie comes home today! And I get to talk to my dad tonight!

Geo(I need some)cache Adventures & Other Stuff.

Wow, that title...what a knee-slapper. I should start a career in blog post titling. 

So, geocaching...what is it, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.

It can make you laugh.
It can make you sweat.
It can make you shout.
It can make you want to pull your hair out.
It can make you angry.
It can make you frustrated.
It can make you elated.
It can make you addicted.

And if that doesn't sum it up, then I don't know what does.

Okay, okay. Obviously that description could be anything, such as eating an entire pizza all by yourself or rearing children.  But geocaching?  Geocaching is essentially a worldwide scavenger hunt.  Various people who are into the activity will hide a container somewhere (they are everywhere), post the coordinates to find it, and when you do, you sign a log stating that you found it.  Some containers are tiny and only have the log inside, and others are bigger, so you can put little trinkets in them. It's so nerdy, but it's so much fun.  I first learned about the activity from my high school physics teacher way back in the day, but then I was reintroduced to it by my Elementary Education PE teacher last semester. And now, I'm sad to say, I'm obsessed.

So, that's how I spent my last 3 weekends.  Let's start the countdown:

3 weekends ago
Father's Day weekend! Unfortunately my dad had to umpire for softball games most of the weekend, so I spent Friday evening and Saturday with Lush...so we could geocache.  We also hit up Market at the Square, which is Champaign's farmer's market, to peruse the stands. Unfortunately, we got there towards the end when everything was sold out, so we vowed to come back the next weekend with a game plan.

I went home on Sunday so I could see my dad and family. We went to the zoo (why not) and I introduced my fam to geocaching, so we found one at Miller Park. Then we feasted on delicious food...boy do I love my family and food!

Hey guys, check out my cache.

How did we even find this?!

Signed the log like champs.

Another cache.

We were pretty proud of ourselves.

The family that geocaches together, stays together.

2 weekends ago
Headed back to Champaign for more farmer's marketing, geocaching, and the Blues, Brews, and BBQ festival! This is a street festival with various foods and blues bands playing.  It was so fun! I got to introduce Yashas and his friend to funnel cakes, because nothing says America like fried stuff.

Hockey stick cache!

Cache on cache on cache

He actually had to climb up an old water tower to get one...

Blues, Brews, and BBQ festival!

Farmer's Market meal...delish!

Last weekend
In Champaign (again) to celebrate the 4th of July! Katie came down in the afternoon after Lush and I went back to the farmer's market. We watched the parade and, yep, you guessed it: geocached some more. Then Katie headed home and Lush and I watched some beautiful fireworks in a parking lot.  On Sunday, he and I went paddle-boating at Crystal Lake Park and made some pasta that we bought from the farmer's market. Yum!

'Merica

More Farmer's Market food (lol the corn was from Target)

Paddle boating, feat. an American flag sticking out of my purse

This coming weekend
Hah!  I bet you thought I was gonna say I'm going to Champaign, but that is not the case! Stay tuned for that information.

In other news...

Last week I did a Detective Day for the school age kids at the daycare.  Someone "stole their Wii" and they had to solve different missions to find clues and narrow down the suspects to find the culprit. They had a lot of fun, and so did I!

Someone stole the Wii

Suspect wall

Laser maze

Spotlight corner!
My neighbor/sister from another mister, Tyler, aka one of my top followers of my blog, has started her own blog, people!  She is traveling through Italy and Spain with her uncle and mom and is posting all about her trip. I highly suggest that you read about it, considering that if you are currently reading this, there is a high likelihood that you are in the Midwest and will not be going to Italy anytime soon.  So, live vicariously through her as I will do for the next few days!  Read about it at http://tylerlorraine.blogspot.com/.

That's all for now, folks! Have a fabulous week!