Never a Letdown

The last few days in the Midwest for me were spent at the University of Minnesota visiting one of my best friends, Leah. I forgot how much I love Minneapolis and how much I love Leah! haha We just spent the weekend walking in the frigid weather and meeting all of her friends. It's quite the opposite of PLU! I'm glad that PLU's campus isn't as big as the U's and also glad that I don't have to walk/take the bus/walk again just to get to class. It was a very fun place to go though and I didn't even get lost once driving around Minneapolis/St. Paul/Blaine!!

On Saturday, Leah and I drove to watch Paige play hockey...She goes to Bethel and they were playing St. Olaf and it was a pretty intense game!! It was also very nice to go out to dinner with Paige, Patrick, their parents and Paige's boyfriend, Ben. Jane never fails to crack me up and leave me falling off my chair....I think I need to start recording quotes she says and make a book out of them. A couple of my favorites...

"Oh that girl is so sweet, she wouldn't even have sex with her boyfriend!!"

"Megan, do you notice something different about me?"

"No....what's different, Jane?"

"I'm wearing a bra!! Everytime I see you I'm walking around naked or in my pajamas!"

"Does she have a hearing problem?" (Right in front of the woman who DIDN'T have a hearing problem.)

.....I'm so glad she's my boss at Radio Fargo-Moorhead and I can't wait to work all summer with those Bob hooligans!!

Lu Lu at Her Finest

Weezy Baby

Lil Wayne has a spot in my heart.

7 Days

7 Days until I'm reunited with these beautiful people:

Max and me under his tickle mistletoe

Craig, Lil Kelli and me

Daniel, Nathan and me

Mt. Rainier from 9th floor of Tinglestad

Scotty and me

Mostly Pflueger girls: Hayley, Allison, Blair, Rima, Taylor, Annie and me

Kelly, Scotty, Maddie, Craig, me, Allison, Nathan and Luis out for Craig's birthday.

McKenzie, Megan, Kari, me, Ashley, Emily, Tina and Annie

Roomie love: Allison and me

Tag team: Katie and me

Nayyy Payyy and me

Definitely a Winter Wonderland

Fargo, ND...you never fail to leave me stranded in my house thanks to

the beautiful blizzards and snow storms!

Snow Sweet Snow

The snow storm that was supposed to hit the Midwest was downgraded, so we didn't have any problem flying in last night! However, I missed some new snow this past week and had a good 6 inches sitting on my car when I got home. On the bright side: 10 more days until I'm back in Washington!!

Last sunset in Cayman.

Where'd The Time Go?

Our week in the Cayman Islands went by quickly and we're already flying out tomorrow afternoon! There is supposedly a huge storm around Fargo/Minneapolis so hopefully we don't get delayed for too long...Some sort of delay is almost guaranteed because they're expecting 6" of ice with snow on top of it....not pretty.

However, yesterday was a day filled with a lot of driving and a lot of sunshine. We drove about an hour to a beach called Rum Point. It is beautiful and calm and the beach has a ton of signs everywhere that say cute little things. On top of just snorkeling around the docks and coral, you can rent paddle boats and jet skis. Amy, my dad and I rented a couple and they were super fun!! The ocean got pretty choppy the further out you went so we had a pretty good ride!

Today, I rolled out of bed, put my swimsuit on and when I walked out the door five minutes later, a parasailing boat was waiting for Amy and I to head out for a while. I was pretty nervous at first just because I've seen some failed parasailing videos but all was good! It was a pretty windy day so it was easy to get up and once Amy and I were all the way up, the wind was surprisingly peaceful; not to mention looking at the island from above was gorgeous! After that, the afternoon was spent snorkeling where my dad found some pretty amazing sea life creatures such as a sea turtle, puffer fish, a parrot fish, a baby sting ray and numerous schools of colorful fish.

Rum Point Beach
Pelican on the beach at Rum Point
Amy and I parasailing.

One of the views when I was up parasailing!

Snorkeling again...

Dolphins, Stingrays and Exotic Sea Creatures

Yesterday we spent the day at Dolphin Discovery, where we all swam with dolphins. Our dolphin's name was Darwin and it did everything from wave at us to pushing me on a boogey board, kissing and dancing with me and swimming with it. They are so amazing!! Also, while waiting for our dolphin session to start, one of the guys that worked there was holding a small ball in his hands, until I looked closer and it was a puffer fish!!! I was so excited haha They're so cool but too bad I didn't have my camera with! I guess I'll just have to go to the pet store and buy one myself.... :)

Today our day was spent out on the boat, Miss Jackie on Capt. Marven's tours. There were four stops along the way; the first being diving for conch shells. It was really cool because we were in the middle of the ocean and snorkeled in a spot to look for these shells. If we found one, we were able to dive down and pick it up, if it was alive. You're able to tell if the conch is alive by the pink color on the inside of the shell, plus you can see a little bit of the animal in it.

Second stop was snorkeling at the coral reef gardens. There, we saw three stingrays and a ton of different kinds of fish and coral. It was beautiful.

Third stop was Stingray City. The stingrays are basically like cats. They brush up against you to make friends and if you have fish in your hands, they suction it out of your hand like a vacuum. I think one stingray suctione my whole hand in once; it was quite the experience!! They were everyyywhere!

The last stop was at a little tiki bar where the captain of the boat cooked up some lunch for us. We had some conch (the ones we caught diving for) along with fish, chicken, rice and salad and it was delicious! I don't think we could've asked for a better day!! As always, here are some pictures to summarize my day :)

While snorkeling, our guide snapped at the stingray, swam closer to it and just picked it up and brought it to the surface for me to hold. This one was named "Frisbee" because it didn't have a stinger.

Here is another stingray at Stingray City.

Diving for conch at the coral reef gardens.

One of the 10 conch shells we got on the boat and this one was mine! (The captain of the boat said it was the most beautiful one on the boat and that made sense since I was beautiful myself....hahahaha I guess I could've scored a date while I'm here.)

This is what the conch animal looks like...the two black dots on the front are its eyes.

And the shell they come from...the guides crack the hole on the side to get the conch out of the shell.

After they get the conch out, one of the guides scraped all the extra moss off the shell to make it beautiful!

This picture is all out of focus, and that's why I love it so much.

Igor Has Some Competition

Another beautiful day in the Caymans! We spent majority of the afternoon at Boatswain's Turtle Farm where we got the chance to hold green sea turtles and snorkel in the Predator Reef. It was a really great experience! After eating lunch, I just spent the day walking up and down the beach; getting my exercise in and listening to the waves!! Dinner was at Margaritaville and it was cool to see a waterslide inside of the bar along with some pretty good margaritas, obviously!

Beautiful.

Snorkels and Sand

Today was our first full day on vacation and since it was a Sunday, there wasn't hardly anything open on the island. So, we spent the day just laying out and snorkeling around our condo. We ate lunch at The Lone Star which had really good burgers, although not very authentic Cayman food. :) Then, we ate dinner at Chicken! Chicken! and that was delicious; it had Cayman style roasted chicken. Anyways, here are a few snapshots from the past day...

Life is rough here....


Our condo


I found a lot of fish while snorkeling...and spent a good couple of hours out there.

There was a ton of beautiful coral everywhere...and I happened to find my brain.

Momma Aarsvold always has to have the cheesy beach pictures.

Amy and I having fun after the rain passed through!

Soaking Up the Sun

We all landed in the Cayman Islands this afternoon! Immediately after stepping out of the plane, I remembered what it was like to have summer weather. It was about 85 degrees here today and I think that's pretty consistent throughout the week! It took us a couple hours to get our suitcases, go through customs and get our rental car. We followed Ronnie, my aunt's friend and whose condo we're staying at for the week, to the condo and man, is it great!! The beach is literally five steps away from the patio door and it looks like that's where I'll be laying all day tomorrow! We ate at a restaurant that was outdoors and again, right on the ocean. After we ordered, my siblings and I ran on the shore for a while. P.S. Drinking age here is 18 so it was great to share a beer with my parents at dinner :) haha

I'll post some pictures in the near future but in the meantime, look at all I have to look forward to when I'm here.... www.caymaninanutshell.com/

Blogging?

Well, I'm still stuck in Fargo for winter break and am just about fully recovered from getting my wisdom teeth out. A lot of my friends at PLU have blogs and I always catch myself reading them or finding things online that I could put on a blog of my own...so we're going to give this thing a shot. Not sure if I'll stick to it or how often I'll update it, but we'll see!

On Saturday, my family and I head out to the Cayman Islands for a much needed vacation! :) The weather in North Dakota is still bitter and cold, and it makes me appreciate going to school out in Washington. It will be nice to get away from the cold and soak up some sun in a beautiful location. Not to mention, it will give me something to do now since all my friends either went back to school or are still here, but in school or working. My sheepies, Alex, Leah and Morgan all went back over the weekend so this week has been very slow and long. Luckily, skype saves me and I talk to my friends Max, Spencer and Nathan at PLU just about every night; they can keep me updated on what I'm missing out on.

Well, I'm off to dinner with the Stovers!(the family I babysit and nanny for in the summer) I can't wait to get caught up on their busy lives.

Leah, Alex, Myself and Morgan the last night everyone was in town...and my cheeks aren't too puffy!