LifeScouts Badges
www.lifescouts.com
When I was in 6th grade we went on a family vacation to Cabo San Lucas Mexico. The only vacation we ever went on. We went ocean fishing with my Dad's friend. The first day I was sea sick. The next day I ate fresh sashimi, and the last day they let me reel in a Marlin. After eating fresh sashimi, cooked fish has never been the same.
I lived in Arizona growing up, so going to mexico wasn't a big deal. Every time we went I got some little bobble head wood turtles like these little guys I found on google:
I'm from Arizona, and the drive in was the best place to watch movies. Double features for less than the price of one movie in theaters. My favorite memory of the drive in was going my senior year of high school. We got there half way through Monsters Vs. Aliens and I slept because it wasn't worth it. I woke up when it was over. Next movie up was Star Trek (2009). I didn't think I would like it, but soon I was wide awake and geeking out with my friends. [We were obsessed for good amount of time with that movie. I saw it again in theaters for full price.] The best part about that memory is the faded dreamy quality it has in my brain, waking up, my hair metaphorically blowing back from the glow of awesomeness that is the star trek screen, chattering excitedly with Flow about everything.
When I was little we owned horses. So before I can even remember I had a pony. But when I was 4 or so we moved and had to sell them. When i was in middle school I went to a horse summer camp two years in a row. It still had all the normal summer camp activities, and also horses. So I learned to ride. I remember i had a really stubborn old horse once, and I got pretty attached to her. I wrote letters to all my summer camp friends, and even had my first almost-boy-friend-person at that camp, but of course, camp life isn't the same as real life, so after camp he never wrote me back (until 2 years later, but that is a weird and different story).
I love animals. We had bunnies when I was little, and cats, and a dog, and a goat (and the afore mentioned horses). My first pet of my own was a goldfish named swimmer, and i had many other fish after him. I also had a cat named Fluffy (kindergarten ok, my naming skills were still low), a cat named Boots and a puppy named Prince. We weren't actually allowed to have pets at my apartment, so we ended up needing to get rid of Prince, but my best friend and I convinced her parents that they should take him. Cute little half corgi that her was. He chewed their stairs, so I'm sure they regretted it.
I also had birds once, they both died after not too long. Probably because we got them kind of shadily.
I didn't have a car available to learn in when I became of age to drive, so I got my permit, took a driver's ed session my sister signed me up for (part one of three) and then never scheduled the other sessions, because I hadn't practiced. My relatives out of state let me drive in the summer when I visited them, and then my permit expired. A couple years later I got my permit again and just took the other two drivers ed sessions my sis paid for when i was in high school. the second session counted as the road test, and I passed, although with reservations and a long lecture from the driver's ed guy. But hey I can drive! This past summer I drove by myself for the first time, and actually got somewhat comfortable driving.
So, when I was young one of my sister's worked at the zoo. She did zoo overnight camps. And so i attended one. It was fun, and creepy at the same time. There was a part they needed volunteers, and i was one. they had us go up front hold out our hands and close our eyes. When we opened them, yep there was a snake in our hands. I was pretty near the head and i freaked out and ran and hid behind my sister. The Zoo guy playing announcer at the time said this was an example of deforestation. They got me to go back up and hold the tail, which was constantly squirming.
That however is not why I have the snake handling badge, my boyfriend's brother got a snake when he was 12 or so, and 6 years later is pretty over it. I held the snake once and loved it. So now I'm the one who feeds it, and takes it out of its cage to poop (lowest maintenance pet ever), although his mom does that sometimes too. When I graduate, I'm adopting it from them, and it'll live another 4 to 10 years.
I love zoos, as I love animals. I had my birthday party at the Phoenix Zoo when I was in 2nd grade. I have also been to the Detroit Zoo, the Portland Zoo, a safari place in Michigan where we fed giraffes from our car, various petting zoos, and a wildlife refuge in Arizona. The snake story is probably my most exciting zoo related memory, but my family has a tradition of going to Zoo Lights every christmas. They decorate the whole zoo with lights shaped like animales, and just string the trees with lights of many colors. We walk around the zoo and buy hot chocolate and kettle corn. Mmmm tradition.
