Starting off the Summer Right!

Packing up the car, driving home and sleeping, that is what the beginning of my summer has entailed. After finishing up with finals at Purdue I took 2 weeks and had the chance to relax at home with friends and family. I was able to sleep in, visit friends in Indy, hang out with my family and friends around my hometown of Columbus. It has been wonderful relaxing and enjoying the warm days. Sadly I had to face the fact that I have to go to work this summer. I am working at the Bartholomew County Extension Office as their 4-H intern. It should be quite a busy summer. Right now I am just doing a lot of typing up letters, sending out mailings and boring stuff like that. I am ready for the fun to begin with the Fair which will be July 10-18th. I get to be in charge of a few things which is neat like the Public Speaking & Demonstration Contest, the Fashion Revue, Planning 4-H Camp, Organizing the Drive Through Lunch, Setting up 10 Year Member Display and Making sure everything gets put together for Fair. It is keeping me busy, but I do miss the relaxing, sleeping in and being outside. I know that my hard work will pay off and I will learn important things, but I am ready to call it a day and head home to my family. I hope that with new adventures and challenges that lay ahead of me I will be able to learn what I want to do in the future, learn if I want to go into Extension or maybe doing something might interest me more. Even with these responsibilities to keep me busy I am planning on having fun this summer, traveling to Bloomington and going hiking, going to a country music concert at Verizon, spending weekends with family and friends, traveling to Indy every now and then and catching up on my sleep. All in all summer has started off right and I am enjoying what I am doing so far!

Anna <><

For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People

Today went very well, it was our first day on the phones and we had some excellent questions between Caroline and me.

I hope you enjoy these and, yes, to answer any previous questions, these are real! These questions are all questions we have received on the phone.

1. Are there fireworks on the 4th of July in Yellowstone?
2. What time do they turn the geysers off at night?
3. When do elk turn into moose?

Hope you all enjoyed those anyway on to today.

Today after work we went on a hike down to Osprey Falls. We left at 6:00 p.m. and got back at late dusk there was just a little bit of sun light left, about 2 minutes worth. It was 8 miles it was a glorious hike. It starts off with 2.5 miles across some rolling plains and then it just drops! When I say drops I mean drops! Once you are at the bottom you hike along the canyon until you get
soaked about 500 feet away from the falls. We couldn’t even see the falls yet and we were soaked! That’s how much mist was coming off the water. Once we arrived it was soooo impressive. There is so much water. If anyone is coming to Yellowstone this summer please contact me and I would be more than happy to give you a list of good hikes.

Josh
Bears seen to date: 3
Wolves seen to date: 0
Bison and Elk seen to date: 195,982,875,987 (really this is a made up number but it is probably close)

Graduation--Goodbye Purdue, Hello World

The College of Consumer & Family Sciences graduated its seniors on Saturday, May 16 at 2:30 p.m. I had heard from many that graduation was boring and a waste of time but I truly enjoyed the ceremonies and the tradition that comes along with graduation. I loved the walk from the Armory to Elliot Hall of Music.

I was at the very end of the line, so as I walked to my seat, I got to see the sea of black hats and it was truly an awesome sight. In the ceremony, President France Cordova spoke, along with an outstanding senior nursing student. The band played and the Glee Club sang. We received our diplomas and sang "Hail Purdue" and then it was over!

After the ceremonies, CFS hosted a reception in our honor. Then my family and I went all over campus taking pictures.

It was a great day, and I am so proud to be an alum of such an awesome university. Thanks to all who made it possible for me to attend Purdue and have such an amazing experience!

Boiler UP!

-Kristi

Fun at Yellowstone!

It has been a very fast few days here in Wyoming.

Caroline and I are working for Xanterra Parks and Resorts. They are a concessionaire that run the lodges at some awesome places such as The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Yellowstone. Here Caroline and I are taking phone calls and making reservations for all the lodges within Yellowstone. The first few days have been great!

The second day for work we went on a tour of Lamar valley which is where they first released the wolves back in 1995. We did not see any but we did see a grizzly bear, it was really far away and you needed binoculars. But anyway, we got paid 7.25 an hour from 8:30-4:30 to take a tour it was great!

Today we woke up early and went on a guided tour again to Lamar Valley, this time we saw the pens where they kept the wolves and heard all the history. We then came back and did a quick trip to the visitor center mammoth and watched a video. We then took a nap and went on a hike around mammoth hot springs. It has been very packed as Caroline keeps me on the move with hikes. We have already logged over 20 miles and it is growing fast! Tomorrow we are waking up early at 6:30 and going on an 8 mile hike called Rescue Trail. It should be awesome. Obviously we had today and tomorrow off, but we start work again on Monday and again will work till Friday.

Here are some pictures of some of the hikes.

Josh

Happy Summer!

It has been a fast start to summer! After finals last Thursday I went back to Ohio for a mere three days before heading west. My mom and I left early Sunday afternoon and by the end of the day we were just west of Chicago. Early Monday morning we woke up and took off. We drove through the rest of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and we ended the day on the west side of South Dakota. We are only 350 miles away from Yellowstone and we are looking forward to only having a six hour drive on Tuesday rather than twelve.


Along the way we stopped at a few different stops, each stop was very unique. The first place we stopped at was the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota. There we checked out the Palace made of Corn. Each year the palace is changed to have different scenes and a different year. We talked to a local and he mentioned that they will start to “rebuild” the palace at the end of August and get it ready for 2010.


After Mitchell, we headed to Wall. Wall is home to the famous Wall Drug Store. It is so famous you see the first signs for it 355 miles away. About every 5 miles you will see signs advertising for free ice water, as well as 5 cent coffee. When we arrived it was like a ghost town as hardly anyone was there, of course it is not peak season and I am sure traffic will pick up after Memorial Day weekend. As you will see there is a famous animal unique to this area as well. It is known as a Jackelope. It is a white rabbit with antlers, if you have never seen one before I provided you with a picture.
As for Caroline she is in Bozeman Montana tonight. She flew all day on Monday and arrived there about 7:00pm eastern time. She waved to us as she flew over head.

Happy Summer,
Josh

Looking back

The sun is shining, the weather is beautiful outside and I can hear ppl playing tennis outside. I wish I could go out and enjoy the beautiful day instead of sitting inside at my desk studying for finals. It is crazy to think that my junior is almost done here in 2 more days. Final’s week is always a challenge especially by the end of the week because your brain is tired and you are just ready to be done. That is how I am starting to feel. I am eager for a break but I will miss being at Purdue. I will miss the hustle and bustle of life at school, going to class, attending meetings and getting together with friends. Being at school is fun and challenging at the same time. By the time summer comes I am use to school and the habits I have created and all of a sudden ending those schedules that I have been adhering to all semester comes to an end. I have to start thinking about packing up my things and moving home once again. Saying goodbye to people at the end of this semester is proving to be more and more difficult. I have lots of close friends graduating and will not be returning in the fall. It is crazy to think that I will be a senior and I will start getting ready to finish up at Purdue and I will have to start using the skills I learned in my classes out in the real world in my internship and hopefully a job after that. I have been blessed with another wonderful year at Purdue. I am sad to see it come to an end, but I think I am ready for summer to come and ready for new adventures in the future.
<><> Anna

Is it really possible?!

Well, finals week is upon us and another school year is coming to a close. As I look back on my junior year I am absolutely amazed at how fast the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday that I was loading up my car to move into Earhart Residence Hall for BGR week as a freshman. And now here I am, on the threshold of my senior year! Yikes! The past three years have held many experiences that have shaped the person that I am today. It’s funny to think about how much I have grown from my freshman year up until now. I have friends from all parts of not only the country, but the world…I helped coordinate one of the greatest traditions at Purdue (Grand Prix)…and I have had the opportunity to learn from some of the best and brightest. I continually am humbled by these blessings in my life.

Going into my senior year is a surreal feeling. I am preparing to take the GRE (Graduate Records Exam) at the end of May, and will begin applying to graduate schools in the fall. Throughout high school and the first few years here at Purdue I was preparing for my future…all of a sudden that future is becoming a reality. Things are falling into place!

This summer I will be returning to Camp Tecumseh for my 2nd year as a resident camp counselor. I could not be more excited to head back to Tecumseh Bend Road and be reunited with some of the best friends that I have ever made. Camp Tecumseh definitely holds a special place in my heart; if you were ever a camper there you probably know what I mean!! J

To all you incoming freshman, I hope you realize how awesome the next few years will be for you. There will be tough times for sure, but your life will be changed by the experiences that you will encounter. I encourage you to meet as many new people as possible and try lots of new things…you will never be in a place again where there are so many opportunities to get involved with such a variety of activities! Best of luck to you in your journey at Purdue and BOILER UP!!!



Ciao!
Leslie