Hatteras 09

There's something about this particular beach house that just is so relaxing (other than when your gall bladder decides it doesn't like the fajitas and ice cream that you had for dinner)! I love it here. It's on the sound, kayaks to use, great sunsets, a hammock, cute decor, comfy space, etc. Just a great vacation rental and I highly suggest it to anyone looking to go to the outer banks that doesn't feel the need to be ON the beach.

The week started off with a bang (see previous blog), but then got much better as the week went on. The weather did not cooperate with us that much, but it was still really nice. We kayaked, went to the beach, went to an art show, read a lot, hammocked, played a bunch of games, slept, and saw really cool phosphoresence in the sound at night. Watched the sunset most days too when it wasn't raining.

Great times, great friends! Can't wait to go back.

BWET Conference

Headed up to Silver Spring, MD two weeks ago for the first ever national BWET conference. All of the previous and upcoming recipients of the BWET grants were invited and we spent three days meeting new people, discussing projects, how to improve evaluations, etc. Heard from some good speakers - including Jane Lubchenko (in the yellow below), head of NOAA at the evening reception at the National Aquarium in DC. We also got to participate in a field trip at a local site that participates in the BWET program. I chose to go to one on streams with the Earth Force people - did water quality testing, collected macroinvertebrates, and hiked a little on a restored stream. Nice to be outside! And the ride to the field trip was on a "party bus" so of course Sally and I had to pose for pictures in our NERRS shirts. :)

Well, it's coming out folks!

Skipping a few things here, but I'll go back and fill in later.

So I'm officially having my gall bladder taken out. August 26th. Whew, a little scary but at least I won't have to worry about it after that.

Backstory:

Got up bright and early July 19th, excited for the beach trip, only to find out that I felt extremely nauseus and feeling really crappy. I rallied enough to get the car packed and let Andrea drive my car and we were on our way. After about 3 hours of feeling like this, I finally felt better and thought nothing of it. Just that I had a stomach-ache, and it was gone and it was time for VACATION.

The rest of that day was fine, went kayaking, everything was normal, until about 30 minutes after bed. Woke up feeling extremely crappy again and it went from bad to the worst feeling I've ever felt in about 3 minutes. Had to go to the ER, fun times on my first ambulance ride, had tests done, my first ultrasound, etc only to find out I had gall bladder DISEASE. But I was able to enjoy the rest of vacation (more on that later) without a lot of problems (other than some worrying and nausea).

Well, today I saw the doctor in VA and it's coming out. So let's just hope for no problems and a healthy recovery. Someone at work suggested I keep it and put it on a shelf in the lab and let the kids guess what it is! :) Don't think I'll want to do that - but a funny thought.

Thanks for all the concern and well wishes everyone!

Birthday Celebrations!!!

As soon as the third camp was over, I began the weekend celebration for my birthday! Sally and I started it out with some drinks at the Crab Deck, a weekly tradition on the last day of camp. Came home and packed up for the BEST girl's weekend!!! Sarah came up to VA that night and then Saturday we drove over to Charlottesville to meet Andrea and Jes.

The weekend included wine tasting, tubing down the James River, dressing up for drinks and tapas at Mas (one of my FAVORITE places in cville), lots and lots of girl chats, birthday cake and gifts, breakfast at Bodo's, pedicures, shopping, etc! It was awesome. Just what I needed and wish that it could happen more often. Ended just too quickly. Here are some fun pictures from the weekend.

Then, Monday at work we had a little celebration and I got surprised with flowers delivered to me!! They were so pretty. Came home and the VA girls came over for some enchiladas and mojitos and of course, some more birthday cake! All in all, a great 27th birthday.

Camp #3 - Chesapeake Bay Investigators

I'm so behind in my blogging - so expect quite a few in a short period of time.

So the Chesapeake Bay Investigators camp (CBI for short - and yes we had fun shirts to look like FBI shirts) was our third camp for the summer. This one was for rising 7th and 8th grade students and it was so very different than the first two. It was almost like we were on a mini vacation because these kids could somewhat take care of themselves and didn't need constant watching. BUT, I definitely missed the cute little ones.

The plan for the week was for the kids to see as many different habitats around the Chesapeake Bay as possible.

Day one we spent on the Dragon Run, a pristine river in Virginia, where we went electroshocking with some of the VIMSers. The kids loved it (and only one got shocked - midly, he was ok).

Day two we went to York River State Park for some canoeing and marsh mucking through the salt marsh.

Day three was spent at VIMS, looking at the shallow water habitats and the oyster reef habitats.

Day four was the big field trip day to Goodwin Island, where we went trawling, explored the island, ate some crabs, etc. Had one incident that day - a kid chipped his tooth on the boat. :(

All in all, a great camp and great campers! Looking forward to the last two.

Camp #2 - Wetland Waders

Camp #2 is done! We have made it through two straight weeks of camp and have one more to go before we get a little break in between camps (for a conference and vacations and a teacher workshop, but at least it's a break in camps).

The kids for this camp were rising 1st and 2nd graders, so the little ones. Very cute. We had kids ranging from 5-7 years old and I'm definitely going to miss them this week when we have the 7th and 8th graders.

The first day of camp each kid got their own personal wading boots that they painted.

We spent a lot of time the first three days in the teaching marsh studying wetlands, the animals, and the plants that live there. The kids loved it! I was really impressed with how much interest they had in going to the same place every day. We netted, used binoculars, collected plants, did a scavenger hunt, etc.

The fourth day we took the kids to York River State Park and we explored the salt marsh and did some chicken netting. There were praying mantis EVERYWHERE in the marsh. Friday, the kids put on a skit for their parents and they had the cutest handmade costumes! It was a good week. Even went out with the "megaboss", as Scott calls him, after work for some drinks!