I knew it was going to be a great week the moment we showed up at FFA Spurs Night in San Antonio. In 5th grade, my dream was to be a basketball superstar (that obviously didn’t work out very well for me). However, I had always wanted to watch a live NBA game…and there I was, the co-captain of the Spurs team. I stood at half-court- on the big screen- shaking hands with the team captains of both teams. I SHOOK HANDS WITH TIM DUNCAN! Wow. Not five minutes later, we watched Tyler and Kaleb stand on the court and give high-fives to the starting players. Who would have ever thought that WE would get to experience something that awesome?!
I was right, of course, about it being an awesome week. We started off our visits in Area VII with a trip through the hill country to Leakey, Texas. You know all of those books about places to see before you die? Well, the hill country is probably in it. I have never been one to sit for hours and admire the landscape of surrounding areas, but the moment I looked out the window, I was in awe. It was the most breathtaking sun set I had ever seen: reds and oranges danced around the tall hills. You could see forever. A photograph and a description do it no justice whatsoever. Picture the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, multiply it by a million, and that was what I was looking at.
As if that wasn’t enough to make my day, the Leakey FFA members prepared hamburgers, desserts, and fried pickles (my favorite food EVER) for our pool-side party. Then we enjoyed a couple of hours out on the big town. Fun times. The next day, the Bandera FFA officers informed us of the OST, the Old Spanish Trail. Mmm…there is definitely some good chicken fried steak at that place! We left there and headed towards Ingram, only to find out that their main water line busted. They had to let out the entire school! We never got that lucky when I was in school. No fair! We did get to chit chat with some of their members and chapter officers, though. I hope to see all of you guys at Texas A&M soon. Before long, we were on our way to Comfort. Kaleb proceeded to make dinosaur noises the whole way there…for FORTY-FIVE minutes. That was one of the longest rides of my life! Ha ha. We had a blast chilling with their FFA members when we finally arrived.
That night, Taylor let us stay at her casa in Canyon Lake. By the time we woke up, it was freezing cold again. How does that happen? I guess that is Texas weather for you. After our presentations at Canyon Lake and Smithson Valley, we headed into San Antonio for our last school of the semester. On the way, we stopped for lunch at this place called Genghi’s Grill (some kind of Mongolian stir-fry place); it was so good! I’m definitely going to remember that place so I can go eat at another one. Finally, we took a trip on down to Judson High. And now? Now we are on CHRISTMAS BREAK! Hooray for a successful semester. We hope everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy new year! See ya in 2010!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Area X
Mesquite trees, cactus, and good food were things that I expected to find in Area X. The cold temperatures? Not so much. Crazy enough, though, we found ourselves in the midst of some chilly weather for our time down in South Texas. Not that we minded. It made it seem a little more like Christmas-time.
We started off our our journey in Falls City, Texas, at the home of Mr. Kody Kale himself. The next morning, Pettus told us all about their local hang out spot: the Fast Break (a local gas station that has some awesome chorizo and egg tacos). In Sinton, Mamma Mia shared a few laughs with us about her desire to "punch a baby seal". That was quite the story. Later that day, we got to taste some of Mr. Wrinkle's banana nut bread before we talked to his students. I've never been the biggest fan of bananas but that was some GOOD stuff! We finished off our day with a trip to the beach in Corpus Christi. Apparently, they had just had red tide...and the guys got a kick out of throwing dead fish at me. Yuck. It did, however, put us in the mood for some good seafood.
Lucky for us, our friend Jake Martini knew just the right place. I have been craving raw oysters for months and months and months. Thanks to Jake, I finally got some! Water Street sure had some good ones, too. The next morning, we headed off to Agua Dulce, Calallen, and Bishop. We enjoyed our lunch at Joe Cotton's barbeque in Robstown, where we made up job predictions for the rest of the team. That was an interesting conversation, to say the least. Needless to say, our day was filled with great conversations, great food, and great students. I particularly enjoyed talking to my little Freshman buddy, Cesar, from Bishop. He was the bomb diggity! Since we finished so close to Kingsville, we figured that it was absolutely necessary that we stop by the King Ranch Saddle Shop. We ended up spending at least an hour helping Kaleb decide on which belt to buy before grabbing a shake at Harrell's.
That night at dinner, the Calallen chapter officers beat Kaleb in several games of pool. Then, we wound up at Lone Star, where Kaleb ended up buying a pair of snakeskin boots. He wanted something that looked different and, well...he did a very good job of finding just that. He certainly looks spiffy in his new shoes. The next morning in Banquete, we watched as Kaleb got himself into a staring contest with Bryan...which he lost. Bryan must be the stare-down champion of the world; I don't know how anyone can keep a straight face for long. We also watched some of Charlie's dance moves. That was intense stuff! We got so carried away that we ended up leaving our box of supplies in Banquete...oops. Thankfully, they went to get it while we hung out with everyone at Orange Grove later that morning. Our last trip of the day was to George West. We got to visit with Wes, our friend that we met at La Muneca Ranch earlier in the year. Their leadership classes certainly have some intelligent kids in there. They did a great job during the presentation.
That night, we had the pleasure of hanging out with the Jourdanton FFA officers. I was not fully prepared for the intense game of Mafia that came about. Some how or another, I was almost always picked as the Mafia when I was just an innocent townsperson. I guess it goes without saying that I was terrible at that game. It sure was fun, though! Kody must have been really exhausted after the whole thing, because he woke up the Hunters with his loud snoring the next morning (they were on the opposite side of the house, and they could STILL hear him!) We were definitely awake by the time we got to breakfast, though. Those FFA members sure can cook some mean eggs and biscuits! Before long, we were with Kyla and Sam in Poteet. We got to meet all of the administrators before doing our final presentation in Pleasanton. After a great lunch from Cactus Garden and a room full of enthusiastic ag students, we were on our way to Boerne, Texas.
Tomorrow we have the pleasure of visiting with the executive officers of McCoys before a visit to James Madison's Agricultural Science Department. Then, it is off to the Spurs game in San Antonio, Texas. We have a busy weekend ahead and some great experiences to come. So, stay tuned on more stories from the road...
We started off our our journey in Falls City, Texas, at the home of Mr. Kody Kale himself. The next morning, Pettus told us all about their local hang out spot: the Fast Break (a local gas station that has some awesome chorizo and egg tacos). In Sinton, Mamma Mia shared a few laughs with us about her desire to "punch a baby seal". That was quite the story. Later that day, we got to taste some of Mr. Wrinkle's banana nut bread before we talked to his students. I've never been the biggest fan of bananas but that was some GOOD stuff! We finished off our day with a trip to the beach in Corpus Christi. Apparently, they had just had red tide...and the guys got a kick out of throwing dead fish at me. Yuck. It did, however, put us in the mood for some good seafood.
Lucky for us, our friend Jake Martini knew just the right place. I have been craving raw oysters for months and months and months. Thanks to Jake, I finally got some! Water Street sure had some good ones, too. The next morning, we headed off to Agua Dulce, Calallen, and Bishop. We enjoyed our lunch at Joe Cotton's barbeque in Robstown, where we made up job predictions for the rest of the team. That was an interesting conversation, to say the least. Needless to say, our day was filled with great conversations, great food, and great students. I particularly enjoyed talking to my little Freshman buddy, Cesar, from Bishop. He was the bomb diggity! Since we finished so close to Kingsville, we figured that it was absolutely necessary that we stop by the King Ranch Saddle Shop. We ended up spending at least an hour helping Kaleb decide on which belt to buy before grabbing a shake at Harrell's.
That night at dinner, the Calallen chapter officers beat Kaleb in several games of pool. Then, we wound up at Lone Star, where Kaleb ended up buying a pair of snakeskin boots. He wanted something that looked different and, well...he did a very good job of finding just that. He certainly looks spiffy in his new shoes. The next morning in Banquete, we watched as Kaleb got himself into a staring contest with Bryan...which he lost. Bryan must be the stare-down champion of the world; I don't know how anyone can keep a straight face for long. We also watched some of Charlie's dance moves. That was intense stuff! We got so carried away that we ended up leaving our box of supplies in Banquete...oops. Thankfully, they went to get it while we hung out with everyone at Orange Grove later that morning. Our last trip of the day was to George West. We got to visit with Wes, our friend that we met at La Muneca Ranch earlier in the year. Their leadership classes certainly have some intelligent kids in there. They did a great job during the presentation.
That night, we had the pleasure of hanging out with the Jourdanton FFA officers. I was not fully prepared for the intense game of Mafia that came about. Some how or another, I was almost always picked as the Mafia when I was just an innocent townsperson. I guess it goes without saying that I was terrible at that game. It sure was fun, though! Kody must have been really exhausted after the whole thing, because he woke up the Hunters with his loud snoring the next morning (they were on the opposite side of the house, and they could STILL hear him!) We were definitely awake by the time we got to breakfast, though. Those FFA members sure can cook some mean eggs and biscuits! Before long, we were with Kyla and Sam in Poteet. We got to meet all of the administrators before doing our final presentation in Pleasanton. After a great lunch from Cactus Garden and a room full of enthusiastic ag students, we were on our way to Boerne, Texas.
Tomorrow we have the pleasure of visiting with the executive officers of McCoys before a visit to James Madison's Agricultural Science Department. Then, it is off to the Spurs game in San Antonio, Texas. We have a busy weekend ahead and some great experiences to come. So, stay tuned on more stories from the road...
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Area IX- Part II
“Turn left when you get to the crooked tree on the wrong side of the ditch.” Those are the famous words of Koby Box (we love you, Koby!). Welcome to East Texas. They may have some crazy ways of giving directions in Area IX, but we had a blast hanging out with some of the most laid-back people in the whole world.
We started off in Liberty, and we got to enjoy some of Mrs. Box’s AMAZING fajitas. Talk about some good food. After talking to the middle school and high school students in Liberty, we made our way on down to Dayton. They told us that they are playing football against my hometown of Brenham this weekend. That should be an intense game! Good luck to both teams! Before we knew it, we were at Barbers Hill. We gave a presentation on the largest salt dome in the entire world- how awesome is that?! It was so neat to see how their program works and all of the neat things that they are able to learn there.
That night, we headed on down to Anahuac to visit with Mr. Nick Dow (a past Texas FFA state officer) and his students. Unfortunately, to Jeremiah’s disappointment, we were unable to see any alligators. We did, however, meet some really hilarious kids. I can distinctly remember one freshman, Tyler Underwood, coming into the room eating smoked Alaskan fish, proclaiming his love for Kipper Snacks and Spam. That is certainly the first time that I’ve seen that happen! In Hull-Daisetta, we were introduced to some students with real potential to go places in life. They were an awesome group of members, and we really enjoyed talking to all of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some Texas FFA Chorus soloist to come out of that school. Their ag teacher was even nice enough to buy us lunch; thanks Mr. French! After our lunch, we made our way over to West Hardin. Strange as it sounds, we found that West Hardin is actually east of Hardin High School. I still don’t fully understand that one! We did have a pretty interesting conversation with their chapter officers after the presentation, though.
The Marek’s were nice enough to host us that evening in Lumberton. We got a nice little taste of east Texas rain that night, and Jeremiah, I’m sorry about your shoes. However, I am still convinced that it is in NO WAY my fault that your shoes got wet! : ) After our stay in Lumberton, we headed on over to Nederland. The kids were so enthusiastic; I loved it! That was probably one of the best presentations we have given. Also, thanks for the Subway sandwiches, Mr. Butler! That totally made our day! Then, we visited with a bunch of schools in Deweyville; you guys are the bomb! We enjoyed visiting with all of you.
Later that night, we had the opportunity to stay with the VanDevenders in Buna. Their twin boys, Case and Jordan, were absolutely adorable! We played football, made tee pees, and swung on the swings. They even drew me a reindeer with a Santa hat and cut it out for me! Of course, Mr. VanDevender did embarrass Case at dinner. Apparently Case got in the truck and said, “Dad, Alli is so nice, and she really is beautiful!” When Mr. VanDevender told us that, Case just smiled and said, “Dad, I told you not say anything!” Gotta love seven-year-olds!
The students at Buna High School were just as fun. The guys definitely got a kick out of “John Deere”, as they call him. He has to be one of the nicest people that I have ever met. Before long, we were in Kirbyville, home of Mr. Jim Prewitt and a TON of National FFA Chorus members. We even met Kenzie, the only girl from Texas to perform for National FFA Talent at this year’s National FFA Convention. What an honor! Our last presentation of the day was in Newton. Now they were a great group of students! Good luck to all of you guys in the big football game this weekend!
It wasn’t long before we were at the casa de Kaleb, washing clothes and eating pizza. Kaleb gave us the grand tour of the only Indian reservation in the state of Texas before taking a trip to the Livingston Walmart- good times, for sure. By the time we left Woodville the next morning, snow was falling on our windshield. It made for an enjoyable snowball fight and a cute snowman at the State LDE contests in Huntsville. Congratulations to all of the state participants! You make Texas FFA very proud!
We started off in Liberty, and we got to enjoy some of Mrs. Box’s AMAZING fajitas. Talk about some good food. After talking to the middle school and high school students in Liberty, we made our way on down to Dayton. They told us that they are playing football against my hometown of Brenham this weekend. That should be an intense game! Good luck to both teams! Before we knew it, we were at Barbers Hill. We gave a presentation on the largest salt dome in the entire world- how awesome is that?! It was so neat to see how their program works and all of the neat things that they are able to learn there.
That night, we headed on down to Anahuac to visit with Mr. Nick Dow (a past Texas FFA state officer) and his students. Unfortunately, to Jeremiah’s disappointment, we were unable to see any alligators. We did, however, meet some really hilarious kids. I can distinctly remember one freshman, Tyler Underwood, coming into the room eating smoked Alaskan fish, proclaiming his love for Kipper Snacks and Spam. That is certainly the first time that I’ve seen that happen! In Hull-Daisetta, we were introduced to some students with real potential to go places in life. They were an awesome group of members, and we really enjoyed talking to all of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some Texas FFA Chorus soloist to come out of that school. Their ag teacher was even nice enough to buy us lunch; thanks Mr. French! After our lunch, we made our way over to West Hardin. Strange as it sounds, we found that West Hardin is actually east of Hardin High School. I still don’t fully understand that one! We did have a pretty interesting conversation with their chapter officers after the presentation, though.
The Marek’s were nice enough to host us that evening in Lumberton. We got a nice little taste of east Texas rain that night, and Jeremiah, I’m sorry about your shoes. However, I am still convinced that it is in NO WAY my fault that your shoes got wet! : ) After our stay in Lumberton, we headed on over to Nederland. The kids were so enthusiastic; I loved it! That was probably one of the best presentations we have given. Also, thanks for the Subway sandwiches, Mr. Butler! That totally made our day! Then, we visited with a bunch of schools in Deweyville; you guys are the bomb! We enjoyed visiting with all of you.
Later that night, we had the opportunity to stay with the VanDevenders in Buna. Their twin boys, Case and Jordan, were absolutely adorable! We played football, made tee pees, and swung on the swings. They even drew me a reindeer with a Santa hat and cut it out for me! Of course, Mr. VanDevender did embarrass Case at dinner. Apparently Case got in the truck and said, “Dad, Alli is so nice, and she really is beautiful!” When Mr. VanDevender told us that, Case just smiled and said, “Dad, I told you not say anything!” Gotta love seven-year-olds!
The students at Buna High School were just as fun. The guys definitely got a kick out of “John Deere”, as they call him. He has to be one of the nicest people that I have ever met. Before long, we were in Kirbyville, home of Mr. Jim Prewitt and a TON of National FFA Chorus members. We even met Kenzie, the only girl from Texas to perform for National FFA Talent at this year’s National FFA Convention. What an honor! Our last presentation of the day was in Newton. Now they were a great group of students! Good luck to all of you guys in the big football game this weekend!
It wasn’t long before we were at the casa de Kaleb, washing clothes and eating pizza. Kaleb gave us the grand tour of the only Indian reservation in the state of Texas before taking a trip to the Livingston Walmart- good times, for sure. By the time we left Woodville the next morning, snow was falling on our windshield. It made for an enjoyable snowball fight and a cute snowman at the State LDE contests in Huntsville. Congratulations to all of the state participants! You make Texas FFA very proud!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Area III- Part II
After driving from College Station to El Campo by way of Houston (we added an extra hour to our trip on accident), I knew that our time in Area III would be interesting, if nothing else. Indeed, I was right!
Jeremiah and Kaleb were impressed by the Big Buck contest that Edna FFA holds every year. After our presentation, we watched Mr. V score a 120 point buck. They pay out $300 to the winners of the contest! How cool is that?! We enjoyed a nice meal with the Louise FFA officers and a great chat with our friends at Tidehaven before heading to the Firkins house for dinner.
Mr. and Mrs. Firkins and Haley were so sweet to us! They made us some delicious cookies and even brought our clothes to the cleaners (something we were definitely in need of). Of course, the coolest thing about Brazoswood was their full-service meats lab! We even got to enjoy some of the end result…lots and lots of homemade beef jerky. We munched on it all the way to Brazosport and even on our way to Clear Springs. That night, we got a little free time to ourselves. So, we made our way on down to Galveston to play on the beach. I am pretty certain that Blaze enjoyed the rendition of “I’m on a Boat” that we sang to his voice mail while on the Galveston ferry. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we made it to my grandma’s house for chicken and dumplings.
The next day, we were introduced to the rest of the Clear schools: Clear Brook, Clear Creek, and Clear Lake. They were GIGANTIC! It was so interesting to visit schools so different from the ones that each of us attended. That night, we made our way down to La Porte to hang out with Ms. Campise and their chapter officers. All I am going to say is that the Walmart in Deer Park was lacking several rolls of saran wrap after we left…
We had an AMAZING time in Chavez. Those were some of the most enthusiastic and appreciative students that we have had the opportunity to talk to. They even gave us all kinds of chips, drinks, and a signed picture of their officer team! Area III must know how much we love to eat, because Huffman loaded us up with tons of cookies and Hawaiian Punch. The cookies even had blue and yellow m&ms in them; how awesome is that?!
I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did that night at Iguana Joe’s, as Kaleb tried explaining his dating philosophy to the Crosby ag teachers. That in itself was quite an experience. The Crosby FFA members were a great group of students, just like the ones at Kingwood. Both were incredible students with a ton of potential to do some wonderful things in the future.
After a quick trip to Pei Wei, we were headed back home for the Thanksgiving break. To all of the participants at the Area III LDE contest: you did a fantastic job! I also would like to thank East Bernard and Burton for allowing Layton, Aron, and I to visit your chapters on Monday. It was so nice to be back in Area III!
As for now, we look forward to seeing all of our east Texas friends we make our way down to the home of the 1st Vice President himself, good ole Area IX!
Jeremiah and Kaleb were impressed by the Big Buck contest that Edna FFA holds every year. After our presentation, we watched Mr. V score a 120 point buck. They pay out $300 to the winners of the contest! How cool is that?! We enjoyed a nice meal with the Louise FFA officers and a great chat with our friends at Tidehaven before heading to the Firkins house for dinner.
Mr. and Mrs. Firkins and Haley were so sweet to us! They made us some delicious cookies and even brought our clothes to the cleaners (something we were definitely in need of). Of course, the coolest thing about Brazoswood was their full-service meats lab! We even got to enjoy some of the end result…lots and lots of homemade beef jerky. We munched on it all the way to Brazosport and even on our way to Clear Springs. That night, we got a little free time to ourselves. So, we made our way on down to Galveston to play on the beach. I am pretty certain that Blaze enjoyed the rendition of “I’m on a Boat” that we sang to his voice mail while on the Galveston ferry. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we made it to my grandma’s house for chicken and dumplings.
The next day, we were introduced to the rest of the Clear schools: Clear Brook, Clear Creek, and Clear Lake. They were GIGANTIC! It was so interesting to visit schools so different from the ones that each of us attended. That night, we made our way down to La Porte to hang out with Ms. Campise and their chapter officers. All I am going to say is that the Walmart in Deer Park was lacking several rolls of saran wrap after we left…
We had an AMAZING time in Chavez. Those were some of the most enthusiastic and appreciative students that we have had the opportunity to talk to. They even gave us all kinds of chips, drinks, and a signed picture of their officer team! Area III must know how much we love to eat, because Huffman loaded us up with tons of cookies and Hawaiian Punch. The cookies even had blue and yellow m&ms in them; how awesome is that?!
I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did that night at Iguana Joe’s, as Kaleb tried explaining his dating philosophy to the Crosby ag teachers. That in itself was quite an experience. The Crosby FFA members were a great group of students, just like the ones at Kingwood. Both were incredible students with a ton of potential to do some wonderful things in the future.
After a quick trip to Pei Wei, we were headed back home for the Thanksgiving break. To all of the participants at the Area III LDE contest: you did a fantastic job! I also would like to thank East Bernard and Burton for allowing Layton, Aron, and I to visit your chapters on Monday. It was so nice to be back in Area III!
As for now, we look forward to seeing all of our east Texas friends we make our way down to the home of the 1st Vice President himself, good ole Area IX!
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