Well, it's me again: Kaleb's "personal assistant". As you may have noticed, our Facebook group was an epic failure. Much to my disappointment, Kaleb only had 83 people that wanted him to write the blog. Of course, they may have simply had the safety of drivers everywhere in mind, as it is in their best interest to have Kaleb driving instead of me. Not that I mind.
We started off our adventures in Area III with a trip to Caitlin Powers' house in Katy. A football game and a home-cooked meal began a fantastic evening with the team of Katy FFA officers. After our presentations and a quick bite from Midway BBQ (talk about GOOD stuff!), we headed on over to Morton Ranch to see my "adopted FFA chapter", as I like to call them. The last time I hung out with those officers, they had me saying the FFA Creed to a restaurant full of people. At least this time, I was prepared to speak in front of everyone. That night, we headed on over to Carl's BBQ for some time with the Langham Creek FFA officers. Mrs. Hargrave told us all about the baby chicks in her classroom that were hatching several days ahead of time...those must be some "early birds". Ha ha.
The next day, we spent some time at Langham Creek and Cy Falls before heading to the mall to find Layton and Kaleb some spiffy looking jeans. Layton was quite impressed with his find- a pair of Lucky jeans for only$40. Kaleb, on the other hand, spent all of his time modeling odd-looking hats and searching for new shades. And me? After I assisted the guys with their shopping, I went to the gym (speaking of which, Bally Total Fitness is the COOLEST place ever!). Layton and Kaleb said they would go with me…and they did. They went to the parking lot and slept while I worked out. Boys, boys, boys...
That night, we watched an intense season finale of “Teen Mom” before waking up the next morning to visit Atascocita, Humble, and Spring. We were all quite excited about our discovery of Puffabelly’s in Old Town Spring; they had such great food! Score! Of course, Kaleb and Layton were even more excited about the store down the road, The Amish Barn. They sampled all of the dips and were WAY TOO ENTHUSIASTIC about the grape juice that they bought. Naturally, none of this compared to the kick we got out of the Spring FFA officers...we talked about everything from Layton's noise-making talents to potential couples. Don't worry, Thursey, we are still getting you the hook up. Ha ha. After our nice little chit chat with everyone in Spring, we made our way on over to Klein Forest to eat with their chapter officers. Tiffany told us all about her “ghetto face” and Chris showed us his Lady Gaga dance. Ha ha. Needless to say, we had a blast hanging out with all of them. Before we knew it, though, we were eating nachos at Klein Collins before making our way to Klein Oak (where Kaleb attempted to teach me how to park).
Of course, my parking is nothing compared to my directional skills. It took us a good hour to make the 30 minute trip to New Caney that night. Oops… Luckily, we made it in time for a nice little nap and some Spanish food. Mr. Doyle had us eating all kinds of crazy stuff. My philosophy: don’t ask what anything is. It was a good thing, too. Apparently, we swallowed cow tongue, quail eggs, and oxtail. Oh well. It sure did taste DELICIOUS!
We ended our week with a swing by New Caney, Caney Creek, and Montgomery. I enjoyed seeing all of my Area III buddies, and I can’t wait to go back for our final visits! Until then, we will keep you posted on our upcoming adventures. Look out Area IX, here we come!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Area X- Part II (Kaleb's writing debut!)
Well hello Texas FFA! This is Kaleb McLaurin logging on for my very first blog!! You see, usually I am stuck in the driver's seat cruising across Texas as Allison, your Texas FFA president a.k.a. Kaleb's personal assistant : ) calls schools and gets our schedule in order…and yes, writes the blog from her cubical in the passenger seat! Yet this week, it is my job to inform you of our adventures in area diez!
On Martin Luther King Day, Allison and I hopped in the truck and left College Station at eight o’ clock that morning to embark on our drive to MEXICO!!!!! We drove through battling beaver country to pick up Kody and then made our way to the border at Eagle Pass. There we met up with the Ag teachers from both Eagle Pass and CC Win. Mr. Purcell and Mr. Cardenas had plans for us to cross the border along with them and a few members. We crossed into Mexico that afternoon and our shopping spree began. Kody started out by searching for a pair of sea turtle boots! I couldn’t believe we finally found some. However we then realized that sea turtles are endangered, therefore we couldn’t bring them back across the borer, but we didn’t leave empty handed!! Chuck helped us pick out some styling ponchos! Then after we crossed back over into America and enjoyed some amazing authentic Mexican food, we visited Birget’s house were we had an awesome talk with her parents about how they raise bugs and stuff.
The next day we did presentations in both Eagle Pass and CC Win before we drove all the way to Cotulla, where we enjoyed some very classy opening ceremonies!! After Cotulla, we went back out on the road again and headed to Falls City. We ate an amazing meal that Mrs. Johnson made us that was followed by an amazing night out running the roads of Falls City!! That next morning, we woke up early and drove to good ole Tilden, where we spent the morning talking to their FFA members and then took a few minutes to talk to some extremely smart Greenhands! These kids were amazing! Afterwards, we headed back to Falls City where we did a presentation at Kody’s high school. We followed it up with a very informative conversation with Kody’s football coach! From there, we traveled to Calallen where we spent the night installing a 12 inch sub in Austin’s truck.
On Thursday, we woke up and drove to Tuloso Midway where we had a blast picking on Raul after he got so nervous he started sweating profusely and ran out of the classroom! From there, we traveled to Mary Carroll where we where welcomed by a nice lady who asked where we parked our horses!! After I creeped on Courtney, we drove to H-E-B. A very nice gentleman asked us what kind of fertilizer to put on his tomatoes! From there, we set our course to Riviera where we were warned of bats!! Earlier that day apparently they found a bat in the English class!! That night we spent another night at Jake Martini’s house in Calallen.
Friday morning, we woke up early and headed to Refugio where we spoke to two groups in their auditorium. Afterwards we headed to the heart of Texas history in Goliad. There, I drooled over the Ag teacher’s sweet mustang that he was refurbishing in class and then went to eat with the chapter and talked about goats!! We then traveled to Victoria where Kody showed off his dance moves. We will keep the rest of what happened there on the down low right Krista?! And that is our tour of south Texas!! Adios mi amigos!! Hasta luego!! Ch ch . . .
(If you want to see Kaleb write one more blog, join our group on Facebook: "Kaleb McLaurin for one more blog post"! We have to get at least 500 members by this Thursday, January 28th!)
On Martin Luther King Day, Allison and I hopped in the truck and left College Station at eight o’ clock that morning to embark on our drive to MEXICO!!!!! We drove through battling beaver country to pick up Kody and then made our way to the border at Eagle Pass. There we met up with the Ag teachers from both Eagle Pass and CC Win. Mr. Purcell and Mr. Cardenas had plans for us to cross the border along with them and a few members. We crossed into Mexico that afternoon and our shopping spree began. Kody started out by searching for a pair of sea turtle boots! I couldn’t believe we finally found some. However we then realized that sea turtles are endangered, therefore we couldn’t bring them back across the borer, but we didn’t leave empty handed!! Chuck helped us pick out some styling ponchos! Then after we crossed back over into America and enjoyed some amazing authentic Mexican food, we visited Birget’s house were we had an awesome talk with her parents about how they raise bugs and stuff.
The next day we did presentations in both Eagle Pass and CC Win before we drove all the way to Cotulla, where we enjoyed some very classy opening ceremonies!! After Cotulla, we went back out on the road again and headed to Falls City. We ate an amazing meal that Mrs. Johnson made us that was followed by an amazing night out running the roads of Falls City!! That next morning, we woke up early and drove to good ole Tilden, where we spent the morning talking to their FFA members and then took a few minutes to talk to some extremely smart Greenhands! These kids were amazing! Afterwards, we headed back to Falls City where we did a presentation at Kody’s high school. We followed it up with a very informative conversation with Kody’s football coach! From there, we traveled to Calallen where we spent the night installing a 12 inch sub in Austin’s truck.
On Thursday, we woke up and drove to Tuloso Midway where we had a blast picking on Raul after he got so nervous he started sweating profusely and ran out of the classroom! From there, we traveled to Mary Carroll where we where welcomed by a nice lady who asked where we parked our horses!! After I creeped on Courtney, we drove to H-E-B. A very nice gentleman asked us what kind of fertilizer to put on his tomatoes! From there, we set our course to Riviera where we were warned of bats!! Earlier that day apparently they found a bat in the English class!! That night we spent another night at Jake Martini’s house in Calallen.
Friday morning, we woke up early and headed to Refugio where we spoke to two groups in their auditorium. Afterwards we headed to the heart of Texas history in Goliad. There, I drooled over the Ag teacher’s sweet mustang that he was refurbishing in class and then went to eat with the chapter and talked about goats!! We then traveled to Victoria where Kody showed off his dance moves. We will keep the rest of what happened there on the down low right Krista?! And that is our tour of south Texas!! Adios mi amigos!! Hasta luego!! Ch ch . . .
(If you want to see Kaleb write one more blog, join our group on Facebook: "Kaleb McLaurin for one more blog post"! We have to get at least 500 members by this Thursday, January 28th!)
Friday, January 15, 2010
Area VII- Part III
Willie Nelson had it right. “On the road again” should be our theme song. After a few short weeks of Christmas break, we are back on the road, enjoying a little slice of heaven: Area VII. Our journey started A LONG WAY from all civilization in Eden, Texas. My computer was even convinced that I was in international territories and wouldn’t let me on the internet! We had a blast out there, though; there’s just something really warm and welcoming about people from small towns. I love it!
After our presentation in Eden, we headed to Lampassas for a second shot at making a difference. We were scheduled to give our presentation there in September. Unfortunately, Kaleb and I both got extremely sick and left poor Tyler to fend for himself. Thankfully, all three of us were in attendance for this one. We were even lucky enough to hear all about the stories that Doc Forsythe had from FFA back in the day. That night, we made our way on over to Stony Point for their FFA meeting. I think it is safe to say that we all enjoyed the hilarious skits on CDE contests. Of course, nothing could compare to the conversations at dinner that night about Kaleb’s preferred choice of shampoos.
The next day, we made our way to the home of the Hutto Hippos. Did you know that they are the only school in the state with a hippo as its mascot? I certainly thought that it was an interesting fact to learn. After a lunch at the Texan Café (where Kaleb and I both gave up all hope of sticking to a diet), we headed to Elgin, Texas. I am pretty sure that no one will forget those epic conversations about the people at the Livingston Walmart. Needless to say, we all got a laugh out of that one!
That night, we had the honor of being the first guests in Mr. Tom Maynard’s “barn dominium”. After watching TIVo’d episodes of The Bachelor, LOTS of snacks, and an intense wrestling match with Tyler, we drifted off for a full 12 hours of sleep. That’s right! For the first time ever, we actually got some sleep. Woo hoo! Our first and only school for the day was at Florence. Talk about an amazing group of students. They were so energetic…and even gave us some jerky and cheese from their meats lab. Thanks David! You’re the best!
That night, we made the long trek to Uvalde, Texas. The drive was definitely worth the wait, though. They fed us steak- MEDIUM RARE RIBEYE STEAKS! - for dinner. Of course, that was only the beginning of a fun night full of pool tournaments, foosball competitions, and video games. I’m still waiting to hear Kevin’s reasons speech, though. I’ve heard that it is quite entertaining! Lastly, we made a final stop in Bracketville, Texas. They were a great audience full of fresh faces; I’m definitely excited to see the success that chapter will have in the future!
And with that, we ended our Area VII journeys for the year. Of course, we look forward to seeing all of our new friends at the State FFA Convention in July. Until then, look forward to more stories from the road as we head on down to the best in Tex: Area X.
After our presentation in Eden, we headed to Lampassas for a second shot at making a difference. We were scheduled to give our presentation there in September. Unfortunately, Kaleb and I both got extremely sick and left poor Tyler to fend for himself. Thankfully, all three of us were in attendance for this one. We were even lucky enough to hear all about the stories that Doc Forsythe had from FFA back in the day. That night, we made our way on over to Stony Point for their FFA meeting. I think it is safe to say that we all enjoyed the hilarious skits on CDE contests. Of course, nothing could compare to the conversations at dinner that night about Kaleb’s preferred choice of shampoos.
The next day, we made our way to the home of the Hutto Hippos. Did you know that they are the only school in the state with a hippo as its mascot? I certainly thought that it was an interesting fact to learn. After a lunch at the Texan Café (where Kaleb and I both gave up all hope of sticking to a diet), we headed to Elgin, Texas. I am pretty sure that no one will forget those epic conversations about the people at the Livingston Walmart. Needless to say, we all got a laugh out of that one!
That night, we had the honor of being the first guests in Mr. Tom Maynard’s “barn dominium”. After watching TIVo’d episodes of The Bachelor, LOTS of snacks, and an intense wrestling match with Tyler, we drifted off for a full 12 hours of sleep. That’s right! For the first time ever, we actually got some sleep. Woo hoo! Our first and only school for the day was at Florence. Talk about an amazing group of students. They were so energetic…and even gave us some jerky and cheese from their meats lab. Thanks David! You’re the best!
That night, we made the long trek to Uvalde, Texas. The drive was definitely worth the wait, though. They fed us steak- MEDIUM RARE RIBEYE STEAKS! - for dinner. Of course, that was only the beginning of a fun night full of pool tournaments, foosball competitions, and video games. I’m still waiting to hear Kevin’s reasons speech, though. I’ve heard that it is quite entertaining! Lastly, we made a final stop in Bracketville, Texas. They were a great audience full of fresh faces; I’m definitely excited to see the success that chapter will have in the future!
And with that, we ended our Area VII journeys for the year. Of course, we look forward to seeing all of our new friends at the State FFA Convention in July. Until then, look forward to more stories from the road as we head on down to the best in Tex: Area X.
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