WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!

Hello everyone,

Friday, for my 3rd and 4th periods I got to go Kayaking. It was great. I took my waterproof camera and got some great pictures. I went with my friend Maria. They were two people Kayaks. We had a little trouble manuevering the craft, but still had a good time. We were basically going around in circles, but at least they were big circles. We took off from a Harbor where a lot of boats were docked. Then we took off into the Ocean. We had to watch out for speed boats, jet skis, and sailing boats. Maria didn't know what to think about the waves the boats made, but I loved it. On the way out to the bay we past this small pier and there was a seal/sealion (it had ears so whichever one that is) sitting there and pelicans and lots of seagulls. It was so beautiful. I wanted to get really close to get a picture of the seal/sea lion, but Maria kept saying, "We are close enough, take the picture. We are close enough take the picture." We headed in a little early due to our manuevering difficulties and we went by the seal/sea lion again. It was really neat for me to see a Pelican so close that wasn't in captivity. When one of the counselor's named Terry and her partner were coming in they decided to go see the seal/sea lion up close and bumped the dock. He went up on his flippers towards them and roared and scared them to death. You should hear Terry tell the story. It cracks me up everytime she does the roar. They were so close they could see his very long, sharp teeth. We got back to our dock and getting out of this thing was another story. You kinda have to roll out onto the dock. I was laughing so hard I just had to lay there for a minute. Overall, Kayaking was a blast. I would do it everyday if I could.

We got back to camp and I checked my cellphone. There was a message from Keith that he left early and was already on campus and needed directions to my dorms. I called him and he found the place, but I made him wait while I showered and got ready and then I went down and met him. It was so great to see him. I still couldn't believe that he was there.

We left and went out to dinner in a town called Pacific Beach. We went to a great little place called Daddios. If you are ever in the San Diego area you have to look this place up. The food was out of this world and Daddio was there. He sat down at our table and talked to us for a great while. I had heard from the waitress that he had lost a lot of weight. I could tell from his picture on the menu. I asked him his secret and he said black beans, no fried foods and a personal trainer. I gave Daddio a little Cubs keychain I had so he could have a piece of Chicago and we got a picture with him. He was great, the food was great and it was a great night. Keith and I walked along the beach before dinner. There were literally hundreds of surfers out. I still cannot figure out how they surf and don't run each other over. It was really neat to see.

After that we went to our Hotel that was in a really hip little part of San Diego and just 2 blocks away from Petco Park. A brand new baseball park where the Padres play. THis is only their 2nd season in the park. Saturday Morning we went on a tour of the ballpark as the team was out of town. The tour was great. In order to build there they had to keep two historic buildings. One is in leftfield corner and they made it into party suites. They were able to keep 70% of the building original. It is beautiful. The way the had to apply for the permit was to say that they were adding on to the building, kinda of like if you add on a garage to your house, so the whole stadium is considered an add-on to this small 4 story building. I found that to be really cool. We got to go in the dug out, take a picture on home plate, but my favorite highlight of the whole day was going into the press box and sitting where the MLB.COM journalist sit. I took pictures and cried because I am so proud of my little brother. I called him afterwards and told him where I had just been and he said, "Sweet." I also told him I cried and that I'm proud of him. Sniff, Sniff. I hope some day he and Kelly can live in San Diego and he can write for the Padres and I can come and visit and eat at Daddios every weekend. :-)

Next we went back to Aunt Linda's and spent the rest of the day with the kids. We went out to dinner and then say the documentary, "The March of the Penguins." It was very good. If your kids love animals I would take them to see them. There are a few sad parts as you can imagine the life of the penguin in the wild.

Sunday we went to church with Keith's Dad, Dave. It was a really nice church. We then all went out to dinner at a place like Old Country Buffet. I was getting sick watching people eat. One man directly behind Keith had (and yes I counted) 10 FRIED chicken legs on his plate. I won't describe how he was eating each one either. I had to have Keith move to the right, so I couldn't see him anymore. This man couldn't even fit in the booth. ANYWAY, it was a wonderful visit with Keith's Dad and a nice afternoon. There were a lot of soldiers in the restaraunt too. I'm raising my kids that whenever they see soldiers to thank them for serving our country, so we went around thanking the soldiers and talking to them. There were about 5-6 soldiers leaving, so I took the kids picture with them and told them we pray for our military all the time and that we would pray for them. They were all very humble about it, but appreciative too. That was a highlight of dinner out. It kinda balenced out the chicken leg guy. YUCK!!!

Today starts week 4 for me. I had a great weigh-in this morning. Here are my stats for you.

Pounds lost week 3: 6.2
Pounds lost total for camp: 11.8
Inches lost in the past 2 weeks (I didn't get measured last week): 4.5 inches
Inches lost total for camp: 10.59 inches
Pounds lost before leaving for camp: 25 pounds
Pounds lost total: 36.8

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement. They have meant so much to me, Keith and the kids. We couldn't have done this without you all.

This morning after my fabulous weigh-in I went to the track and I was going to walk, but ended up doing stadium stairs. I ran up and down 10 times. I then booked it over to kick boxing and had the best class yet. I made it the whole class and really challenged myself. I'm off to Cardio Machines.

Have a Magnificant Monday and remember to smile. It makes your day better.

Write more later.
Melissa

PS. Sorry if there are any spelling errors in advance my spell checker was down and I need to get to class. :-)