Happy New Year

A family trip to Sea World

Hello again! I know it has been a while since I last posted. Truthfully things have been a bit dull lately. Sure, I've had a wonderful holiday season with friends and family, but I really haven't done much traveling at all. Things are finally getting back to normal around here. Christmas decorations are coming down and classes have started up again, which feels good. Through out this post I've thrown in a few pictures of what's been going on over the last few months that I haven't posted much about.

Harli meets a manatee at the Lowry Park Zoo

The best part about the new year is the feeling of having a fresh start. It's a time we can look ahead and make plans, and that is one of my favorite things to do. So for the lucky 2013, here's whats on the docket....

Breezy turned 8 years old last week! I can't believe it!

I've been making good use of Groupon lately and have purchased a few adventure type tours locally. In the next month or so my sister Claire and I will schedule our yearly trip to swim with the manatees over in Crystal River, which is always great. Also I bought a tour to go paddle boarding down in the Tampa area. I've never tried paddle boarding before so I am excited to go! The big news for later this month is that my friend Lindsay and I just reserved a spot at Sea World's Discovery Cove in Orlando where we will spend the day snorkeling with tropical fish, rays, and (drum roll.....) dolphins! We are both really excited about this trip and you can expect to see pictures and video from it by early February.

I got straight A's on last semester's courses! Woo hoo!

Summer looks good too! At first my family was planning on going to Glacier National Park in Montana, but after looking into it further, it's just going to be too expensive of a trip for us this year. Instead, we are going to try for a bit closer to home at Great Smokey Mountain National Park. I've never been there and we have some family history in the area, so it looks like it is going to be a very fun trip! Another big adventure for the summer is a trip to Panama with my church's Mission Team. I was apart of the Mission Team as a teenager and really loved the work and the people that I worked with during that time. Now, back in my home town as an adult, I have rejoined the Mission Team and am really enjoying our service projects thus far. The trip is set to happen in mid June, so it looks like I'll be dusting off my passport and heading south of the border for a bit. I've never been to Panama so I am really looking forward to digging in for a short while and meeting the people. The Mission Team trips are not glamorous vacations, but rather very rustic journeys into small Central American villages where we try to put ourselves to work in whatever way we can to accomplish the most good. It feels great and I can't wait to get back to that.

Went to Sea World with the family (including my soon to be brother in law, Scott)

So toss in a couple of bucket list items like taking a surf lesson and parasailing and you've got my year in a nutshell! And that's just the planned stuff. Life is good. Hopefully I can continue to write and get published, slowly progressing in my writing "career". Wish me luck! And I'm wishing you a very happy new year full of your own wonderful adventures. So, what's on your adventure to-do list for this year? Drop me a note in the comments below, as I would love to hear your exciting and inspiring plans!