Week 4! September 11-17

Monday was a pretty chill day, I woke up really late, but at least I slept through the worst of the hurricane. When I did wake up, we didn't have power, my aunt says that we lost it about 3 am. We didn't have to worry about food going bad because we had coolers, and we had a ton of portable batteries that we charged up for the phones. I ended up taking a nap and reading some scriptures, not much else to do during a hurricane, and board games only entertain you for some many times of playing. Just as we finished making dinner, the power came back on, about 8 pm. We were some of the lucky ones who got power back the same day. My grandfather didn't get power until Friday, and I know of people who still don't have power. After we ate dinner and had power, everyone else in the family sat on the patio doing something, while I turned on the History channel and watched 102 Minutes that changed America, The history channel's showing about 9/11. I left that on and watched it until I fell asleep.

You can take the girl out of Vegas, but you can't take the
Vegas out of the girl

Tuesday was another "boring day" in the sense that there was no school and not many stores or restaurants were opened. We did know of one Chinese restaurant that was open so we all went there for lunch, which was nice because we didn't have to eat more sandwiches, which was all we ate because we did not have power.

The hurricane gave us an allegator 

Had lots of time for selfies 

I just picked him up and put him on the cat tree and he
just sort of fell asleep like that... 

Wednesday was SAMANTHA'S BIRTHDAY. So this week's shout-out is to her for being the coolest sister I have and my best friend. <3 My aunt also took me shopping... on Sam's birthday... I didn't get it. But a good portion of my clothes are still in Nevada so I needed some more. Got more flannels which is always a party, my kryptonite <3 After we finshed shopping, we went to Linner (lunch and dinner) down by the sea in Ponce Inlet. We ate lunch right next to the light house.

I woke up too early but it was just in time to meet the new crew
of the ISS on NASA TV (the only channel I care to memorize)

They made phone calls to their family

This sign fell during the hurricane

I actually like wearing yellow

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

Thursday was the first day back to classes for a week. It was great to get back on campus and out of the house we had all been trapped in over the weekend. Durring lunch between classes my friend Olivia and I went to the Mall and got lunch then went back to the lobby in her dorm room to eat said lunch. Today was the first offical day in the labratory. we had our Orientation class but the Hurricane hindered our last class. We got to get all dressed up with a lab apron, goggles, and gloves... to play with water XD Haha, but we have to start some where right? It was still fun to just be there, we totaly nerded out and were talking about Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, and several other nerd based movies and of course we talked about comic books and the MCU. After my classes we drove down to Sanford airport, and picked up my cousin who I haven't seen for like 4 years!! So it was a party, we went out to Houligans to catch some dinner because her flight was through Dinner time.

Some stuff from home!

My family <3 <3 

Lookin Fly (get it, its an aviation school! HA)

Friday was a much longer day, due to the fact that there still aren't many places here with Gas, I didn't get to go home between classes. So I was on campus from 9:00-5:30. It was a good day though, I still spend most days wandering around alone. But I get to get all my homework down between classes. I found the library and chilled in there a bit while reading the school newspaper. I hung out with Olivia and Maura (Olivia's roommate) in the lobby in their dorm room and than we all went to chemistry together. It was quiz day, so it sucked XD But was over soon thankfully. I then went to Hot Topic, (of course) because... its Hot Topic. 'Nuff Said. They are having a lot of sales right now so I was checking those out. We I got home we all crashed early due to the fact that we were waking up early in the morning and going to Walt Disney's Animal Kingdom. Super Exciting!

Fav room #lab

Saturday we spent the whole day at Animal Kingdom starting with Expedition Everest which is the closest thing this place has too the Matterhorn bobsleds. We got a killer picture. After the ride slowed to a stop, Mariah goes "hey don't stop the Yeti is behind us" and my aunt was sitting behind her and of course I popped off with "Hey! Don't call Aunt Carrin names." And my aunt goes "no its ok, because people wait out in lines in the heat and pay money to see me" We had a good laugh. We next did Dinosaur, then worked our way over to the World Of Pandora. So we did the rapids, the Safari ride (I SAW A FREAKING GIRAFFE GUYS), The Festival of the Lion King. All the rides in the park really XD Brooks' are pros at Disney Parks, we are like free tour guides. We finally got to Pandora and guys... GO. TO. PANDORA. It is so freaking cool! It's a lot like Cars Land in the sense that it looks like it was pulled off the screen and plopped down in the park. We waited about an hour and a half, or just under to ride the Flight of Passage ride... you guys... it is the coolest freaking ride in all of Disney. If you are a theme park junky then this next part will make sense, if not... uhh just go with it. The basis of the ride is that you get "linked" to an Avatar that is already waiting on the back of a Banshee, when you link up you then get to take flight and soar Pandora on the back of a Banshee. The ride is like a mixture of Soarin' around the World, Star Tours, and the Hogwarts Castle ride in Universal Orlando. Its a 3-D motion ride but its very engaging. I would wait two hours to ride it. Which says something because most rides I won't wait more than 30 minutes to ride. Soooo Worth it. When the park closed we got home and Dropped papa off and then when to Applebees for dinner. Then, once we got home, we crashed HARD.

Got soaked on the Rapids

I haven't had one of these since was a small child <3
(It is ice cream in the shape of Mickey, all arguements are invalid)

Hippos

Wild Dogs (not hyenas)

Baby Giraffe <3

9 ft tall, about a year old... that's some growth

Zebras

Ein Elephant

Flamingos

Simba

Selfie with the king lion

OK so this is a weird Pandora drink its frozen, apple,
pear, and pinapple, and then topped with these little ball things that
are full of Passion fruit juice. Mom you would like it, its a lot
like your frozen apple thing in Toontown

Sunday was a rough day, Still haven't technically been to church, I got up and dressed and ready to go and when I got down to the church, It had been cancelled and everyone was doing helping hands around that area. I asked and got assigned to a group and then went on a wild goose chase trying to find them. I eventually had to give up because my phone was at 2%. Sadly I went home. When I got back we met up with Papa, Pam, and Steve for lunch in Flagler Beach. When we finished there we took Pam to Bass Pro Shops so she could exchange something she had bought. When we got home from that Mariah and I drove down to the Daytona Pier and walked the shops. I found a place that sells Chacos <3 and then we bought some matching anklets. When we got home, I went to bed after taking a Meltonin (natural sleepaid). It was a pretty eventful week if I say so myself.

Flagler Beach

It was really soft ok?!

Daytona Beach Pier

CHACOOOS <3

Week Three! September 4 - September 10

Monday was a pretty lax day. We got up pre-crack of dawn and went to the beach and took photos at sunrise which was awesome and fun and tiring. After taking pictures we had breakfast on the beach then drove home, where we then all took a nap. XD When we woke up Carrin, Shawn, Krista, and I, all went to the beach and hung out and Krista and I boogie boarded. We tore up some waves, we were shredding it up. XD It was a lot of fun getting beat up by the Atlantic Ocean and riding the waves. We had dinner at my grandpa's where I had an emotional break down while working on math and I called my mom and talked about how I wanted to destroy my math book and family XD Luckily as the night went on, I got the answers and help I needed. And I was able to finish all my homework for the next day before bed.

Tuesday I had a late start. I woke up and looked at my phone and thought to myself "crap class starts in 30 minutes!" I live about a 30 minute drive away depending on traffic. I got up and got dressed and out the door. I go to the campus and to my classes about 2 minutes late, which sucked. It's always embarassing walking into class when the door is at the front and then everyone stares at you till you sit down adn the teacher starts talking again XD After classes I stopped by Nike and bought some shoes for cheer tryouts. Super excited they are like, the most beautiful shoes ever... mostly because they are shiny and white and clean and new and perfect. When I got home, My aunt Carrin and I went shopping for hurricane preparedness. We went to Chilli's for dinner but nether Carrin nor myself were very hungry so we ordered a bunch of appitizers and munched. We got, these fried cheese curds, buffalo wings, sliders, egg rolls and fried pickles. When we got home, we both crashed right away.

This is Maura, Her roommate, Oliva, and I are friends
I have only had a handful of conversations with her and
she wants to make sure that I am safe, everyone needs a Maura.

Wednesday was a wild day. We were still unsure about Embry Riddle's plans for the hurricane till the afternoon. I got up and went to my first two classes of the day, Calculus and Communications, as expected the main topic of discussion around campus was everyones evacuation plans. Even if the State doesn't issue an evacuation order for our area, Embry Riddle still clears everyone off campus when a Tropical Depression becomes a CAT 1. Irma is expected to hit between a 1 and a 3. So after my communications class, We got our RAVE email that informed us that campus is for sure closed until at least September 12. So no classes or homeowrk. YAY I am still going to try to get ahead in readings and essays and mathmatics. Sad news though, Wednesday and Thursday were supossed to be tryout days. They have been post poned to the 19 and 20. It made me soo sad because I was really excited to wear my Nike's. I'll just have to wear them around the house, good way to kind of break them in. So I went back down to the campus for my last class before they shut down campus at 5. After that class was finished, I wished Oliva and Maura luck and safety and we parted ways for a week at least. On the way home, I topped of the gas tank across the street from the Daytona 500 racetrack... I got the last of the gas. That has bee nthe biggest problem in Florida is that everyone is trying to leave the state and get gas. But the demand is high and the supply is low. Our gas tanks are full though so if we need to leave, we are good to go. The rest of the evening we just kind of chilled watched some TV, we munched a bit and then climbed in bed XD

When I got to campus in the morning, The car finally agreed that I am a good driver.
It made me happier than it should have. 

Humidity kills, My hair was perfectly straight 3 hours before I took this picture

Thursday was a somewhat boring day. Since classes were cancelled, there wasn't much to do. We did some more hurricane shopping and cleaning to get everything ready. I finally got my room all organized and set up which is a big stress reliever. Other than that, nothing much happened. We tracked the hurricane all day and started setting things out for the hurricane.

My double negative photo, both the mirror and the selfie
camera made my shirt backwards so hey, double negative

Friday was actually pretty busy. When I woke up I immediately got dressed and started setting up the boards on the windows. We had to set up all the ones that were out from under the porches such as on the sides of the house because a thunder storm was moving in. So we got all of the sides boarded up and then we waited for a break in the clouds to set up some more under the patio. We got all of the windows bored up and we moved all of the patio furniture and plants to the garage to keep them from being torn apart by the wind. We did some more cleaning and then aunt Carrin and I started to get ready to go to Papa's for dinner. We left an hour earlier than we needed to because traffic has been crazy with everyone from the beach front working to evacuate. So by leaving an hour early, it gave us enough time to get to Papa's on time for dinner. As we were getting ready for dinner, my dad called me to tell me that he would probably be coming to Florida with his DMAT team to help with clean up after the hurricane. It made me SO happy! After dinner we all played a board game, several times. Much fun and laughes were had and it was a good time. When Carrin and I got home, I called my family, and then we crashed. It was a long day of hurricane preparations.

Boarding up!

The one on the left is my bedroom and the other is the Office.

Not even all the water we have, we have TONS

Both cars and all the plants and furniture from outside, now in the garage

Saturday was a day of laying around and making sure everything else was all preped and ready to go, the shutters were up, everything was off the patio, and most businesses were starting to close down. It was pretty much a lazy day, we played cards a lot and board games, and Carrin and I went and had lunch at a chinese place which was really good! We also watched a lot of movies, one of which was one of my favorites, Hidden Figures. Other than that, like I said earlier, lazy day. Which was nice to have after being so busy and go, go, go for the last two weeks. 

Hurricane Buddies (it was both of ours first hurricane)

Sunday was the long awaited day of the arrival of Hurricane Irma. We didn't start feeling the effects of the hurricane till almost 10 at night, so we had plenty of time to go out side and take some "before and after" pictures. I got some great shots of the flowers out back because I knew for sure, they wouldn't be there monday morning. Again, this was a day of relaxing and we watched a lot of movies, well, mostly the weather channel for obvious reasons, and played a lot of card and board games. I read a few conference talks and took a nap as well, great ways to pass some time. The hurricane hit at about 1 am so I called it and went to bed, I slept till 10:30 am, proof that I can sleep through anything. XD The damage wasnt as bad as we thought it would be when we woke up, but I'll touch on that in the next post. ;)

Haiden did not like me being on the other side of the screen

I think we got some rain... maybe.