Kids, Clams, and Self-Defense

It’s only day two, but I am exhausted already! Now this may be the result of a sleepless night, an early morning and a long day…but I think I will be sleeping like a log tonight!

This morning started out with breakfast, which was followed by our Mentoring Session – which was the absolute best part of my day. I was grouped up with Ms. Illinois and Ms. Indiana, and we also had two young men – Jonathan and Christopher, who by the way were AMAZING artists. As a group we had to come up with a character with a background story and numerous details about her personality, style, family, etc. After we developed our character, Amber Kimley, we had to sketch her with her best friend. Numerous of the other groups chose skits or sang a song to portray their character, but all in all it was a great experience and the kids were extremely talented!

Our Mentoring Group

The Whole Group

After our mentoring session, we headed down the huge hill outside our hotel to the park in front of the Capitol Building for our group photo. Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of 28 women in wheelchairs in one photo? It’s difficult!!

We then headed to Fire and Ice for lunch, which was absolutely delicious, but extremely chaotic!! After lunch, we made the trek up the hill once again and began in on our afternoon session of self-defense. It was eye opening to see some of the tactics they suggested for when confronted with someone who makes you uncomfortable and such.

Last pageant event of the day was the clambake! I was looking forward to this portion of the day so much because I absolutely love seafood and there isn’t a better place to get seafood than on the East Coast! It was just as delicious as I had expected it to be!

Supper with Kentucky, Virginia, and DC

Clams!

While at supper tonight, our first visitors arrived! Scott, Megan, and Eli showed up around 6:3pm and after getting settled, they headed to grab some food and we all met up afterward and caught up a little bit, talking of our plans/schedules for the rest of the week! I am so glad they were able to make the trip and are able to share this momentous week with me!

Eli and I

I cannot thank you all enough for all of the support! All of the messages on Facebook and my blog are remarkable. You all truly amaze me, plus your love, support, and prayers mean the word to me. Without you all, I wouldn’t be here! I must send a HUGE shootout to my brother and his family - Jason, Heather, Karlee and Jake for an amazingly beautiful arrangement of flowers I received this afternoon.  Another HUGE thank you goes out to Denise Reigel for the gorgeous bouquet of roses. Thank you all so much!!

From Jason, Heather, Karlee and Jake

Roses from Denise