The Britons
I spent two days in Chicago and spent the most amazing time with my family. My grandparents from Bolivia are visiting and I met the family there and took Novali to see them. It is the first time they have met her, and I am glad they got the chance.

My Abuelitos are the best, they are getting old (late 80s) and I are so strong and vibrant still it amazing me. From the stories of abuelo hanging from a Mango tree, to abuelita and the crazy airport drama on the way here. They now have meet their two American great grandchildren and I know they could not be happier. My abuelo has not stopped talking about how tall the Sears Tower in Chicago is...

Of course we swam, ate, and caught up. Novali took a little time to warm up to the abuelitos, but not much time. I did not get any pool pictures this time, maybe my dad will send me some and I will post them. Here are a few shots of my family time in Chicago.

My abuelitos have not been to the USA since 1994 for the world cup.

With the old Centellas men... my Dad and Abuelo had tons of fun with her running around.

With the Centellas women: my mom always is trying to teach her new things, and Abuelita sang some old children songs in Spanish with her.

When they dropped us off Novali showed her toys to Abuelo, and then the family took off.

I am glad I got to spend sometime with the family in between all my trips. I am planning some time in Saginaw with the family at the end of August as well.

Currently I am in Orlando at my Fraternity Convention. In one hour we start our business meeting at which someone will be elected as our new Vice President of Finance. I am hoping to be elected... wish me luck.

Oh, for those wondering... I am going to be a Briton.

Around Oregon in 48 hours
Three day weekend, 1200 miles on a rental car... hold on.. didn't I do that last weekend in the Midwest? Well this time it was in Oregon. I have officially seen everything this state has to offer, so now I can leave and be happy that I saw it all. Lets recap the roadtrip weekend.

Friday Night
A vineyard tour and tasting, more sand dunes, big RVs, some old town shopping and the smallest scallops ever.

King Estates was huge and the rows and rows of grapes were amazing.

The ground were perfectly manicured and this would be a great place to have a reception.

The view on the dunes was great, it was a hit day and the ocean really helped cool the air.

Sand between my toes.

Old Towne Florence was very scenic and reminded me of the old lake side towns in west Michigan.

The old boats added to the rustic touch... but the seafood restaurant was nothing specially... tiny scallops.

Saturday
Glide Oregon, a lost camera, Diamond Lake, Crater Lake, Willamette Pass, a Gondola, Covered bridges, a sunset and music at Taylors.

The drive south wound along the Rogue river and had awesome views and winding roads which made it fun to drive on.

After having to go back and get Becky's camera she left at a store, we stopped to some awesome views.

Diamond lake was so smooth, makes me wish I still water skied.

All the pine trees reminded of that artist guy.. the one who painted happy trees. What was his name?

On the way to Crater lake there was snow! I had to jump in it barefoot.

Crater Lake is an old Volcano, now it is one of the deepest lakes in North America.

Mountain ranges surrounded the location.

The water was a shocking blue mixed with green.

The Willamette Pass ski lodge is open all year.

The Gondola ride to the top revealed some long distance views.

All day spent looking for a covered bridge... and this one you could not even drive through.

Sunset. We called it a day and went to the famous campus spot, Taylors.

Sunday
Homemade cobbler, St. Helen Burger, lots of bikers, a big blowed up volcano, regrown trees, and accidentally finding the Oregon Brewmaster Festival.

The family run dinner was great. St. Helen burger=Burger, fried egg, ham, and all the fixin's. Yum.

Not nearly as scenic as I had hoped, the history in the park was cool though and so was the drive.

As we drive into Portland we saw a little festival happening. So that means bands, and old people trying to dance.

They had microbrews from around the world... even Michigan!

In Oregon people are either shirtless or on stilts. Standard.

Brews and Porta-Johns. A match made in heaven.

People could put where they were from... someone was already there from Santa Cruz!

Of course... I ate... pizza, and teriyaki chicken, but they ran out of elephant ears!

The weekend was great. I am tired but the travel continues... this week I head to Chicago and then the weekend to Orlando, FL. Yes I know... I don't like to stay still in one place. I am looking forward to more traveling. Not looking forward to starting to pack of my place in GR... now where will I move it to is the question... stay tuned for important updates.

My abuelitos are great! Novali is being fun and we are about to jump into the pool, again. So I got to run. I will update about my time in Chicago soon.

IntroDUCKtion
This weekend was a blast... Crater Lake in the South of Oregon, Florence on the ocean, Mt. Saint Helens in WA, and the Oregon Brewmaster Festival and Portland. I will be posting pictures soon of the adventure. For now an update from Greek Life...

The summer orientation program here is called IntroDUCKtion (Oregon mascot is a Duck). Greek Life gets to put on a presentation, have information tables, and give tours of a house (fraternity and sorority). I get the pleasure of helping to coordinate the Greek involvement. Of course this is the first major time they will get to recruit potential new members and get to set parents minds at ease about their son or daughter going Greek.

I field a ton of questions (which is tough being how new I am here) from parents and make sure the students are getting the correct information. Students come with their parents to orientation here, about 70% of students bring their parents. I find that strange coming from Michigan were I don't know of schools that would have such high parent enrollment in an orientation program. I like it though. Most parents went here and it is an excuse for them to visit and check out all the changes... "I remember when" stories all over the place.

The first couple sessions were packed with people interested in Greek Life. Many were legacies (meaning someone in their family is Greek) and some had friends who were Greek. I of course took some pictures and figured I would let you all see one of my summer projects.

The fraternity info table gets lots of random questions, the students study up on Greek facts before hand.

The sorority table spends most of their time explaining what the Formal Recruitment Process looks like.

Our office is open letting people register online for recruitment right on the spot.

The morning presentation is very intersting... Flash.. pictures... all the fun stuff.

Numbers are up, way up. I really motivated the guys to push hard during IntroDUCKtion to sign guys up for recruitment (most days we had more guys then girls helping). They are very lax here about recruitment... I am trying to teach them effective techniques to get guys committed to checking out Greek Life. I got big plans for them during my short visit, hopefully we can accomplish some cool things before I go...

Speaking of going, today I fly to Chicago. I spend two days there and then buzz off to Orlando for my convention. On my return I will spend August 2nd in Grand Rapids getting ready to move my stuff, and then back to Oregon for work. Ah... so much traveling, so much work, so much fun, and so little time!