CF FBLA Nationals

Take a break and relax watching the jelly fish at the National Aquarium...... Need a couple more minutes of relaxation, watch the marine life in the reef. Enjoy!

Friday night at the ballpark at Camden Yards.  Back on the shuttle bus and headed downtown. The ball park is really beautiful.  Recently remodeled and overhauled and host of many notable players such as Cal Ripken Jr. and featured in many movies like Major League II & Dave along with TV shows such as The Wire, West Wing, and House of Cards. The baseball food is a lot different than we are used to however.  Big sellers are a hot dog with Mac n Cheese and Crab, Chippers, and Pinch Dumplings (Chinese dumplings and cabbage).  I opted for Chippers, homemade potato chips with lots of Old Bay seasoning, ground beef, cheese sauce, shredded cheese, onions, and bacon, lots of bacon.  It was good, but very salty and way too much.  All the food portions here are WAY too big.  After the game loss to the Angels, there was music and fireworks.  Finding our hired ride back was a challenge but we were safe with one of the traffic officers who waited with us until the car found us.  It was

You can tell a lot about a person by what they say about others, their competitors and to strangers. These students, of over 4000, are as polite and well behaved as any I have ever seen.  On the escalator I heard a young man talking to a friend asking how her new roommate was and she replied, "She's great"!  A bus load of students getting off at their hotel, each thanking their bus driver as they left.  Boys holding doors for others, allowing females and advisers their place in line.  These students certainly are amazing in more ways than just academics.  Over and over I heard students tell others they just met "good luck".  Below is Hanna with one of the competitors in her category she met at State. Everyone was hard at work today from the organizers, to the judges, timekeepers, runners, and administrators.  This conference is very well organized all the way down to the table where you sit so you can be located for your event.  Many of the categories

Josh and his family decided to go to the Smithsonian Institute galleries in DC while the rest of us went on a Baltimore City Tour and to the National Aquarium. Evidently Josh had  more exciting day seeing the President's helicopter land! The Baltimore City Tour was a lot of driving and seeing the sites, well maybe more sitting in traffic than we expected, but the visit to Ft. McHenry was very good.  The row house with the red door is the smallest house in Baltimore. This is the resting place of Edger Allen Poe and his family.  Evidently he married his cousin so not only his mother-in-law but his Aunt was also buried there.  She was the same person.  This is the Bromo seltzer tower.  The numbers actually are letters spelling it out.  There used to be a large Blue beacon on top, like a bottle of Bromo Seltzer that lit up at night guiding in ships. Fort McHenry was an important part of the War of 1812 as the guardian of Baltimore's harbor.  Because of

Today we left early on a bus with Portage and Ripon to catch another tour bus and head to Washington DC.  Our bus began at the Capital. We were unable to enter, but did take a walk around the entire perimeter and take lots of pictures.  Our animated tour guide had lots of facts and fables during the day. Congress was in session as evidenced by the flags over the top. We couldn't get close to the White House, so we headed to Georgetown.  The houses are very expensive and very thin.  Originally they were taxed by the width of the house facing the street, so they were all build very narrow.  After Georgetown, off to the MLK Jr. Memorial. By this time it was raining, so we didn't stay long.  Off to the big Three: Lincoln memorial, Vietnam Wall and the Korean Memorial.  Very somber and moving place.   We did get a glimpse of the White House, but again the street was blocked off.  Off to