WWR II

This past weekend, April 21-23, marked the second annual white water rafting trip. Unfortunately I was unable to attend this year being that I can't raft being pregnant and all, but I was definately caught up by my friends who braved the white rapids again this year. This would have been my third year adventuring to Fayetteville, WV to take part in all the festivities of "College Weekend" at Rivers Resort and my 4th time down the New River. For everyone else this was their second "College Weekend" and third time on the New.
The fun begins around noon on Friday when Matt Hughes is finally located from the night before (after numerous calls to him and one call to jail to make sure he didn't get picked up) and begins displaying his amazing ability to pack the car full of everyone's (6-8 people) camping gear, food, and booze. One last run through to make sure we have everyone and everything our 2 car caravan is off. Four hours later we arrive to the one and only Rivers Resort greeted by friendly staff and The Red Dog Saloon. If you arrive early enough you get to pick your camping spot so you can be as close or as far as you please to the saloon and the restrooms. Campsite 10 is our favorite and within reasonable distance to both of the previously mentioned important places.
The booze we bring is mainly for the first night so the cooler is generally the first thing unpacked. With cold beer in hand it takes more people than necessary to pitch the tents and set up camp but it all gets done with plenty of time left for playing frisbee, corn-hole, or a little game we invented called bounce. The Red Dog is open Friday night but stays pretty dead cause everyone adventures through the campground meeting other campers from various places in the U.S.. Last year there was this guy named Mike Jones (I swear) and I forget where he was from, but he was the most entertaining fella on the whole campgrounds and he was camping right by us. He captured audiences from all over the grounds by balancing a variety of objects on his chin. Everything from a large ax to a freakin' 6 foot log...I swear. We have pictures to prove it. There's always a few characters encountered, but hey, we are in West Virginia!!
Saturday Morning, bright and early, we are awakened by the intercom calling for rafters starting at 7:00 a.m.. It's a good thing we usually raft no earlier than 9:00 because most of the people in our group were too drunk the night before to even be phased by the announcements. There are benefits to waking up early...1.One member of your group has to check in an hour before the trip, 2. If you have to rent a wetsuit (the water is a nice 40 degrees) you have time to do so and make sure all your stuff fits, 3. Complimentary breakfast of doughnuts, apples, oranges and coffee is still abundant, 4. You can brush your teeth and take care of any other bathroom needs before the 30 minute bus ride down to the river. We always have at least one person who refuses to wake up until 5 minutes before the bus leaves, but we always seem to make it, hungover and ready for the rapids.
Some choose to take the time on the rickety bus to catch a bit more zzz's and if you're still sleepy on the raft the water is all the wake up call you need. As mentioned before it is a chilling 40 degrees and wetsuit or not your breath is taken away with every hit. It is my preference to start the trip on the river out in the front of the boat. You get to hit rapids anywhere from class I to III. The ranking system of white water rapids work on a scale of Class I to V+ and depends on a number of things like how wide the river is, what rocks lie beneath the water that you can't see, the water level of the river that day, etc. So it's front row seats for the first half of the trip and then...my personal favorite part...we break for lunch. Ahhh, lunch... anywhere from 30 to 40 extremely hungover, brave rafters pile onto a beachy area on the banks of the New River awaiting the announcement that lunch is served and chivalry is not yet lost is the hills of West Virginia, so ladies first. Heidi and I always somehow manage to lead the pack taking our pick at white or wheat bread, ham, turkey or bologna, tomato, lettuce,pickles, mayo, mustard and cheese, can't forget the cheese. The spread continues...tuna salad, potatoe salad, pasta salad, potatoe chips, and last but certainly not least, chocolate oreo pudding. Wash it all down with many tiny cups of water or if you choose you may add some lemonade powder to your water for flavor but it isn't very good. The poor boys don't understand why I love lunch sooo much because by the time they get through the line us girls, or pigs rather, have more than dented the line up leaving behind mostly bologna and one tomato if the guys are lucky.
After all is said and done and our belly's are full we are back at it for some high class rapids. This is when I like to move to the back of the boat because it increases the thrill. You still get to see the size of the rapid but you get tossed around a lot more back there making it quite a challenge to stay in the boat. It is great fun all the way and although we may suck at paddling together we always manage to keep from flipping or loosing anybody on the New (that wasn't the case when we ran the Gauley...In the middle of a rapid called Hell we thought we were gonna flip but only one guy fell out.)
At the take out spot we are all beat but have enough adrenaline pumping that we manage to hike up the hill and make it onto the bus for the treacherous trip up the mountain side. The road way up the mountain is just wide enough for the bus to fit and the longest stretch of straight road is about 50 feet with 180 degree turns at either end. There are rocks lining one side of the bus so closely that you would loose your finger if you stuck it out the window and on the other side of the bus, about a inch away from the tires, it pretty much a straight down drop to the bottom of the mountain. The bus driver is the craziest and the best in the world cause he zips right up to the top where we are safely dropped where we boarded hours before, in front of Rivers Gift Shop.
Upon exiting the bus you go to the gift shop to pick up your dinner vouchers and have about an hour to get showered (yes there are showers on the campgrounds) and return your wetsuit before your trips video gets played at the Red Dog and the free beer starts...yes I said FREE BEER! From about 4:00 p.m. until around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. They give out free beer--keg beer--as much as you can drink. You see people walking around with gallon size jugs as their beer glass for the night. Infact, if it will hold beer, you can fill it up. That is why cooler stands were invented last year. We literally filled a cooler up with beer and would release the draining spout at the bottom of the cooler for some taker to get drowned in beer. I must say this wasn't a very successful way of consuming the beer, but it was funny to watch. Sometime after the video and a couple of drafts there is a complimentary bbq chicken and pulled pork dinner being served. The food is gooooood, when you get it hot, but if you are one of the unlucky ones who gets a cold plate they will replace it no questions asked. During all those hours of free beer there is always some type of festivity going on. Like Beer Olympics...something we never choose to partake in because none of us really like to run or spin in circles after chugging a beer. Infact, this year Heidi informed me that they tried to compete but forfeited after the first round. But you can play volleyball, sit by the fire, or party at the Red Dog where there is always a live band on Saturday night. Not to mention pool tables, toga (or less) contests and plenty of places to sit.
At some unknown hour of the morning you stumble back to your tent (or what you hope is yours) and bundle way up is your sleeping bag (it gets extremely cold during the night in that valley of West Virginia) and sleep until the sun bakes you inside your tent the next morning. Then we pack up and leave and anxiously await the same time next year to go at it again. The greatest thing about college weekend is that you don't have to actually be in college to go. We plan on going until they tell us we can't. You bet I'll be back next year when I can face the rapids with out possibly endagering my son (that's right...it's a boy!!!). He can stay safe at home with Dad!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVE TO ME!! TOMORROW I'LL BE 23!!

Twenty three years ago today Debra Ann Hensley was sporting a beachball belly and some amoeba like maternity clothing (which she absolutely hates) while anxiously awaiting the arrival of her newest family member. Then on April 13, 1983, the world (and Deb) was blessed with me, Leiah Joy Scott (now Hensley). Needless to say it has been quite an eventful 23 years.
Mom asked me my earliest memory before and I don't remember exactly what I told her but I am thinking far back now and seeing my little toy sink that really squirted water. I remember playing in the dining/playroom at St. Germaine Ct. washing all my tea party dishes with my stepsister, and I think we were pretty young at that time. I also remember playing in the closet of my bedroom at St. Germaine that has a wooden slope that doubled as a wonderful mountainside location for Barbie to experience some devistating sort of natural disaster. This closet is the very place I learned to tie a bow. I was sick of Barbie having to wear the same outfit day in and day out because Amber got tired of tying her shirts on over and over and tied them all in knots. You could either cut the ties of the shirt of rip Barbie's head off which always broke that knobby thing that acted as her "neck" and when you smooshed her head back on she didn't diserve to be wearing the new shirt because she was a no-neck and no longer a favorite. She became inevitably a victim of the mountian top tornado that consisted of being tied to the sashes of my dresses and spun out of control by little hands. And Harvey Brown Preschool where we made rainbow toast and I kissed a boy named Peter under the table.
I remember a lot about St. Germaine and even more about Blossom Ln. The time Amber and I got into a fight and she locked herself in the half bath downstairs. I tried to shove the door open and she screamed bloody murder...that I had just somehow poked her eye out with the door. Then there was the final time I threw away my passy only to discover my thumb which would later lead to having braces twice. Playing at Mother of Good Coucil in the pine trees by Westport Rd. That time Ryan Babbitt tied Betsy's little red wagon to his bike and sped down the hill of MGC's driveway with me in it and getting quite a concrete strawberry on my thigh when the wagon tipped on it's side. I remeber Shannon being jealous that Amber was my buddy pal buddy and wanting a nickname for herself. She became my squirmy worm that day. I remember hanging out at Plantation...going off the high dive in the summer and sledding down the big hill in the winter.
I had a lot of fun there but not as much as in Louisiana although my biggest memory of Lake Charles is being outside. I would have to say that out of exploring the grounds at the end of our street, distroying the fire ant hills with a stick, and swimming to keep cool in the summers, my favorite time there was when Amber and I painted Daddy's saw horses and tied a pillow around them like a saddle and played horses. They were not the most effecient horses as far as mobility but it was great fun none the less and I believe we still have those saw horses, grafitti and all, in mom and dad's garage today.
When we moved to Lexington I was in fifth grade and summer consisted of playing kickball and wading in the nearby creek for the first year. During the school year I would spend my weekends at the mall or the movies with my friends...all by ourselves. We were so cool. Espcially me with my perm and tight rolled jeans. Every summer after that was spent at my friend Susan's farm riding horses or at the lake with her family. Actually we rode horses pretty much all year round. Middle school and some of high school aren't very active in my memory. I think because I was grounded for my grades a lot during those years.
Once in high school I did manage to keep my G.P.A up enough to get to participate in sports so I played volleyball and ran track until I moved back to Louisville between 10th and 11th grade. I still played volleyball in Louisville but quit track due to shin splints and an ankle injury. I had a few good friends in those two years in Louisville. Amira Shalati (whose birthday is today April 12th) and John Suter who would make me laugh constantly and Shauna Douglas who support my Nsync addiction to the fullest. I also met Matty G., the brother I never had, in the beginning of these years.
Despite all the academic struggles I always seemed to have in the later school years I still managed to graduate from Ballard High School on time in May, 2001. Two weeks later I ventured into college life at the University of Kentucky and stayed there for two years with a declining academic slope. Then I transferred to Lexington Community College to pursue a Dental Hygiene degree. Academic Suspension led to two years off of school and waiting tables, but it seems I have finally gotten on track and learned how to succeed in school. It requires actually going to class and actually studying the material...imagine that. It'll only be two more years until I have the degree. I will be taking fall '06 semester off to welcome my first child into the world and adjust to being mommy. In fall of '07 I should be accepted to the Dental Hygiene Program at what is now BCTC (Formerly LCC) and will graduate in May '09.
All in all it has been a wonderful adventure for the past 23 years and looks like a hopeful future lies ahead. I would like to thank my family for always believing in me and supporting me and providing me with unconditional love. Also, I'd like to thank my friends for keeping it fun and unpredictable all the way.

Hooray!!

I just my baby kick from the outside of my belly for sure this time!!! On March 28th (L.J.'s Birthday, R.I.P) I felt two twitches in a row and put my hand on my belly just in time to feel the third one. I wasn't sure if it was really a kick or not since there were only three but just a minute ago I sat on my couch to take a break from measuring all my furniture and definately felt kicks. Seven in one region of my belly and 2 more about two inches to the left of the first ones. It was so cool. I think I am definately noticing the baby's movements more profoundly too. It started off as just little flutters, like a butterfly flapping it's wings, and usually only one flap at a time. Now I think I can tell where it is when I am sleeping and I can tell when it is being really active, but those real full fledged kicks are awesome. I want them to happen all the time. I know I'll get my wish since things just get bigger from here.

If you are a reader who doesn't regularly check my sisters blog you should because it is great but also she has started a poll... Bets on what the sex is (I'll know on April 19 but I think the poll results become official when the baby is born and the Dr.'s guess is confirmed), when it will be born, and what time it will be coming. The address to her blog is www.likeatwister.blogspot.com. I stole this picture from her to show all my regulars just how much thing have grown in only one month.

I think if you click on the picture it will show you a larger image.

I hardly recognize my belly button anymore and had to buy a lot of stretchy clothes because maternity stuff doesn't come in petite sizes and my clothes don't pretty much don't fit. I figured since I'll pregnant throughout the whole summer I will just live in skirts and skants (those pants that hit just below the knees that are flowy and look like skirts) or a bathing suit at the pool cause the air in my apartment sucks. Just wanted to share my excitement for the kicks with everyone. Have great days and if you're in Kentucky enjoy this weather that is finally springy. Amber's has a bulb garden that is in bloom and smells delicious. She even has some minature tulips that have blossomed. There is hope yet that winter will (and may have, but that's probably just me being optimistic again) officially end and I can't wait.