"Chocolate People Are Happy People"

And we're back! We know you all missed our enlightening and entertaining tales of the NCAA voyage from last year, so we decided to keep up with the blogging tradition again for this year.

So unlike last year, today we actually left on time at 9am. Before we got into our 11 passenger van we had a slight dilemma...Our van was already stuffed full and we still had to pick up Ripley on the way. With 3 boys in the van and 4 girls, intimidating 90 pound Michelle decided to take charge and tell the boys where to sit.....in the back! Stephen falls asleep for a good 20 minutes and all of a sudden something retched began to fill the air. Stephen unconsciously passed, no, exploded, some gas. It was so awful that we immediately opened all the windows before we choked on the toxic fumes.

After we picked Ripley up at some random gas station, we would soon be on our long awaited journey to Minneapolis, but we had to wait for the Schranck brothers to get out the bathroom (this would not be the last time). So on the road we head..again.

Stephen told us about the time he killed his hamster Jasmo by spinning its hamster-wheel way too fast. The hamster had a heart attack and died. It's still a touchy subject for him. He also decided to tell us about how he doesn't wear deodorant, because apparently he never smells...Too bad it didn't hold true for when he farted. ha

Beth was pretty grumpy; We were ordered that we weren't allowed to criticize her driving or make any noise because we are supposedly annoying. After that, we thought for sure her next order would be "no breathing". haha I mean come on, what else are we supposed to on what was supposed to be a 6 hour van ride that turned into a 7 and half hour trip. We sure couldn't sleep much because there is no room to move even an arm or leg without hitting someone or something. Michelle however, as tiny as she is, found room to comfortably curl up on the bench and catch plenty of Z's. Amanda is bitter about the whole sleeping thing because she was too big to fit comfortably anywhere. So, we thought maybe giving Beth some chocolate would make her a little less tense, but that is the last time we decide to give her free chocolate. As Sue would say "Chocolate people are happy people." I guess Beth needed to be hooked up to chocolate intravenously in order for her to enjoy what seemed to be the never ending van ride.

We stopped at the Dells for some lunch. Quiznos was our eating grounds. And of course Alyssa got just turkey and bread while Sarah got a bread bowl because she hates sandwiches. We hopped back into the van and had to wait for Doug...again! The Schrancks may be fast in water, but holy cow are they like sloths on land.

Back on the road with our stomachs full we continued to head Northwest to the big MN. It wasn't long until Amanda and Sarah noticed that we were almost out of gas. Greg was driving this time. He ignored the gas levels for awhile, but couldn't for much longer because the "low fuel" light came on. It was on for a good 12 minutes before we even started to consider looking for gas station. We got off somewhere in Eau Claire and Greg spotted a Sonic. (for all of you that don't know Greg loves Sonic, so we had to stop.) No wonder our trip ended up being so long, we stopped a lot and Greg drove a little on the not so fast side. And Greg "Driving slow doesn't necessarily mean it's safe."

So after that most of us fell asleep. We made it to our hotel at about 4:30pm....keep in mind we left Kenosha at 9:00am...what a long trip, but we finally made it! Before we could settle into our rooms we had to unload our over packed van. Beth told us she would get us a cart to put all our luggage on, but big surprise she lied to us again. Michelle and Amanda had to go find a cart, figure out how to steer it (they got some help from the bellhop boys...thank goodness), and then we were ordered to put Greg and Beth's luggage on there and bring it up to their rooms. (and we thought slavery had been abolished.) Michelle and Amanda are still a little bitter about it. haha

We got some free stuff: A blanket, pillow, water bottle, and a reversible winter cap. Which are all shown below and modeled by Michelle herself.

We went to the pool and got some laps in, then we had dinner at Applebees. Now we are all tired and ready to hit up the pool again tomorrow one last time before the big meet starts on Wednesday! We have our dinner tomorrow night. This time we'll make sure that Dani, being so small and stealth, doesn't cut in the food line!

Signing off,

National team 2009

Spaz, Awkward, Shoe Shop, and eighdolla holla

PS C-Rizz we miss you!

PSS More pictures to come!

PSSS Bax here's one shout out!