National 4-H Congress

     Well, National 4-H Congress was nearly a month ago, and in the next couple/few days I'll be writing about three posts, so here's the first one. Congress is the celebratory national event for 4-H youth. It's essentially to highlight their ten or twelve years of 4-H membership....at least in Washington. In other states youth have to win their events at State Fair to qualify for the trip. I had the honor and pleasure of chaperoning the five youth delegates from Washington State. Only three of the five knew each other prior to going, and I knew three of them personally before we left. Our trip was full of excitement and adventure, and making new friends and LOTS of memories! Just as every 4-H trip should be :)

     We began by flying on Thanksgiving from Seattle to Atlanta via Denver. I was afraid we weren't going to get out of Denver, but that was our only layover so it would have made missing any flights that much easier. It was a long day of flying, but the kids did super! We started a quote note on my phone, so all the kids can successfully access my phone (note to self: change passcode!), but we managed to build a pretty great collection. By the time we navigated from the Atlanta airport to the hotel, it was about 6:30 pm. Our next mission after checking in was finding food. Thankfully we managed to find a decently priced 24-hour diner. So cute and we loved the atmosphere we went back a couple of times!

     Friday was our adventuring day. First stop was the Olympic Park from the Olympics (who would have guessed?!?) while we waited for the Aquarium and World of Coke opened. They're each right across the street from each other, which made it easy for us. The Aquarium and World of Coke were just as spectacular as I remember, and the kids had a great time exploring (I think). 

     Come Friday night Congress actually began. There was an opening session with a great speaker that night. Saturday brought more sessions for the kids. A welcome/rise-and-shine session to start, and then for the Washington kids who were all in the blue group the welcome was followed by "speed meeting" and challenge sessions. We went out to lunch and then returned to the kids' last session -- this time they were random: baking, yoga, pilates, dancing, etc. Sunday was much the same, only filled with more of the random workshops. What makes Congress special are a few of the big evening events....Saturday it's the International Dinner; Sunday is dinner and exploring the Atlanta History Center. Then Monday it was fantastic all day! We began the day with community service. The majority of Washington had the opportunity to work in a school, while the other two helped at a food bank. That evening we had the Gala event, where everyone dresses up super nice,  there are three or four forks, Santa comes to visit, Miss America is there and we had fun despite it being a fancy dinner requiring us to be quiet. Things all came to an end on Tuesday, and after the last session we flew home. 

     Here are a few pictures which show a bit of our adventures :)

Olympic Park

Outside World of Coke on our way to the Aquarium

Aquarium!

World of Coke time!

Stasi tried a flavor that was disgusting apparently...

Saturday morning

Flag bearer and announcer

Ankit, Elise, Zoe, Stasi and Mathew

Gala time!

Ankit with Josh and Caleb from Maryland

Elise, Josh and Ankit with Miss America

Our hotel reflected from across the street!