Patron Saint of Single Women

We've been learning curriculum all week. Sigh. At least I've been learning a lot of new things. Like some history about Catalina Island today. Thus the title of today's post. Apparently, Catalina has had several names...starting with Pimu after the natives that originally lived there. Then, an explorer named Cabrillo named it San Salvador after his boat. And finally, another explorer (Viscaino) landed there on the eve of St. Catherine's day, thus naming the island Santa Catalina. St. Catherine is, among other things, the patron saint of single women. Maybe my prayers will be better heard from her island....just kidding!

Anyway, I've also learned about birds and fish and marine mammals off the coast of SoCal...did you know that the whale in Finding Nemo is a Mysteceti and not an Odontoceti? I don't even like science and I'm turning into a science nerd! I also can now tell you the difference between seals and sea lions or defining characteristics of Western Gulls, Cormorants, and Brown Pelicans. You might as well just stamp "Science Nerd" onto my forehead.

A quick recap of the end of last week...We headed down to Cabrillo Beach to finish up lifeguard training. It wasn't horrible, but waterfront lifeguard training is a big job...especially swimming in the ocean when it's FREEZING. We went in Thursday, and I couldn't breathe it was so cold. Thankfully we were only in for about half an hour learning how to rescue people with a rescue board. Oh...and we had to do the Baywatch run into the ocean with our rescue tubes. Totally BA. Haha. I felt like such a poser. We then finished our water training in a rinky-dink little RV park pool. 50 laps, swim underwater, learn how to rescue people. It's really hard trying to do a deep water rescue in 5 ft.

And this weekend my parents were out! We didn't do much...just kind of wandered around, but we had fun. Plus, now I have my car, so I'm less tied down than I was. :)

We were going to take a sailboat to Catalina on Saturday, but since it's supposed to rain, we are going in with the camp kids Monday morning. This is SO not ideal. Ah well, it'll work out I guess. I just hate most things that are last-minute.

Anyway, I'll let you all go for now. I miss you all and hope you are doing well. Until next time!