My Incredible Life--Updated

Some clarification is in order.

I am only checking off the ones I have done and I have a story to tell. Of course I have played in the mud...but until I can remember a specific time and have a story to tell with it, I am not checking it off. Those are my own rules, for me. You can play by whatever rules you want.

Have you ever...

1. Started your own blog*

2. Slept under the stars*

3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii*

5. Watched a meteor shower
7. Been to Disneyland/world*

8. Climbed a mountain.*

9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris*

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch*

15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning*

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight*
22. Given money to a stranger*
23. Slept on a boat*
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Been to all 50 states
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29 Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset*
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33 Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community*

I think I was in about 5th grade. My parents took my brother and me to Maryland to stay with their dear friends for a week or so. We went on a bunch of adventures, one of which was a Pennsylvania Amish community. I have a faceless doll to prove it. And, as a side note, I have developed somewhat of a fascination with the Amish. I have read probably 20 books on the Amish. Is that strange?
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Built a piece of furniture
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing*
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke*
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa*
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance*
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing*

See #87. In addition to a River Boat (called "Little Audrey"), my grandfather owned an Ocean Boat (dubbed "Big Ed"). So many summer mornings we got up before the sun--hours before in fact--and drove to the marina. We took our bait and poles, warm clothes, sunscreen and breakfast, and  sailed out into the Pacific. We would motor out until no land was visible and drop our lines, and then troll forever. (Troll, I think that's the right word, is moving very slowly in one direction while the baited poles drag behind. That was my favorite, because if all the poles caught at once I got to drive while the adults pulled in the big catch. We caught a literal ton of salmon--this was before they were endangered and before limits on catching fish. Sometimes we also caught little sharks--which my dad shot and used as bait. Once I fell asleep on the warm engine cover in the early morning sun (dramamine has that effect on little bodies) and awoke to find a huge salmon staring me in the face. Grandpa was kind of a jokester and had laid it next to me while I slumbered. When we had caught enough, or if the water was too choppy or the sun too hot, we drove the boat back to the marina, cleaned the fish, and headed home. We always stopped for Blizzards at Dairy Queen on the way back, and the worker would hand them to us upside down to show how thick they are.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris*
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling*

My Aunt took me to Hanauma Bay in Oahu, Hawaii. She taught me the basics, and we swam all over the sheltered cove. We saw a million fish, of all colors, and it was incredible. Then she taught me to dive with the snorkel without taking in water. And we dove with turtles. Wow. I was hooked! We probably went snorkeling everyday the entire 2 weeks I was there. I love it.
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business*
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60 Served at a soup kitchen*
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching*
63. Gotten flowers for no reason*
64 Donated blood, platelets, or plasma

I can't. First I had been to Africa and taken all kinds of malaria and yellow fever medicines. Now, I have had 2 transfusions, so I am disqualified.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Learned a New Sport
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial*
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt*
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone*

I need a list: A finger, a hand, the top of a foot, and an ankle. All playing sports, some requiring casts and crutches.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle*
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person*
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car*
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper*
85. Read the entire Bible*
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating*

My mom helped me with this one--I did not think of Fish. Growing up I spent a minimum of 3-4 weeks each summer in Oregon. About half that time was on the coast where my dad's parents owned a summer home on a river. There was a long yard leading to a ramp to a dock...with a boat of course! We spent many long mornings on the Siletz River fishing, and a few wonderful mornings crabbing at the mouth of the river. So, I have officially killed and prepared fish, crab and crawdads (caught em, gutted em, took off the scales with a hose, fried em, baked em...or set the trap, reeled in the trap, washed em, put em in water set to boil on the crab stove in the yard). Those were some good eats.

88. Had chickenpox*
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous*
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one*
94. Had a baby*
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone*
99. Been stung by a bee*