Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 did so well in theaters (there have been "Best Picture" nomination rumors) that Disney gave a Blu Ray/DVD combo of the movie to EVERY cast member. I was so excited. I'm such a sucker for free things, especially when they are Disney movies. I guess it's a special edition made just for cast members and there is a special message on the back from Bob Iger.

This seems a fitting gift because every time I go to Hollywood Studios I insist on eating here:

Happy Thanksgiving!

While it's still around 80 degrees here in Florida, it snowed at home. Evidence: the cat doesn't want to venture into the yard.

Happy Birthday Grammie!

This post is especially for my grandma who is visiting on the 2^nd of December. For your birthday, I’ve set you up with our Dolphins in Depth program. Yay!

This is what Disney has to say about it:

“Dolphins in Depth is a 3-hour tour at The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion inside Epcot theme park where Guests can learn about and get up close with Disney's dolphins.

Dolphins are some of the smartest, most playful and most majestic animals in the ocean. The Dolphins in Depth program is your opportunity to learn more about these fascinating creatures and their unique undersea behavior. Talk to the expert trainers and researchers [aka me] who work with dolphins every day. The tour concludes with a very special opportunity for an up-close interaction with a dolphin—perfect for pictures and memories that will last forever. [You will be in the water!]

You do not need to swim or be scuba certified to enjoy this program, but you will need to be at least 13 years of age [I’m pretty sure you have that part covered].”

I hope you’re excited! We’ve been waiting to tell you for a while and you get to do it with your daughter (because I signed her up too). Happy birthday to the both of you and have fun meeting Ranier, Khyber, Calvin, and Malabar.

Love,

The Walsers

Dragon Legend Acrobats

I had never seen these guys before, but they perform in "China" all the time. They are acrobat students from the actual country of China and we watched their performance while we were waiting for our dinner reservation.

Twirling all sorts of stuff

Table balancing and throwing

Henna

I was walking through Epcot with Christy (Terry's mom) and Karen (Terry's aunt) on their last day at Disney and we happened upon a henna artist. Christy had been wanting a henna tattoo, so in the spirit of Disney, she got one. It only took the artist about 2 minutes to finish. So fast!

Ratatouille

Terry's mom and aunt are visiting this week and made lunch reservations at a french restaurant in Epcot and they were nice enough to invite me. I was pleasantly surprised to find out during a visit with Remy that he had cooked my meal and that he thought I was cute. We're friends now.

Living With The Land

I know I've been slacking lately on the blog posts. I need to upload a special picture for the next one. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite plants from the Living With The Land boat ride. These are all featured in their greenhouses and the scientists there are very innovative!

Rosemary

Pummelo

Water-Lily

Fluted Pumpkin

Vanilla

Coffee

Tomato Tree

Bonus! Sturgeon

Whistle!

I got my dolphin training whistle in the mail the other day and it's awesome! I feel like a real person now.

Hanson

My 12 year old self got excited yesterday when I went to the Hanson concert. It's the last concert that I'll be able to go to that's part of the Eat to the Beat series. Amidst the screaming hordes of women (they scared me) I waited in line with a friend for seats. I refused to wait any more than an hour before the show started and because there were crazy superfans there with homemade shirts and signs (I wouldn't be surprised if there were hidden Hanson tattoos) I made it into the first section. Let them have the first rows. Hanson is obviously most popular for "MMBop" back in 1999 (?) but their other songs are good too. While it's not my style of music, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert because they are so genuinely talented.

PNW

When you live in a completely different region of the country than where you grew up, you start to notice that you miss things you used to take for granted. For instance, I would give anything right now to take a quick weekend to the Oregon Coast and look at mountain ranges in the distance. Simple right? Beach and mountains. Missing people (lots of friends!) is pretty obvious too.

Beach

Blueberries

Kittays!

Terry

Eric

Tweedledee and Tweedledum

A Tremendous Florida Find

Background story: Drew was at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology the same summer that I was - when I turned 21. Jenna named him her favorite "Ohio Floridian" (he was from Ohio and went to college in Florida) of all time. While he is probably the only one in this particular category of hers, it's an accomplishment nonetheless. We also founded the Cleveland's Creepers Club together (with Kaleo).

I thought that he was out of the country while I was in Florida because he's an insane traveler, but I was wrong. He was actually living 45 minutes away from me the entire time. It's now November and I want to kick myself because I would have stalked him a lot sooner had I known.

He's going to totally love me for posting all of these flattering photos of the two of us.

Old School:

New School:

Feeling Buggy

Today we cleaned some water hyacinth for the manatees to eat. Occasionally we are allowed to give them native plants so that they can better acclimate to their environment when they are returned to the wild. Hiding among the leaves was a GIANT locust. He had been refrigerated for 2 days. Dan thawed him out and named him Christopher.