Happy New Year!

It's already 2011 and I only have about four more days of work left. That six months went super fast. Malabar and I just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year (it's our new years eve kiss) and Lou wanted to show off his veggie popsicle that I made him.

Christmas Day

I can't even believe that we got paid to work on Christmas day. We started off cleaning the manatee tank (normal), got out of the water, and then Hayley came to tell me that my dolphin presentation was going to be filmed so that I could have a copy on DVD. Cool! We filmed each other throughout the day. After my presentation, we got back into our wetsuits and the trainers let us play with the dolphins (so not normal).

It was already lunch by this time and there were two giant tables full of food. Everyone brought so much to the potluck that Hayley and I made plates to bring home for our dinners. After more dolphin presentation filming, we got back into our wetsuits and dove in the main tank together - we haven't done that since the first day here - and were handed an underwater camera to record the fun that we had. We should also be getting a copy of that DVD as well. I really couldn't have asked for a better Christmas work day.

Being goofy:

Interns + Khyber:

Playing in the bubbles:

All of us in the tank:

Merry Christmas!

I have to spend Christmas in Florida, which is okay because we are just postponing it at home until January. Disney is pretty cool at Christmas because the decorations are so outrageous (in a good way). Mickey Mouse has Very Merry Christmas Parties throughout the season which are held at night and you have to pay additional money to attend. Cast members get discounts - so many perks - but our discount only applies to the November dates. Hayley and her roommates were nice enough to invite me to go with them and we celebrated Christmas in November.

The night started out well. We all insisted on wearing ridiculous Christmas sweaters/clothing/accessories and there were free sugar cookies and hot chocolate offered throughout the park. Yum!

All of the characters were decked out in winter gear.

And at Mickey's house he has his Duck gear on display.

We also saw a really long fireworks show at the castle and went to the Christmas parade. It's one of the rare times that you'll find the Seven Dwarfs together and of course, toy soldiers were there. They played instruments!

Fun With An Eland

The Eland is a spiral horned antelope that lives in southern and eastern Africa. "Eland" is actually derived from the Dutch word for moose and came from Dutch settlers who named the largest wild herbivore they came across in Africa after the moose. An Eland bull is about 6 feet tall at the shoulder and can weigh up to 2,200 pounds. They are herbivores who live in large groups and are considered one of the slowest antelope species. Curious fact: The tendons or joints in the eland's forelegs make clicking noises, often notifying people of an approaching herd. No one really knows why this clicking occurs, but hypotheses have been made about communication between the animals.

As a group of interns, we were invited to make an enrichment item for a male Eland at Animal Kingdom. We submitted a lot of ideas and ultimately it was decided that we should make a "mistletoe". We crafted a PVC pipe with holes in it to hold bunches of lettuce, vegetable popsicles, and cut vegetables suspended in gelatin. All of these items were to be secured with banana leaves and tied to the pipe.

The male Eland that we met was named JC and he is currently living in a back area of Animal Kingdom. He has some arthritis in his joints and with the cold weather Florida has been having lately, JC hasn't been feeling too well. We were happy to see that on the morning we went it was sunny out and in the high 60 degree temperatures. The warmer weather meant that JC was moving about without much difficulty and would have a chance to explore our creation.

Overall it was a successful trip. JC spent a lot of time investigating the "popsicles" and vegetables inside the gelatin (lots of sniffing). He ate the lettuce while we were there, but we had to leave before anything else happened. The woman working with JC told us later in the day that he finished his lettuce, but didn't eat the gelatin. We don't blame him. It probably smelled weird.

Before leaving for Animal Kingdom:

Assembling the mistletoe:

Posing in front of our creation:

JC the Eland:

Day 3 Visit Summary

This was the last day of the visit and we chose to go to Magic Kingdom. There were a TON of people there that day because the Christmas Parade was filmed in the morning, but we still fit in everything that we wanted to do.

The ferryboat over to the castle had a shorter line than the monorail (for the first time ever) and we rode that to the park.

We got to pose in front of the main gate decorations. (Notice how my mom and I stand the same?)

Found Pooh and Tigger.

Got stuck forever on the Haunted Mansion ride.

Saw the holiday castle at night.

And of course, went on Splash Mountain.

Day 2 Visit Summary

We started the day off with a bang I should probably say. Mostly because my grandma is full of energy and also a morning person. So while my mom and I were laying in bed for the MANDATORY ten minutes of "wake-up" (no talking, laying very still, cursing the alarm for existing, etc) my grandma hopped out of bed and proceeded to physically shake our legs until we got up. This was unpleasant to say the least, yet effective.

Animal Kingdom was on our list first, which was also decorated for the holidays.

And we saw lots of super awkward birds (I'm still unsure of the name of this one).

UPDATE: I figured it out: a spoonbill.......duh

Of course, went on the safari.

Ate Mickey bars.

Creeped on wildlife.

And ended the night with a Cirque du Soleil show.

Day 1 Visit Summary

As everyone is aware of at this point, my mom and my grandma came to visit me for a fun weekend in early December. This is just a photo summary of our first day at Epcot.

They spent most of the day without me because I was working, but took good pictures.

After an eventful bomb threat that we got at work, I was able to meet up with them.

I insisted that we go on Test Track. Because it was 35 degrees outside, it made the outdoor part a little chilly.

And we rounded out the day with a fireworks show.

ALSO

I forgot to mention this until my mom reminded me. Please add on to the last post that my grandma was featured on The Laugh Floor's jumbo screen. There are like 300 people in that room.

Zoom:

Celebrity Status

Traveling around Disney with my grandma is like traveling with a celebrity. She's a weird magnet for character greetings and other random happenings. Mostly this happened during the parades, where the characters only approach a few people.

Terk

Captain Hook

Smee

Genie

And she really dropped the ball on Splash Mountain. We told her to duck at the end so that she wouldn't get wet. Instead, this happened:

We went on it twice in a row because she was already soaked anyway and the second time, the people riding with us were so amused with our antics that they waited for us to come off of the ride to take a picture with us.

Picture Of The Day

No explanation needed.

Happy Birthday To You

As mentioned before, my mom and grandma were signed up for Dolphins in Depth today for their birthdays. They met Malabar and had lots and lots of fun with Khyber (pictured).