saturday morning

a day off? that actually happens? I can't remember my last official day of nothing-critical-to-do-today. it is wonderful. I watched the magic school bus. and might go use a coupon to get new white shoes (it was dubbed my present to myself for getting the part-time job).

so...updates. Rhett is at work today....it is officially the rush. keep your fingers crossed for a promising sell period!

the grimes come to visit in only 2 weeks! we can't wait! we got our tickets booked for discovery cove, and seaworld on saturday! and the last weekend of summer shows! whoop whoop! and watching the aggies BTHO SMU in the season opener with the central florida texas a&m club! we can't wait. and my daddy is coming to visit the last week of september for a work meeting! and then we go to texas at the end of october, and then my parents for thanksgiving, and then rhett's family for christmas! I can't believe that we are close enough to christmas and keeping busy enough that we will get to see someone every 3 weeks for the rest of the year! eeeek!!! how great did that work out?

last year, the wedding forced me to be productive. I brought up taking christmas card pictures soon, and rhett scoffed. then I mentioned by this time last year I had the cards finished and addressed, and all christmas presents purchased and wrapped. I've got to get a move on! speaking of wedding, our video came in the mail this week! we thought we would wait to watch it, but we gave in. pretty weird to watch ourselves. and funny to see everything we missed!

also, I am teaching myself sign language. as mentioned in a previous post, I think it is awesome. I started with a website that teaches you your first 100 words. who knows what I will do next? probably join the library and get a video.

also, I didn't get the animal care job. which is ok, I didn't expect it. I just loved the swim test! I also got a callback for an educator job at the museum, which didn't sound like something I would want to do, or something that I could do at the same time as SW. so I didn't get that one either.

last night rhett and I played mario, and our discussion to describe world 8 turned into something like this.
"oh my goodness just run as fast as you can!" "world 8 is like satan's butthole." "watch out for that hedgehog!" "that's not a hedgehog that's a football helmet with legs!" "no way it's a hedgehog, I wouldn't want a hedgehog in my butthole." "well would you want a football helmet with legs in your butthole?"
I love my husband.

doggy things: when he gets the hiccups, it's adorable. I hate the hiccups, so I feel sorry for him, but it is so cute. also on days like today, we have been playing agility in the living room. I set up an obstacle course- which he is pretty good at. he is so smart! then he goes and lays down to take a nap, and sticks his head under the couch. so when I look down at my feet I see the headless dog. too funny.

speaking of doggies, when we went to the Texas A&M vs. UCF soccer game (btho!) we met the soccer collies! coolest dogs ever. you can even see me in one of their pictures!

and of course, work things.

whoa! check out that pokey-ball!

julie scardina is my new career idol. sw/bg animal ambassador. I want to be her when I grow up. see her segments on the today show!

-dad talking to son: points to batswana on map "this is where your sister was named after. ranaka! and....." points to california "this is where you are named after! logan!"
-dad turns to me: "it's pretty sad when one of your children is named after a city in botswana, and the other is named after a character from gilmore girls."

brother and sister pair approach the chameleon enclosure. sister has seen chameleon earlier in the day and told her brother it was "this big" with fingers about 2 inches apart. brother approaches enclosure and nearly poops himself because chameleon is actually about 18" long.
"that chameleon is not 'this big'!" brother says. sister says: "yes he is!" (as she stands 2-3 feet away from enclosure and holds up her fingers to measure).

that awkward moment when you realize you have been telling guests it is a "swimming anenome" about 50% of the time and a "swimming anemone" about 50% of the time. how cliche.

that awkward moment when you are capable of listening and talking at the same time, and you hear a guest behind you say "just like me at home, talking to myself" as you narrate over the microphone.

that awkward moment when you want to kick a child after he kicks the chameleon enclosure. what the what?

that awkward moment when you want to kick another child who is spinning her krinkle straw so it whistles incessantly and you can't escape.

that awkward moment when a weird dude licks all his raspberry pastry off his plate and tells you not to order a mango cream drink from starbucks. then chugs it.

that awkward moment when you congratulate a little girl for getting all the answers right on a matching game, who then tells you she just looked at the tag.

how do you make a chocolate chip granola bar low fat?

answer: you don't put any chocolate chips in it. what a jip.

for all of you duckies who live in central time, you are very lucky. sometimes on my way to work I look for someone to call, and then remember that it is still 6:30am your time. I spare you. and then on my way home I can gauge just how tired I am by how much I slump in my chair. I can't even see out of the rearview mirror sometimes. I shrink 2-3" from arrival to departure from work.

updates:

tomorrow is the Texas A&M vs. UCF soccer game. can you tell I'm excited? gig 'em! also we are finally getting to go to seaworld with jason and brittany. they got free tickets when they adopted their doggy killer...and now we are going!!

in other news: last friday I got a call back on a job I applied for at seaworld....the entry level position into animal care. which is so exciting. so wednesday morning at 7am I arrived at work to take a swim test for that position. it was so cool. and I passed! it was then followed by an interview. there were 7 of us...which had already been narrowed down from 70+ applicants. just that is a good feeling in itself. feel free to ask swim-test details off-blog because it was awesome. I also got a call on tuesday about a job at the science museum that I applied for. they wanted to schedule an interview...but I still haven't heard back. potentially that would be a second job...so I can have more than 2 days a week of work.

rhett is just over a week away from the rush at the store. between our schedules we have hardly seen each other at all this week! but I can't wait to see how the fall rush goes! he has done so well with his store.

guest things:

first of all, when all the belugas go play in their outside pool, it makes it very difficult to keep guests interested in sticking around. in this situation, the quote "is there anything in there?" actually makes sense. "no, there's actually not."

vote: genius or lazy? mom, dad and 2 kids all in great physical condition renting 2 scooters to ride around in all day. make the most of your day without getting tired or start a trend of laziness?

referring to the wild arctic ride: "well if we took a helicopter to get here, how do we get back to florida?"

little boy: "what is that?" (referring to the walrus tusk I'm holding)
me: "well you tell me, what do you think it could be?"
little boy: "a walrus tusk?"
me: "yes that's very very good! great job! what do you think they use them for?"
little boy: thinking....."washing windows?"

(referring again to 2.5' walrus tusk in my hand)
guest: "is that a horn to call the belugas over?"

guest: "how cold is the water?"
me: "50 degrees"
guest: "below zero???"
me: ....... "actually saltwater freezes at 28 degrees above zero."

untitled.

this post doesn't have much of a theme. It will be a hodge podge of sorts.

I would like to begin with an unspoken prayer. please be praying for me on wednesday morning. I have an.... interview of sorts. More later on that.

also pray for Rhett as "school" a.k.a. the rush starts in 2 weeks! crazy! my work schedule slows down and his picks up, so I am hoping to pick up some volunteer hours.

a few weeks ago I forgot to tell you that I got to go on the behind the scenes tour of the manta aquarium during my study session! it was awesome. it was everything I dreamed it would be.

last week when Rhett got back from his trip we visited olive garden to celebrate my education job! it was delicious. they have seasonal chicken carbonara ravioli. 3 of my favorite things in one dish. then they sent us home with dishwasher and microwave safe take-out boxes. because we are definitely going to put them in the dishwasher? then thursday we went to aquatica and seaworld. and finally rode journey to atlantis. and saw a girl with a fetus tattoo. weird. fun date. it feels like our honeymoon all over again when we get to do take fun trips.

I was trying to find a video for you all of what I saw yesterday in the aquarium... octopus shed the skin off their suckers! she writhed around for a long time, and all of a sudden it was snowing little donuts of skin all different sizes! it was so cool!

I also had an awesome experience on friday when I had an entire conversation with a man who was deaf and mute. he spoke sign language, and was so precious. I can do my letters in sign language, and apparently understand! he told me he was born in puerto rico, and then moved to boston where he had to shovel snow. and now in florida it is so hot! he then very sweetly thanked me for talking to him, and we introduced ourselves. he said my smile was very pretty! it was a neat experience. makes me want to learn sign language.

then the awesome hubby mowed the lawn and fixed up the yard saturday. and did all the dishes while I took a nap yesterday. he is so sweet!

does anyone know how a starfish eats? well. I will tell you. it spits its stomach out of its mouth and digests externally and then brings its stomach back in. awesome. so when aquarium gives the octopus a toy with a shrimp inside, and then the starfish gets a hold of it, it puts its stomach inside so you can't get your toy back. haha.

and today is a cleaning day. we have both of our small groups at our house this week..so I will be a cleaning machine.

and two guest quotes for the win:

guest: "how long does a stingray live?
me: "well we usually use teeth and bones to age an animal, and stingrays have no bones and"
guest: "what do stingrays eat?
me: "shrimp, fish, clams, and"
guest: "where do stingrays get their name from?"
me thinking: "do you really want the answers to any of these questions or do you just want to hear yourselves ask them?"

"how do you get the water so blue?"
me: "wellllll we paint the walls of the pool blue."

a day in the life

so the first half of this post will be "a day in the life of Krista" just because today was so awesome and I would love to get to share it with you all so you can experience it too.

so being the AUX is awesome. the aux shift is the "extra" in case someone gets sick, or wants o leave early, or someone calls in, etc. which means you get to staff some of our extra exhibits for a few hours while they decide what to do with you. which means you get to see new things, get asked new questions, and generally have a new day. so here is my today. it's not my normal everyday, but all of this was my AUX day.

8:45am. arrive at SW. enjoy a cart ride to the office instead of walking the 3/4 mile walk.
8:55am be informed that the new pilot whale who arrived last week has been moved to a facility accessible and open to the education staff to get to see.
9:03am go see freaking adorable pilot whale and ooh and ahh at her for 4 minutes.
9:07am arrive at dolphin underwater viewing. enjoy the air conditioning for the hour that you have it. talk to kids all about the cool things dolphins do.
9:24am flamingo parade arrives in dolphin underwater viewing. WHAT?! there are flamingos in here? apparently when the heat index is high, they parade into the air conditioning (smart birds) instead of continuing their park parade. enjoy being 4" from a flamingo. tell the guests to be sure and see the new flamingo chick (ADORABLE). it is, after all, baby season at SW.
9:37am enjoy watching a little boy have giggle fits every time a dolphin swims by him.
10:28am enjoy watching a guest who brought a slinky, and watching the dolphins watch it.
11:00am get new assignment: go to arctic for 7 minutes to relieve someone who has a meeting. arrive to find out that the brother/sister polar bear pair are in the exhibit together today, are awake, and are SWIMMING AND PLAYING in the water. bask in your luckiness as you have never seen the polar bears move more than a few feet. inform all guests nearby to take full advantage of this moment.
11:42am arrive at the sealions. answer the questions "is it dead?" about 8 times. "yes, we have dead ones in here for you to look at." just kidding. the answer is "no he is just napping. he can crawl back over the rocks. I promise he didn't fall and get stuck." point out the sea lion pups for this season.
11:56am arrive at dolphin nursery. enjoy announcing and pointing out the 4 day old baby dolphin.
3:36pm answer the question "is he dead?" several more times in reference to the seaturtle......."nope." answer the question "are turtle shells bulletproof?" with your eyes. oops I'm not supposed to flinch. but why would you ask that? answer the question "what happened to the turtle?" in reference to the seaturtle shell you currently have in your hands. "ummm he died." why do we hold that silly thing? everyone is more concerned about the has-been turtle than touching his shell. I promise we saved 523 other ones last year! we really tried!
4:06pm don't collapse under the pressure of a school group with worksheets about seaturtles. you can answer high school questions about seaturtles. I hope.
5:14pm clock out. what a day!
7:01pm arrive at the dogpark with your doggy who had such a long day at home by himself! meet lila, may and bug, and enjoy an hour and a half with your nonhuman bestfriend. remember the time that rhett came home and said "so that's how you're supposed to use those doggy baggies" and remember wondering "well what were you doing before?"

I hope you all had fun with me today!

Rhett has been at his summer offsite since thursday afternoon (I miss him oh so much) and he gets back tomorrow evening (before I do!). can't wait for our now-postponed-to-wednesday date at aquatica? it was going to be monday evening but I was able to switch my schedule around so that we could make it to....drumroll please.... Texas A&M vs. UCF women's soccer game! WHOOP! the aggies storm orlando!! we are so excited. thank you central florida texas a&m club for paying attention and letting us know they are coming!

tomorrow before work my daddy's cousins are coming up from west palm beach to visit SW, and I am excited to get to see them and spend a little bit of time with them before I have to clock in. can't wait to meet their kiddos!

I also put in job apps for a few more places. I will know by Thursday the SW situation. : )
more soon!