Another reason Disney is evil!

It's been a month now since we were at Disney World. I'm still dreaming of all the fun we had and even begging husband to take us back again. However, I have found one more way that Disney is evil.

Throughout the parks there are photographers who are more than happy to take family photos or any kind of photos you want. They then give you a card to use called a PhotoPass. You can give this card to any other photographer who will take your picture and put it on this card. Am I making sense? On the back of the card there is a code you enter into their website and you can see, and buy, all of your pictures. A really awesome concept and I was excited.

We had this nice picture taken in front of Cinderella Castle. We don't get many family pictures taken and it's an added bonus when everyone is looking at the camera smiling.

Once we get home I look at the pictures online and I'm so excited. I tried to copy and paste them to my file, but of course a place like Disney would have a block on that. So I look at how much it costs to order a CD. $99. Yes, really. $99 for a photo CD with all of my pictures on it. Ok, I guess I'm not getting a photo CD. Unless I want to sell one of my children for it. I would consider selling Louisa, but she doesn't do much housework, so I don't think she'd sell for $99. Yes, Disney is evil.

I look at how much individual pictures cost because husband says, well, just order a few that you like the best. Ok, yea! I click on the ones I want and go to check out... $150! What the??!!!!! I didn't really check the prices thinking they'd be about $5 each or so. Wrong. They only come in two sizes, either 5x7 or 8x10. I really want a 4x6 of this one because it goes perfectly with a frame I bought while we were there. They don't have 4x6. I end up ordering only two pictures. Both 5x7 at $12.95 each.

So here are my $30 worth of pictures. Yes they are worth it, but now I had to scan and re-print the horizontal one to fit in my special frame I bought. Another reason Disney is evil.

Woman Speak

You know how women often say one thing, but mean the opposite? Ya, I do that regularly.
"No honey **sigh** you don't have to rub my back, I'm fine" ~ means get over here and rub my back NOW!
"I guess you can have the last little bit of ice cream" ~ means you had better save that last little bit for me cause you know I'll have a chocolate craving tomorrow!
"Ok, you can go play cards with the guys even though we had family plans tonight" ~ well, if a guy can't read that one, then he really needs to not be married!
Many times throughout the week I'll use "woman speak". Does it irritate the heck out of husband? Of course it does! Do I like playing these little games? Of course I do! I enjoy watching him try to decipher me and crack the code. It's funny. Sick, but funny.
My birthday is coming up soon. yea. And of course it just happens to be on Super Bowl Sunday. double yea. I'm sure there are plenty of women who would enjoy that. Having a big super bowl party on their birthday would be great fun to them. Not really to me, though.
At Club Mom, where I moderate message boards, we can earn points for free stuff. I have saved up many many points and haven't done much with them. So finally I ordered myself a gift card. We're going out to eat at Red Lobster, one of my favorite restaurants. With my gift card it will probably be free, or pretty close to it. Yea Me! However, we're going on Saturday, not Sunday. **sigh**
I told husband that on Sunday, I didn't mind staying home and watching the Super Bowl IF he took me out for ice cream before the game started. He was fine with that. Then I told him that I don't want a cake. {{{screeeech.... stop the bus}}} There has never been a time where I didn't want cake. But this year, with all of my stomach problems, I just don't want a big cake sitting around that I feel obligated to eat all of, which I will. So then husband says to me, "Is this code for, yes make me a cake?" I told him no, no code, no cake. He said **wink wink** "Ok hunny, no cake." I said, no really... no cake. There's no **wink wink** here. No code, no woman speak, no cake. Just take me out for ice cream and I'll be happy. There's a Cold Stone Creamery knock off down here and I just want to go there. No cake.
So we'll see if I actually get a cake or not. I still think he thought I was speaking woman speak. It's funny that he knows me so well that he asks me, though. He knows I play games with him just to see what he'll do for me. Evil, yes. Fun, double yes.

More Doctor Updates

I finally went to a gastroenterologist yesterday. After years of dealing with this stomach pain, I finally got to see a specialist about it.
He was questioning me, trying to find out what doctors have done for me in the past. He said, "Have you had a blood test yet?" I said, nope. He said, "Have you had a CT scan?" I said, nope. He said, "Have you had a colonoscopy?" I said, nope! Then the doctor laughed and turned to look at me. He asked, "Has anyone tried to help you figure out what is wrong with you?" I said, NOPE!
So, he did blood work on me and poked all around my abdomen. I was glad that I was in pain when I went so I could show him where it is most tender. When I'm not in pain, I tend to forget.
Then I was scheduled for a colonoscopy. Not fun sounding in the least. At the end of February I have to go in for that. They put you to sleep when you get one and I'm mostly afraid of that. I've never been put under for anything. I guess I really don't want to be awake for it, either. So this is for the best. It's still scary, though.

What I want to be when I grow up...

As I wander through this big ole world called cyber space, I'm amazed at all the people I meet who want to do the same thing as I do when I grow up. I've always wanted to be a writer. For as long as I can remember I've been writing stories, poetry, journals.... just anything that pops in to my head. I've even been known to write a song or two. None of them were very good, but they're there.
All day long I have a running story going through my head. Sometimes I get a chance to write it all down, and sometimes my New York Times bestseller gets lost in the midst of all the mommy and housewifey activities I have to take care of throughout the day. I have several books started, only one actually finished. I have one children's book that could probably be edited a few more times, two more children's books started, and three grown up books started. Look at the way I finish what I start!
That's part of my problem. I don't always finish what I start. It's so easy to write the whole beginning or middle to a story and then just put it out of mind for awhile. That is, until I get that nagging urge to do something about it. I need to get published some day. Like HAVE TO. But how? It's such a tough tough business. You can't just submit something and have it get looked at. You have to jump through hoops of fire and dance on top of a unicycle and pretty much do something really unique to get noticed in this business. One thing I've learned while talking to all these women I've met who aspire to be published is that it's a lot of hard work just to even get noticed in this world.
And who am I anyway? I know a freelance journalist who has been published many times, yet she is having a really hard time selling her book. I know children's author who knows all the right people in the biz, yet she can't get published. And me? I'm nobody. I've barely been to college, and I've never been published. Some editor will take one look at my query letter and toss it out the window. He'll giggle to himself that some little country-bumpkin housewife is submitting a cute little story about a little girl... he's been there and seen that before.
So how do I make myself special? And all these other women I've met who have dreams of becoming the next great author of our time? What do they do to get noticed?
I personally think that we should start our own publishing company and then go on tour together. We could travel the country to bookstores and libraries and get our names out there. We could bring our children with us like Tim and Faith do when they're on tour.
Now who's with me? Anyone with a printing press at home? I'm not picky, any printing press will do. We can get started and take the bookstores by storm with our masterful writing genuis. After all, who better to write children's stories than a bunch of moms?! We know what we want our children to read, and we know what they enjoy reading. These publishing companies should really just trust us and take a chance. Worst case scenario, we stink and they don't make a dime on us and they kick us to the curb. Best case, we're the next big cash cow to walk in their door.
But as much as I'd just love a chance to write and be published, I'd love the chance to travel and share my stories. I have some stories that need to be told.
Oh, and trust me, when I finally do get published, you'll be the first to know!

Must read blog

I was doing some blog surfing tonight and came across a blog that struck me as kind of odd at first. Telling by the amount of people that have viewed her profile, she's nothing new. So I started to read and before I knew it I had my hot chocolate sprayed all over my computer screen.
Ok, so she's a nun. And she's hysterical. I especially loved the description of her trying to give a fellow nun a haircut. ROFLMAO!!!!!!
So let me know what you think and don't drink anything while you're reading it: Ask Sister Mary Martha

How to make a toddler really... REALLY mad

The other night I went out with Louisa to her first Brownie meeting. Husband and the boys stayed home. When I got home Hunter was walking around crying. Husband said he'd been crying for awhile and didn't know what his problem was. He had given Hunter a sippy cup with warm milk and Hunter didn't want to drink any of it. Usually that's all it takes to calm him down, but every time we handed him his sippy cup he threw it on the ground and screamed louder.
I put Drew and Louisa to bed. Hunter usually stays up about an hour or more later than they do because he sleeps much later than they get to. He was still very upset at bed time.
Our bedtime ritual with Hunter goes like this: I tell Hunter (when I notice he's getting sleepy) "Hunter go ni-night?" and he makes kissy noises and goes and give daddy kisses. He takes my hand and we walk down the hall to his room. I pick him up so he can turn off his own light, then I plop him in bed. He has these light up Fisher Price fishies and we turn those on, give him his favorite puppy and cover him up. I say good-night and I love you and he usually says "mama" or something like that.
Well, this wasn't happening the other night. He was throwing things and crying and just very mad about something. Since he's not quite 18 months yet, he can't tell us. I noticed last week that he grew in a whole bunch of molars without us even noticing, so I'm thinking he can't be teething, it's never bothered him before.
I tried to sit him down and give him his sippy cup one last time and he threw it back at me again. I picked it up and looked at it and low and behold, it was clogged! This whole time he was madder than heck because he couldn't get any milk out of his cup! We felt so awful. We were torturing him by giving him his cup when he couldn't drink out of it.
So how do you make a toddler really REALLY mad? Give him a sippy cup that he can't get anything out of, and then keep giving it to him over and over again!

What a koinkidink!

Ok, no clue how to spell that, but you get my drift!

We moved down here right after Thanksgiving, right? So I called the Girl Scout council a few weeks later to get Louisa set up with a troop. She is a third year Brownie and she loves being a Girl Scout.

No one called us back for awhile, so I called again.

Someone who worked there told me that a "member specialist" or something would call back.

No one called.

Last night we finally got a call from a troop leader to see if we were still interested. It was last minute, but they were having a meeting last night at 6:00. Ok, we're there!

But wait... one more thing.... (I knew exactly what was coming and this is what I feared the most)... they're starting cookie sales.

Of course!!!! That's why someone finally called me, because they are starting cookie sales! Go figure.

I hate cookie sales. Love the cookies, hate the selling. How do you go door to door on an army base? We know no one here, and husband isn't allowed to solicit at work. Family is all far away. Who are we going to sell to?

I shamelessly sent out emails to many people with this sweet little picture. Yes, I'm terribly evil! But hey, we have to sell 125 boxes of cookies to reach the troop goal.

The girls have decided that they want to go to a Camp-In for Girl Scouts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Awesome opportunity (and likely I'd get to go as they'll need 4 parent chaparones). So I have every intention of helping her get that goal.

We also get to do booth sales, which will help out.

So wish us luck!

Boring....

Wow, my life has been so boring that I haven't even had anything to blog about! For months my life was a big whirlwind: Husband coming home, the big move from Wisconsin to Louisiana, Christmas, Disney vacation.... and now here I sit. Bored, bored, bored.
I'm trying to make friends down here, but in the military life that's not as easy as it sounds. You don't just invite yourself to hang out with people for fear of sounding presumptuous, you don't just jump in and sign up for things for fear of stepping on someone's toes, and you can give people your email address and phone number but you have to wait for them to call you. Sounds rediculous doesn't it? And I'm sure most people wouldn't put up with it. That's how things work here, though. I've emailed back and forth with a few wives and now finally have an invitation out to lunch, so hopefully my patience will pay off here.
Other than that I have been doing nothing. The kids don't really need me as much because they aren't signed up for any extracurricular activites like they were in Wisconsin, so there is no where to drive them. They take the bus to and from school every day, so they don't need me to do that anymore. We haven't found a church yet (because it's the south and there are no Lutheran churches down here) so I haven't found a place to volunteer yet. I can't volunteer in the schools because I can't take Hunter with me. **sigh** Yes, life is boring. Hum-drum, same old same old, day after day.
I'll find something to do sooner or later, but at least for now it explains my lack of blogging. Nothing's happening! Therefore, not much to blog about!

a little poem thingy

Who knew life was this short?
Who knew people died so young?
Who knew things were this complicated?
Who knew hearts broke like glass?
Who knew love could hurt?
Who knew I could cry this much?
Who knew my love could backfire?
Who knew the nice guy doesn't always win?
Who knew blood isn't always thicker than water?
Who knew distance could make the heart grow fonder?
Who knew friends could love like family?
Who knew family could be so far away?
Who knew war was this pointless?
Who knew peace was this distant?
Who knew everyone was in the same boat?
Who knew change could divde people?
Who knew enemies could be friends?
Who knew friends could treat you like the enemy?
Who knew people could complain this much?
Who knew the complainers have no solutions?
Who knew I could be this annoyed with this many things?

Disney is Evil!!

That's right, I said it and I'm not taking it back. Disney IS evil! First, they lure you in with the whole "Happiest Place on Earth" thing. I have never seen so many people bickering at each other before. Luckily husband and I are at a place in our marriage right now where we've spent so much time apart that we just don't bicker much anymore. But we're not perfect, we had our moments while we were there. Other families, though, I mean WOW! It's Disney for cripe's sake! You're really going to argue about what ride to go on next, or that your husband looked at The Little Mermaid a little too fondly?

Second, the way they herd you from this place to the next. If you've ever had a secret fantasy to be a cow, go to Disney. You're dreams will definitely come true. Many times throughout my experience I felt like giving off a big hearty MOO!!!

And I'm sure that this won't be my last complaint, but third, who gets to decide who's more important than other people? There was some "Year of a Million Dreams" thing going on where a "cast member" would give your kids a certificate to make their dreams come true. I saw plenty of them being handed out. But mostly to important looking families and families with only one child. Why not my kids? It's the last few days of the year, can't you just hand them out to everyone? I'm not really sure what you get with them, but I know it's things like special lunches with Cinderella and all day FastPass and grand marshall in the parade (of which there's 4 every day at Magic Kingdom alone, my kids could do one!)

As for our actual trip, don't get me wrong, it was magical and wonderful and I don't take back a second of it. Ok well, I take back Epcot, but I don't want to get ahead of myself here. There were just a few things here and there that really irritated me and made the experience, from an adult's point of view, a little less magical. Don't we all wish we could go back as children so that we can ignore all those little things?

We arrived in Orlando on December 29th. (Actually , it was Kissemmee if you want to get technical about it.) We checked in to the hotel and then went to find some food. Found a really cute little restaurant on the main strip there and had a great (and expensive) meal. The service was pretty bad, though. It was also pouring rain.

Next morning we wake up bright and early to go to Animal Kingdom. We got there at about 7:30 in the morning and they were letting people in as far as the main island thingy by the "Tree of Life" (see pictures). We were so excited and the air was truly full of magic. And fog. There's some big roller coaster there, so we go try out this Fast Pass thing that every one's talking about. What it is is by many of the bigger rides there is a machine that you stick your park ticket in and it spits out another ticket telling you that you can come back and skip the whole long line to ride the ride between certain times. In this instance we could come back between 4:00 and 5:00 to ride this big roller coaster called Everest. We got a few other fast passes as well, but you can only get one every hour or so. However, it's totally worth it! The line for Everest alone was 90 minutes, so Husband and Drew bypassed that whole line and got right on. For some reason, Louisa all of a sudden had this fear of ...well...everything. She's really into haunted scary stuff and fast roller coasters. But this whole trip she wouldn't go on anything fast (unless we made her or lied and told her it wasn't fast) and she was scared of all the darker rides. So she wouldn't go on Everest, or even the water rapids ride, at Animal Kingdom. Not sure what that was all about. For anyone who's never been there and isn't sure what to expect, Animal Kingdom is just like what it's name sounds like, a big zoo. I don't know what husband was expecting, but he was a little surprised that it's a glorified zoo. Magical and fun nonetheless!

Day two was Magic Kingdom. Hmm.... let me see, what can I say about Magic Kingdom on New Year's eve other than it was crowded, but we barely waited in any lines. It was tiring, but we were there for a staggering 18 hours. My feet were so sore and tired that each step was agonizing, but we pushed on, and on, and on, and on.... Imagine your biggest dream turns into your worst nightmare. Disney for 18 hours straight! At 6:00 pm we were disheartened to realize we still had six whole hours to go. At 8:00 we cried when we realized we still had four whole hours to go. And at 10:00 pm we about lost it when we realized there were still two more hours until midnight! But by then you're not just going to give up. Oh no! You push on! While everyone is heading to secure a good spot to watch the midnight celebration, you catch a whole bunch of rides with short lines (and bathrooms). I think in those last two hours we got in about 4 rides including torturing husband with It's a Small World, a snack, and several trips to the bathroom because so many people were either exiting to beat the rush, or heading to the front of the castle to watch the fireworks. This was another day of Louisa being scared of everything. One of the first rides we went on was Haunted Mansion. We had ALL been so looking forward to this ride. We love the movie (yes, I know the ride came first) and we were excited that there was no line at all. Even Hunter could go on it. We line up outside the door to the mansion and there are some graves with funny things written on them (very reminiscent of something my friend Kate would do). Louisa starts squirming and asking to go back. We say no, she can go on this, there's nothing scary. We get in the door and she starts to cry. We go into a small room and she starts to wail. We get as far as where you actually get on the ride and she's bawling so hard everyone is staring at us. I get very frustrated because this is so not like her. I take the baby and her and I find an exit in which we end up wandering around the backstage area for awhile before we find our way out. By the time we get back to the stroller husband and Drew are coming out of the ride. Drew offers to go back in with me so I can see it, too. So we switch and Louisa and Hunter sits out with daddy while I go in. She also freaked out while we were waiting in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but since it was an 80 minute line and this ride has no Fast Pass, she was going on it! In the end she was glad she did, but we spent 80 minutes with her whining and crying and once we actually got on the ride she buried her head in my lap and bawled. I finally got her to look up and she was ok after that. Now, back to midnight. It was so worth it when the fireworks exploded over the castle and husband and I gave our new year kiss. The kids were about passed out, but they managed to get up to say Happy New Year! The park was open until 2:00 am and several restaurants were giving away free cookies and hot chocolate. So of course we found one and got our freebies. Here's another reason why Disney is so evil. The monorail at Magic Kingdom. How fun it is to enter the park and ride the monorail (or ferry) across the lake to Magic Kingdom! However, imagine it's New Year's and the whole park empties out at about the same time. How magical is that monorail now? My feet hurt so bad at this point I could barely stand. Drew was so tired that I couldn't get him to walk and he's too heavy for me to carry. Husband hears someone yelling that this other monorail, the one that goes to the resorts, also stops at the parking lot. How awesome is that? The line for this monorail is very short in comparison. I think we still waited a half hour, but the line wasn't even moving for the other monorail to the parking lots.

Day three is Epcot. And let me tell you, none of us wanted to go. But we paid for three days at Disney so by golly, we were going. Not much to say because we didn't enjoy it as much. We met a Snow White who truly did act like a princess, though. And not the sweet Disney kind either. We happened to walk by a Snow White who had just started taking pictures with people, so the line was short. Since she was the only princess we had seen in all three days, we had to stop for Louisa. Not that she's that into princesses, mind you. It was drizzling so slightly that you barely felt it. The people in front of us were two teenage girls who wanted their pic with SW. I don't know what one of the girls was holding in her hand, but SW pointed at it and snapped, "I can't take pictures with those. You need to get rid of it now!" The girl handed whatever it was to her mom. My curiosity is totally peeked. I really wonder what the heck it was. The mom stuck it in her pocket and held up her camera. The girl looked very distraught, though. Then SW puts on her Disney-Snow-White-character-voice and acts all cute and perky with the girls. Next it's out turn. SW pulls out her princess-ness again and looks to the "cast member escort" who is with her. "It's raining. I can't be rained on. We need to go inside NOW!" she snaps. The escort tells me that we're going inside this building now, but we'll be the first family once we get in. So we get our picture, but wow was she.... um.... princess-ey!

I think we were all glad to leave Epcot. Now we had a big decision to make. We were originally going to head out to Cape Canaveral to Kennedy Space Center. Were we still in the sightseeing mood? Did we really want to walk around a whole day more? We decided we'd see in the morning. Morning. Husband goes to check out, only to find that we had one whole more night there. We were tired and couldn't take a fifth night there, so he went ahead and checked out. While he was gone I called Sea World because at one point they were letting military families in for free and I wanted to see if they still did that. I mean, we were down there, so why not? Right? It's not like we're going to make the 15 hour trip some other time just for free Sea World. They still have the promotion running, so we talked husband into going. After all, it's FREE and it's because he's in the military.

We were back in a good mood and Sea World was amazing. Well, mostly for me it was. I am a huge animal person. Love love love animals! Getting that up close with so many sea creatures was awesome for me. Hunter loved every second of it, too. At the Shamu show they honored all military and had military stand. Husband is always so shy and embarrassed about that stuff, but he deserves it. It's nice to go to a place where his service is commended so much. And to get in for free because of it! So, huge thanks to Anheiser Busch! If you are military, several of their parks are free for active duty and their immediate family. Go to http://www.herosalute.com/ . So Sea World is not evil!

Disney, Sea World and lots of magic!

How badly do you feel when you realize that you've told everyone about your Disney trip except for your blog?! Blog, honey, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me for not writing sooner. I've been a little preoccupied, but I promise I'll get better about posting. Do you forgive me? **Blog nodded it's head yes** Thank you, Honey!!!
So, first I'll post pics cause it's much easier just to post them then to strategically place all these pics throughout my story. That's a little harder than you may think it is, and I have a lot of pics to share. Of course!

When we first got to Orlando, we were greeted by this beautiful rainbow! What a great way to kick off our "magical" vacation!

Day One, Animal Kingdom:

Right before we enter Walt Disney World for the very first time!

Why it's great to have a big strong daddy! Hunter spent a lot of the trip on Daddy's shoulders. It's great because he doesn't have to look at knees all day, and Daddy doesn't have to push the stroller all day.

My little bug! Waiting in line for the Bug's Life 4-D show.

Before we got to the park we had told the kids that we were not standing in any lines to have pics with characters. That was just silly! The kids said that was fine. See... look at us sticking to our guns here! Daddy and Drew stood in line to see Mickey and Louisa and Hunter and I stood in line to see Minnie. We only waited about 20 minutes, though, I swear! And yes, feel very sorry for the people in the costumes. It was about 85 degrees at this point in the day!

Two fashionable ladies!

After we had Louisa's picture with Minnie, she came over to Hunter and gave him kisses and snuggles. We teased Hunter the whole rest of the time that he was stealing Minnie from Mickey! He was so smitten with her.

Each park has it's signature landmark that we recognize right away. Animal Kingdom's landmark is the "Tree of Life". It's so much more beautiful in real life than I thought it would be. There are hundreds of animals carved into the "tree" and it's roots. We had a lot of fun just walking around the tree playing "I Spy" with the animals.

Day Two, Magic Kingdom:

What a beautiful site to see my little princess in front of Cinderella Castle! And a great way to start off our day at Magic Kingdom. Daddy and Drew headed off to Space Mountain while Louisa, Hunter, and I headed off to find a FastPass. We stopped to take a few pics along the way. At 8:00 in the morning there aren't many people around, so it's great photo op time.

This is how Husband punishes me when I'm bad!

At each park there are opportunites to dine with characters. Usually you have to make a reservation to get in because it's a popular feature. I made reservations for breakfast with Pooh and friends at the Crystal Palace here at Magic Kingdom. It was wonderful! We saw them all, Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore. Anyone who knows me well knows that Pooh and friends are my all time favorite Disney characters, so I think this was more fun for me than anyone else! Incidentally, Hunter loved them all! He was never once scared of a costumed character. Just the opposite, he reached for them and hugged them and gave them "five".

Almost midnight and they're still alive and kicking! We got these fun hats to wear and noise makers to blow. Disney really knows how to do New Year's!

Actually, when midnight finally came around, Drew had crashed and Louisa was trying her best to stay awake. Hunter was still awake, but he was the only one to have a few naps throughout the day!

Fireworks over Cinderella Castle at midnight made the whole long day worth every agonizing step! (and OH did my feet HURT!) There's nothing like bringing in the new year amidst magic and romance!

How do you torture a husband? Make him ride "It's a Small World"!

Day Three, Epcot:

As you'll hear more about in the story when I post it, by the time we got to Epcot we were totally Disney-ed out. We could have easily done without Epcot and the kids didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped they would. As a result, I wasn't in a picture taking mood. So here are the few good ones I have.

This is the only princess we got our pic with. Louisa wasn't happy that Drew had to jump in, but hey, he's my lady's man! He's gotta jump in when there's a hot princess there! Acutally, Snow White was a little snotty and stuck up. I wasn't very pleased with her. But alas, it's just an actress and we just wanted a quick picture. I have no doubt that the princesses are treated the best at Disney, though. There's probably a reason she acted the way she did.

We bought a ton of souveniers at Epcot. They did have one of the biggest and best merchandise store in all of Disney. Hunter grabbed on to this cute little Tigger and didn't let go! (he has a habit of closing his eyes when I point the camera at him because the flash is so bright!)

Day Four, Sea World:

Hunter and daddy with "Shamu"

At "Dolphin Cove" we got to feed the dolphins and play with them and pet them. They were just as curious about us as we were about them. This little cutie kept following me around and posing for my camera. She gave me a couple really good shots of her and came right up to the kids nicely, too. What an actress! She really knows how to work her crowd! (Snow White could learn a thing or two from this precious sweetheart)