Birthdays and Weddings and Critters

The little one that I live with turned 2 this past week. We had a birthday party for her at the house. It was supposed to be at the park but about an hour before start time the sky opened up and all guests were contacted to come to the house. It was fun and the front yard looked like a game of Tetris played with cars!

Then yesterday a dear friend got married. Many of my Disney family were able to go to Colorado to celebrate this wonderful day. Sadly I was not there, but felt included with photos being posted and a live video being streamed. I took these photos a year ago just a few days after they got engaged. Congratulations to Nic and Dan Curtis. I wish you many years of love and happiness.

Since I was home alone with the 4-legged critters I decided to get some photos of them. Fonzie could care less about having the camera in his face, Monte tolerated it, but Gus DOES NOT like the camera. I've tried taking pictures of him with my phone and he gets up and moves before I can catch him, and he didn't like the "real" camera any more. I even sat on the floor with them, which makes Gus stand taller than me, and he was trying to hide between me and the wall to avoid the camera! Such a big baby!

Photos from Labor Day at Disney

I'll make this short and sweet.

Here are links to the flickr photo sets from Labor Day at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT along with one for Elizabeth's 1st haircut.

Magic Kingdom
EPCOT
1st Haircut

And my favorite photo from the day:

Love Bugs

No, not Herbie, or cute pictures of lady bugs, or a sweet baby girl that I call a love bug. Nope. These are actual bugs. I had heard about them. And now I have experienced them. Drove through a cloud of them today. Was VERY glad I was driving and not walking!!! The fly around just like in the photo, hence the name Love Bug. I didn't take this picture, I was going to take one yesterday when they landed on the car window on our way to church, but I couldn't reach my phone LOL So yeah, not the 1st crazy insect I've encountered here, but definitely one that I will gladly see go soon! Now I need to go wash my car LOL

Oh, and yesterday I saw my 1st & 2nd gators since I've been here! The 1st one was floating belly up in the big lake near the house and the 2nd was floating like a log in a retention pond along the road on our way to church.

Florida weather is on crack! (and some other ramblings)

View out the drivers side window when I got off I4 & was almost home

 

So yeah, it was BEAUTIFUL at work today! Just enough sun and clouds that it wasn't swelteringly hot! Then it was time to drive home. As I made the turn onto I4 there are bright sun rays shining down through dark clouds, and in the distance you could tell it was raining. Driving. Driving. Dry. Driving. Driving. Sprinkling. Driving. Raining. Driving. WHEN DID I ENTER A CAR WASH!?!?!?!?!?  The rain was coming down so hard that it was exactly like going through a car wash, once the soap has been added, when you can't see the octopus scrubbies headed towards you. Driving. Driving. Raining. Driving. Sprinkling. Driving. Dry. So dry it didn't look like it had rained for a few days. Take the off ramp for home and it starts sprinkling again. Then rain. Then downpour. I park at home and sit in the car waiting to see if the rain will let up just a little. Which is really funny because I was still wet from being in the pools at work today LOL

And speaking of work . . .
I have had some awesome guest interaction this week. People who saw me in one location and kept finding me and having me take more photos for them.
1. 25th anniversary trip for a couple from Iowa
2. Couple that just got engaged
3. Another who were on their honeymoon
4. Family who just bought a new underwater camera on the cruise ship 2 days prior and it broke on the way into the park. I let them know where/when I would be in different areas and they kept finding me. At one spot I was facing away from them and didn't see them so the dad called out "hey Camera Lady!" and I had to laugh, saying to myself "no, it's Photo Girl" :0)
5. Multiple groups that I took photos of during the day and then at the end when they were picking up their photos I was the one directing them to available clerks and they told me how much fun they had.

I am LOVING my job! However, my body isn't quite sure about it LOL Today one of my toes decided to grow and burst a blister in about 3 hours. My feet aren't quite liking being wet for 3-5 hours. The new sandals I got are comfy but aren't actually "quick dry foot bed" ones, but SO much better than what I had. I'm wearing my tennis shoes in the morning until I change into the "wet clothes" which is helping. My back has decided (again) that it doesn't really like standing and holding a camera for 8 hours a day and being in the water may not be helping that much either. But even with all that, I am LOVING my job!!! And in the end, that's the most important part right?!

Update (sorry, no creative title tonight LOL)

Well, I have now been in Florida for a full month!!!

Yesterday I got signed off at work by my trainer to be a "primary photographer" for all areas except the dolphin interaction. I am taking entry photos, which is actually pretty fun, unlike at Sea World San Diego LOL These photos are FREE and the guests haven't had to wait forever to park, then to get in through the gates. I had a lady today thank us for being so efficient! She said that they had been able to check in (which involves getting photos taken & ID lanyards made) and walked down the "nature trail" to find that we had 3 photographers waiting to be able to handle the "traffic flow" of incoming guests. I think she said it had taken 10 minutes max since they had parked to get to the photographers!

I am also taking photos in the aviary, which I really enjoy. The birds are beautiful and it's fun to watch the kids faces when they have a bird land on them and eat out of a cup in their hand. The other 3 places I'm taking photos are all IN the water. The "resort pool" which generally has a waterfall in the distant background. The reef, where the stingrays and fish are. This location is actually a bit meh, only because the guests are looking down at the water most of the time and we don't have polarizers, so you can't see anything in the water. I only got a few photos there today. The last location is the waterfall in the river at the water entrance for the aviary. At one point today I took 39 photos there in 10 minutes...it was CRAZY.

I got new sandals. They were on sale for 50% off so I only paid $32. They are comfy, but are not a quick dry footbed. I'm thinking I'm going to wear my tennis shoes in the morning for the nature trail photos in my "dry" clothes and then change into the sandals for when I'm headed to the water.

It was a good week, and I am VERY happy it is over and I have Sunday and Monday off :0) Hope you all have a good holiday weekend!