Visitors and Birthdays!

Hello all!

It's been a bit since my last post, but lots has happened in that time. My visitors came! Mom and Keyla flew to Baltimore to visit my sister for a few days, and then caught a flight down to Bermuda to see me! It was so nice to see them. But first, I'll update about work a little bit.

So I've been getting more involved in programs. We are talking more during them, and I've noticed my confidence has increased. I cannot stress enough though, the importance of enthusiastic and receptive guests. It makes our job so much easier if the guests are excited and happy to be there. We do get people that come in who act like they could care less. When I see them I think to myself, 'If you don't want to do this, then why are you spending the money to do it?' It just doesn't make any sense to me. So that makes our job a little more difficult, because I know I for one feel like I have to compensate energetic-ness for their lack of it. So, if you guys ever do an interactive program, get excited! It's not everyday that you get to spend time with an animal that calls the ocean its home. It makes our job so much easier and more fun for everyone involved- plus the dolphins feed off your energy and they will get more excited as well. :)

Anyways, so last week was my birthday. :) I turned 22. I did have to work on my birthday, but when have I ever minded spending a day around dolphins. I was on photo for my birthday, so I spent my day taking pictures of everybody. I like photo, it's taught me the value of a good photograph. People always smile when they see their pictures too, which is nice. So it was a pretty busy day, and then when I came inside from shooting a program for lunch, everyone was sitting there with a cake and yelled 'Happy Birthday!' I was really surprised. It was so nice. They made me wear a tiara and took me out and bought my lunch. :) I have good friends here. And then, at the end of the day, Robyn (one of the trainers) told me to go put my camera away and come back outside. I was really confused, but then they put the tiara back on me and told me to get in the water with Caliban so I could take birthday pictures with her. It was so much fun, and Jamie (the DQ photographer) even brought his underwater camera so I have a few underwater photos with Cali as well. It was definitely one of the best days of my life.

Birthday kiss from Caliban! :)

Underwater! :)

Then, after work, I rushed home and packed up and headed into Hamilton to meet my Mom and Keyla! They arrived on my birthday- greatest birthday presents ever. :) The hotel we stayed in was amazing- infinity pool! Woo! So it was really nice to see them, and we went out to Rosa's Cantina for my birthday. The next day we went to Elbow Beach. I hadn't been there yet and it was absolutely gorgeous. They liked the pink sand and the blue water. Nice and relaxing. Then we headed to Dolphin Quest and they got to do their dolphin program! They loved it, it was very exciting to be able to show them around. They got to meet Bailey, Cavello, Caliban, and Cooper. After that we explored Dockyard and ate dinner at the Frog and Onion.

My visitors! :)

Dancing with Cali

The next day we traveled to Tom Moore's Jungle and Keyla and Mom got to jump into Blue Hole. That was so much fun. We snorkeled around and took some pictures. Afterwards we went to the Swizzle Inn for lunch- I really like that place. Good food and I love the gift shop as well. Then we made our way to St. George's and toured around. Had fun in the stocks and enjoyed some of the historic-ness of Bermuda. We took the ferry back, and we got to see Bermuda from the ocean, which was cool. We even had a local on the ferry explaining what everything was and gave us a bit of history. It's always nice to have someone from the area point things out to you. Then we hung out at the hotel for the rest of the night. We were exhausted.

Tom Moore's Jungle!

The last day I spent with them we went shopping in Hamilton a bit and then went snorkeling at Church Bay- which was beautiful but it was really rough that day, so the swimming was a bit difficult. Then we actually just went back to the hotel and spent time at the pool. We'd done so much running around the past few days that it was nice to just relax and enjoy the view. Sadly after that I had to go back to Dockyard, so they grabbed the ferry over with me and helped me bring my stuff back. Then we went to dinner and they got the ferry back to Hamilton. I hate saying goodbye, but I know I'll see them in a few weeks. So that helps. I'm glad that they were able to visit me and they were able to see where I've called home the past few months.

So last night Lindsey and I went with some of the crew from work to go see the glowworms. They only glow the day after a full moon 56 minutes after sunset or something like that. Really specific. They were really cool though, but they only glow for about 10 minutes. But that was exciting.

Then today, we had a TON of rain in the morning at work, because the outskirts of a tropical storm/hurricane hit Bermuda. Wasn't anything dangerous, it just rained a LOT. I'm still waiting for my first hurricane experience. Granted, I want it to be a small one. But a hurricane nonetheless. :) Exciting.

Anyways, that's about it for now, I'll let you guys know if anything else happens. :) Love love.

P.S. We are in the midst of a cockroach battle. We saw it, but lost it somewhere in the room. I doubt any of us are going to sleep well tonight... I hate those things. Saw one fly yesterday. Nasty buggers.