Farewell Orlando

Things I Will Miss:

1. Ben's car
2. 8 hour work days
3. nights off
4. the chinese place across the street from the barn
5. not having to get horses ready for show each day
6. being able to wear what i want to work
7. suntanning at work
8. getting a day off each week

that is just off the top of my head. tomorrow is new years eve.... we head to miami the 2nd to start up shows again. oh- we have been spoiled the past 3 weeks- getting back to real work is really going to suck. i have heard wonderful things about the stay in miami- me and another guy are going to try to plan a scuba trip on one of our days off. i think my parents are going to try to make a trip down.... yay for more time off the train. well... i went to target today and bought a bunch of movies that were on sale- right now i am in the middle of the green mile- time to get back to that.

chat with ya later on the train run.... did i mention we got 2 baby elephants??? a boy and a girl :) i will post pictures later

Surprise!! I'm Home!

So as a last minute decision, on the evening of the 23rd, I maxed out my credit card and purchased a plane ticket home for Christmas. Alcohol was a major factor in making the decision- so my family has Southern Comfort Whiskey to thank for me coming home. And Casey- it was his idea. I flew out Christmas Eve night, sat on a plane for 4 hours with screaming kids around me, Greg and Stef picked me up from the airport and I about gave my mom a heart attack when I walked in the door. My puppies crawled into my lap, I got to meet the newest puppy additions to the family and I got to sleep in my wonderful bed again. Christmas morning we brought the dogs to the dog park and we spent the day in Saint Cloud. It was great to be home and with family vs. stuck on the stupid circus train. And it has even been snowing the entire time I have been here. I love it. I fly out tomorrow night- 7:20. I don't actually have the day off, so hopefully I don't get in too much trouble. I figure, if my boss doesn't even care enough to show up, I shouldn't get it too bad. If they fire me- I don't think I will really give a s**t :) So this Christmas turned out 100 times better than I could have ever imagined. I got snow afterall :)

What A BLAST!

Disney was great- we made it to animal kingdom, mgm, and magic kingdom. we rode all the famous rides- expedition everest, splash mtn, tower of terror, space mtn and a few more. i laughed and screamed too much, but i felt like a kid again. it was great to see some of my college friends- the visits are always too short. back to work today :( BOO!

Waiting on the Weather....

So today is disney day!! however, i woke up to tornado warnings and sideways falling rain so i am patiently waiting for that to pass so i can go meet mickey and minnie mouse. i had delicious french toast and juice for breakfast w. freshly picked sunflowers sitting on the table. since tornados greatly freak me out, i am just going to sit here and wait until the news says its ok to go. should be a fun day!!!

Yay! Another Weekend!

so because i suppose i am spoiled, my parents have extended my stay here at the timeshare for another week! i was getting depressed to think that i was going to have to move back to the train tomorrow and now i get another 7 days :) casey has been cooking me amazing dinners everynight. tonight is steak w/ onions, baked potatoes and salad. 3 of my thailand friends are here this weekend and sunday we are all going to disney world!!! i cant wait ;) work has been fine- lazy, lazy, lazy. it has become a daily thing that i walk champ my mini pony around the fairgrounds. there is a dogshow this weekend in the same fairgrounds we are in and i got a few odd looks today when we were enjoying our stroll. well- the aroma of food is calling me. i am going to sit out on my porch, drink a beer, a relax.

ps- i brought my wrong camera cord, so when i get back to the train i will upload all my new pics

Finally, A Real Weekend!

now that was a weekend! now that we are in winter quarters, our schedule is a lot easier. saturday we worked a 1/2 day- 9-12. after work i checked into my parents time share about 1 mile from where we are working. it is great! 2 bedroom, 3 bath, kitchen, family room, dining room and outside patio. i am staying here for a week and am enjoying it to the fullest. i have cooked for every meal- something i really miss doing. saturday night, casey and i drove to tampa to see the lost bayou ramblers (a cajun band) and the avett brothers. it was a blast. and i even got to meet some of the guys in the lost bayou ramblers- i even gave the bass player a big smooch on the lips. :) sunday was a lazy day. i didnt get back from the concert until about 3am so i slept late sunday. i spent sunday the way sundays should be spent- i took 3 bubble baths, several naps and only got out of bed to eat :) a bunch of boys came over to play cards and i made them keep all their leftover drinks and food here for me. work has been easy- everyday we let the animals run around. i have been taking the ponies for a walk around the fairgrounds. haha- it is just like walking a dog- only they have a pretty mane and tail and weigh 500 lbs. yesterday we got a new baby in our circus family- a 6 month old tiger who still gets bottlefed. he is the cutest thing ever. i will get pictures soon. well- time to go!

Day One of Winter Quarters

Today i had a normal work day. imagine that. i came to work at 9, had an hour lunch break, and got to leave at 5. i am home now at 6pm and have no idea what to do with myself. today was easy- as the rest of winter quarters will be. every 2-3 hours we rotate the horses around in the paddocks where they were able to run around and expend some energy. it was so much fun to watch them go crazy. i took over 100 pictures today just of them. we are at the orlando fairgrounds- pretty nice. a lot of room, several places to eat just down the street, and the weather is great. i found out today that my nazi boss wont let me go home for christmas. so i am not looking forward to christmas day being spent in my 3" x 7" room. its going to be hell. well- i am going to try to put up some of the videos i took today- hopefully they work

Florida, Here I Come

finally we are on our way to florida. doesnt it always seem that when you are so close to a vacation (not that i really get one in florida, but anyways...) the last day just draaaaaaaaaaags on? yesterday we had our last loadout of the season. slow. when it was time to walk the animal back to the stock cars, the sky opened up and the rain fell. and it fell hard. it was pretty much coming down sideways- leaves were smacking us in the face, a few people lost contacts, horses were going crazy, elephants were trumpeting with delight, and my clothes were 100% stuck to my body by the time we were done. my god. so now we are on the trian- headed south. we should be in orlando sometime tomorrow afternoon. the average temp these days is about 80 :) for the next 4 weeks we dont have shows :) animal crew will still work mon-sat, 8-5. we get sundays off- which seems ridiculous since doctor, dentist, bank, post office, etc are all closed. i swear this company likes to screw their employees. one of the performers that has a car flew home to his country this morning and left casey and i his car- so we will actually have a car for a month. rumor is that there is a lot to do around the trainyard. grocery, mall, lake, bars, restaurants, etc. im looking forward to a warm winter, but it sure will be different from minnesota! i am still working on trying to get time off for xmas. probably wont happen and if it doesnt i will be the drunkest i have ever been come xmas day. probably not what my parents want to read, but at least im being honest. well... water stop should come about 5am so i am going to head to bed. talk to you all in FL~