I had a really cool day yesterday. Alicia, Becky, and I went to the Indianapolis Zoo. After the sea lion feed, they let us go out on deck. There was a 6 week old sea lion named Diego. He was crawling around our feet. That was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Then they brought the baby walrus in so we got to see him too. He too was adorable. We went to a dolphin show and then did a dolphin pet after that. (Becky and I wanted to meet new dolphins). Then we went to see the elephants. An old Brookfield employee works there so he showed us around. First we pet one, which was crazy. Then we went to the elephant show, and when we were about to leave the zookeepers said, "do you guys want to ride them back to the yard?" What?! I asked if they were serious. they were so I got on one and Becky got on another. The elephant laid down and I stepped on it's leg and pulled myself up. When it stood up I had to hold onto it's ears or else I would've fell off the back. It was the coolest thing ever. It was a bit scary, considering how huge they are and that elephants are the animal in zoos that cause the most injuries/deaths. Needless to say, it was an amazing experience.

Today I learned how to free dive. We were in a Pinniped pool with a depth of 8-10 feet. We had masks and flippers. You would just hold your breath and dive down. Greg, the head honcho, taught Becky and I how to do this. The whole goal of this was to 1. have fun 2. as you dive down, scoop up seal and sea lion poop. Becky scooped, I just practiced diving. I was forced to stop because my ears were hurting, so they wouldn't let me keep trying to unplug my ears. They didn't want me to damage myself.

I was also "pushed in" today. At the end of the day two people grabbed Becky's arms and legs to throw her in. She was kicking and screaming and putting up a fight. Two came to get me. They linked arms with me as I walked to the pool with them. I know, I'm no fun. Alicia said she at least wanted to get the pleasure out of pushing me in, so I stood at the edge of the pool like I didn't know what was happening, as she pushed me in.

Last weekend I went country line dancing. Alicia, Jen, Alicia's sister, and Becky went. I never did it before but it was a lot of fun. Some dances I didn't even attempt, but others I was able to pick up on. But once you get the full hang of it, the song ends. Stupid! I also learned to two-step. Fun times.

This weekend I'm taking a road trip with Alicia and Becky. We are going to the Indianapolis Zoo, where Alicia used to work. I am so thankful to have Alicia around. I would be REALLY lonely if it wasn't for her.

I will give you two scenarios and you can decide which is made up and which is real:

1. I leave for Bible study and arrive at Alicia and Jen's house early. Nobody is home, so I decide to sit in my car and play games on my cell phone. As I'm playing games, I look at my keys in the ignition and say to myself, "Self, you should probably take your keys out now, so you don't forget to take them out when someone arrives and you get out of the car." So I listen to myself and take the keys out and put them in my purse. Alicia arrives. Jen arrives. We go to Bible study in Jen's car. After Bible study I drive home.

2. I leave for Bible study and arrive at Alicia and Jen's house early. Nobody is home, so I decide to sit in my car and play games on my cell phone. As I'm playing games, I look at my keys in the ignition and say to myself, "Self, you should probably take your keys out now, so you don't forget to take them out when someone arrives and you get out of the car." Someone arrives home, I get out, go in the house, go to Bible study. We are driving back from Bible study and I realize my keys are not in my purse. We get to my car and they are sitting in the ignition. The police won't help so we call a locksmith and I end up paying $75 for a stupid mistake.

You decide.

I had an excellent weekend. My mom was here! She got down here on Friday afternoon. We went shopping (she bought my groceries!), took a walk, and hung around. On Saturday we took the train downtown and went to the Shedd Aquarium to see more dolphins. They also have Beluga whales, which mom has never seen before. (I do think our show is better though). Then we went out to eat. On Sunday she came to the zoo. She came to a show and then did a dolphin pet with Lucky. She absolutely loved it, which made me happy. Then she got to go behind the scenes at Pinniped (shhhhh....this is on the down low). She also got a tour at dolphin and was able to watch me feed Sterling all by my lonesome. I really like when people get to see me at work, doing what I love so much. She left this morning. :(

Today I had a fun day. First I got to start working with one of the dolphins, Kaylee. I just feed her a bit today, so we could establish the trainer-dolphin bond. Sounds corney, hey? The next day I work I'll hopefully start working some behaviors. I also got to hold our Harris Hawk today. I had to practice with a fake one, then it was time. It is really intimidating having a hawk 2 inches from your face, staring at you. How many people can say they've done that though?

Quick update: The doctors were able to retrieve Thomas the Tank from Kai's stomach this morning. It wasn't easy to watch. It must not have been easy having that come up his throat. Poor dolphin. I actually had a job this time. First I helped tube him 2 liters of water. Then I was in charge of breath rates. Woot woot! (Yeah, it's not really that exciting).

Now I am off to Weaton College for worship. I'm meeting Becky Swab there so it will be cool to see her again.

The dolphin boat tour was cool. We got to see quite a bit of dolphins. I was so excited and Ryan just laughed at me because I get to see them everyday, yet I'm so excited. After that Ryan and I got some lunch and then laid on the beach for awhile. We played in the waves and got knocked over a few times. That night we had ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery, which is only the BEST ice cream ever. I had cake batter ice cream with cookie dough in it. YUMMY! The next day we went put put golfing and ate at Olive Garden. I had a great weekend.

The other day at work a 6 inch train got thrown into the pool and one of the dolphins ate it. On Tuesday we took him to the hospital for his routine check-up and also tried to get the truck out. This was attempted by someone literally reaching thier hand down the dolphins throat. That was unsuccessful. Her arm wasn't long enough. We tomorrow we have the excitement of catching him again and trying to get the truck out with forceps. Fun times at Seven Seas.

I am in Virginia right now. I woke up at 3:30 am yesterday, showered, and headed to O'Hare. My flights were uneventful, which is good. Ryan picked me up at noon. I can't say how good it was to see him! He brought me around the lab to show off his "trophy". Last night we went to a mystery/comedy dinner theatre. It was really fun. We got served a four course meal. And I guessed the correct killer! Now we are about to head to Virginia beach. We are going on a dolphin/historical boat tour so hopefully I can see more dolphins! (Ryan was laughing at me because I'm so excited for this cruise to see dolphins although I see them everyday)

Happy 5th of July! Oh, wait. I'm a day off. My 4th was not too exciting. I worked, came home and ate, and went to bed. Yippee! Work was fun yesterday though. At about 5:30 we all left and got ice cream. We had to chow it down fast because we had a show to do at 6:00. Then after the show we had a pool party. One girl got thrown in because it was her 2nd to last day (today it was her last day and she got thrown in 4 times and they froze her underwear...I'm calling in sick my last day!). Anyway, then they tried throwing the other intern in, but decided to jump in. Then I jumped in and then everyone else did. We had about a 15 min. party. It was probably the most fun day I've had at work.

This past weekend I went to Cornerstone Music Festival. This was my 8th year going, although it was only for 2 days. My aunt Jan and uncle Joe and my two cousins, Andrew and Peter were there so I camped with them. It was so great to see them since they live in New York and aren't usually in the mid-west. Some friends from college are in a band, Anathello. They played on one of the stages and were GREAT. Not being biased, but I think they had the best show that I saw. My friend from Tech, Kevin, was also there. He's another one I don't see much so it was nice to catch up. I saw about 12 bands, some of which were MxPx, Over the Rhine, and P.O.D. During the Pillar concert they were doing a U2 cover, "bloody sunday". When he sang the word "Jesus", it started pouring. It was pretty cool. Stupid me forgot I had an umbrella in my backpack which was sitting at my feet. So I sat in the pouring rain with my sweatshirt hood up and got drenched. It stopped and THEN I realized I had the umbrella. (Sara is not so bright sometimes) Kevin and I then went to Over the Rhine. We both were falling asleep in our chairs, not because it was boring, but because her voice is soooo soothing. I bought one of their c.d's. We were both freezing and tired and called it a night. On Saturday I kind of lounged around, spent too much money on merchandise, watched crazy boys in speedo's create a giant slip and slide, got completely muddy, and saw some bands. That about sums it up.

Have you ever been in a stage in your life where you write or type words and you just don't know how to spell anything? Well, I've been in that stage for about a week, so I probably spelt a billion words wrong. I think I inhaled too much bleach at work while cleaning.

One more thing and then I'm done. The bleach comment reminded me of this. I was cleaning the other day at work. We dropped the pool level by about a foot and put bleach on the cut out areas of the pool and scrubbed it while standing on deck. I was working on a pool that the dolphins were in. Tapeko and Kaylee kept bringing me toys. They would set them on the cut out, then sit with their chins resting on the side, looking at me like "aren't you going to play with me?" It was the cutest thing, but unfortunetly, I'm not allowed to do that, so I had to keep scrubbing and ignore them. Heartbreaking.