Runner Costume

Birthday Month!

It seems like November is quite a big month for birthdays!! Daddy's is on the 18th. Elise's is next Monday. Chris just had his birthday. Elise's dad's is later this month, too!!

For an early birthday celebration for Elise, she and I went down to Daytona Beach for a couple of days! We amazingly enough had the same two days off (the very first time that has happened since we've been here!!) We stayed at a hotel that was right up by the beach, with a balcony and everything. We slept with our balcony door open so we could fall asleep to the sound of the ocean waves!!!

We hung out at the beach for awhile on Monday, then had a picnic at a park and checked into our hotel. We got up reeeeally early on Tuesday to watch the sunrise over the water. Then we went back to sleep for a few hours!!!

At Daytona, you can drive right up to the water!!!



Palm trees are our FAVORITE thing!!!

That Tuesday was Chris' actual birthday. After we got back from Daytona, I had class in the afternoon. Then the three of us went to dinner to celebrate! Chris had made reservations at Boma. That is the African buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge and it is soooo good!! So much yummy food!

Chris is like my Orlando big brother I never had! We get along so well ... and yet we fight, just like brother and sister. I told him I think he and I fight more than David and I do!! But he definitely makes me miss my brother!! (I'm looking forward to seeing you soon, Big D!)

I had a little scare while we were eating! Apparently I ate something with coconut in it and I had an allergic reaction ..... I couldn't feel my tongue or my lips and I kept slurring my words! Plus my tongue and lips were bleeding because I kept biting them since I couldn't feel them! But Elise went and got me some Benedryl and then everything was good. It was just embarrassing. The GM of the restaurant even came over to see if I was okay! Oh boy, everything has to be an adventure with me ....

After we finished eating we went to Downtown Disney for awhile. Cast members get in free during the week to all the clubs in Pleasure Island. We went to the Adventurer's Club and the Comedy Warehouse. There is info about these on this website about 3/4 way down the page: http://www.wdwinfo.com/downtown/pi/

Here are some pics from Chris' Bday celebration:

The cast members at Boma gave him a birthday card!! But he can't read it because it is written in African languages since all the cast members who work there are actually from Africa!!!

Me and my adopted "brother"

Love My Roomie and Disney-ese

I love love love my roommate! She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met!!!

We seriously lucked out in the rommate department! Sooo many people here cannont stand their roommates. I know it is impossible to bring so many people here from all over the world and not expect there to be some clashes ... but a lot of people are practically enemies with the people they live with. We are so blessed to get along so well!

Her name is Elise and she is from Brockton, Massachusetts, which is right outside of Boston. Thankfully, that makes her a Red Sox fan!! I was super worried about being paired up with a Yankees fan .... whew, that was such a relief!!

We are so much alike it is scary, and yet we get along so well. People keep asking if we are sick of each other yet, but it hasn't happened! We truly do enjoy spending time together and love hanging out. I am so happy that my roomie is one of my best friends here!!



I also wanted to give you a little lesson on Disney speak down here! WDW (Walt Disney World) has some pretty crazy names for things. While most businesses use ordinary names for things, we of course have to put a "magical" Disney spin on things .... all part of the show, you see.

For example, Disney does not have EMPLOYEES. Instead, all the workers are called CAST MEMBERS.

And we don't work in OFFICES or in a PUBLIC PLACE. Instead, we are either OFFSTAGE or ONSTAGE.

Also, we don't really work. You see, we are actually PERFORMING ROLES.

And we don't wear UNIFORMS at work ... we wear COSTUMES.

There are so many things that Disney changes .... I guess it is kind of fun when you think about it. They put a lot of work into making sure we keep up the appearance of the show.

When people come to Disney World, they spend a lot of time and money to get out of their REALITY. It is our job as cast members to put them in our FANTASY world and help them enjoy their time here.

Wow, that sounded like a rehearsed spiel!! I'm not even getting paid for that, haha!!!


Ya'll have a great weekend!
Love,
Kara