The Big Move

All about our last month....

1) Flew to Florida in August to find a place to live. It was awful and we had a hard time finding a place/area that felt like home. But we were blessed and 3 hours before our flight back to Texas, we got a phone call about a place we had seen online and as soon as we walked in the front door we knew it would work out. Thank goodness!!!!

2) We had to pack up all our stuff and move out of our apartment in Texas by the end of the month. It was nice because Guy's company covered the packing/moving costs, but it was still stressful.  I'm still trying to figure out how we have accumulated so much stuff. I swear it doubles with every kid and I'm sure it will only get worse down the road! I guess its good we move so much so we can sort through our stuff often and get rid of what we don't need. 

Our huge moving truck...we only filled up half but guy's car took up the rest.

Ty helping clean the apartment- he did this all on his own :)

And this is how we all felt...exhausted!!!

3) We had a trip planned since the beginning of the year to go to Oregon and run the Hood to Coast Relay (8/20-21) with Guy's family.  Not the best timing since we were in the middle of moving but it turned out to be great and lots of fun.  The race was really fun and our team ended up running 190 miles in 30 hours.  My kids had fun seeing all of their cousins even though they were little nightmares themselves.  Time change + no sleep = grouchy kids. Don't you love when you see family only once or twice a year and your kids act like that?

Riley and Brayden

4) The day we flew back to Texas (8/22) I started feeling really sick. I could tell I had a fever on the plane and my throat felt really swollen. I knew I had strep but I had to wait until the next day to go to a doctor and get antibiotics. Initially we were going to drive straight to Florida, but Guy had to work a few more days in Texas first.  So the next morning, Guy goes to take me to the doctor and we get down to our car in the parking lot and we found out we had a flat tire! Can you believe it!! So I had to wait until the afternoon and by the time I got to the doctor's I could hardly talk or swallow. She took one look in my throat, told me it was covered with blisters and pus (gross, I know) and she didn't even need to do the strep test. So antibiotics were heaven and I started to feel better right away.  I totally forgot how bad strep can be. I haven't had it since high school!

This is how we found the boys sleeping at the hotel in the morning. Hilarious!!!

5) Day 1 of our drive (8/25): We woke up at 4 AM and drove 11 hours to Pensacola Florida. Guy drove the whole way since I was still feeling sick.  What a good hubby! The kids did pretty good in the car until the end when we were all just anxious to be there. We checked into our hotel and then went and checked out Pensacola Beach. Brought back memories of all the old spring break vacations we used to take there when I was younger. The sand was so white and soft. I loved it and it was fun to see the boys running around smiling and happy.

Pensacola Beach

6) Day 2 of drive (8/26): We woke up early again and decided to drive to Orlando instead of Tampa since we couldn't move into our place until Saturday. We had some time to kill. Randomly that morning, Guy had gotten an email from Marriott with some of their deals going on in the U.S. and one of them happened to be in Orlando. They had a night at one of their timeshare resorts for the same price as one of their hotels. So we were excited and were able to stay there that night instead. We got to Orlando around noon and we couldn't check in until 4 so we changed into our swimsuits and hung out at their amazing pool. It was awesome and nice to relax a bit after the long drive and before the craziness of moving in and unpacking began. We stopped by downtown disney that night and had fun browsing the shops and the boys had fun playing with the legos.



Downtown Disney- BB's pirate face



I think Ty thought they were real :)

7) (8/27) Drove an hour up to Tampa and got the keys and stuff for our new place.  Movers came on Saturday and moved us in all morning. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and attempting to get settled.

8) And present day, that is still all we are doing. Trying to get unpacked and settled. It sure takes awhile, especially with 2 kids undoing everything you've just done.  We like our place so far. We are renting a 3 bedroom townhome so the extra space has been nice. The best part is having a laundry room upstairs. It makes it so convenient! The worst part is we have ants in our downstairs. It's just lovely. The pest control guys came and sprayed and said they were red ants which makes me freak out even more.  Seriously why do I always live in the south when I hate bugs so much??? It;s like a given when you live somewhere warm. It was cockroaches my first year in texas and now red ants here. We'll get the problem resolved but seriously it's a pain. I feel like all I do is clean my kitchen so that not a crumb is left out. Who wants to do that all day?? Plus its almost impossible when you have 2 young kids who eat a cracker and about half of it ends up on the floor. I can't keep up :(

9) I am trying to get Brayden into a preschool here. In Florida they have them for free and they are in the elementary schools. Nice huh! I'm afraid since school has already started that we'll be put on a waiting list but I'm hoping they can fit him in somewhere. Preschool would be so good for him so keep your fingers crossed for me!

10) I think that just about catches me up to the present day.  So far, I think we will like it here. It's different then Texas and I miss it there every day, but I know we can be happy anywhere we live. There are lots of fun things we can do as a family here so I am excited to make our year and a half worthwhile and make lots of memories together! But I do feel kind of lonely and lost here. It's so hard to have to make all new friends and to adjust to a new place.  We all missed Guy when he started his new job. Ty would yell "Daddy" down the stairs all day, looking for him. But Guy seems to like his job so far and the people he works with are really nice so thats a good thing.

Spent an evening with the kids at Clearwater Beach...it is beautiful!

11) Ok one more real quick...Guy went on a run on Saturday (9/11) and saw his first alligator. Isn't that freaky! It was just a little one in a pond by the sidewalk, but still an alligator. Not in a zoo.  Not with a fence around it. Right by our neighborhood! I'm not sure I can get used to this!!!