Florida- Part 1

Pictures in the camera, pictures on the computer.  I'm splitting it up into two parts.  It will still be long, get comfortable.  Caffeine might be a good idea ;)

Staying out of the way while the movers pack.
What better way than filling every possible pocket & hair follicle with sand?

Ted chilling on the concrete- it was still toasty in September.

The move was about as uneventful as moves can be, which is pretty much why I'd prefer to buy one house and never move.  In the end we made it, our stuff made it, and a little time solves the rest.  Friends and family came to our rescue more times than I can count, for which I am deeply grateful.  The flu that hit the day before we moved was thankfully a short stint.  My poor boy still didn't fare the flight so well, I'll spare you those details.

You're welcome.

It was hard to coax him back onto the plane at our connection.  He says he's 'allergic to motion.'  His plan was to camp at the Houston airport for a couple of days and then drive the rest of the way to Florida.  While the airport did have an assortment of the great restaurants we enjoyed when we lived in Dallas and we would have been perfectly content to live there for a couple of days, realistically it obviously wasn't going to happen.  We had a short family picnic comprised mostly of meclazine and put the poor kid on our next flight.  He fell asleep as soon as we took off and the second half was considerably easier than the first.  By the time we got to our rental it was dark and we were all exhausted and glad to have beds.

First thing next morning the kids headed out to explore our temporary backyard- lizards, coconut trees, bugs, and all.

Anoles everywhere.  They jump!

Climbing the coconut tree.

A better plan than climbing.

From the coconut trees we quickly learned it is best not to climb coconut trees infested with fire ants.  And, coconut trees are almost always infested with fire ants whether you see them or not.  They both came back peppered with red bites.  All of us were easy bug pickin's until we figured out what and where to avoid.  It looked like we were recovering from a nasty case of the chicken pox.  We filed it under 'things the locals already know' and slathered on the hydrocortisone gel.

We also learned that screw drivers make pretty good coconut peelers if you're determined enough.

After days of holding out hope that there was a 'machete' stored somewhere at the vacation house they settled for a screwdriver.

And it worked!

We celebrated a birthday!  And waited several days for the rain to go away to try out the new boogie boards (Toni, we need pointers).  It rains a lot here.  We had grand plans of going to Sea World or something similar but those quickly faded into the realization that we had to find a place to live sooner than we anticipated; limited market, background checks, application processes, negotiations and all that.  She was a good sport about spending her day in the car looking for a home.  I think that qualifies for a birthday do-over.

The house hunt was fast and furious.  In Florida 99% of rentals go through realtors, kind of  a pain for the poor realtor since they make squat off the deal.  After running our perfectly sarcastic and refreshingly honest realtor ragged we finally found a place within our newly adjusted reality check budget for living in Florida. 

So nice to go for a stroll at the end of a crazy day.

Isaac hanging out on the back porch.  Look closely at the coconuts :)

So we moved out of the vacation home and into our new place- the kids won't let me call it an apartment because they say it makes it feel like it isn't a house.  On paper it's about as big as the house we left but storage doesn't seem to be a huge priority in Florida houses. . . or townhouses.  The guys who unloaded our crates kept shaking their heads and saying, 'This is going to be interesting.'  Yep, we still need to get rid of LOTS more.  We did manage to unpack the bare necessities by digging and get somewhat settled just in time for Halloween.  It was a low key affair this year- dinner out and some homemade treats.

The wizard and Hiccup from 'How to Train Your Dragon'

Unpacking has been an adventure.  If the boxes are labeled they are often labeled in code, by abbreviation, or by whatever was thrown in at the top of the box.  We've found boxes marked 'lightbulbs' that were full of blankets and boxes labeled 'misc' with no other indication as to what's inside that housed an assortment of board games plus a butternut squash.  Random.  We also unpacked a bag of garbage (thank goodness there was nothing of a decomposing nature) and several other things that were never meant to tag along.  Every box is a surprise.  It's like a 300 box Christmas!  And while I really appreciate the fact that our stuff was boxed up and ready to go so quickly I don't think I'll ever have strangers pack again- company paid or no.  Next time I pack.

The limitless supply of boxes and packing paper we currently have on hand have been put to good use though!  They've been cars, houses, villages, hideouts, forts, places for art, giant origami, and even substituted as a pile of leaves to jump in and 'snow' for angels.

As close as we are getting to leaves or snow here.

We are still in the process of settling in.  It's been slow with the hubby working long hours, needing furniture, not having large amounts of storage space, life in general, and just trying to get things going and get reconnected to everything at the same time.  The place is starting to become more functional with the faintest glimmers of comfort-- and dare I say organization?--at the end of the tunnel.  Long tunnel still.  Parts of it are fun.  And having a space that works for our family all put together will be wonderful.  For that the work is worth it many times over.  And we're all under one roof- best part.