We have been here almost a month now.

Well I really can't believe we have been here almost a month.  Time sure has gone quickly. I am actually alone right now and have complete silence at my home!  This is purse bliss.  Blake is at basketball practice and Bradden has taken the other two and Maddie's friend from Toledo to a local amusement center. Ahhh silence, feels sooo good!  I really don't have a whole lot to report in as it just feels like we are living life as we had done in Toledo.  Our house is officially completely unpacked.  No more boxes, pictures hung, all dishes put away, closets all in order, really feels like home. I did pretty good getting rid of our stuff back home prior to our move, as I am just over a bit with items that don't quite have homes.  In time I anticipate I will find a place for them or they will be donated to Goodwill.

Florida has been good to us so far!  We have done a little bit of exploring, but mostly just enjoying our new home and pool. I have tried really hard (been ok at it) not to spend to much time surfing social media and seeing what all I am missing back in T-Town.  Knowing that we have to throw ourselves into Florida and give it our all.

I was able to find a Baseball camp for Blake at FGCU.  He seemed to really enjoy it and was really impressed with the campus.  He will be doing a Basketball camp there in a few weeks as well. He is excited as FCGU's BBALL team went far I think last year in March Madness.

Maddie was able to bond with some girls at her cheer camp for High School.  This was a huge relief as she was feeling really down about missing all her friends back in Ohio.  The girls seem really nice and she really enjoyed her time with her new squad. They do stunting which is new with her and she really likes it.  The coach had a evening of swimming, dinner and team bonding.  This night really allowed Maddie to feel and see that there is great people in Florida as well.

All 3 kids were able to participate in our new church's VBS.  Maddie was also able to meet kids from her new school at this as well.  The boys had a great time and really love the church.

Some things that I am noticing as being different down here are:

Driving anywhere takes at least 20-30 minutes.  This is a huge difference and will take a long time to get use to!

There are so many people that are from different countries here.  We went over to Ft. Lauderdale for a day/night and we were the only English speaking people in our pool.  All European people.  Soo very interesting.  I think this is going to bring a lot more culture to our lives.

The city has soooo much shopping options.  There are dozens of stores in just a 1-2 mile radius of my house. This is pretty cool.

Thrift/Resale shops are HUGE down here.  Another positive, I love shopping at these places.  You never know where you can find a good deal!

The service industry is very large (not sure if this is the correct term).  So many contractors, lawn, bug, granite, repairs etc.  I received a 40 page magazine about all different things that can be done to my home.  Not good, put more ideas in my head than need be! A lot of people that do a lot of things for homes.

A ton of churches and so many neighborhoods.

Overall though we are really enjoying ourselves and feel really good about our decision to move down here.

The weather has been fine. I keep waiting for this crazy heat wave to hit?  Not yet  or maybe I just like hot weather.  Not sure at this point.  The rain is unique though.  We apparently are in rainy season and it almost always rains once a day.  Not for a long period, but it is inevitable that it will rain.

I have been really slow with my Photography business and am just started to get some ads out in the local papers and cleaning up my sites to show I am now in Florida.  I anticipate it taking a bit to build my clientele back up :-(

We haven't really met any neighbors yet.  It is a bit of an older neighborhood, so it seems people keep to themselves.  There are some ways to connect with neighbors via our social events in the neighborhood, so I see this as something down the road.

Blake had his first experience with golf.  Bradden took him to a driving range and he seemed to really like it.  We were able to get him some starter clubs at the local goodwill to see if he even likes the sport.  I was very sad to know that his new school does not offer football.  They do have a golf team though and he is really excited to be able to try this sport out.

I just got in trouble for putting this video up.  Apparently first hit was good, second one not so much!  He just learned.  I think he looks great, he had a different opinion than me.

To be honest I wake up every day kinda feeling like this is a dream and I am going to wake up.  NOT that my life in Ohio was not amazing, this life is just different.  It really could just be that I had lived in Toledo my whole life and never anywhere else.  It could be that this is just such a great thing for my family and I to do together.  It really feels like all these experiences are new and exciting.  We have really bonded much more this summer.  I told my kids for what it is worth, it has been an amazing time with them.  I know that have many sad emotions as they miss everyone back home, but we truly have grown closer.  We already have family that have booked tickets to come see us this winter.  I really feel that between our trips home and seeing people in Florida we are going to see a lot of our loved ones. Something though I have thought of that might be challenging for us is that everyone that comes down is going to be on Vacation and we are not going to be.  This might be a little hard for us, but I think it can be figured out.

We are adjusting well and enjoying the last few weeks before school is to start!

Life is so full of so many amazing adventures and exciting things!  I cherish all of them and feel so fortunate that we as a family are able to do this and we have so many more life changing events in the near future!!

xoxoxoxo

Crystal