Getting used to living in Florida: Happy 1 Year Anniversary

Wow! I can not believe it has been 1 year since we moved here. It really has flown by.

So how have we all dealt with our big change this year? I guess over all, pretty well. It definitely took me the longest. Although Caleb still says he misses our old home.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Florida after 1 year. That was my time frame to decide to stay, or go back to Phx.

After 1 year, I can positively say, I love it here! I don't want to move back to Phx. I miss my family and friends very much, but I really love living here. I wish everyone could move here!

The first few months were the hardest. I was so use to having my family and friends around us all the time. When we went back to AZ in Dec, I wondered if I would want to stay there. However, after just a couple of days, Zachary's skin on his feet started to crack, and his skin on his body started to dry up. As did mine. By the end of the 2 weeks, his feet were so cracked he didn't want to walk on them. It really made my mind up for me, that for his benefit (and mine) he needs to be in a warm moist environment. His feet healed after just a week at home, and has not occurred since. I decided at that point, that even if I am far away from my family and friends, we need to be here and I had better learn to enjoy living here. So I started embracing Florida for all its potential! And what a wonderful time it has been!

We have traveled all over the state. From the northwest end, Pensacola, to the far southwest end, Key West. We have visited, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Vero Beach, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Naples, Florida City, Daytona, St. Augustine, Cocoa Beach. Having been to some of the places 2 or 3 times. We have played in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. We have seen several rocket launches, 2 space shuttle launches, gone to Kennedy Space Center 5 times, camping twice, experienced the Daytona 500 while camping infield, Universal Studios more than a dozen times, the Science Center 4 times, Jungle Land once, DisneyWorld once, and half a dozen marine wildlife parks or Zoos. (Christina has also gone to SeaWorld, Cypress Gardens and Busch Gardens. Today she is at DisneyWorld)

We sit out on our patio and watch the deer, turtles, snakes, wild turkeys, ducks, herons, frogs, hawks, owls, squirrels, and other wildlife that I don't even know what they are called! Cruised to the Bahamas, and saw our family grow by 3 kitties. We've enjoyed having visit us, Michelle and Elektra, my parents, and my brother Frank. I've written 68 posts (as of this one, not included my recipe blog). Mike has traveled to Washington 3 times, once with the boys, twice to CA, and we been to Az once. Ok, is that all the places we've been this past year?

Its been quite a year!

I am looking forward to our next full year here. My brother Frank plans on moving here the first of next year. It will be so nice having a family member close by. Maybe eventually I can talk Mom and Dad to coming out. Its a long shot, but worth a mention every now and again. :) There is simply so much to do here. You can not be bored living in Florida, and if you are, you've either lived here 100 years, or are a very boring person.

Of course, we haven't had to deal with a hurricane yet, or a tornado in our neighborhood. And Central Florida has many lightning strikes. It also has its typical problems of cities outgrowing before enough roads are done. No decent MASS transportation, some very poorly performing schools (not Seminole County tho, we are in an A+ school district). Bad politicians. (Presidential Election 2000 anyone? 2008 primary? Hello? Horrible politicians!) A housing market that won't recover for a few more years. Poor water planning, as Florida is constantly worried about the 'drought' we are in. (We only get 59+ inches a year.)

But of course, every state, every city has its pluses and minuses. As long as the pluses continue to out weigh the minuses, we will be living in Florida for a very long time to come.

So to My Mikey, I say, I am sorry I was a big pain in the ass for a few months after moving here. I am totally over it! Thank you for moving us to such a beautiful place that has been wonderful for Zachary's and my skin. And has provided our family with great places to visit and things to do. Thank you so much for being a wonderful husband and daddy! I love you X' 2 and so do the kids! Ok,enough mush and reminiscing! Lets see, its Sunday, Mikes been gone 4 nights and its starting to feel like 40 nights. Why? Because I think the boys are trying to drive me crazy! Normally Mike is here for them to help bounce their energy off of. When he is tired of it, its my turn. It usually works pretty well for us. Unless the other parent is missing... And its raining outside... And lightning... And no friends can play... And they are BORED!!! Everytime the sky clears I scoot them outside. RUN!! YELL!! PLAY!! CHASE EACH OTHER!! Sometimes I get a minute or two of quiet. Oh, don't get me totally wrong, for the most part, they are behaving OK, its just that they think because its Hurricane season, they can be tropical storms. As long as I can keep them below a category 1, I guess I'm doing ok. One thing I am having a hard time dealing with is the POTTY mouths. HOOOly Cow. These 2 boys (and their friends are just as bad) use the words Poop, fart and pee like they are the 3 most common English words. I cant stand it!! Time outs don't obviously work, so I have been giving them a different punishment. Every time I have to correct them, or punish them I give them an extra paper to do. Zachary has to do 10 pages a day of school work and Caleb does 2 - 3. So getting in trouble several times really adds up. Yesterday Zachary had 17 pages of school work he had to do and Caleb 6. They did not like that at all. So I am hoping today they will behave better. I am about ready to wash their mouths out with soap. I told Zachary that, and he said "You will go to jail for that mommy, its against the law." What? Where did he get that? And in today's age of "its a sin to spank" could I really get in trouble if I did do it? It is 2:45 here, and I have only had to get on them once! I made them sit down and do the paper right then and there. Maybe its not the best way to correct them, but it sure has been effective today!!

Geez, what innocent faces. Don't let them fool you. I made the kids funnel cakes. It tastes just like the ones we get at the park. Except I didn't put ice cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries on it.

Mike is having a wonderful time in WA. I got a nice email from his dad, saying how much Mike helped him around the house and community. Mike loves doing things like that, and his parents really appreciated having him there. (and they had him all to themselves for 24 hours! When we the last time THAT happened?)

Sat night he went to a Mariners game with Kevin and some friends of Kevins.The boys were excited to see these pictures of Daddy. Tomorrow Mikey comes home!! Yeah! We are counting the hours...31.