Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Matthew was missing his friends the other day. He came home and told us that he went door to door knocking and asking, “Do you have any little kids that I could play with?” Eventually he found a family with a handful of boys. I just LOVE this.



Wouldn’t it be great if it was socially acceptable for adults to do this? “Hey, do you have anyone here who likes to shop? Play cards? Go for walks? Drink tea and chat?” Possibilities abound!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Sunday, April 17, 2011

There is a three mile loop through the campground and I walk it as often as I can. Not only is it great exercise, but if feels like a great release as well.

The snowbirds have been heading back “home” and the campground as been emptying, but today it appeared shockingly empty to me. Of course I knew that it slowed here “off season” but I was truly unprepared for what that actually looks like. It was sad to me how barren it looks. I feel like it’s spring, and that means things coming back to life, and yet it seems the opposite here.




Several people have told me that it’s time to go north, as though I’m a migratory animal who has lost my way. It doesn’t yet feel like it’s time to go north, I’m just starting to settle in here.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Friday, April 15, 2011

Today I bought myself a crockpot. This may seem like a very insignificant thing, but I assure you it was a big deal for me.

First of all, because I HAVE a crockpot back in Maine. Maybe. Gary gave away most all of what we had, but some things were stored in the attic. So it’s possible that I have a crockpot at home, and without knowing for sure, it seems wasteful to buy another.

Second, I didn’t find one at a thrift store. I did find a very old, rather small crockpot with a broken lid and the did agree to take some money off because it was broken. I started thinking about what I really wanted, and this small broken crockpot was NOT it. I realized that it was okay for me to have something NICE and even NEW!

I drove to the store intending to go crockpot shopping. Some of my older “approved babysitting” children wanted to go in, as did Gary, so I told them to go in and buy me a nice crockpot. I didn’t go look, I didn’t choose one, I didn’t even give them any instructions past “round”. I just TRUSTED that my family would find me exactly what I wanted and needed.

And you know what? They totally rocked it.

I am so excited to start cooking in my new (and not just new to me! Insert happy dance here: ) crockpot. I might even start some oatmeal right now so it will be waiting for me when I wake up! 

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Thursday, April 14, 2011

As of tomorrow, all of our Thousand Trails friends will be gone. It’s been a LONG time since we have been anywhere without friends. At first I was feeling a little but afraid of what that will look like, but tonight, as sad as I am to see everyone go, I’m actually looking forward to having a little down time. Our lives are so socially complete, and I absolutely love it, but it will be nice to have my kids home for a bit too.

Here are some pictures that a friend just sent me. These kids are all just incredible people and we are SO blessed to count them as friends!
















Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 The Second

Noah and Katherine has been briefly to Tom Sawyer Island when they were left with Rachel and Co, but they didn’t get to explore it all because they LOST Rachel’s mother in law and didn’t notice until they were ON THE ISLAND!!! So of course they had to leave in search of her, so over to the island we went. Believe it or not, the boat that was supposed to take us back to the main land at Magic Kingdom ran out of gas, so we had to wait for that boat to be towed and another to take it’s place.

By this point everyone was feeling pretty wiped, so we thought a ride on It’s a Small World would be a good idea, but the line was so long that we gave up on it and went over to Peter Pan’s Adventure; a really great ride but far to short!


Next it was a gift shop for Katherine to use up her $10 gift card that she was given in thanksgiving for the time that our entire family was sick and she took care of everything and everyone.

I’m not sure yet what she choose because I left Gary with she and Matthew and I came back to the camper with Joshua, Noah, and Molly to wait. Riding the tram back to the parking lot we met a neat family that had three small boys; a set of twins and then a surprise baby 17 months later. Yikes! They were really sweet with their kids, and she was really peaceful about being the mother to small ones. It’s nice to see people being kind to their children.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 The First

We just finished up what may be our last visit to Disney until next fall. I am ready to collapse with exhaustion, but it’s been a really fun day; one of the best visits to the Magic Kingdom that we have had.

We arrived right as the “Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it” parade was starting, so we enjoyed a few minutes of it before moving on to the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and the Jungle Cruise. Then our stroller went missing again, but we quickly realized that someone had taken it accidentally and it was recovered at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Since we were right there, we took a ride. Lunch was peanut butter and jelly, cocoa almonds, and cheese crackers; it was nice to be taking it slow for a change.

We then rode Splash Mountain, which is both mine and Gary’s favorite ride; Katherine is still too afraid to get on it. She prefers Big Thunder Mountain and took a ride with her brothers while I waited outside with Molly and Christopher.

To be continued tomorrow.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Monday April 11, 2011 The Third

We are going to get up early and spend the day at Disney tomorrow so we can feel comfortable with moving on and saying goodbye to Disney until at least next fall. I’m shocked at how comfortable we have been in Florida and how difficult it is to move on. We are all excited about meeting up with Rachel’s family again really soon, but it doesn’t make the moving any easier because we know that it’s going to be some time before we get back this way, if we ever do. We hadn’t even planned on coming to Florida this winter, and yet we ended up spending the entire winter here and loving it.

We have met the neatest people, had the most amazing experiences, and just felt so at peace with our decisions. Even in the midst of hard times, overall it’s just been great! I am so glad that we made the choice to live this lifestyle!