Sunday, August 15, 2010

Has it really been a year?

t has!!! I have a hard time believing that only a year has passed since we left our life behind in Connecticut. Our friends, our homeschool community, the trees, the mountains , the seasons! All of it I miss dearly.

When we left CT we had no idea what the future would hold for us. My husband had not found work, no place of our own, our belongings in storage in CT while we headed to Florida. It was tough to say goodbye to a place where I felt so connected to. Not just the friends I made, but to the land itself. A place I cherished everyday and never took it for granted. The smell of Fall in the air, the magic of those first snow falls, watching the trees come to life in the spring, looking out at the mountains every morning from my bedroom window. I hold on tight to those memories.

It only took my husband a couple weeks before he found work in Georgia. We retrieved our belongings and tried to look forward to a life in GA. It was not easy at first. Eventually we fell into a groove and met some pretty cool people. Unfortunately my husband's job was not what he thought it was going to be and the search was on again to find a new and better one.

That happened rather suddenly 2 months ago when he was offered a position down here in Florida. It turns out it is an excellent job and it is going great. I am torn. I am happy to be back near my family. My parents have been such amazing support for us during all the ups and downs and I am so thankful for them! Being near them (well infact right now we are living with them until we find our own space) will be great for the kids. They can have their grandparents so close now and I really appreciate that now in my life.
I am also sad at the idea that I will no longer be living up north. A little piece of my heart stayed up there. I can't choose where my family is from and mine happens to be from the south. I grew up mostly up north and spent a good deal of my adult life up north and I think that is why I will always love it up there. Don't get me wrong Florida is nice. A little too hot , too flat but it is workable. My path in life has found me back here and I am embracing it a little bit more each day.

The kids and I have been hanging out waiting to get settled. We are in the process of trying to but our first home. Keeping my fingers crossed that will happen soon! We are also homeschooling Sage for high school starting this fall. A lot of changes this year!!!
During all this I have tried to keep my own self together for the kids, to keep things "normal". Although our normal has been anything but that lately.


Adeline has taken a love to watercolor painting. I am looking forward to when she is a little bit older and can really participate in our homeschool lessons.

The boys have loved going to the skate park. The one near us is perfect. The boys can skate and I can take Adeline to the playground right next to it.

If you look closely Ryan has a vintage Back to The Future skateboard that belonged to either me or my sister - can;t remember

Sage used to skate all the time. He enjoyed picking it up again.


We also took in a baseball game as a family
Adeline did not want to sit still - can you tell : )
She wanted to get up and check the place out.


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Sage's blog

Sage has a blog - check it out!!

http://segashes.blogspot.com

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs, Florida!
After our Tampa visit we headed about an hour up the coast to Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs is known for it's sponge docks and Greek community. The little history I learned while we were there as that the Greeks started harvesting sponges was back in Ancient times. Sometime around 1908? They came over to the gulf and discovered they could harvest sponges here. From there a little Greek community popped up. We ate at a Greek restaurant that night and had THE BEST pita bread and hummus ever!!!



Here is a close up of the harvested sponges. I am sure many of you have seen them in bath stores or art stores! It was very interesting to learn about them.

THe next day we headed to the docks for a dolphin tour and beach excursion. This is not a picture of the boat we were on - but it is a nice boat don't you think?

The boat ride was nice - a bit too hot for my liking and Adeline was not happy about being on the boat. Her favorite part was when we landed at the beach ( I have to admit it was my favorite too.) The water and the sky were absolutely beautiful that day!!
We all loved walking on the beach looking for shells and washed up sponges. The boys even found a few sharks teeth. On the boat as we were leaving the beach , we saw a shark in the water very close to the boat!!! And on the way back a few dolphins were swimming right by the boat. Very cool I must say!
Heading back to the boat with their loot!

Adeline obviously loves the water !


It was a great trip! Thank you mom and Dad for taking us there with you - we really enjoyed it!




Tampa to see the cousins

Last weekend we headed over to Tampa with my parents to celebrate my neices 3rd birthday. Everyone had a nice visit - Thanks Emily for letting us celebrate your birthday with you!

The girls had a lot of fun visiting for the first time in awhile. Now that they are getting older they really are aware of each other. It was fun to watch them interact.

I even got to visit with an old and dear friend who I first met in middle school up in Maine! I had not seen her in 14 years!!! She recently moved near my sister and I was able to catch up.

The boys even got in some fun - playing the Wii Beatles rock band.


The next day we headed over to the Tampa aquarium and then went out for lunch. Madison and Adeline really hit it off. I love this action shot!



I think a little someone is getting tired - next stop , Tarpon Spring Fl to see the sponge docks!






Thursday, July 22, 2010

escape to the mountains!

A few weeks ago the kids and I packed up the car and headed north into the North Carolina mountains. We were going to drop Sage off at his 2 week camp in Highlands,NC (more about that in the next post). Basically he spent 2 weeks on this beautiful mountain doing service work and hiking the Appalachian trail



Here he is with his gear ready to go. He was a little nervous, but had an awesome time!
We said goodbye to Sage..
kissed a few trees for luck and
headed over to my Aunts cabin :
This is the amazing view from her front porch as the sun was rising

To get to this beautiful spot, we had to drive up a steep forest road then down a twisty dirt road for 30 min going 10 miles an hour!! But we made it !
First things first - playing on the little tractor. Adeline loved having her big bro drive her around. Scary to think one day in about 10 years there will be a similar pic in a real car !
Aunt Sherrie teaching Ryan how to paddle
This was my favorite spot - on the hammock down by the creek! So peaceful!



I though it was funny that my sweet girl standing in the water all wet was pointing out to me that her hand was dirty! : )
such sweet goofiness
ohhh- listen to the rock plop!
We mastered canoeing (even nursing while canoeing)
Ryan going solo!
fishing

hanging out with bro
sweet love
my little nature girl









One day we spent the afternoon making bark boats and sending them down the creek
Ryan built this fairy lodge that you see behind Adeline. He spent the whole week working on it - complete with swiming pool and creek side views!



We had an awesome week just hanging out with no agenda - no internet - no cell phone service. It was very liberating. !!