Bok Tower

I don't know if that is the correct spelling or not, but Mom and Dad offered to take Rachel and I up there on a Saturday. Mom wanted to see the azaleas in bloom and they were beautiful! Rachel had a great time looking at the plant and flowers and just being able to roam a little. It was not crowded, which was great. It was a little chilly that day, but still awesome weather. There were two swans that some people were feeding, but we kept our distance and one tried to nibble off some guys foot. We then found an area with lots of fish. I don't know what kind they were, but some little boy offered some extra bread to Rachel so she could feed them. At first, she tried to eat the bread herself. She liked feeding the fish though.








I will try to post again tomorrow because I am really behind and catch up my blog.

A Visit from The Rhine's

Matt's parents and Nana came over one night and Rachel had fallen asleep by 9:00, so we let her get up and play. There are a few good pictures of her and Nana together.



These are before a birthday party.

Another Perfect Day for the Park!

Lauren called this morning and asked if we wanted to go to the park and of course, I love to get out of the house. I went to the gym, took a shower, packs some lunches and headed off to a beautiful sunny day. There was a nice breeze and they had a lot of fun!


This is so cute of Kate!
Hannah would not look at the camera for me.

The First Story

I am back and ready to be unpacked. We closed on our house last Tuesday afternoon (right before I went to work) and basically moved everything over Tuesday evening and Wednesday. Katie and I cleaned out the old house Wednesday morning and worked really hard so I wouldn't feel back about leaving for Orlando on Friday night for shopping and a girl's night out! We had lots of fun together and immediately began by eating at Mimi's Cafe and then heading to Kirkland's for things to decorate with! I have quite a few things for the family room, except I need help hanging them. So, for now, they sit on the floor. Saturday morning, we went to Disney's Wide World of Sports for the Half Marathon expo where we picked up our packets and info. We walked around for a while, but then it just got really crowded, so we left and went to the outlet malls. Carter's did not have good prices on things, so Rachel got a fleece snowman sleeper on clearance for next year. I found some cute stuff at Old Navy that I thought would be perfect for our cruise (in 3 weeks!!!) We so need a break. Matt was a real sport and took Katie's 3 girls and Rachel up to church for a dinner where they all got fed and the kids were being watched by someone else, but he did have to listen so some guy and his wife's rehearsed speech. We skipped church on Sunday morning because of the service that was going on and got some work done around the house. Katie and Joy ran great in the half marathon and I was slightly bummed that it wasn't me, but oh well.

Here is a tour of the first story of the house:

I was almost to the end of our driveway when I took this picture. We have a large front yard and still a good sized backyard. The house is on .82 acres. It is an odd blue color that really needs to be pressure washed, but someday we will paint the siding. The front porch is screened in.

I was standing in line with our front porch so all of this is our yard. We have a lot of mature trees that provide great shade and lots of leaves. Our house is right off a somewhat well traveled road. It is normally not too busy, but the RR tracks around our house are closed so there is a lot of traffic as this road is a detour. It is pretty quiet and I don't really hear any noise from the road unless it is a siren or loud music.

This is Matt's shed in the backyard. It appears much smaller than his old one and we were wondering how he was going to fit all of his stuff in it, but somehow he did, except our bikes. A few Christmas items went up in the attic and the lawn mower (we got a riding mower off Craig's List) sits under cover, but behind the shed.
This is the back of the house. The back porch isn't huge, but it is nice that it is screened in too. When all of the patio furniture goes on clearance in the fall/winter, I plan on getting some. There is a paved sidewalk from the back porch to the front porch that you can see. That is really nice and somewhere safe that Rachel can play. I just need some toys out there. For now though, she likes to pick up leaves and throw them in the air.

The inside of the porch. The siding is a different shade of blue. The raised floor that you see what going to be a shower and was framed in, but before we actually bought the house, we removed it and Matt had to buy siding. It was the closest color he could find. I like having an entry way into the laundry room for Matt to leave his dirty work boots. There is another door immediately to the left that goes into the kitchen.

The kitchen is an awful looking room because of the bright yellow walls, which carried over the faces of the cabinets. For now, I just don't care. I figure in a year or so, we will redo the kitchen. It is a good size and has a lot of potential. Fortunately, there is a good amount of cabinet space, but it is lacking a pantry.

The eating area, which is on the left side of the kitchen. I love all of the windows and we get a really nice breeze too.
Off of the kitchen is a dining room (someday). For now, it is Rachel's playroom and her newest toy is a roller coaster. Our new renter gave that to us because her boy was too big for it. Rachel loves it and can push the car back up herself.

Looking out of the playroom is the foyer, which is just holding stuff right now. To the left is the front door. When you go through the french doors, that is the office.

We couldn't get our old desk out, so it was broken in the process. We are on the lookout for a nice desk. I have nowhere to put my things, but I have a little setup going for my couponing.

If you go out of the kitchen (not through the playroom) and turn right down a hallway, it leads in to the laundry room. The flooring is awful, but a good cleaning helped a lot. The vinyl is tearing in some places, but it is just a laundry room. Thankfully, the extra freezer and fridge could fit inside and we now have a utility sink too! I just need a cabinet or shelving for my stockpile of laundry items/cleaners and I will be good to go. The red thing is a central vac, but I am not going to use it and I hear that it is really loud.

Down the same hallway as the laundry room is a half bath. It has this awful toilet (why does every guy think it is cool?) that I really want to replace, but now that Matt has fixed the leak, he wants to keep it. Ugh.

When you walk out of the kitchen and go straight, you go by the stairs and into the family room. It seemed small at first, but once we figured out something with the furniture, it is just the right size. It has one door on each side of the fireplace.

Don't worry, I have things to put on these bare walls.

Last but not least is the newest addition to our home:

CABLE TV It ended up being only a little extra and to get the faster internet package, it made sense. I didn't care, but I think Matt wanted it. When the guy came to install it, I asked Matt where the DVR was. He said we weren't getting one because it was $5 extra per month. I said if we were getting cable, I wanted to be able to record and watch things when I wanted to. And now we have a DVR. Someday when I have the house in order, I will sit down during Rachel's nap and watch something. Maybe in a month. I do like watching TV when I fold laundry.

The rest of the house will be in another post.

Finally A Sunny Day!

We finally had nice, sunny weather today in Florida. It was about 75 degrees and just beautiful. I was going to go to the gym, but Rachel had thrown up at some point last night or this morning. I didn't know if she had caught what the Lantz's had or if something just upset her tummy. It seems to be a one time thing, but I didn't want to take her to kid's club at the gym just in case. So, we went to Publix and then a wagon ride to the park. She wanted to wear a hat and left it on the entire time!

She loves the big kids playground best and found two little boys to play with.





We had a fun time together and I got some exercise still. Walking to the park will be one thing I am going to miss about this house. As for now, I need to grade some tests.

Update

We have been busy preparing to move. Our closing was supposed to be tomorrow, but it got moved to Tuesday. I am bummed about that because I was looking forward to having the weekend to get things ready and moved. Oh well, I get to close and then head off to work. We got permission to do make some changes inside the house. We painted the family room, the office, and in the middle of painting the master bedroom. Matt will be tiling the laundry room this weekend. We got a few walls textured (to match the rest of the walls) and got all of the carpets cleaned. The floors were a mess, but the carpets looked brand new now that they have been vacuumed and cleaned. I am really pleased and apparently, the carpets were not the cheap stuff and have excellent padding underneath. I am really happy with our carpet cleaner! Matt is going to start redoing the master bath in the near future as that will be our first major project. The kitchen is hideous (think bright yellow with yellow on some of the cabinet faces) and designed really poorly. However, that one is going to cost a little bit more, so we will be saving for it. I still don't have any pictures of it, but perhaps I will remember to take some next time I am over there. For now, I am working on packing up this house. We booked our cruise, which we are sooo excited for! I am no longer running in my half marathon due to an injured knee, so I gave my spot to a friend. I am still going over to Orlando for girl's night with Katie. We are going shopping at the outlet malls, dinner, and hanging out with NO KIDS! Fun stuff, but then I will come home Saturday morning and back to real life. School is going great and we are already approaching midterms. Rachel is being a handful/pain in the butt this week and I have no clue why. She was a little better today, but we are definitely nearing the 2 year mark. She is healthy, unlike the Lantz family and hopefully we are not going to be sick since they were over on Tuesday morning.

This is our new spot to read together! And yes, her sunglasses are upside down.

Tickle Tickle

Sesame Street Safari Fun!

The weather looked gloomy, but Lauren and I and our three cuties made the trek to Busch Gardens. It sprinkled a tiny bit on the way there, so I was not at all encouraged that this was the right day to be there. As we pulled in the parking lot, we both noticed a lot of old people. As we entered the park, we noticed even more old people. It must have been senior day. They were obviously not going to the same places we were, so it turned out to be a great day for our adventure! We saw the animals first, which Kate ended up being afraid of. One of the workers came over by the hyenas and they thought they were being fed, so we got a great up close look at them. Well, Kate peeked through her hands.

Rachel is still not into watching Sesame Street, but she was all about the characters. She ran right up to Big Bird and gave him a big hug!



After kind of eating lunch and watching the show, we took more pictures! They did not seem to get the concept of pose with Abby, but turn around and look at the camera too.
They rode the swings, cars, the carousel, eggs, and tried to jump on this huge bouncy thing. Every time we go back, they get better with it. Some day they will actually move away from the corner.







This nice employee helping her jump!


We had a really fun day and it actually turned out to be kind of sunny and warm. We weren't as sweaty as usual, but the girls could have gone in the water area. Good thing there is always next time, especially when you have a pass.