We have been here for WHAT? One year? Already?

We moved in to our “vacation house” exactly one year ago. We still don’t have full time neighbors right next to us but we have some very good neighbor friends very close by. One year later, we have a better understanding why Stakit’s company wants us to relocate. One year later, we are starting to accept the fact that we live in FL. Realistically, things / friends just don’t stay the same, we started to accept that now. Although, I’m very happy to see a lot of you are still staying in touch. One year later, we are going to slow down on traveling. Yes, this is still our extended vacation and we will start to spend more time in this area.

This past year, we have been traveling quite a bit. We have been to

• DisneyWorld for a few time, like Eight times, hee hee
• Savannah, GA 4 times
• Jekyll Island, GA a few times
• St. Simons Island, GA a few times…

We have also visited:

• Bahamas - the blue water was incredible
  
• St Augustine, FL - the oldest city in North America
• Atlanta, GA
• Charleston, SC
• Washington DC
• Daytona Beach, FL - made it to the America's Top Ten Beaches List in this year
• Vegas, NV
• The Northwest and
• Hawaii

We are a little burnt out. I think we are going to stay in for a little while. I have decided to go to school starting this Fall. Yes, even though it will be a long drive (40 miles one way) to school and there is some work to do to get into the program that I want. However If I don’t do it now when will I? Plus the program really excites me! I can’t wait.

I do have to say it’s very nice to live here, especially in the winter, very lovely. I can see why people buy their vacation houses here. Summer time, now, it’s not too bad either. Last summer was unusual, this area didn’t have the regular afternoon rain (for 1 – 2 hrs) that I always heard about but this year… we have it! I kinda like it. It cools down quite a bit. Plus, I don’t usually go anywhere in the afternoon anyways. Rain or shine, I am planning to stay inside (anywhere with A/C) for July and August. I don’t mind that at all. The rain is good for the lawn and the garden anyway.

Speaking of staying in, here is how our place look likes now. I’m just looking at pictures from a year ago.

The new walls (with the contractor’s paint) were driving us crazy. I was so unhappy about anything and everything then. We still have some more work to do but at least it feels like home now.

A painful weekend

My abdominal pain came back and I was in bed the whole weekend. I couldn’t sleep; I couldn’t sit; I couldn’t do nothing! Sunday afternoon, I finally caved; I took some Vicodin (from the ER Dr.). I could finally sleep last night. I'm going to switch back to Ibuprofen today. Hope the pain will go away soon.

Summer Camp

These 2 weeks I am helping the summer camp at pre-school. Last week they were all 2-yr-olds. So the theme was diapers! This week we have 3 & 4-yr-olds; although, I don't have to go in everyday. So today I get to pull out my toys and install pretty things around the house.

Before the Summer Camp started, I went back to the NW for my cousin's wedding and visited a lot of family for about 2 weeks. It was way too short but I can't leave Stakit unsupervised for too long ;)

I came back and he thought that my tan has faded! On that Saturday, we went to this beautiful beach, Huguenot Memorial Park, FL with Jonathan and his 6-yr-old daughter. The water is so clear and the sand is so fine. We were playing in the water and hanging out at the beach.
Storm was rolling in. We packed up and left soon after these pictures. It turned into a little Tornado at Mayport military base. Also, 6 people were struck by lightning at the beach just north of Huguenot Park, Little Talbot Island.

Although the clouds got so thick and dark and the lightning was scary, we got back just fine. That day, I still had jetleg and I asked Stakit, "can I just close my eyes....." I passed out for An Hour in the car. I woke up and we were very close to home.