Florida

Shew... we finally made it. Dirty, yes. Sleepy, for sure. Hopped up on sugar, yup. The travel was pretty horrible, but then the south Florida humidity hit me right when we deplaned and I thought it was probably worth it. Seeing Scout waiting for us in baggage made me think it was definitely worth it. ...And getting into Hayes' huge Ford truck and heading for their house made me think I would do it all over again in a heartbeat to see Hayes and Ashley! We spent the week enjoying the pool, fishing by the lake, sipping wine and talking on the patio, consuming our body weight in s'mores by the fire, playing Wii (well, some of us), touring the Everglades (girls get to go next time!) and visiting with Uncle Rusty and Aunt Pam and the Hayes crew. (Pictures to come...) Despite the rain, that thick Florida air still felt great to us. Scout and Kate played in the pool despite the rain and I got to do one of my favorite things ever: jog in a huge downpour. We spent a week at the Templetons' and it was so nice to just slow down and be together. Thank you, Ashley and Hayes, for a fabulous & relaxing time!

Kate, ready with bathing suit and princess goggles, waiting for the rain to stop.

Nevermind! We'll just swim in the rain...

Taking the "ripping off the band-aid" approach.


Rainy day trip to the Ft. Lauderdale museum
John Deere and Uncle Hayes... perfect!

Carter hung in there as long as she could at the beach...

In the back yard, training to be a champion fisherwoman like her Aunt Ashley...

Caught one!

We drove up to Orlando for a quick trip to Disney. The ol' Mike Ditka resort (yes, you read me right!) turned out to be a great surprise! Carter loved the space to crawl, crawl, crawl...

Happy to be out of the car and ready for the Magic Kingdom!

On the ferry, headed to the Park

Wonderful tip, Julie! We headed straight for "Castle Couture" and Scout and Hayes helped Kate pick out an Ariel princess outfit. It was a total hit, and so funny to watch the boys help Kate with her big decision about which princess to be that day. Since then, she has donned this complete ensemble at least once a day... every day. The first time I washed it I prayed. =)

Carter sooooo wanted to hop out of the stroller. She wants to run around and be part of the action so badly she can't stand it. Most of the day I could not just relax and push her along because I thought she was going to wrangle out of the straps and dive overboard to get to the activity.

By midday it was H-O-T. Kate was wearing her heavy princess dress with about 5 layers of tulle and long white gloves, but we could not convince her to take anything off. Her face was bright red and hair soaked with sweat, but she was 100% committed to the princess look. We shrugged and make her chug the water.

One of the big highlights for Kate: getting to meet Belle in person!

Carter would not give it up. We woke the girls around 5a.m. for the trip and did the park all day, and she finally sacked out in the afternoon for a quick catnap.

Hayes enjoyed the taffy.

So did I.

...And Kate enjoyed the rice krispie treat the size of her head that Hayes bought her in the candy shop.

The light parade at the end of the day was a fantastic cap to everything. I don't think that Kate blinked the entire time and watched most of it with her mouth wide open. Watching her face during the parade was entertainment enough for us! (And we all had the same reaction to the parade, I think.)

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After our week in Florida, we headed up to Memphis for a few days to search for a home and a preschool for Kate. We made some necessary steps in looking for a place to live, but did not tie it up with a bow so I'll be headed back at some point in the next couple months. Being there was great, but also bittersweet. It made us really excited to be back, but made us realize that we are actually leaving Cinci. No question, the best part of being back in Memphis was seeing dear friends... such fun. Kate and Griffin had a blast playing together. Carter and Austin were also at the same speed, and I was so bummed to realize when we left that I didn't get any pics of precious little Austin!

We are sad to think of what we are leaving in Cincinnati, but visiting Memphis was wonderful to get excited about the next chapter. What a blessing to have friends waiting for us... friends who have scouted out neighborhoods and schools on our behalf, who met our every need while we visited, who brought us right back into the fold, and who kept our (snotty and coughing) children while we combed the streets! Thank you, thank you!