The craziness continues...We landed in the evening in Pensacola, went straight to the car dealership and bought 2 cars. We drove 1 1/2 hours and arrived at our hotel at 11:30pm (With Frank still in tow). We woke up to go to the closing office to close on our new house at 8:00am - still house sight unseen - (yes we are CRAZY!!!). We then went straight to the DMV to change our licenses from Georgia to Florida! We have had to pay taxes to Georgia for 9 years (even though we haven't lived there) and we were very happy to make the switch to Florida (no State income tax - hurray!!!). Around 10:00 AM, we finally pulled into our new neighborhood and saw our house for the very first time. Two of the neighbors came out and greeted us and one even brought a ton of stuff (like a table, chairs, pots and pans, dishes etc. for us to borrow until our stuff arrived (little did she know it would be a month!!!). Such amazing kindness! ..and we got the kids registered for school - A MONTH after school began - yikes!
...It has been a month now and we finally got our 15 crates (15,000 pounds) of STUFF. I realize now that a backpack and tennis shoes seem sufficient and the stuff just adds chaos! The kids are getting settled into school. They miss their old school and friends a lot! Mia is up to a 5.45 on a scale of 1-10 (for liking school). Every day gets a bit easier. Bryan likes his new job and does not mind the commute (yet), as he gets to cross the ocean each day. They say the summer is crazy though when the tourists are in full swing! I am trying to get everything settled at home. It is still out of sorts, but slowly our long checklist is dwindling. Even though it seems like the move from Hell, it really has fallen into place quite remarkably. I still can't believe this is "home", but it is definitely a pretty place and evenings at the beach are helping to make the move easier! We definitely miss Germany, but the weather here is pretty darn nice!
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| They call it the Emerald Coast... |
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| The water is very clear (which I like, because then you can see the fish and sharks!) |
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| The first night we came, we looked like fish out of water (no pun intended :-)) |
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| We miss you, Bailey! |
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| Loves the beach, but just wishes her friends were here to play too! |
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| We try to get down for the sunset on most evenings... It is beautiful... |
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| It has a turquois look - so pretty! |
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| our new house... |
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| our new cars... |
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| our new life.... So weird!!! |
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| 1st day of school... |
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| 1st day of school... |
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| This was the one and only time I tried to do the car line - it was ridiculous!!! 2 police cars and a mile line!!! Crazy! I so miss Mia beaing able to just walk to school :-( |
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| Some of our good friends' that we knew from the Base in Bamberg live 2 hours away. We have been able to get together twice now with them. So glad to have some familiarity in such newness!! (*can you spot the people that are new to the sun :-)) |
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| Such a pretty venue when we meet up! |
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| Cam! |
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| Another beautiful sunset! |
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| Mia being goofy! |
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| Franklin in his leash :-) |
I do hope you will blog a bit, now that you live in Florida.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a good writer and teacher.
Plus, i will miss seeing Franklin...so cute.
from mary m
age 71
vancouver wa.