We just returned from a whirlwind trip to Florida. For those of you who don't know, we lived in Florida for 4 years...June 2004-June 2008. We started a tractor business which boomed initially, but declined as the economy disintegrated. The last year that we were in FL, Jesse worked for another tractor dealer as a salesman. We decided to move back to Iowa near Jesse's family and as a wonderful plus, my mom and her husband moved back to Iowa (from WA), 6 months after we did! Now, if I could only get my sister to move here.
We have many happy memories from Florida. We made incredible friends, got started homeschooling, had our little Thomas and got to spend lots of time with Jesse's Aunt and cousin, who lived in the area. I loved the gorgeous weather, beautiful foliage (year round) and delicious citrus and strawberries that grew in our area.
It was great to go back and see friends that we miss so much. Alicia's best friend lives in Florida and it was amazing to get the 2 of them together again. They spend lots of time on the phone together, but it just isn't the same.
We decided to stay on the Disney "planet" and camped in Ft. Wilderness campground on Disney property. Disney is truly magical to us. We had annual passes for the first year that we lived in Florida and enjoyed every minute. Staying on Disney property is nice as you can take advantage of a few perks, like complimentary transportation to all the parks and extra magic hours (only for people staying on property). We got to see each of the 4 parks, have a special character breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo & Stitch at Ohana's restaurant in the Polynesian Resort, had a campfire/singalong with Chip and Dale, ride the boats to and from Magic Kingdom (to Ft. Wilderness), to name a few things. On a sad note, we experienced some sickness. The stomach flu (or norovirus-which is really going around) went through most all of us. It meant one deathly ill day and then almost back to normal the next. That didn't happen until the end of the trip...so both Colton and Julia were sick on the way home. That is the short of it...we love Florida and will probably try to go back in a few years. It has been a difficult recovery from the trip. Tons of laundry, emptying out the camper, sick kids....but we are home and going away does accomplish the feat of making you appreciate your humble abode.
No comments:
Post a Comment