Hello from New Jersey!

We have arrived, and are now living in "The Garden State."  It really is beautiful here, and we are excited to live in an area with four seasons again (although, I know sometime around February we will be missing the beach).
To sum up our last few months in Florida:
(this might be the longest post ever)

May- to celebrate Josh's birthday, we took a final trip to Sea World over Memorial Day weekend.  Two other resident families went as well, and the boys loved having their friends there with them.  Toward the end of the day, the kids rode the rides/roller coasters together while the parents got to sit with the babies & rest, take pictures &, drink water (it was blazing hot that day).  Then, after a huge rainstorm that cleared out the park, the adults took turns watching the kiddos while we rode The Manta roller coaster.  I left the ride with a migraine, but Josh was so excited have me join him on the roller coaster, it was totally worth it! I have to admit, I was a bit nervous...it has been years since I rode a roller coaster, and this one was pretty extreme.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

The day after we got back, my sister Chrissy and her family came for a visit.  We all had a blast together-  the cousins all had so much fun together, Josh enjoyed having another adult male around, and there is nothing like sister-time!  This get-together was extra special, because it was our first time meeting Abe and Tim, the newest members of their family.  We made great memories, and the time went by too quickly.

Random pictures from May

Yes, that is Josh in the tree with Henry.  This is the moment that I learned that it is hopeless for me to hope that my boys will stop climbing on everything any time soon, because apparently they will still be climbing in their 30's.  See William at the base of the tree?  This reminds me of one of my favorite books: The Giving Tree.

on the days that permitted, this is how I took my walks.  I had no choice but to pile them on the stroller, and tell Sean to hang on!  He was a good little monkey.

and they start young, too.

June- June was a pretty low-key month for us.  Henry did Vacation Bible School, and the two older boys took swimming lessons.  Aside from that, we knew our time in Florida was winding down, so we tried to enjoy every last minute, and spend as much time as possible with friends.

Just like Daddy!

 The boys LOVE to play golf.  When we do allow them to play, it takes some serious parental (usually both of us) supervision- flying golf balls, and swinging clubs can be very dangerous!  Actually, the boys seem to be pretty good.  And, they all enjoying watching golf tournaments on TV (BOOORRRING)!  Our home was surrounded by a golf course, so here are photos of one evening when we took them to the course after hours to practice some putting.

William is more of a sand trap kind of guy

This is evidence that they have watched too much golf: every time they make a put, they "thank the crowd" although I am not sure that they even know what they are doing, they just see the pros do it, and they think it is just part of the game.

I love that Josh and the boys have this common interest, and I hope it continues.  I am sure there will be many hours of quality, man-bonding for my boys on the course (I hope to take golf lessons some day and join them, but incase that never happens, I will be home reading a book while all of that is going on)!

July- One of our biggest events (I'll save the other for another post) this month was spending a vacation with Josh's whole family.  His parents, Molly & Brian and girls drove to Florida and we all spent a week together at an amazing beach house.  We have really missed seeing them all on a regular basis, so we were really looking forward to their visit, and it didn't disappoint!  We all had so much fun, and we are still talking about the memories made that week.  And, at the end of the week, before they even made it all the way out of the driveway, we missed them.  (unfortunately, during their visit i had the wrong lens on my camera, and most of my photos didn't turn out)

We went on a dolphin sight seeing cruise, and the Captain let all the children on the boat take a turn driving- my boys were thrilled

During the week of their visit, we all attended Josh's graduation from the AEGD program.  It was a really nice ceremony and picnic to honor Josh and his fellow residents for all of their hard work this past year.  Not only that, but it was nice to have one last get-together with our friends before we all parted ways.

I had so much fun getting to know the fellow wives, they are all great women.  Thanks to Christine, we had regular outings together, too!

Other random moments from July:

Celebrating July 4th with our wonderful friends, The Cofer Family

Josh's cousin, Tiffany, and her husband, Clay, visit Destin each year with his family.  We had the fortunate opportunity to see them three times while we lived in Florida (they made one extra trip that year).  We love Tiffany & Clay, and Clay's family is so welcoming and fun!  They spent their last night in town with us at Baytown Wharf eating dinner and gelato.  

Henry's feast day- I took the boys the see the Blue Angels practice and then we headed to the Naval Museum.   Later in the evening the boys took part in an archeology dig, searching for gems.  Henry went to bed a happy boy that night.

the boys were covering William's ears from the loud jet noise- always looking out for little bro

Following an afternoon monsoon:

August- At the last minute, our orders to Cannon AFB were cancelled, and so we were held in Florida until we got orders for a new assignment.  Unfortunately, we still had to be out of our rental house, so all of our belongings were packed up and we suffered through the month in a condo on the beach on Okaloosa Island...I know, it was rough!  We feel very blessed to have finished our time in Florida without experiencing a hurricane, but just before we left, we did get some excitement with Tropical Storm Lee.  We were right on the beach, so we had a great view of the waves and blowing sand.  We both have a new found respect for such natural disasters, it was pretty powerful (these pictures and video don't do it justice- the worst of the storm was during the night)

One set of neighbors, "Nana & Grandpa" played the role of adoptive grandparents.  They were so helpful, and they loved the boys so much (the feelings were mutual).

Our last night- on the beach with the Cofers

Henry and his best friend, the ocean

 Sean and his best friend, Gabe Cofer

Goodbye Florida!

September- We made our exodus from Florida and headed North.  We stopped in Ohio to visit the Schmiesing's for a few days.  What a rare blessing to see them twice in a matter of months!  My sister spoiled us with fantastic food and a house full of toys and playmates (her children:)
We took a walk and played in a beautiful park near their home

We had a wonderful year in Florida, for which we are very grateful.  It was an interesting year, with a few ups and downs and a lot of adjusting, but overall we feel we left as a more seasoned, and stronger family!  This isn't always the case, but we can really see why God lead us here, and how this move/change in our lives was needed.  And, I can't say enough about our wonderful neighbors and the great friends that we made who were all so loving and helpful- we miss them all so much already.

After a safe and fun journey, here we are, ready for the next chapter....

I still have more catching up to do, but that will come at some time in the (hopefully) near future!

A few photos from April

Can you tell that I am always a few months behind organizing and updating photos??  Darn it.
Here are a few from April:

Henry and Will helping me with the laundry after I had surgery, and I was still on my lifting restriction

Every now and then, Henry asks to wash his bike.  He likes to take good care of his "ride"
And back in May, he officially wore through his back tire from all of his riding and skid stopping.    He is sure that the new tire goes even faster.

We took a day trip to check out Falling Waters State Park (Florida's tallest water falls).  The falls were a slow drip at best, but the sink holes, and trees were neat to see.  

We had no idea that the park was hosting a festival the day we went, but it ended up being the best part of the trip.  I can't remember what the festival was called, but just picture many booths and hands on activities that you would see back in the day of  Little House on the Prairie!  Here is Henry learning (from the cutest old man ever)  the process of taking an ear of corn,  putting it through the mill to shuck the corn, and then how to grind it up to make corn meal.  Then they made fried corn bread with his fresh corn meal.  

I really hope this is the only time I ever have to see this:

Sean caught a good sized catfish in the bay near our house.  His child sized fishing pole was practically bent in half!

Here is the video of his big catch

Sean learns to ride

Santa brought Sean a bike for Christmas, and at the time we had no intention of leaving the training wheels on, but his little legs would not reach the ground, so we left them on.  Last night, we took them off, and he did great!  After every stop, or fall, he would pull himself up with a huge grin, jump up and down, and run and jump into our arms.....EVERY time!  Needless to say, he was very excited, and soaked up all of the attention.  He is still learning to steer the bike with his wheels, and not his body (a bad habit picked up from having training wheels to prevent tipping).
Here is a video of his final run/crash of the evening.  It was his biggest crash, but once again, he got up smiling....until Josh announced, "Hey Sean, you have blood"  (a small scrape on his elbow) and then the sobbing started.  The whole thing was precious!  Unfortunately, when taking video of that episode, I stopped filming before the smile, and attention to blood, so all I have is the ride & crash, and then the sobs!

P.S. Josh made a better video of multiple rides.  The final crash and sobs are at the end.

Sean, we are so proud of you...you brave and sweaty boy!