our new home...

one of my new favorite pics I took of Naples Pier


So I was very behind and about to give up, when I remembered the gift certificate for blurb.com that Paul gave me for Christmas to get my blog printed. Becuase of that, I decided to try to catch up and for the fact that this is really my only form of a journal right now, so here we go.

Basically the kids were sick for the first two weeks we were here, were healthy for two weeks so we could cram in a whole lot of fun before Paul started school, and now they are just getting over another two weeks of being sick. Then Paul and I ended up with a wierd stomach flu the other night and I really don't know how our kids have survived the last couple of days. I really thought we were going to escape all of the sickness in Utah, but hopefully this is the end. We had a couple of ER visits with Kate having problems breathing in the night from croup, and now we have to do breathing treatments for their deep coughs every night. The doctor is kind of baffled; swine flu results came back negative and then when we thought they were almost all better, kate threw up about 20 times the other night. But enough about that, here is what we have been doing the last month other than being sick.

Amazingly enough, we survived the flight to Florida. I really don't think I could have done it without my mom and dad. Crew was sick when we left, so I was really worried about how he would do, but he did great. He slept alot in grandpa's arms. Kate, on the otherhand took alot of work to entertain, but we made it.


my parents stayed for a few days and helped us get settled. It was really cold when we first got here but we got to do a few things while they were here. Here we are at Naples Zoo.



boat ride around little islands full of different monkey species

our pool

we have a 3 bedroom townhome in this really cute little area. It has a town center with an ice cream shop, mini movie theatere, fitness center, pub, etc.

kate loving her sorbet.


Paul's parents were here to for the first little bit, so we all went down to check out Marco Island. It was extra freezing that day. Here is kate with both of her grandmas. She is missing them so bad already.


saying bye to grandma and grandpa

crew got a new little chair so he eats up at the table with us

family room

kate loves the open space


kitchen

dining


our room has two doors, one that walks out to a covered veranda and one to a little balcony


view from our balcony

the kid's bathroom






the courtyard

our bathroom

family sized tub


crew on the built in desk

Kate now sleeps in big girl bed. Well, a mattress on the floor until we save up for a little bed. I was really interested to see how she would do, but she absolutely loves it! She loves to go to bed in it and even take naps. I put a gate up the first couple of nights in case she tried to escape, but she doesn't. I took this the other night after we went to a little birthday party. She wanted to sleep with the crown that she got to decorate, so cute!

crew's first time at the beach

family at Vanderbilt beach


kate caked in sunscreen

me and my buddy



crew conked out at the beach

swimming at our pool. it was crew's 1st time. he loved it!



kate loves swimming and she is so good and will stay right by me now rather than trying to run off into the deep.

crew conked out at the pool

crew's 1st time riding in the shopping cart like a big boy

So here is my little 8 month tribute to crew. (he turns 8 months on tuesday the 16th) He has seriously changed so much since we moved. It has only been a month and he is now an accomplished sitter, he rolls across the room, he now has started army crawling, he had two teeth pop through and starting saying momma and dada. Once his first tooth came through, he has slowed down on the drooling and has been a much happier boy. I have learned that I physically can't get a serious picture of him. If I put the camera up, he smiles. We love our little 18.6 pounds of pure baby chub.

they play together so cute now



There are so many cool, unique beaches here. It was a wierd, foggy day when we went to Barefoot beach, but it was so cool. The drive out there was through amazing beach house mansions.

kate loves finding shells


mr. turtle

kate loved sitting and watching the turtle eat the grass

Disneyworld! We are a few hours from Orlando, but we decided we had to go before Paul started school becuase he won't have a break for a while. It was so much fun! We went to the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

sitting at Minnie's table

crew loved the Snow White ride

jungle cruise

stealing a pic with Donald and Daisy

crew loved eating Mickey's nose

Kate was so excited to see him!

I love Epcot Center. I went there once when I was 6 and it was so fun to go back.

little Viking family after the Norway ride


how kate would look with long, blonde hair

The Nemo ride was very cool

family fish face

I put crew in these jammies the other night that I had bought when Kate was little and I remembered this picture I took of here. So I decided to reenact. Do they look alike?

crew fits right in here with his old man golfer pants

kate's new pretty church dress. She has really started growing up and doesn't mind me taking pictures of her any more. She is now obsessed with Cinderella and everytime a movie ends, she screams out "I like it!"



she loves to play rosies

crew has so much energy and is always rolling or scooting or now trying to climb up on people.

on the 2 mile boardwalk to Clam Pass beach

Paul's school orientation. I am so proud of him to have made it this far!

Now hopefully I will be able to stay caught up and my posts won't have to be so long. We really do love it here and now that our big vacation has ended and Paul has started school, reality has set in. He has to study about 10 hours a day, so I can't wait for visitors!