Florida here we come...for good!

After the truck pulled away and a nice night with Michael and Michele it was finally time to hit the road! Never have we driven to our new job location but since Jack had accumulated an arsenal of guns and ammo during our time in Ohio, we really had no other option but to drive because the ammo wasn't going in the moving truck. It's only a fourteen hour drive but it's been over ten years since we've all been in a car that long together. Thankfully, it turned out really nice. We had never really traveled much outside of the Cinci area so it's always fun to see different parts of the country. After getting about halfway, we spent our first night outside of Atlanta and then continued to the Gulf side of Florida for a night on the beach. As for upgrading our weather, I think these photos say it all...



Just a day at the beach... The Marriott we stayed at was right on the beach and boy what a big beach it was! We were all so thrilled and truly in a bit of disbelief that December weather as we know it is a thing of the past. They don't call it the sunshine state for nothing!!!



That night we enjoyed a great night on the boardwalk at John's Pass where we introduced the kids to Bubba Gump's! How could we not with how much we love the movie Forest Gump?!?



We woke up early Christmas Eve morning and hit the beach to collect sea shells before continuing up the road to Clearwater. We were amazed at how different the sand is on the Gulf side to that on the Atlantic side. I just kept thinking how great it was that we'll live under two hours away and only a bit over an hour to Cocoa Beach on the Atlantic side!!!





After a great day it was time to head into Orlando where we'd spend the next four nights waiting for our stuff to arrive!

Goodbye friends...

We've always said it's less about where we live and more about the people who enter our life at each stop. Indeed all these people plus many, many others made our stay in Mason memorable and made us better people. We will miss them and are grateful for their friendship!

The Simon family will always hold a special place in our heart. We knew them in Washington and Jack was determined when he took the job at LUX to find a place for Nick who had been struggling with his career and just needed a bit of a kick start. We were so excited to have them move out and they were thrilled with the opportunity. We will miss them so much but we know we'll see them again!



We will sure miss the Hayes family. Rick was a colleague of Jack's at 24 Hr. Fitness and when Jack realized he had a role to fill that Rick would be perfect for, it was only a matter of weeks before the Hayes family was heading out of Southern California to join us. Not only did Jack gain a great employee but I gained an instant friend who I became close to quite quickly. We spent Thanksgivings together and many weekend nights hanging out. The only thing that comforted us when we said goodbye to them was knowing they were planning on moving back to California shortly after we left. We are so grateful for their friendship and for taking the leap and joining us on our journey in Ohio!



From my first football friend Jen to my wonderful church friend Wendy, I would have laughed far less during my time in Mason had these two great women not entered my life.



From our one and only camping trip to cutting down a tree in their back yard to many shared dinners, we will sure miss the Brandolese's. We will however look forward to sharing a bit of Florida with them and hopefully meeting up with them sometime in Italy where they can show us around!



And how sad we are to leave Michael and Michele. They are truly like family to us. Michael and Jack had worked together at Covey years ago and when an opportunity presented itself for Jack to bring Michael to join him at LUX, he too picked up and left southern California to join Jack. We've shared Christmases, New Years, Halloweens, and many many other great memories together. One of our favorite memories of Mason will be making the drive out to their beautiful country house spending time with them there. It always felt like we were at home there. On our last night in Mason, after the moving van had pulled away with all our stuff, we spent our last night at their house being spoiled by their hospitality and enjoying one last holiday night together.



There were so many others that I feel terrible I just didn't get photos with who impacted us in such a positive way but hopefully the memories will last a long time. It's still hard to believe our time is up in Ohio. Mason was sure good to us...

Goodbye Mason!

It's hard to believe our time in Mason is now just a memory. It is indeed bittersweet. It was no secret Ohio wasn't my favorite place to call home. Aside from being away from family and friends, we were living in a place that is surrounded by nothing but flat land with no oceans or mountains in sight! Surprisingly though, this flat land was very green, had beautiful seasons, and was a place we learned to enjoy. For my kids sake I thought it was important for me to post about the things we'll miss and enjoyed while living there.

There is no question we'll miss the wonderful friends we made there. And from the kids going away parties you can see they developed many wonderful and long lasting friendships but one of the other things we'll miss and at times took for granted were the schools. And as your kids get older, you realize just what a difference good schools can make...just like good friends... People always talked about how great the schools were while living there but it truly wasn't until we stepped away that we realized how much we had taken them for granted. Although they were each the size of a small college campus, they were well run, extremely organized and challenging. From the Blue Ribbon high school to finding my old boss Lucy's curriculum being used throughout the schools, we were impressed. The jury is definitely still out on our opinion of Florida schools or if we will have to go the private school route but one thing is clear, Mason schools will be missed...greatly.

We will also greatly miss the small town feel of Mason. Everything that played a part in our daily lives was no more than ten minutes away. Even Jack's work commute was ten minutes! I loved having amenities so close but not feeling like all I was surrounded by was strip malls and pavement. With the exception of a couple streets, traffic was non existent and how could you not love having a water park, amusement park, and national tennis facility right in your backyard.

Of course we will also miss our home, especially now that we are temporarily living in an apartment while we have a house built here in FL. I keep reminding myself that there was a time that I wasn't at all thrilled with the idea of moving into our Mason home. It was a corporate house (the only one that LUX owned) and hadn't been lived in for a few years. Originally we were going to move into for a short period until we built something of our own, but after LUX insisted we renovate it and organized all the contractors for me to meet with, it started to feel more and more like home. I still can't believe I never took a photo of it before it was renovated. Just imagine a house that hadn't been lived in for several years...and although the landscaping had been professionally maintained, no one seemed to care that you couldn't actually see the house behind all the overgrown trees and shrubs. All our neighbors were in shock at how nice it looked once we had all the landscaping redone. We also had the carpets changed, floors sanded and restained, walls repainted, staircase bannister restained, front door stained and garage doors replaced, built-ins pulled out, door hardware throughout the house all switched out, new sink faucets put in, lighting fixtures throughout the whole house replaced...and the list goes on.

I wish I had a photo of the house just before all the renovations started. I was able to find one photo online of it but i'm not sure when it was taken (although I can assure you it looked worse than this before we had the landscaping done). Then I have a photo of the yard shortly after the landscaping was redone and a photo taken shortly before we moved out. Oh the memories of Kan Jam in the front yard with friends, fireworks in the driveway, fireflies in the summer, knocks on the door from Maddie or Linn, and the many many memories that we created within these walls.

Before we moved in:



After:

The kids' farewell parties!

The kids weren't about to let a half empty house and a week's notice prevent them from throwing together a going away party before we headed out of town! I felt bad because months ago when we first decided we'd move during the winter break I had assured them I'd put together going away parties but with the craziness of trying to build a house and prepare for a move, the time had flown by and before I knew it we were a week away from packers arriving! Thankfully when you live in a time of texting and group messaging, within a half hour of putting our thoughts together, the boys had invited around twenty kids. Knowing we were in the midst of the holiday party season, I reminded them that with such short notice, most would probably not be able to attend. Well, I was sure wrong! Kids kept dripping in and by the end, they had thirty friends stop in to wish them well. I worried about what they would do but between foosball and shuffle board in the basement, games upstairs, and even a hilarious stand up comedy show by some of the kids in the dining room, they all seemed to have a great time. We never got a photo of everyone together but here are a few that hopefully captured most of them!



There was one important friend that was unable to make the boys' party and that was Mia! She was their first friend and turned out to be the last friend they spent time with before we left town. They have spent countless days together and we have been so grateful for how much the Thatcher family took in our boys and introduced them to all that Mason had to offer. Really it's because of them the boys even got involved in swimming. As a going away gift she drew this picture of the three of them together from Homecoming. So sweet!



On the Friday night before the boys' party, the Simon's threw Sage a going away party at their house with all Sage's church friends. It was so sweet of them and really made Sage feel special, not to mention she had a great time and always enjoys being with Taylor! We will sure miss the Simon family but will plan on seeing them here in Florida sometime soon!



After a busy Saturday night hosting the boys party, it was again time for Sage to celebrate only this time it was with her "school friends". Sage definitely has no shortage of friends but like most girls, she has a couple special friends she meets in her class each year that she becomes extra close to. This party was meant to gather all those friends together. They are so sweet and I can't lie that I am sad to have to see her say goodbye to them.



It there is one friend that Sage will miss the most though, it's Tanna. Tanna moved to Ohio from Southern California just last summer. Her dad was transferring from Oakley out to Lux and on a house hunting trip we met up with them for dinner. At that time we learned that not only would they go to our same church but they had a daughter Sage's age. A week or so later she had sent Sage a postcard sharing with Sage how excited she was to move to Ohio and meet Sage and what she liked to do. It was so cute. They became instant best friends. They both love to do crafts, cook, sing and dance and spent any free day together. The Dean family really reached out to Sage and made her feel apart of their family. Here are a couple photos from the last week of them with their BFF necklaces and playing on the frozen lake behind Tanna's house! They haven't let distance affect their friendship though as I regularly can hear Sage face timing Tannah and we know they'll see each other again!

Trying to get into the spirit...

Decorating the house for Christmas when movers would be arriving on Dec. 22nd wasn't going to happen. I had debated it in my mind but finally made the call that with all we had going on, it just didn't make sense, especially during a time when we were trying to declutter and get rid of stuff rather than clutter up the house and unpack stuff. We had already discussed with the kids that we wouldn't be doing Christmas shopping since we'd have no room in the car for gifts and really just no time to worry about that. They were so good about it and thankfully with Sage learning about Santa last year there was no issue. We knew we'd be giving them money and in the end that is probably what they would have gotten regardless since none of them had items they were really wanting for Christmas anyway. It was really weird though not to spend any time shopping for even stocking stuffers or Christmas dinner. We did however manage to squeeze in time for a couple of our holiday traditions including taking our photo with Santa, decorating gingerbread houses, and the dreadful, always rushed and never prepared for Christmas card photo.





I don't imagine we'll be seeing much of this in Florida. Although none of us will miss the cold, gray winters of Ohio, we will definitely miss the beautiful snowfalls that happen every so often. Snapped this a week before we left Ohio...

Well it was a good 3 1/2 year run...

When the boys entered 6th grade they were required to take some sort of music class. It was a choice between orchestra, band, and choir. They refused to sing in the choir but after attending a weekend workshop to check out instruments, they settled on orchestra with Ty wanting to learn the viola and Connor the violin. They ended up sticking with it in through 8th grade because they were able to get a bit of High School credit if they did so. Because Connor was anxious to get his high school arts requirements out of the way he decided to continue on through his freshman year while Ty jumped ship and decided to tackle something else. So here our handsome boy is performing at his Freshman winter concert. This would also be his last concert we'd ever watch him perform in since we'd be moving at the end of the first semester. I can say there were no tears shed when Connor learned that Florida wasn't going to require him to continue for the second half of the year in order to get his credit like Mason would have but he's assured me that in his spare time he'd still like to take up teaching himself how to play the acoustic guitar which I'd be thrilled with. Now if I could just get Sage to play the harp...