We recently took a trip to Florida to scope out places to live. It was a fast paced trip that seemed to have flown by! There was no time to fully relax, but it was fun still the same. Here is Evey helping us fill the suit case.
She wanted to bring her alligator, but we just didn't have the room. And there are plenty in Florida already. Don't need to bring another down just yet!
We flew out of Portland on Tuesday the 15th of June in the afternoon. Evey was such a good girl on the plane. She was so excited about being around people and all the new sights (the last time she was on an airplane she was 3 months and wasn't aware of anything yet.) that naps were totally out to the picture and smiles were in.
One the plane. We got a row to ourselves. That made it so much easier!
At the Atlanta Airport. All smiles and waves for everyone waiting at the gate!
We were delayed at the Atlanta Airport for what seemed like forever! A big storm decided to roll through the area, causing many delays and cancellations. Luckly our flight was only delayed...but it did mean that we got into Orlando at 3:30am!! Yuck! We had reserved a rental car (our first rental together!) and a hotel just minutes from the airport which was really nice so we could get a few hours of sleep before meeting our realtor at 10am that morning. I think it was excitement that kept me going.
The first day (the 16th)we hit the ground running looking at houses. We saw 15, which is alot. By the time we got back to our friends Jenn and Cory's house in Davenport, FL whom we were staying with, we were so tired! The second day (the 17th) we only had about 10 houses scheduled to see and Aunt Annie came along with us to look. It was so nice to have her there! Evey got to hang out with her while Mike and I looked through the houses.
Smiling at Aunt Annie. Having Annie there was such a blessing! Thank you for joining us Aunt Annie!
Annie joined us again on the 18th. Evey loved getting out of her car seat and would anticipate Annie getting her out when the car stopped. It was funny, she would look at her and not me. We were both in the back with her. It was another good day of house hunting. Every night, Mike and I would go through all the papers of the houses we saw and eliminate the ones we felt didn't fit/work for us. It helped us narrow it down so we could go back to see some of the houses we really liked again on Friday. Which was only 6. Pretty good for having seen 20+ houses! With only a few new houses to see we got almost right to our "see again" list. We ended up eliminating a few of the house upon further inspection of the info sheet the realtor provided us. Two houses that were on our "see again" list got cut because they were woodframed. Not good for Florida humidity. The wood could rot and we wanted a block frame. Another got cut because it had the smallest sq. footage. So we really didn't have many to go back and see
On Saturday (the 19th) we actually got to relax...a little. We had narrowed the house search down to 3 houses (it was like House Hunters on HGTV!) #1 I really liked and #2 Mike had finally expressed interest in (until that house, he had kinda kept quiet and would point out things he liked/didn't like in the houses but never would say "I really like this house!")#3 was similar to the #1 I really liked just with a pool...and more expensive. So I knew that house #2 had to be a real contender if Mike was saying this. I liked it too.
House #1
House #2
(yes, that's our rental car)
House #3
After a lot of thinking and talking and silent praying by me and I'm sure Mike, we went back to the realtor's office to hash out the numbers. And the house we chose was....................................................................................... #2!! We chose that one because it was the biggest of the three, wasn't a short sale or bank owned and was exactly in the price range we wanted. It just felt more like our first place than the other two did.
We decided that we would hang out with my sister Annie and her hubby, Rob in Tampa (and since there were no houses to see). But when we were looking at houses on friday (up in the Sanford, Fl area) we went though some pretty creepy areas and that made us nervous about the one house that Mike and I offered on up there. (#2 is in Sanford. #1 and #3 are in Oviedo. Just south of that) Why would we want to buy a house in a town we would avoid?? So we got up early Saturday and headed up there to check out the area on our own. We found the church building and luck would have it, people were there cleaning it! Yes! People to talk to about the area!! So mike went in (Evey was asleep so she and I stayed in the car) to talk to them. As it turns out, the area we drove through on Friday was the "slum" part/street. The rest of town was a good place. That made us feel LOADS better!!
As a well deserved reward, we stopped by Downtown Disney, on the way to Tampa, for lunch. I had to do something Disney while I was visiting Florida! It is a tradition of Mike and mine's to eat at Rainforest Cafe whenever we are at Disney. (of course that will change when we are actually living down there as Disney will probably be a regular place for us to go!) Evey LOVED it! She was so cute, it has to to shown in pictures...not words...so here is our Downtown Disney adventure.
Outside World of Disney. We watched a performing arts group dance. Evey would clap when the audience clapped. It was cute!
She found a small plush Giraffe and wouldn't let it go. She loved it! Mom couldn't say no to such a cute face!
Looking at the fishys while waiting to be seated. She would follow them around the tank...back and forth. Notice she is still clinging to her Giraffe? Hehe!!
Our table was in the Gorilla room.
Evey noticed the Gorilla's right away and pointed them out to us.
They came to life every 15min. and this is what we got each time.
And this...clapping!
Oh my gosh, I love her! Soooo cute! So we spent the rest of the day in Tampa with Annie and Rob. We had a fathers day barbecue complete with an ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen! Yummy! Since it was Mike's first official Father's day, he got to cut the cake. It was a fun day!
Sunday we slept in as long as Evey would let us...which was until about 7:30am. I went to the bathroom to go potty and put in my contacts and came back into our room to find this....
SOOOO STINKIN' CUTE!!!
So that was the bulk of our Florida adventure. We flew home Monday afternoon. No delays..all smooth sailing. All in all, it was a really good, productive trip! Now to pack to move down there....hummmm...wish I had a magic wand for that!
Evey zipped around to the other side of the table and I was able to catch Norah with an open mouth! It was so cute!
