Florida's First Impressions

I know I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog but I wanted to type out my first impressions of Florida before they're no longer "first impressions." Plus, these blog entries are my favorite to re-read.

First let just say that I might have ugly cried all 4110 miles from Klamath Falls, OR --> Victoria, B.C. --> Kennewick, WA--> Emmett, ID--> SLC, UT--> Who cares, NE --> Children screaming, KY --> Car ran over cell phone, GA-->Melbourne, FL and then on to St. Cloud.

Oh how I miss Klamath Falls, Oregon and the entire North Kardashian West.  This was a hard move for me and it broke my little Canadian heart. It felt/feels like I left Canada all over again. I know that might sound silly but Oregon looked like British columbia, kinda. It felt similar. I was there with my hippies carrying cloth grocery bags and discussing the horrors of processed foods or carbon footprints. We ran together, organically gardened together and I dreamed of owning an oversized bike to ride my children around in. Sure Klamath Falls was less populated with these people than Eugene but I still discussed communal gardening with neighbors. I loved our new home, loved our neighbors, loved Matt's job, LOVED our friends, loved being back at school, life was pretty rockin'.

And it still is, but it's very different.

1. It is HOT. But serious. Why is it so hot? All. The. Time. I'm not really a fan of this extreme heat, let's blame the red hair, shall we. My people are not meant for this. Today is December 18th and my car read 92 degrees yesterday. 92 degrees!  I have a permanent sweat mustache everyday. I am disgusting. I used to think that I didn't really sweat but now I realize, I just grew up in paradise where its perpetually spring and fall with a dash of summer. I have never pitted out of a shirt in my life and now I know why-- all of my sweat glands are located above my upper lip. How am I supposed to make friends when I have overactive glands? Is there a cream for that? #swstash

2. It is humid and I have Monica Hair. They said the humidity would be gone by now and it is not. I think it's some kind of sick joke to expose my sweatstash. Before me moved, I cut my bangs and was loving them. Within the first week of moving, I realized that bangs were just not going to happen here. In about 5 feet of walking they turn into a sweaty mass pushed off my face with wind--resulting in a pea-cocking affect rivaling William's bed head.  As you can tell, this move has greatly affected my attractiveness in new and humbling ways.


My hair was perfectly straight and this was after an hour at the park. This picture is more flattering than it actually looked and I had already wiped my sweatstash.

3. There are bugs. Big ones. Weird ones. Flying ones. Poison ones. Everywhere.
Everywhere.
Always.

4. There are fire ants and William is terrified of them. I am too.

5. There are alligators. I underestimated the size and quantity of alligators. Everyone keeps playing down the alligator infestation but they are everywhere. I will never swim in non-salt water ever... unless it is a public pool where I can clearly see that the bottom is gator free!

6. When you think of Florida what do you think of?
 If you think palm trees, old people and a coastline then we basically had the same expectations.


                             

I'm 85% sure we actually life in Africa and Matt just didn't tell me. We're Definitely in the middle of an african rain forest.





7. There are beaches. Beaches everywhere and glorious they are. Every time the fire ants or the humidity kick my trash we head to the beach. We've been a lot.

Paul is gradually warming up to the beach but much prefers the safety of the sand.

8. The grocery stores are different. While I cry offer the loss of Tillamook I rejoice in the british food selection. I have purchased two sleeves of penguins since arriving. If you don't know what those are, I'm really sorry for you.

9. There are frogs and geckoes everywhere. While I know they are harmless, they still scare me. So far a frog has jumped into our house and car. William seems to be fearless of the beasts and has done an excellent job protecting his mother. I would say that William has been the best at adjusting to our new home. While he is still an Oregon boy who overheats easily, he has embraced the ranch life. He still thinks that cows stink but really, can you blame him?

10. I would NEVER have imagined that I would live in Florida, let alone a cattle ranch. I really don't know which one of those things is more comical. But I do and we are experiencing all kinds of first.
First time ever seeing a massive cockroach (I'll never be the same).
First time in an air boat




First time eating biscuits and gravy and learning what "chicken fried steak" was.

First time opening the front door to a neighbor on a horse.




First time seeing wild hogs. These were caught by our neighbors and were parked in the driveway about 4 houses away from us.



First time running in the morning and fearing for my life because I thought I heard a wild hog.

First time seeing an armadillo

Florida is a strange new world for us (mostly me). Sometimes I feel out of place and like I don't fit in and other times I'm so excited my boys get to experience a taste of a ranch experience. I'm slowly figuring it out and buying humidity shield hair products by the gallon!

Canada Day

Oh Canada Day, your are one of my favorites! This year the actual day found us on the road en route to Idaho for a family reunion (more on that later). 

I couldn't let the opportunity to celebrate pass us by, so we celebrated in August.

I had found awesome Photo Booth props and was too excited to not use them.

And Matt printed the Biebs off for me because he's awesome. 

 My sister and parents had mailed me poutine and chocolate supplies so I couldn't eat them all on my own... 

We enjoyed Canada Dry, Nanaimo bars, Poutine, Ketchup chips, Chocolate bars, and other things. But really who needs anything more than Poutine and Nanaimo bars?

I didn't take any pictures of the decorations or the food, which is too bad because they were awesome.

I did however take pictures of these cool cats

Our neighbors Mary, Vake and Gill

The Mencl's 

The Trejo's

The Phair's

Our neighbors: The Rooney's 

The Olsen's

The Steven's

The Johnson's came down for this grand occasion from Portland.

We were so happy to see them! 

The cat was out of the bag, officially, about our move and I spent a lot of time holding back tears. I am going to miss every single one of these people terribly. 

Good friends are hard to find and we have been so lucky here.

so, what's new with you?

I think we can all agree that I'm basically the worst at keeping this blog updated, so lets just move past that.

A lot has been happening for our family in the last few months. So here's a quick update:

Since moving to Klamath Falls, last August, I enrolled in school. I've been working towards my set aside goal of becoming a dental hygienist. I've been doing really well and enjoying it more than expected.  I am currently done with summer classes and have a longer break until Fall term starts up. I wouldn't have been able to do so well without Matt and his willingness to help and support me in my goals. Another large shout out goes to my 3.5 year old for still taking a two hour nap at the same time as his brother. It would have been impossible without these two things. 

Oh, and we bought our first home in February.

We've been DIY-ing up a storm and I've been realizing how much I dislike DIY in general. 

Here's what it looked like before

Our first project was the new roof (we did not DIY this).

Roofing is loud and messy. 

Second project was the stairs. As you can see they were not pretty or safe.

William idolized our carpenter and he was kind enough to let William watch most of the time. 

Now they are both pretty and safe. 

Even though I had absolutely nothing to do with the actual construction of the stairs, the process was  exhausting.  I learned that I've watched too much HGTV and have unrealistic expectations on time lines... Without the Property Brothers, things take much longer. 

This is my favorite room in the whole house. I have always wanted a formal dinning room (to display the china from my grandmother) and having one is just as awesome as I thought it would be. 

I love it mostly because every night we get to see the most beautiful sunsets.

My other favorite thing would have to be our front door. Call me crazy but I love a good door. This one comes with an old mail slot. William retrieves the mail each day and thinks it's pretty magical. I do too. 

My Dad and I recently painted the front door yellow on the outside and I love it. 

Here's our living room with bare walls. I have such commitment issues when it comes to hanging pictures. I have yet to collect exactly what I'm looking for. 

I am envisioning a large mantel with christmas stockings right now... 

Here's the before

Here's our kitchen, for which I have big plans.

Those doors are another favorite feature because they open right up to the backyard and let me keep and eye on the boys while I'm cooking. 

All of my extra moments go towards schoolwork and painting. We have painted almost every room in this house and all I have to say is that Painting. Is. The. Worst.

I never want to paint again. 

Despite my feelings about painting, working on our home together has been rewarding and even sentimental. 

BUT... now we are saying good-bye.

I did not expect to love Klamath Falls as much as I have. I did not expect to make such wonderful forever friends. I didn't ever want to leave Oregon, unless it meant moving back to Canada and when we bought our home we expected to be here for another 5-7 years. 

 About a month ago Matt got a call from a previous employer (from two of his internships in Salt Lake) and they said that they had a position for him... in Florida.  At first we laughed, then we considered it, then we flew there to check it out and somehow we decided it was too great of an opportunity to pass up. 

So in about a week, we are moving to St. Cloud, FL just Southeast of Orlando.

Just when I thought we were done moving all the time...

Sad to say good-bye to this street

So there it is, that's whats new with us.