My Turn to Update...

It's been too long since I updated my blog, so here it goes...
First congrats to my cousin Jen and sister in law Kylee....both are expecting babies in August.
Tim and I went to Florida for 12 days for Christmas. We flew out Christmas eve and our only hiccup was the hour delay out of baltimore, but once we got in the air it was the smoothest flight I have ever been on....Tim slept the whole way. Luckily, Sarah flew with us to Tampa and when I was able to tear her away from her book we had some decent conversation. When we landed it was close to 9pm, but we had family to go see before we could turn in for the night.
On Christmas day we got up bright and early and drove to Orlando with my mom and sister Becky. We met a couple of my mom's friends and Epcot and we spent the majority of the day there. The old folks left about 4pm and left Tim, Becky, and myself to roam by ourselves for a few hours. We all met back up at Downtown Disney....which was an absolute mob scene. You would think on Christmas evening people would be home with their families...nope...all we could bear was dinner at mcdonalds and shopping in only one store. That evening we spent in Orlando and had quite the adventure with the hotel room...I'm gonna leave out the gross details, but we had to switch rooms at 11pm.
The next morning we went to Sea World. Sea World was much less crowded. We were exhausted and called it a day around 3pm. We drove back to St. Pete but not without stopping to eat at Golden Corrall...yummmy.
The next day was more of a relaxing day. We slept in and just vegged for most of the day, and went to the St. Pete Pier that evening. And we saw the most spectacular light display.
Then sunday came and we went to Church with my mom and then picked up a rental car and headed to Ft Myers.
Ft Myers was just over a two hour drive. We rented a hotel room for that night since Tim's brother and family were not expecting us until the next day. We went to church and surprised them. When we got into the foyer we were being very careful not to get spotted. Tim was talking to some people and poked my head in the auditorium and my sister in law Darla caught me. I hid around the corner, but it was only seconds after I heard "I saw you....where are you!!" It was a great reunion. We had dinner together afterwards and then did our gift exchange before we headed back to our room.
The next day, monday, we had a few appointments to look at some apartment complexes....we fell in love with the first one we looked at. The rest of the day we just relaxed with family.
On Tuesday we all went to Miami and went to the Miami Seaquarium....it was like a small version of Sea World, but the shows were not as crowded and we got good seats, so I enjoyed it more. After the Seaquarium we headed toward the Port of Miami and strolled around the shops there. Highlight: The Bubba Gump gift shop, I got an amazing t-shirt. Then, a two hour drive back to Ft. Myers.
The rest of our trip was peaceful. On new years eve we went to church and then went back to John & Darla's and sat around their outdoor fire pit and made smores. People all around were setting off fireworks, it was quite spectacular. On New Years day night we went to Ft Myers beach and watched sun set and then had all we could eat at CiCi's Pizza Buffet...that was Tim's only request when we arrived in FL. We did have one evening out without the kids. We went to this fancy shmancy Italian restaurant that John & Darla had a gift card for. It was probably pretty clear to our waitress that we didn't belong there, but John solidified that for her when he asked for his coffee in a togo cup. We topped off the evening with Coldstone ice cream and a little shopping at Target.
I am sure that Tim's highlight was golfing with his brother and nephew....either that or playing with air soft guns.
It was so sad to have to leave....our flight left at 4pm that monday and I cried all day. The worst was saying goodbye to our neice and nephews after pulling them out of school for lunch. From what I was told, Julianne sobbed when she turned the corner out of my sight....love that little one, we are pen pals.
So now we are home and back into the swing of life again. It's freezing and there are no palm trees!!! We did, however, decide that moving to FL is in the immediate future. Our lease is up in May, so we are shooting to head down there around May 18th. We already found a place to live, so now it is just finding jobs. I have already contacted the school district to find out when they start hiring aides for the fall. They were very prompt in getting back to me and told me that they start hiring as soon as April. But, Lee County is in a hiring freeze due the economy and low enrollment in the schools. So I am not going to count on a job with the schools right away. I have been looking into the possibility of becoming a nanny or getting my LNA certification before we leave. Tim is pretty open to any job. He would like to do something in the area of computers, but since all he has is experience and no degree it may be difficult for him to get a job in that area. He works for Chase right now processing credit card transactions, and there is a Chase in Ft Myers, but they do loan processing. He is going to apply there with the hopes of transfereing so that he doesn't loose half of his 401k.
As far as my getting pregnant...we are still working on it. My Dr told me that if I don't conceive by January that I should see a specialist....i'll keep you all up to date on how that goes.
Other than that, things are pretty much as normal as normal goes. It's freezing here, temps are hovering in the negative numbers, so we have been doing alot of staying in.
Hope all is well with everyone!