Overdue Updates

A Thing of Beauty

I've been asked about our roof a few times, so let me start off by saying that our homeowners insurance company is no longer breathing down our neck.    Yay!  The metal was installed over a 2 week period (only half of the metal was ordered at first - oops!) and installation was completed about 2 weeks ago.  The same day I submitted the paperwork letting them know it had been completed, they mailed us a refund check - ugh.  Rather than pay them the exact amount of the refund, I was told to wait till we knew what the new rate would be (new roof = discount).  I got that figure earlier this week and paid the insurance company yesterday so we are now good to go.

Front of business card

Back of business card

I also mentioned in an earlier post that I was changing real estate companies.  It's now official (I got my business cards and name tag yesterday), so I am happy to share that I am now working for Sarasota Bay Real Estate!  I also have my own website (KarrieMeHome.com) where you can search for homes in Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties of Florida.  One of the really awesome things about this site is that you can set up your own search so that it emails you every time a new home becomes available (and I can see what you've been looking at in case you want to give me a call about a specific house you've seen).  If you want to make an adjustment for some reason, you can do that as well.  This is a wonderful feature I didn't have with my last employer.  Oh, and I can now list homes for sale too!  It's so nice not being restricted by the team I was on before.  And if you are curious... I love my new company!  The people there are wonderful.

Hubby's had some interesting goings-on at work lately too.  A few weeks back he was asked to come in to the weekly management meeting (he's not management).  We thought he was going to get in trouble, but he didn't.  The issue really stemmed from the day guy complaining about hubby fixing things (uh, that's his job) without talking to the day guy first (you want a phone call at 2AM or don't you want the paper to print before you get in at 6AM?).  Upper management gave hubby the okay to keep doing what he's been doing, so we were able to breath a sigh of relief.  In fact the only way the meeting could have gone any better for my hubby was for them to have offered him a raise (from what we understand no one has gotten a raise in 3+ years).  So how surprised were we when last week hubby was called in to work during the day to help the day guy try to fix something he couldn't figure out.  Day guy is almost eligible to retire and claims he knows how to fix everything there.  Guess not.  And how proud was I when they called hubby in because they trusted that he could do it?

As for the kiddos, my son has officially started with his FLL (First Lego League) robotics team.  They have their pre-qualifiying tournament on Nov 22 so they are meeting twice a week for at least 2 hours each day trying to get ready.  Fun times for Mommy and Daddy.

This year my daughter is signed up to participate in a mini-horse class.  She meets every other week for 3 hours each time and is learning how to care for a horse as well as how to train it to jump (and maybe pull a small cart later in the year).  She's having a blast.

My daughter walking "her" mini-horse Headliner

Brushing Headliner

We've also gone on a few field trips already this year to a science museum, aquarium, and zoo.

Making a stop animation film

"They are really soft."

So cute

Needless to say, my family is very busy these days.  Especially considering in a couple days we have grandparents coming into town for a week.  We have some fun stuff planned with them, so I'm sure I will have more pictures to share after that.

Scheduled Relaxation

The life of a Realtor is an interesting one.  It definitely offers a level of flexibility that many other jobs don't.  At the same time, you are also at the mercy of others to a degree.  For example, when someone you've been working with for a while contacts you letting you know they have a house (or houses) they want to see on a particular day, you do what you can to make that happen.

I've often been asked if I take off Saturday or Sunday and to a degree I do.  I don't schedule anything for Saturday evening so I can go to church with the rest of my family.  I also try not to do anything on Sunday, but sometimes I will have someone who is only available to see homes on Sundays because of their work or travel schedule.  So, I'm kind of on call (with a little notice to schedule seeing the houses).

So when I heard about a surf camp for kids at a nearby beach that's being offered on Sunday afternoons I jumped at it.  I figured it would be a great family trip but also just a way to force me to take a break from technology.  And with the exception of taking some pictures and videos of my kids surfing, it was just that.

Sunday the kids and I spent about 2 hours at the beach and we had a great time.  I admit it, the kids probably had more fun than I did.  After all, how can you not have fun learning how to surf (and doing it too)!

One of son's first attempts

One of daughter's last attempts for the day

Expiration

Last March my family bought an annual membership to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  For those not familiar, that is where Winter the dolphin lives.  Late in 2013 and early 2014, they were filming Dolphin Tale 2 at the Aquarium and had it closed for filming off-and-on for two months.  Because of that, they extended our membership through the end of this May. 

Last month I also purchased discount tickets to go to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa and they expire May 30.  So what's a girl to do when you are in the last week of the month and have passes to two places about to expire?  You go to both of them in the same day, of course!

We had been to Lowry only once and that was 3 years ago.  I remember there being animals as well as a few rides for the kids.  We've been to the Aquarium a couple times in the last year so I figured we'd spend less time there so we started at the zoo.

We spent about 3.5 hours at the zoo where we walked just about every path we could.  Being that it was 90 out we also stopped for snow cones.  Aside from the fact that they helped cool us down, we were able to dispense our own flavors.  I had a wonderful tropical fruity concoction while my kids had I have no idea what to call it... a fruity cacophony of flavors.

Unfortunately, the two rides my kids were most interested in were either closed or they were to big to ride  :-(  Did I mention they were water rides which meant our initial plan for cooling off didn't work.  Yay for snow cones!

We were able to see a couples shows, as well as see some animals up close.  So all in all it was a good time and I'm glad we did it.

Lorwy is one of 5 locations in FL that takes in hurt manatees

National bird.  Got to see one fly and heard their call (very different than what you think).

Baby is almost 2 years old.

One of my daughters favorite animals.  Flock flew by us and one right over us too.

After the zoo we drove over to the Aquarium and spent about 45 minutes there.  We got there just in time to see most of a Winter show / training session and got to see some of the changes that were made for the filming of the new movie.  Although this was a really short stop, I know Winter is a favorite of my daughter, so I'm glad we went since I don't think we'll be going back for a while.

Winter is way down there in the middle of the picture.  Down side of getting there late = bad view.

Only thing about the trip I disliked... the drive.  It's a long drive to begin with, but on the way home we encountered 2 separate accidents with overturned SUVs which had traffic backed up big time.  In fact, it delayed us so much that we didn't get to see my hubby before he had to go to work.

Family Visit Review

Rather than try to attempt to make this into a few posts I decided to make a summary post.  A couple weeks ago I mentioned that my in-laws were going to visit for Christmas and that I would most likely be otherwise occupied during that time.  Well, I was.  So here is a summary of what's happened with my family over the last couple weeks:

My in-laws visited for 10 days.  During that time:

• The kids went to the beach multiple times with Oma and Opa. Daughter got wet and sandy and son played with his trick kite.  They both had a blast and Mommy got some work done.
• My son went to his first sleep over (I think Mommy had a harder time with that than my son).
• I did lots of baking mostly as gifts but for us also.
• I had a few showings, inspections, etc.
• My in-laws were able to find a renter for the house they bought the last time they were down here (they bought it before prices went up even more, planning to retire in a few more years).
• Hubby started his night shift schedule.  It's really worked out well so far (even with family visiting).

Around 2AM the night / morning before my in-laws left town, my little brother got to our house for a 5 day visit.  So that meant we had 9 people, 5 cats, and 1 dog at my house for that night.  Hubby and I were in the camper along with my brother and everyone else (and all the animals) was in the house.  The more the merrier right?  While my brother was in town:

• My son played extensively with the small parachute my brother gave him.  My brother is a parachute rigger which means he packs and fixes parachutes so to make one wasn't too hard.
• One of my first cousins and his family came and visited for a few hours.  It was a great way for them to see all my family at once since they hadn't seen my brother in over 15 years.  In fact my cousin's wife had never met my brother.
• My parents, brother, and my family of 4 went to Busch Gardens 2 days before the New Year.  Yes, it was crowded but it was still fun.  My dad and brother hadn't been in close to 20 years so they were able to enjoy a couple of the new rides as well as our favorite from the last time they'd been there. My mom and daughter were able to see a couple of the shows too.  I must admit, I'd never been when it was that crowded before.  We got one of the last parking spaces in the farthest parking lot  (it was about 1.5 miles from the entrance of the park).  The good news though... it was so crowded they didn't charge parking because they didn't want to hold up the line taking money from people.

Adventures in Moving

Aside from our slow start, we had numerous other adventures while we were traveling to help my parents move.

My sciatic nerve pain came back (and hasn't completely gone away yet either).  SO much fun when your leg goes numb while you are trying to carry a heavy box.

While cleaning out the shed, my hubby reached in and as he pulled out his hand this snake bit his glove.  Thankfully he had the glove on because it turned out to be a copperhead (no worries folks, it's now dead).

On our way back to Florida we had a caravan of 3 vehicles.  A Uhaul, a truck pulling a utility trailer, and a minivan.  My mom, the kids and I were in the minivan; my dad drove the Uhaul; and hubby drove our truck.  The thought with this arangement (aside from the fact that my mom and I didn't want to drive the big stuff), was so that if the kids needed potty breaks we didn't have to stop at truck stops or rest stops.  That worked out great!  The other reason was that we were going to be the "rabbit" and scope out areas ahead of the big vehicles. 

Driving 900+ miles in one day is just not feasible, so as the rabbit vehicle, we were able to find a motel that allowed us to park the Uhaul as well as our trailer near our room before the guys even got there.  The most important criteria for our stay was that at least one room be hidden away so we could run an extension cord from the trailer to the room.  Why?  Because we needed to plug in a freezer FULL of food and that's not something you can ask the person at the reservation desk.

We also had issues with the tarp that was on our trailer.  It kept ripping and flapping in the wind so on day 2, hubby fell behind.  Day 2 also found the rabbit vehicle falling behind because of the number of bathroom breaks the kids wanted to take.  Because we were able to skirt a traffic jam we passed my dad about 20 miles from our house and caught up to hubby as we pulled into our driveway.

My dad decided he wanted to stop for dinner a few miles from our house and almost pealed the top off the Uhaul when he accidentally went down a drive through lane.  Luckily he was able to get the person behind him to back up so he could get out without any damage.

Moving is never a dull thing, but thankfully this time no one ended up with a cracked rib (it happened when we moved once).

Which Way Did She Go?

This way.... No, that way.... No over there.

To say I have been racking up the mileage the last few days would be an understatement.

I have showed houses 5 of the last 8 days across 3 different counties which totaled close to 250 miles.  Add to that the fact that we took the kids to Orlando for a homeschool field trip to Sea World

(and Spacecraft Surplus for the boys),

They spent 1 hour in here and could have stayed longer I'm sure.

and it's been busy.

So what did I do today since it's been my first "day off" in a while?  Besides doing some school with the kids, I've watched my daughter swim (briefly), went grocery shopping, did a few loads of laundry, cleaned some of the house, and worked on taxes.   You know, the normal stuff that's been put off for WAY. TOO. LONG.  And I'm still hoping to do some knitting this evening.

Juggling Act

Many of you may not know, but the area where I live in Florida is very popular for circus performers to live.  Why?  Because there are winter homes for the circus animals in the area so they often have circus performances in the winter around here.  In fact, the person we bought our house from used to be in the circus. 

Well, yesterday I felt a bit like I was in the circus.  We had friends from Virginia were vacationing in Florida for a week and we decided yesterday was the day to get together and catch up.  We have kids with similar ages so we decided to meet at a tourist attraction the kids would like.  We chose Clearwater Marine Aquarium (home of Winter the dolphin).

When I picked this date and put it on my calendar, my work load had been pretty light.  There weren't that many new leads coming in and I didn't have many clients who wanted to see properties right away. 

That changed two days ago.  The FREEZING cold temperatures up north has made it so more people from up north are eager to move now rather than later. 

I was not about to cancel my plans, so I had to do some juggling and prioritizing.  I dealt with a couple things before I left.  Then at lunch, I made a couple phone calls to try to schedule showings for someone to see today.  A couple hours later, I made a few more phone calls to new prospects.  Then when I got home I made more phone calls, sent emails, and did some research for my clients.

It was a busy day (it seemed more so mentally than physically), but I made it.  My clients aren't any worse off, my kids and I got to see our friends who we hadn't seen in a while, and I got to feel like I have at least a little bit of a life.  All in all a good day.

My daughter is convinced she will work with Winter one day.

Winter really is an amazing dolphin

Nicholas - the only male dolphin is very entertaining

The van they use for rescues.

"Stay back!"

Run away....

Cool to see they have bones in their flippers.

Gratitude Challenge - Day 22

Today I am thankful for peer pressure.  Last weekend my family was on a camping trip with other homeschoolers.  While we were there, I had a few of the other families convince my hubby that we should go to Busch Gardens for Thanksgiving.  Since the other families were already planning on going and had gone last year, he was easily swayed.

Can't go to Busch Garden's without seeing animals.

Peer pressure was at work even further today because my daughter's friend convinced her to ride things she'd never ridden before. 

No my daughter didn't ride this, but the boys were on this coaster when I took the picture.

A good time was had by the entire family.  Add to that the fact that I didn't have to cook or clean any dishes except those from breakfast and I had a terrific day!

Lunch I didn't prepare + a Christmas show = priceless

Gratitude Challenge - Day 18

Today I am thankful for homeschooling friends.  Although I started my homeschool journey in Ohio and then moved it to Virginia for a while, it wasn't till I moved to Florida till I realized what it truly means to be part of a homeschool community.

Yes, everyone who homeschools is part of a community.  How can you not be, when you all have something so basic in common?  The way it's been different for me in Florida is because my family has numerous opportunities to participate in various activities with other homeschoolers.  We've gone on field trips and we've participated in co-op classes (and even helped teach them).  This weekend, we went on a camping trip with other homeschoolers and we've also been invited to spend the day with some of them on Thanksgiving. 

This weekend has meant so much to my family.  There is nothing like a camping trip to get your kids to come out of their shell and actually get to know other people.  Hey, it even got my husband out of his shell a little. 

Did I mention, hubby was the one who really thought we should go on this trip?  I was reluctant because I was afraid work would call me away.   And I was gone for 6 hours on Saturday, but you know what... they had a great time without me and it made me appreciate the time I was there even more.

Delayed Birthday Gift

Yesterday, I was finally able to take my kids to Sea World.  This was a trip that we had promised my daughter for her birthday back in May.  Needless to say, the weather in May was a bit too hot.  Technically, I would have liked to have waited another month or so, but a cold front came through recently so the temperatures were a little bit cooler and I had a free night in a hotel that was about to expire so I figured now was a good time.

So how did it go?  I think this tells it all.

If only the glass wasn't in the way.

OK.  So I will tell you a bit more.  The kids and I spent about 8 hours there.  We saw 3 different shows, various animals and even rode a couple of the rides.  To say my daughter had a good day is an understatement.  She enjoyed the whale show

but she enjoyed the dolphin show the most.

After seeing this

She's "surfing" with her feet of the back of 2 dolphins.

my daughter told me that she wants to work at Sea World when she gets older so she can ride on dolphins too.  She has been interested in animals for as long as I can remember (she plays with stuffed animals and not dolls).  We saw Winter the dolphin earlier this year and that ignited a passion for dolphins that hasn't gone away.  She's mentioned in the past that she wants to work with sea animals, but after Sea World she seems to have narrowed it down to one animal.

I think the next trip might have to involve a hands-on experience for my daughter... ok, and me too.

Making an Appointment

Lately, I have been booked s.o.l.i.d.  I've either been showing houses, meeting clients to work on contracts, or making phone calls - lots and lots of phone calls.  That's why it was very important to schedule some family fun time. 

We have season passes to Busch Gardens.  Over the summer they have later hours as well as an acrobatics show and fireworks display as the park is closing.  We knew we were about to run out of time to see the fireworks display so we scheduled a trip for last Wednesday.  Unfortunately, life and work happened and I couldn't go that day.  Luckily we didn't tell the kids our plans so when we ended up being able to make it on Thursday they were extatic.

Right before we got there we drove through a thunderstorm.  It was still raining when we pulled up to the park at 6PM.  We sat in the car for 5 minutes while the rain passed.   The temperatures dropped substantially so that was nice.  And many of the people who got soaked decided to leave the park.  There were still lines, but they were shorter I'm sure.

Of course the boys went to ride the coasters.  The thunderstorms meant they didn't open right away but they still got to ride multiple coasters including one pretty much at dark.

My daughter and I went in search of the animals.  Unfortunately, the thunderstorms meant most of them were not out.  We were able to see a few animals though including these beautiful flamingos. 

And she rode the carousel an played on the biggest moon bounce I've ever seen.

After all the rides closed down they had an outdoor acrobatics, light, and lazer show called Kinetix (pretty cool stuff).  The grand finale was a fireworks display... also very cool.  One of the best displays I've seen in a long time.  Can't imagine what it's like to live nearby during the summer since they do it every night the weather cooperates.

It was so nice having a little break.  Needless to say, I didn't know the following week (last week) would be so hectic.  I am SO glad I got the break.  It made this last week more bearable.

She wanted her picture with something.

Like Father, Like Son

Anyone who knows my husband and his family knows there are numerous engineers in the family.  Some have engineering degrees (they cover mechanical, computer, and electrical engineering I believe) and those that don't have an engineering degree seem have a knack for figuring things out.

My son is certainly following in the family tradition.  The other day I asked him to make me something to prop open one of the doors in the house.  I told him how much I wanted it opened and the rest was up to him.  He came up with a door stop made of K'Nex.

A couple weeks ago, our family went to Orlando for the first annual Orlando Mini Maker Faire. 

Essentially it's a nerd fest.  So hubby and son were in heaven.  There were booths where you could see things that people had built (e.g. local school's who participated in First Robotics competitions, a couple who invented a better swimming flipper, and people who made model R2D2's, among many others items).

There was also an area where kids could solder LED eyes into a robot pin.

Hubby was impressed as was the person overseeing. OK... so was I.

Daughter wasn't as interested in the faire, but she was drawn to one booth in particular.  The toucan and the fruit hanging from the tree in the picture below were animatronic and moved their "lips" or beak to the lyrics of various songs played using an iPod.  It was pretty cool.

Needless to say, next year the girls will be staying home.  I'm sure the boys will be going back though.  After all, they found a vendor there that sold them a basic programming kit that was up and running after just a couple hours of working on it.

Can you tell that my son was happy that he had written a program "all by himself"?

It's amazing to see how much alike my husband and son are.  Right now, my son is very proud of that fact.  Based on my recollection, that desire will end around the teen years so I suppose we'd better enjoy it while we can.

Keeping A Promise

As a child I was taught that lying was wrong very wrong.  And making a promise that you didn't keep was a form of lying.  Needless to say, I want my kids to realize the importance of honesty so I try to do my best to emulate the behavior. 

A few weeks ago the kids and I were at the library picking up some books.   At the checkout counter they had a log sheet to keep track of the books being read over a one month period.  If a child brought it back filled out, they would get a free ticket to the Florida International Airshow (which is held 15 minutes from our house).  Needless to say, my kids thought that would be cool, so we grabbed 2 forms and I told them we would try to go.

A little closer to the show date, I looked up the ticket prices and realized that hubby and I would be $20 each.... ouch!  After all, we just bought a house and we have flooring and paint as well as some furniture to buy.  I then told the kids that rather than go on grounds we would try to drive close and see if we could see anything. 

Well, today was the final day of the airshow and my kids reminded me of that fact shortly after we got home from church.  I had a lot of things I wanted to do (can I just tell you, that living between two houses complicates life) so I was a bit happy when it started to rain as we were cleaning up from lunch.  In typical Florida fashion, the rain didn't last long, so the kids asked again if we could go see the airshow.  So with only 2 hours left for the scheduled show time, I piled the kids in the car and we went in search of a good place to park the car.

I had scoped out the runways using Google maps so I had an idea of which side of the airport I wanted to be on.   As I was driving, I noticed a bunch of cars parked in a parking lot with quite a few people sitting in lawn chairs, so I pulled in.  We got out of the car and wandered around and ended up talking to someone who lived a couple blocks away.  I asked why he didn't just stay home and he said it was because although the planes fly right over his house, there were too many trees in the way.  He was also kind enough to let the kids sit in the bed of his pickup truck.

Needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised when 10 minutes after parking, the Navy's Blue Angels started their performance.  We were even happier when we discovered we were in their flight path NUMEROUS times.

So exciting and close!

As reluctant as I was to go on this excursion today, I am VERY glad I did.  Not only was I able to keep a promise to my kids, but we had a good great time.  Considering the funding issues for our military these days, I'm wondering if this could be the first and last time my kids get to see something like this.  I certainly hope not.  Because seeing something like below, shouldn't be missed.

Legoland Florida

On Monday, my husband and I decided to surprise our kids with a trip to Legoland.  Our son's birthday is this weekend and I knew of a group that was going at an extremely discounted rate.  It took us a little over 2 hours to get there, so keeping it a secret the whole time was interesting to say the least, but we did it.

I'll be honest, it took me a little while to get to the point where I was enjoying myself (my daughter HATES to ride coasters, but I love them).  Needless to say, watching Jon and our son walk off to ride the coasters was a bit hard for me.  Once I adjusted MY attitude, things improved greatly and we all ended up having a wonderful time.

Yes, we got wet and yes, it's made of Legos.

There are Lego tables for the kids to play with while waiting in line... very cool!

This shows less than half of the model of Kennedy Space Center (made of Lego's of course).

Being from DC, I loved seeing the Iwo Jima Memorial made of Legos.

On a side note, while my daughter and I were wandering through the Lego model cities, we were approached to walk in front of "New York City."  Apparently Discovery channel was there taping a segment and wanted to see more people in the background.  Maybe you'll see us on TV  :-)  Below is a pic I took of them interviewing another kid.

While the boys focused on the coasters, the girls focused on the "driving rides."   My daughter loved driving the little cars and the boats (over and over and over).

We did eventually meet up and go to the Imagination Zone where the kids built and destroyed various creations on earthquake simulators. If we'd have let them, they would have stayed here for most of the day I'm sure (especially my son).

Another reason I was interested in attending this trip was because I am coordinating a trip for the Lego classes my kids attend, and I figured this would allow me to scope things out.  Following is a list of all the things I learned (those of you who don't plan on going to Legoland can ignore the rest of this post):

1.  It may be winter in FL, but a hat and sunscreen are a good great idea.
2.  In the Imagination Zone they offer Mindstorm programming classes (45 min long for 8 years and older) throughout the day (space is limited so make a bee line if you're interested and pick your time slot).
3.   They have what they call "Trade and Collect Minifugures."  You can either bring a minifigure from home (must be complete) or buy one at Legoland for as little as $2.99 plus tax (ask the sales people for details on how much each one costs).   The ones that are $2.99 are packaged in such a way that you can't see what you are getting.  If you get a minifigure you don't want, you can trade with any Legoland employee (they are all supposed to carry at least one) or even friends or complete strangers.  I'd recommend buying these early in the morning so you have all day to trade.
4.  Food in the park isn't nearly as expensive as I thought.  If you want a relatively inexpensive souvenir, one option is their refillable drinks.  You can get a cup for soda or Slurpee and of course refills are at a steep discount (so again, do this early in the day if you think you will want to refill).  We saw burgers for about $8, hot dogs for $2.50, soda and water bottles for $2.50, and what I think may be the best deal: all you can eat pizza, pasta, salad, and drinks (inside the restaurant of course) for $11 for adults and $7 for kids.