FLUT? What is that? Florida to Utah...FL-UT, that's what.
We left off on September 21st on our way to Miami. We had been without Azlan for 50 days at this point. I just blew my own mind when I counted out the days just now. We hadn't seen our 5 year old in 7 weeks (not counting FaceTime, of course). It felt amazing to be reunited with him after so long...but I can't lie to you either...the time Ted and I had alone was priceless. So, again, I thank my parents for taking such good care of our boy! Next time it won't be this long, I promise!
Sunday we went to a friend's baby reveal get together and discovered that it's a boy. Many congratulations to this beautiful family! We also discovered that if you tie a beer can to the end of a kite's tail, it helps anchor it in a nasty wind - who knew?!?
Monday, September 23rd we drove up to Palm City to see our "future" home and visit with Ted's parents. A little background on our "future" home: We purchased this house on a short sale as an investment property back in 2012 when we lived in Germany. It's been rented since and this will be the first time we will live in it. As usual, I took a little nap on the drive (thanks for driving, Ted!). Once we arrived, we had some lunch, I took another nap with Azlan while Ted visited his mom, and we spent the evening prepping dinner, drinking cocktails and catching up with Ted's dad. Ted's mom is currently not doing so well, so our visits with her are limited unfortunately. We definitely keep her in our prayers every night.
Tuesday morning we walked into Azlan's future school for a tour. We plan on enrolling him into kindergarten in January and want to be prepared...the last time I attended kindergarten was in 1985 and things have changed just a skoonch since then. Ted and I were both really impressed with the school. It seems like they run a pretty tight ship and that makes us all happy, even Azlan, I think. After that we knocked out some tasks that we needed to do related to moving to Palm City like registering the Jeep and trying to file homestead exemption. Next we met with the team that will handle the remodeling of our "future" home. Ideas were hashed out while we realized just how out-dated the house was on our walk-through. While we tromped around the yard talking about an amazing deck, the chiggers did a number on our ankles. These little fu$&ers were hungry! Ted, Azlan and I had been feasted on, ouch! This house is going to need some serious TLC, which we will give abundantly over the next few years. The clutch part about the house, though, is that it's on the water. We love being near water. It's never been so apparent as it has been on this trip that Ted and I both feel better when we are near water. Hence why we are making such an effort to live in it, that and the fact that if we don't live in it and just sell it, we would have to pay capital gains taxes. That afternoon, I visited Ted's mom while Ted and Azlan napped. Oh, and by the way, there is something to be said for naps. I used to resist napping but now it's almost a must. I guess that's one of the reasons we want to move to Spain - Siesta, Yeah Baby! When we were all back at Ted's parents house, it happened. He did it. Pay Back. Ted pushed me in the pool, fully clothed and successfully stunned. Pay Back for the time I squirted him with a water gun while he was on the toilet! IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!! We love laughing, including at each other! After that, we made some shrimp scampi and I called it a night because...
...Wednesday morning I went to a Zumba class at ZT's Fitness Studio. The class was super energetic and the studio space was fantastic! Who knows, maybe one day I'll get to teach a class there (I have a lot of practicing to do before I get to that point though). I love to dance and that class changed my mood! I got back to the house feeling good and ready to finish all the adulting we had to do that day. We got the rest of the paperwork done for the house taxes, got new driver's licenses, checked all the boxes, dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's. We felt accomplished and super pumped to see Ted's sister, her hubs, and their kids. I love his family SO much! The picanha (the best cut of meat in the world) was amazing and the company was even better. We can't wait to live close to them all and close to my parents and brother. We miss our family!!!
Thursday morning, September 26th, we arose to a lovely golf cart ride. Apparently Ted and Azlan had been doing this each day in Palm City while munching on cookies (even before breakfast) unbeknownst to me. We said our good byes and drove back down to Miami. Upon our arrival, we picked up my dad who was not feeling well and made some appetizers to hang out with my parents. All of a sudden Azlan runs up to me with a huge smile on his face and some blood in his mouth. His 2 bottom front teeth fell out! Holy Cow! His first few teeth just popped right out! We all were really excited and the fact that he had swallowed one of them didn't even matter. He wrote a letter to the tooth fairy, with Ted's help, explaining the fact that two fell out but he only had one to show for it. Hopefully she would understand and still leave a dollar per tooth. The next morning, sure enough, there were two dollars under his pillow. Vovo matched it and Azlan agreed to take $1 to the store to buy candy and put the other $3 in his piggy bank. Well, guess what??!?!?!?! You cannot buy candy at the store for less than $1. Ted immediately called the tooth fairy and explained about inflation. I believe the new agreement is $2 per tooth except the big front teeth which are $4 each. Ted and Azlan spent the day on an excursion through Miami looking for a pink shirt. His outfit required a pink shirt - it was a must. They had lunch with my Dad, but came back empty handed and ready for their nap. I had done my nails while they were out. Later that afternoon we jumped in the ocean to cool off our flaming ankles (they were still on fire, itching like crazy from those little fu$%ers). Azlan tested his swimming skills in the pool before we headed home for the night.
Saturday morning I woke up not feeling well. I was catching what my dad had, crap! All morning was spent in bed while Ted and Azlan continued the hunt for the pink shirt. Oh, and my 20 year high school reunion party was the whole reason for the required pink shirt in the first place. The party was tonight! I remembered that I had gotten my mom an essential oil kit years ago and we drummed up her box. I put a drop of Thieves on a spoon and took it to see if it would help. Finally, Ted found a pink shirt and came home for his nap. By early evening I was feeling better, still not 100% but loads better than that morning. Ted and I got dolled up, pink shirt and all, heading to the reunion in style via Uber. The party was fabulous, the guy in charge did a great job setting everything up. We ate, drank, danced and made new friends. It was neat to see people from so long ago, way back before I met Ted. When I reminisce about my high school days things like developing my own film, lunches at McDonald's, loads of studying, and all-nighters watching the History Channel all come to mind. I'll need to include all this and more when we write our book. We stumbled into my parent's house just before 1am, hungry AF and drunk. We raided the kitchen and prayed for everyone to sleep-in the next morning.
Sunday, the 29th, we finally met up with an old friend of mine that we missed several times over the last year. We had a lovely visit at his mom's, even if it was so short. It was SO good to see them, it made my heart happy! With plans to visit him and his family in the Northeast next summer, we went to my best friend's house for the afternoon. We ate some more picanha, had some more cocktails, laughed and soaked in the pool. We had a great time playing around...yet another reason we are looking forward to living in South Florida for a little while! The next day Ted, Azlan and I went for a walk on Crandon Park Beach. Despite King Tides and some complaining from Azlan, we got a nice little work out in and finished off with our last swim in the pool. That evening we had a delicious family dinner prepared by my mom and finished up last minute packing...after all, a 4am Uber was going to be waiting for us.
October 1st put us in Salt Lake City and we start our re-integration process into the Glamping life with a 5 year old. First thing's first - unpack. Living in such a small space for so long teaches you to put things away or deal with a messy looking house. Considering the intensity of anal retentiveness between Ted and I - messy doesn't stand a chance for very long. The next thing we did was get Azlan hiking boots. We are excited about doing some cool hikes with Azlan. He's a trooper and proved that back in Alaska on the Flat Top Mountain Hike. He likes to climb so we are planning on doing some short distance, high elevation change kind of hikes. The afternoon offers a nap and then some relax time at the Glamper.
Wednesday morning I get up early for a Zumba class while the boys have a morning cuddle. Turns out it's one of the best Zumba classes I've ever gone to! It was just what I needed to help pick up my mood (which had been real low for a few days). Exercise really does help your brain!!! After Zumba and a delicious bacon and eggs breakfast, we went out in search of a microwave turntable. Remember back in Napa when we were on the way to pick up the Cougars at the train station and we went over the crazy pothole? The one where the turntable flew out of the microwave and shattered all over the place? Well, we ordered the wrong size twice and finally went to an appliance repair place, found one that fit and it only cost $10. Finally, problem solved! A few more errands, a nap, and a bike ride later we had some dinner and got ready for our morning hike. The Living Room Lookout Trail was 2.3 miles long, out and back, with an elevation change of about 980 feet. It took us 2.5 hours total at a slow pace and a nice break at the top. About 1/3 of the way on the trail, we decided to take a steeper short cut...well, it was certainly steeper but not any shorter time wise since we had to take so many breaks. The elevation was about 6,000 feet when we started so our lungs had some work to do as well as our legs. It was a great hike and I would totally do it again....but without the short cut! We linked up with an old buddy of Ted's for lunch at Taqueria27 after we freshened up at the Glamper. Quality family time followed along with a phenomenal pasta dinner that I managed to cook.
This morning, October 4th, I went to another amazing Zumba class and even got to teach for one of the songs. It made me realize just how much practice I need in order to teach a class but it felt good to challenge myself, get up in front of about 30 people and shake my booty anyway. When I got back, Azlan and Ted had completed a bike ride and were on their second breakfast. Shortly after, I started writing and here we are!
Stay tuned as we move into Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks over the next week!
Love,
Daisa, Ted and Azlan
PS - Our ankles finally stopped itching! I hate those little fu@&ers!