Packing It Up

I suppose it’s time to divulge our big news. And, it’s NOT a damn baby! We are moving. Not just a couple of hours away. But, really, moving away. Craig has accepted a transfer to the store in Islamorada, Florida. For those of you unfamiliar with that city (I was), it is in the Florida Keys. Thirteen hours away from where we are now in Daphne, Alabama. And, 14 hours away from my hometown of Ocean Springs, Mississippi where most of my family lives.

This is HUGE for us. Neither of us have ever lived this far away from our families. I’m sure there will be a big adjustment period, as we were only a few hours’ drive away at the most while we were in school. Our families are excited for us for this opportunity, but they are also sad. Most of our friends feel the same, and honestly, I feel this way too. I am excited because it’s a fresh start in a new place, like starting a new book (or for me, starting a movie because I hate to read). I’m sad because I know my visits will be few and too short.

However, I do firmly believe this happened for a reason. When Craig first got the decent offer, he accepted within a couple of hours. When talking with our realtor, she recommended renting our home due to the bad market in our area. She and her husband just so happened to own a rental and management company. Our house was shown the day we consented to renting to a very nice lady, and she signed a lease a couple of days later. Our house never went on the market. We found a reasonable place (the rentals in the keys are crazy expensive) and signed a lease, sight unseen (although we had a connection take a look at the place first) a couple of days later. Housing is evidently a big issue down there, as in, there is just not enough. Everything has fallen into place like it was meant to be. This has definitely put my mind as ease and keep my faith in Him.

We have done the packing bit by bit and for the most part have everything done. I have fixed up little things around the house with minimal effort. Our moving truck is booked, and we have a tow for the Jeep. Craig starts his new position on December 9^th. Yep. It has all happened really fast. Next week we will be stuffing our moving truck with must haves and furniture. We have rented a storage unit for everything else (the places are not only expensive but small as well). We are leaving on December 5^th around midnight and should arrive at our new home Friday afternoon just in time to have all our utilities situated. After getting the majority of our stuff settled in, I will fly back on Sunday and stay with my parents until after the first of the year. I really need to help out with my current job, so that they have someone to take my place.

Like I said before, we are both very excited for this new adventure, but we will miss our family and friends terribly. We don’t think this will be a forever thing, but more like a couple of years thing. So, we will be back. But for right now, we are going to live an island lifestyle! And, we expect visitors!

Cheers!

Tara

 

Fall Changes Everything

A couple of weeks ago Craig and I visited the Jackson County Fair. Craig loves going to the fair for one reason and one reason alone. Gumbo. Many local churches set up in the serving areas and compete for the most visitors. Craig's favorite gumbo is of course his own church's, Caswell Springs Methodist. I enjoy going to new church booths every year and trying other dishes. It is a great atmosphere, and the people are so friendly. Plus, it is for a good cause. As for me, I go to the fair to pet the animals. I mean, technically, you aren't supposed to, but I seem to break the rules every year. I just can't help myself. Especially with the moo cows. I friggin LOVE cows. I don't know what it is. Big wet nose? Sweet brown eyes? The uncontrollable urge to squeeze on anything with fur and four legs? I just don't know. There were other animals and of course I enjoy those as well, but I just can't get enough of cows. They had punk rocker chickens, butt ugly turkeys, fluffy rabbits, and loud goats just to name a few. I enjoyed other fair foods while there like fried Oreos, cotton candy, and a turkey leg. Craig is kind of a fuddy duddy when it comes to fair rides so we didn't partake in those this year, but we are going to Orlando in January, so I will get to ride all sorts of rides then.

Last weekend was of course my favorite festival of all time. The Peter Anderson festival is an arts and craft festival that showcases artist and craftsmen from near and far. It brings thousands of people to Ocean Springs, and it is a great opportunity to meet up with friends and family. There are tons of pottery stands, and as an avid collector of unique pieces, I quickly spent all of the money I had. I wasn't all selfish and ended up buying my mother's Christmas gift too. My favorite part of the weekend, however, was hanging out with friends. I got to hang out with several people I don't get to see often. A group of my close high school friends all got together and brought their families. Most of them have small children, a couple of which I got to meet for the first time (Brents and Meryl). I love seeing these great people. We got to eat brunch together at Bayview Gourmet. I also got to see my pal, Kati and hung out with her in her shop, Abode. If you haven't been there yet, go check it out. It's her one year anniversary at the store, so Congratulations Kati! Saturday night I also got to hang out with a couple of girls, Betsy and Karen, that are a freaking blast. We hung out at a bonfire, talked about the good ole days, and swigged down some moonshine. Good times!

This past weekend my sister and brother-in-law flew in from Indy. It was a short trip, but we had fun. Most of the weekend was spent just hanging out with the family. Saturday night, we all went out on quite the adventure. Kati, Allison and Tiffany all met up with me too. I love that they came over to hang out, and it made for an extremely interesting night. The original plan was to bar hop in downtown OS, but we ended up planted at Mosaics and were smoking hookah. Every time I smoke hookah at Mosaics, the night ends up like a night out in Vegas. Like, when you wake up, you're like WTH?!? I won't be going into details, but let's just say we had a pretty good time.

So, the Smith family has some really big news. Like, HUGE news. Everything is changing, and quickly. Would you care to guess? I will be posting details soon so stay tuned!

Indianapolis in July

My parents decided to drive up to Indianapolis, Indiana to visit my sister and brother-in-law in early July. We travelled up Thursday, July 11th. Another 12 hour drive in the books for the summer. I feel for my sister when she drives down. That drive is AWFUL! Ashley and Mark had dinner cooked, and we went to the pool briefly that night after arriving.

The 12th is my dad's birthday, and Ashley and I had something exciting planned for him. We decided to treat Dad to an extreme zip line and ropes course to make him feel young again. The facility, GoApe, was located inside of Eagle Creek Park. Prior to beginning, we went walked down to the lake for photo ops. Mark, Dad, and I suited up and pursued adrenaline. I was terrified on more than one occasion, but I completed the course and even chose the more difficult options each section. We had a ton of fun, and I felt accomplished (as I’m not in shape like my Dad and Mark).

Later that night, we headed to downtown Indy. We went up the soldiers and sailors monument for a look at the city. It was a nice touristy moment for us. Next, we headed to Kilroy's for some drinks, L.I.T.s, while we waiting for our reservation at the infamous meat place.

There was not much more that my Dad wanted for his birthday than to eat a Fogo de Chao’s, or the “meat place” as it’s so lovingly named by my father. Dad and Mark were very excited to eat. I was reluctant to get the whole shebang option, but I decided to go for it. And, I must say, I am so glad I did. That was the best grilled meat smorgasbord ever. I’m not much of a meat eater, but this stuff was amazing! I ate, and ate, and ate. And then, I ate some more finishing the meal with crème Brule (which was likely the best I’ve ever had). Dad had a hunk of Filet with a candle as his birthday cake. Ya know, no carbs… I ate so much that it was literally difficult to breathe. Talk about gluttony. The ride home was miserable, and upon arrival home, I quickly fell into a food coma. 

The next day we had another surprise in store for my Dad. We got him in the car and didn’t tell him where we were going. We ended up in French Lick, Indiana. For those of you that don’t know my father, he is a HUGE fan of Larry Bird. French Lick is where he grew up. He has a restaurant there, 33 Brick Street, where he has a bunch of his personal collection of sports memorabilia. We ate and perused the collection. Afterwards, we drove around the city a bit looking at Larry Bird related things, including a bust statue at the school. Dad was very happy. On the way home, however, it was the girls’ turn for some fun. We stopped at Oliver Winery, where upon arrival we hopped to the bar for the tastings. After tasting, then buying an exorbitant amount of wine, we took the tour. It was fun to say the least.

When we woke up the next morning, we wanted to take it easy so we toured the surrounding areas. I wanted to try a creative ice cream place located downtown on Mass Ave. This place was very unique. They use liquid nitrogen to freeze the ingredients to make the ice cream, hence the name, Subzero. It was pretty tasty even though the process was bizarre. Next, we went to Carmel, a small suburb of Indy. As an avid collector, my mother wanted to visit a doll museum. However, the rest of us opted out and went to a bar instead. Ha! We had a pretty low key day and took it easy cooking at Ashley's place and going to the pool afterwards. We headed home the next day. It was a short trip, but we had a good visit.

Williamsburg in June

My in-laws decided to take a family vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia in June. We hadn’t taken a vacation together since December 2009 when we went to Disney World for the New Year celebration. We left early in the morning and were set to drive to Atlanta. Hillary REALLY wanted to stop at the American Girl store and eat at the restaurant. This would give Craig time to catch up since he had to work that day. Hillary was in heaven and enjoyed dining and having tea with her dolls. We also walked around the mall, and the girls got to ride the carousel.

After meeting up with Craig, we continued the drive until we reached South Carolina where we stopped to stay the night. The next morning we got back on the road. After 13 hours of driving, we finally reached our destination. Hillary deemed it necessary to swim immediately. Much to her dismay, we decided to walk around Williamsburg briefly. We found something to eat at a local BBQ restaurant where I introduced Miss Ondrea to sangrias, which she loved. Afterwards, we went to the pool, and although the water was chilly, Hillary made it fun.

We woke up the next day to stormy weather, like, flash flood weather. Hillary was extremely disappointed because we were supposed to go to Busch Gardens. But, we made the best of the day and travelled to Newport News, Virginia. We went to the Virginia Living Museum. Basically, it was a museum of natural science. It was right up my alley. There were a lot of aquariums as well, which is always my favorite. The rain subsided at the end of our tour, and we were able to walk the trails and see some of the animals. Hillary had a blast, but Kaleigh was pretty much over it after sitting in the stroller for an extended amount of time. Once out though, she was really enjoying looking at the animals. By that time, everyone was hungry. We wanted some Chesapeake Bay seafood, so we found a restaurant on the St. James River. Craig and I shared a large seafood platter, but were a bit disappointed because they didn’t have any blue crab. WHAA?!? I thought this place was the Crab Shack?!? We drove back to Williamsburg and surprise surprise, Hillary wanted to go swimming. Mister Skipper kindly volunteered to take the girls to the pool, while the rest of us went to Historic Williamsburg. Miss Ondrea and Wendy went shopping around while Craig and I walked the main drive sightseeing. Craig and I found a neat beer house, the Dog Street Pub, and we stopped in for a sampling. We were all pretty tired and decided to go back to the resort for and early night because we were headed to Busch Gardens the next day!

Craig and I woke up and left early because we wanted to be one of the first in the park to avoid the long lines. We headed straight for the roller coasters. We rode three before the rest of the gang even made it into the park. We met up with them, and Hillary was SUPER excited after just getting off the log coaster ride with Mister Skipper. Hillary had a goal. She wanted to ride the Big 6! She is only 8 years old but wanted to ride all of the adult rides. And, I happy to report, she succeeded. She even requested to ride a couple of them again. It took some coaxing on a couple, but she was so brave and did it. Uncle Craig was so proud. We stayed until the parked closed, ending the trip with a train ride around the entire park. We all had a long day, but it was totally worth it!

The next morning we were going to tour the Historic areas of Jamestown and Yorktown. Unfortunately, the National Park Service wanted an exorbitant amount of money per person to enter Jamestown, so we decided to tour the museum and check out the old glass blowing house. It was interesting to watch the demonstrations, and we enjoyed the down time. After, we headed to Yorktown. First, we stopped to walk the Yorktown Riverwalk. Hillary got to put her toes in the water at the little beach and was thrilled. It was a beautiful area right on the waters of the York River. Then we went to the historic area and saw the battlefield where American won its independence. We visited the Moore House where the Declaration of Independence was signed. We also found the Victory Monument. It was a very educational day.

The next day Craig and I set out on our own. We wanted to see the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and visit Fort Monroe. We got there a couple hours before it actually opened, so we looked around at the surrounding grounds and decided to drive to Virginia Beach to kill some time. We drove down the beach, which by the way, ours is WAAAYYYY better, and Craig stopped at some local coin shops. We headed back to Fort Monroe to tour. Fort Monroe is the site where Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederate states) was imprisoned and now its home to the Casemate Museum. We headed back towards Williamsburg after several hours and decided to make a stop at the local winery. This of course, I loved. We took the tour and did some tasting. I wasn’t that impressed, but there were a couple that Craig liked. He prefers drier wines, yuck! We left to meet up with the rest of the family in Historic Williamsburg. We walked around a bit more (this place is huge!) Kaleigh, Mister Skipper and I hung out on the lawn in front of the governor’s mansion while waiting on the rest of the group to tour some houses. We had fun, but we had to head out the next day so we went back to the resort early. We also had a beautiful double rainbow our last night there.

We got on the road, but made a quick stop, at the Williamsburg General Store to do some last minute perusing. We drove as fast as we could to Stone Mountain in Georgia. Hillary and I had never seen the laser show, so that was definitely on the to-do list. It was definitely worth the stop, and I’m so glad I got to see it. The fireworks were my favorite! We stayed the night just outside of Atlanta, and woke up the next morning to head home. It was a great trip! I can’t wait for the next one!