Satellite Beach

Today was such a fun day! Brett and Rachel live in a fairy tale land. It is amazing. Rachel loves it, although it is making her sad. Brett is deploying to Kuwait in October. Rachel doesn't know what to do. He will be gone for six months. She might move back to Idaho, but then she'll lose this amazing house. She wants to do whatever is best for the girls, she is just having a hard time figuring out what would be best for them. The girls don't know yet, but I have a high confidence that they don't read this blog. Rachel said that this house and place are amazing, but it would feel so empty without Brett. Too bad they are most likely going to only be here for two years and Brett will be gone for 1/4 of that. Seriously, this place is amazing. Their house is awesome. The weather is unbelievable (but still quite humid), and the people are so nice. We have met many kind people today. Much different than living close to D.C.

I combed Mina's hair today. She hates combing it. She reminds me of combing Maysen's hair when she was little. Her hair looked so pretty when it was done. I took a picture so she could see it.

Mina's hair

 Brett and Rachel live a 15 minute WALK to the beach. Here we are checking it out for the first time.

Eve & Marie, Brett, Grace and Mina

 Rachel & Eve, Brett, Grace & Mina

This beach was so beautiful and so much fun! It reminded me of the beach right out of the place we stayed in Hawaii. This place has a Hawaii feel, but Brett and Rachel could drive home if they wanted. Not to mention all the amusement parks that are nearby. It would be so fun to go to the beach everyday after school. Especially if Marie was Jorja's age. How fun would it be to hang out here with your friends?

Marie, Eve & Brett, Grace, Mina, Stephanie

 First family photo in their new place!

Marie, Grace giving herself bunny ears, Eve & Brett, Mina, Rachel

 Grace loved playing the sand. She played their for hours and barely moved

 Brett in the ocean next to a kid named Ollie, Marie walking there and Grace in the sand

 Marie & Brett

 Grace & Brett

 Marie had the best time. She played in the ocean for three hours straight.

 Grace

 Marie & Brett

 Marie

 Brett

The saddest thing was watching Mina at the beach. She wouldn't let Rachel wrap up her cast, so she had to be content with watching and getting her ankles wet. Mina kept getting out farther than she should and it would freak Rachel out. She kept telling Mina, "Do you want to spend the entire day in the emergency room?" Brett and Rachel have been pumping up Satellite Beach to their kids for the last several months. It was as amazing as they promised, and Mina just had to watch. She sure looked beautiful though.

Mina

Mina, Brett & Marie

 What a fun photobomb

Mina & Brett

 Rachel did not like things like this. Much too easy to get it wet.

 Grace 

Grace loved playing in the sand and didn't really want to get in the ocean. She is serious about her sand toys because she ran into the ocean twice to get them when the waves took them away. One time I saw Grace look at the ocean. She squared her shoulders and started walking straight to the waves. She got a little farther before she turned back. It was so cute! I was disappointed I didn't have a picture of that!

 Eve

 Brett & Marie

Look at those waves! Fun! Fun! Fun!

 Marie

 Mina

 Grace & Brett, Marie

 I asked Marie to give me a thumbs up if she liked it here. She gave me two.

 Still giving me thumbs up, but the wave got Grace the first time she was brave enough to go this far out.

 Marie in her happy place

 Poor Mina

 Eve & Rachel ~ I like how Eve knelt down because Rachel did

 I couldn't get Eve to look up because she was fascinated with the waves.

Grace is in the background of these three pictures of Rachel and Eve. Try and spot her, she is adorable.

 Stephanie & Mina

 Grace & Eve

 Stephanie

 Mina

 Grace

 Mina

 Grace

 Grace & Rachel

Rachel left with Mina. I gave her my phone, so I don't have any more pictures. I played in the ocean after that. It was amazing! I did get Grace & Eve in the ocean a bit. Not far. They sat on me while I laid on the bogie board. Every once in awhile we would move like three inches and they would yell with glee. It was funny. I did convince Grace to climb on my back. I walked out a bit and then rode the bogie board in with her. Brett did it with her three times. The first two times she loved it, the last time she got ocean water in her face and ran away. Drat. We packed up when Brett started feeling sun on his shoulders. He ended up having a sunburn on his back. He had Marie put sunscreen on him. She did a great job on his spine, but the rest of him is pretty red now. Right as we started walking home Rachel and Mina pulled up with the van to give us a ride home. It was great!

We went to a restaurant that some people told us about. It is close to their house and it is called Longdoggers. It was really good. We were a bit worried when we pulled up because it kind of looked like just a bar. Brett went in and checked it out and said we were good. The restaurant was great. It had a really fun atmosphere. They even had an amazing guy that did balloon animals for the girls. When we were getting ready to leave our waitress told the girls they could pick an otter pop out of the freezer. They loved that!

Mina asked for a tiger

 Grace wanted a shark

 Balloon guy

 Marie asked for a scorpion

 Mina & Rachel ~ Rachel got a bear for Eve, who was asleep on the bench

Rachel and I went to Publix while Brett stayed home with the girls. I confirmed with the bakery that they give out free cookies. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just the Publix by our house in Georgia that did that. I also found another beach towel and I bought some chocolate milk. It's weird how just being in Publix now makes me happy.

That's about it for today. Brett and Rachel were so exhausted by the end of it. I didn't fall asleep until 2:00 in the morning. I worked on my blog for a bit. I'm glad to be caught up.

Stephanie's House

We drove a couple of hours to Villa Rica this morning. I stopped by Mirror Lake Elementary to see if Mrs. Catlin was there. The school was locked up. I guess they start on Monday. Next, I tried my house. I knocked on the door and asked Shelby if her mom was there. Stephanie saw me from the bridge. She gave a gasp and said she would be right down. Shelby invited me in. I asked her if she knew who I was. She didn't. I asked Alyssa if she remembered me. She didn't. I told them, "I'm Jorja's mom." Alyssa got a big smile on her face. Both of the girls knew who I was then. It was fun to see Stephanie. I didn't get to see her last time I came down. It was also fun to see the house. Rachel said later that she was surprised about how many memories came back to her and she just visited here. On the way down here we were talking about how Rachel took care of me during one of my surgeries. After my mastectomy I needed to have some reconstruction surgery done. Rachel was living in Alabama for six months while Brett was in basic training. Rachel came to help while I had my second surgery. On the way to the hospital Rachel called up and said the school had Maysen and Stockton in the office and both of them were sick. I was shocked because I had no idea they were even a little sick when I sent them to school. I called Janet Lott and she picked up the kids and brought them to Rachel. Rachel said Maysen was easy. She asked for a bucket then went and laid in her bed upstairs. Stockton on the other hand was a different story. He did not want to lay in his bed and he wouldn't acknowledge Rachel. He kept walking in circles around the family room. Rachel kept trying to get him to walk around the kitchen so he would be on tile. He wouldn't listen to her. Stockton threw up THIRTEEN times on the carpet! Rachel was newly pregnant with her first child (Marie). What an introduction to motherhood!

Anyways, it was so much fun to spend time with Stephanie. She was so nice to let us just barge in on her. We were there longer than I planned because it is so hard to go. It was really nice to be able to catch up with her. When we came last year we found out that they had reorganized the ward and we would be meeting down in Carrolton if we still lived here. Teresa would still be in our ward. Stephanie said they reorganized it again and they are now meeting somewhere else. I can't remember. Temple maybe? They aren't in Teresa's ward anymore. That would be hard on me.

Stephanie & Stephanie

 Alyssa, Stephanie, Stephanie

The girls loved it there. Stephanie's girls were so nice to them. Joslyn and Lily specifically. Joslyn took the girls up to her room and shared all of her toys and let the girls play dress up. Rachel was really impressed. I think this is the first time I met Joslyn. She was born after we moved. She is five now. Lily was Preston's age. It was her birthday today. She was super nice to the girls as well.

Marie

 Jorja's old room

Joslyn, Marie, Mina, Grace

 Eve & Lily

 Joslyn & Marie

 Lily, Joslyn, Grace, Marie, Mina

The stop at my old house put us way behind schedule. I'm so glad Rachel humored me though. I sure loved it here and I loved seeing Stephanie and her family. Today was a long driving day. We didn't have any car problems, but we did have to drive through a Georgia rain storm. They just come out of nowhere. We arrived at Brett and Rachel's new house right after midnight. Three long days in the car. Brett and Rachel's new house is awesome. It is the biggest house they have ever had. There are three big rooms with big closets. There is a nice kitchen and a two car garage. They are going to love it here.

Eve

Brett had little gifts next to where each girl was sleeping. Here is Mina with a skim board and a barbie. Marie got a boogie board. Grace and Eve got sand toys and Rachel got a scooter. (Rachel had left her scooter in Idaho and was really sad about it. She thought that would be something she could do with Mina and her broken arm, since she won't be allowed to swim in the ocean.)

Mina

 Brett even got me a beach towel!

Brett has a air mattress set up for me in the front room. It is going to be nice not to be in the car tomorrow! Stockton took his biology final today. He got a 115 out of 125. I think he is done with summer school now. He must be so happy!

Tire Fruit

Our first stop today was at the hotel Marie left Jingle Puppy. She was so excited to have him back. I'm pretty sure I would have driven out of the way to get Shiver back for Preston.

Marie & Jingle Puppy

I got a new charger and was able to pry the broken part out of my phone.

We were making great time when we started to hear a weird noise. Rachel pulled over and we found out we lost a part of the tire. It was like a piece of fruit by the foot fell off the tire.

We tried to get it fixed as soon as possible. We drove through this town that looked like a ghost town. I finally took a picture, but most of the bad part was behind us. We did not want to sit and wait in a scary area like this with four little kids.

Rachel ended up driving on it for over an hour, but we made it to Memphis. The guy at Goodyear was super nice. They stayed open for us and got it fixed as fast as they could. He also told us about a delicious barbecue place that we could walk to. We hung out here while the car was being worked on.

Stephanie, Grace, Marie

 Eve, Rachel, Mina

 Eve often scowls and I find it hilarious

 Grace and Mina

We were finally back on the road, but that set us back several hours. It could have been tons worse though, so we were lucky. After awhile Grace started freaking out. She was crying and crying. Rachel thought it was her potty cry, so she pulled over trying to get her to go to the bathroom. She wouldn't stop crying. I took Grace and was able to get her calmed down. Because I'm her aunt.

Stephanie and Grace

I sat in the back with Grace for the next few hours. Turns out she didn't want to watch Pocahontas. We put a blanket over our heads and sang primary songs until she was calmed down. We made it to Birmingham Alabama. Eve had just fell asleep. Rachel said she was easy to transfer. Rachel went and got the keys to the room and asked that a crib be brought up. When we got in the room, there was no sheets or anything on the bed. We had to go and change rooms. It took a long time with a lot of commotion. Eve woke up and then it was super hard to get her back to sleep. Rachel had to go to the car to grab something. While she was gone the front desk called and said they had a noise complaint and we needed to keep it down. I told her we were doing the best we could, but the kids woke up. I'm thinking, there wouldn't have been a noise complaint if the room had been ready! Whew!!! What a day!

Stockton had his last bowling class today. Mike told me he won the eliminator bowling challenge. Everyone bowls one frame and the lowest is out. Repeat until only one remains. The last two contestants were Stockton and his teacher. Stockton got a strike for a win. Pretty awesome. Stockton even won this fancy trophy.

Good-bye New Mexico

Rachel and I had planned on leaving New Mexico early this morning. We just couldn't do it. The kids have so much fun together. When we finally pulled Marie and Mina away, after lots and lots of tears, it was about 1:00 in the afternoon. Here are some things that happened before we left Mike's house: Mike pulled out a birthday cake for Eve. We didn't have it on her actual birthday because we got there so late.

Eve's Cake

 Mina, Larkin, Parker, Blake, Eve

 Parker, Blake, Eve

Parker loves Eve. He calls her the baby. He takes great care of her. Parker is so stinking adorable. When you talk to him, he will look down and answer you with a shy smile on his face. He is this mixture of super shy, articulate, intelligent, and incredibly sweet. It is adorable. Blake loves, loves, loves his dad. He is always asking to play wiffle ball with him. It was fun to watch Mike with him in the batting cage too. What a dream for Mike to have someone who always wants to play sports with him! Larkin was so sad to see Marie go. They are the exact same age. I was talking to Larkin and told her how Marie and Mina move about every two years. One of the places that would be possible to move to would be Albuquerque. Her face lit up and she said, "Maybe we could be in the same class at school!" Wouldn't that be amazing!?! I came behind Larkin while we were trying to convince Marie and Mina it was time to leave. I gave her a squeeze and told her I would miss her. She whispered, "I really love you." Oh man. That girl! She can melt a heart. Skye was so kind to Mina. Skye had broken her elbow, just like Mina did, years ago. She talked to Mina about it a lot. Mina was sad when everyone was able to swim except her. Skye told her that she understood and said, "I remember watching my entire family run in the sprinklers, but I had to stay in the house." Skye didn't get in the pool with everyone else. She walked with Mina the entire time. Soon we saw that she had taken an ace bandage and bandaged up her own arm while she walked with Mina. No wonder these girls did not want to leave!

Skye, Larkin, Blake, Parker

 Skye, Larkin, Blake, Parker, Christen, Mike

 Stephanie & Mike

 Stephanie, Rachel, Christen

Photobombs by Larkin, Skye, Blake (well done!), Parker

We drove to Arkansas today. I can't believe we made it this far. We drove until 2:00 in the morning and Rachel drove the entire time. I kept asking her if she wanted to switch, but she would say that she liked driving. She told me I could go to sleep because she doesn't fall asleep when she is driving. She said that she would never fall asleep if Brett was driving. Haha! Must be a Millburn thing. I struggle driving long distances. One annoying thing that happened was my phone charger broke off in my phone! I couldn't get it out for a long time. (One reason I wasn't able to blog on time....) It was weird and annoying. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. It was super nice. It had two big beds and a pull out bed. The beds were way comfy too. Yay! Sleep!

Mike's House

Today was so much fun! We just stayed at Mike's house and played. We played in the playroom, swam, rode scooters, played wiffleball (well, I just watched), jumped on the tramp, played in the batting cage. I wish we lived closer. Especially for Jorja. I would love to have Mike help Jorja with her softball. Mike has this cool window wall. It can retract and just be open. It's pretty awesome.

Rachel, Grace, Parker and Mike in front of the window wall

 Grace & Parker

 Grace

 Eve

 Mike solving all the kids problems

Grace, Mike, Parker & Blake (Marie and Rachel)

 Larkin

Mike, Larkin, Blake and I walked up the street to their mailbox. Mike ordered 24 softballs. They arrived today. Jorja would be so jealous!

Mike and Christen brought back pizza for dinner. I stayed up late and talked to Mike and Christen again. Soon Mike fell asleep. After awhile, Christen noticed that Grace had snuck out of her room and was cuddling with Mike. We stayed up until a little after 1:00 in the morning. Grace was just happy hanging out on the couch. Once we turned off the tv (Moana was on), she went straight to bed. Christen laughed and said, "I had no idea how easy that would be!"

Mike and Grace

Maysen and I talked for a bit on the phone today. We are reading Gone With the Wind together. We read one chapter a day and then talk about it. Marie said, "Like book club!" Yep. I have loved it. Maysen helped Preston get ready for a party. Brian's mom came and picked him up. I hope he had a great time. I think Mike went bowling with Stockton after Stockton's bowling class. Stockton needed to bowl two hours to make up for missing bowling for youth conference. Stockton is so close! He texted me asking me for his SLCC number so he could sign up for his biology final. Too bad I didn't notice the message until close to midnight. Whoops.