Changes

Being one of the most craziest times in our lives I figured I should start blogging a little more so we have some sort of journal to look back on. I say its the craziest because about 2 weeks ago we packed up our stuff and basically up and left our roots, our families, our friends, our lives. Why? Simply to see what else is out there, to experience life and learn to stand on our own two feet without the crutch of our family and close friends.

It was not easy at all to get in the car one night, with the uhaul behind me, and just drive away from home. Mom, Dad, Teej and Sarah holding a goodbye sign standing in the driveway and waving. I will never forget that image. It is still sad thinking about it, makes me mad that they couldn't have just said, "welpt, seeya!" =) It is our hope to move back next spring so it least it is not a permanent thing.

The next morning, however, was a new day, and marked a new era in our lives. As we drove further and further away, it was then it sort of dawned on me that we were actually going through with this! It was kind of a strange feeling.

Since we have been down here we have noticed quite a few changes.

It is HOT!! We picked a bad time to move because summer is just beginning and so is hurricane season. While Orlando usually doesn't get the brunt of hurricanes it still gets heavy rain and it isn't immune to them completely as hurricane Charley proved a couple of years ago. It is not even summer yet, only the beginning of May, and so far every day is what would be declared an "ozone action day" in Michigan. An average high so far has been around 90 or slightly higher, and a little humid. I actually like humidity so it doesn't bother me. Carrie likes the hot weather also but she is not a fan of humidity. We were told by a few of the residence's here that at the hottest point, july and august, the average temp is close to 100 but the humidity is around 90%! This makes the average temp FEEL like around 120 to 130!!! That is ridiculous.

Also, we have noticed that when we turn on a faucet, instead of waiting for water to get warm like in Michigan when you wait a couple of minutes to jump in the shower, instead, it starts out very warm and you have to wait a few minutes in order for water to become cooler.

Another change we have seen is something I am very excited about, the abundance of wildlife. Our apartment is overlooking a golf course and a small lake so we have a fantastic view with plenty of wildlife to look at. In addition to the infestation of small lizards running EVERYWHERE around this apartment complex I have already seen the following in just 2 weeks: Ospri's, a Swan that lives in that lake, ducks, cranes, pelicans, a fox, possum, vultures, and about 20 different types of other species of birds that I have never seen before. Also, I have not seen them yet, but I heard from some neighbors that there are gators in the lake and also iguana's that roam around. So I am keeping my eye out for those.

Yet another change is the amount of things to do around here. Being a tourist town, Orlando has an incredible amount of things to do that will meet just about any budget. We have been mini golfing, been to a Orlando Magic vs Celtics game, a Lakeland Tigers baseball game, we went and walked around downtown Disney, walked downtown Orlando.

On our agenda of things to do this year, especially if we win the lottery, is the following;
- find a home church
- go to Disney and see everything
- Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Wide world of Sports to name a few
- Seaworld
- Universal
- Ripley's Believe it or Not
- House of Blues
- Wet 'n Wild
- Busch Gardens
- Daytona Beach
- Florida Keys
- Miami
- Florida state park and the everglades
- an ice bar which is a bar made completely out of ice including the cups they serve to you
- go to the hard rock cafe
- not get mugged
- spend Christmas on a beach just so we can say we did (if work doesn't allow us to go home)
- be a light by showing love to our neighbors
- go to the U2 concert
- go to a Tampa Bay Bucs game
- go to the Capital One Bowl
- root for the magic to win it all, go to a Magic championship game if they make it that far.

Finally, we are loving the time we are having we each other. We have never had so much time to dedicate to each other and we are having a blast. We are growing in our marriage and becoming better friends every day.

And there it is. That was a long post, now that I got that out of the way hopefully my future one's will simply be little stories here and there. Carrie starts at Disney on Wed and I have a career fair to attend that same day which will hopefully allow me to find something. That is all for now.