That moment when you realize you're done.

As I sat in the Registrar Office at Florida Gulf Coast University it hit me like a pillowcase filled with nickels.  My baby girl is going to college.  She is not registering for high school-like transitional courses this fall (not that there are any).  Nope, she's got a full course load of college freshman classes.  I consider myself to be a rational person.  A little far out with my thinking at times, but I feel I've got a good handle on reality.  So, with this knowledge, I still teared up in the Registrar Office.

I will no longer home school Arianna.

Arianna is starting actual college on the track for a Biology major.

This is all starting in August.

She will be driving herself!

She is not my baby.

She is not a little girl.

She's my seventeen year old daughter who stands taller than me and is killer smart.

Damn those nickels, they hurt.

Relaxing Weekend

This weekend has been a wonderfully relaxing time for my family and I.  We definitely did the beach thing, and today is BBQ.

I have been purposefully trying to avoid watching anything other than local news, because lately CNN has me completely bummed.  I can not withstand so much negativity, on a 24-hour basis.  It's ridiculous really when you think about it.  Negativity, which is scandal, crime, and yes sometimes the handling of the coverage of national disasters too.  It's all just too much for me lately.  I'm aware of the balance in life, light and dark, positive and negative etc.  One doesn't exist without the other.  I just wish our news organizations, like CNN, would apply this more balanced approach on reporting news.

Now, it's off to eat french toast, drink mint tea with honey and be grateful for health, safety and family.

Sometimes you just need that validation from test scores.

My very talented daughter Arianna received her SAT scores online today.  I am very proud of her.  Her reading score is a 750!  That's nearly a perfect score.  She did great on her math score, 630, and writing score 560.  She was so worried about math, so it's a really, really good thing her score is what is.  I know we're going to work on her writing so she'll get even her scores next year.

In a Place of Good

What can I say?  Life's good.

I am finding my way around Naples and my days have developed a nice rhythm.  Sort of like the ocean.  

Mother's Day was relaxing and fun for me because we ended the day at the beach.  Here's a pic I took of my sweet family.

I feel so privileged and grateful to live so close to the beach.  It's literally 15 minutes down the street!

We are definitely back on track with our homeschooling studies.  I have found the main library in Naples to be pretty awesome.  There's a good amount of books that the kids and I need and want to read.  The library also has an outdoor area with crisp white columns, a gently trickling water fountain and bistro style tables and chairs all in a courtyard setting.  Pics to come (it's that nice)!

Here are more pics of our life in Naples, FL.

This pic is hubby and I on a beautiful date night at The Real Seafood Restaurant here in Naples FL.

Ari doing her final dissection for Advanced Biology.  It's a fetal pig in that plastic bag!

Ari and Rodney posing behind a display at the local movie theater where we saw Iron Man 3, which was friggin' great by the way!!!

Finally settled in Naples and loving it!

We're Here

No pictures to share just yet, but we're loving our new place.  The weather has been great this past week and I can't get enough of the palm trees making a "whish" sound when a breeze blows through.

I have relaxed ALOT since getting everything unpacked, and yes, everything is unpacked.  I am so fortunate to live here.  It really feels like paradise.

The kids start back up with their school work this Monday after having a full month off for Spring break.  I'm happy to get some routine back into our schedule.  I already have their lesson plans ready to go.  I'm actually already thinking about the next school year!  I know for my son, we'll stay with Teaching Textbooks series and I will align more closely with the "Well Trained Mind" Classical approach when it comes to science for eighth grade.  For instance, I plan to purchase a physics kit that we'll use for the year.  Of course, we'll use other resources like encyclopedias, bio's, etc. along the way.

I will post picture soon!  Believe it or not we haven't had time to make it to the pool or the beach yet!!!

Ever so careful with my wishes...

It's a done deal now.  We're on our way to Florida.  Naples, Florida to be exact.  I'm so excited and scared and worried and hopeful and nervous and positive all at the same time.  How, you ask?  That's pretty much how I am internally on any given day.  Yeah, I'm kinda deep.  Or a little touched but who knows for sure?

Back to Naples... Hubby starts working there in a week and a half.  Lease is signed on a new place and we pretty much stayed within our budget.

Oh now about the beaches!!!  We will be only 20 minutes (15 if hubby drives) to the beach!  The community we're moving to has a pool that looks awesome.  Oh and it's a gated community.  So fancy, right?  Not!  Almost every community in Naples is gated, which allows me to believe I'm living the life of the rich and famous.  :-)

 

This picture is of Vanderbilt Beach in Naples.  I'll be 20 minutes from this!  

The best news ever is that I will NOT be packing or unpacking.  The moving company is doing all of it.  This is a big deal and I'm ever so grateful.  

I really wanted to live in Florida nine years ago.  I got the chance in 2005, then again in 2007 and once again in 2010.  Each time I moved back to Jacksonville, where we made friends that became family.  Not to mention my actual sister who's still in JAX.  I wished for Florida while sitting outside having lunch with an ex in February 2004.  I didn't even wish for him to come with me.  Now that was some serious intuition by the way!  I wanted something beyond New Jersey and I believe Florida is that something beyond.  Corny, yes.  Not everyone loves the state, but my roots run deep there.  Actually from Georgia to Florida.  I feel compelled to live there.  I know my kids may move on but it's really where I want to be.  I am ever so happy my husband feels the same way I do.  

I can't wait to update this blog with our new adventures in Naples!