June 27, 2016

Life Road Map- We are down to 2 options!

I've been on a hiatus. Writing this blog went to the back burner as school, sports and then summer took over. We were supposed to slow down. Apparently, I'm not really good at "slowing down." Cayenne is in swim twice a week, Niko and Reno were playing flag football on two different teams, looking for a job, researching options and the going back and forth between my mom's house and Edson's parents house got the best of me. I'm BAAAAACK. Think, Arnold.

I digress.

Well, if you've read the last posts we had narrowed our options down to 4 possible paths our life can take right now. We've narrowed it down further. Thank GOODNESS for that.

Colombia (or any other South American country), unfortunately, is out at the moment. No job opportunities have come up for either of us. I've been looking at resorts/hotels to do sales or event planning and Edson has been looking for remote work, well, anywhere! Nothing has progressed so his current J O B is what we've got and luckily the working remote thing is going well. My friends, this is not to say that we won't revisit the idea in the future. Edson's parents are still planning to sell their house and go later this year. If a new job comes up or if we are able to spend summers there then that is something we will think about in the future. I can't say that I'm not bummed about it. I absolutely am disappointed but the reality of it is it's just not meant to be right now. We haven't really had too much time to be disappointed anyway as we've got to figure our life out and ASAP.

Moving to another place in Florida, i.e. Cape Coral is also OUT. We went on a research mission and it was nice, but not for us. The absolute best part was we took a sunset dolphin cruise that evening to surprise the kiddos. We brought snacks and drinks on the boat (adult ones for E and I) and it was amazing. We saw dolphins, a beautiful sunset and the captain of the boat let the kids drive!

A thing of beauty! We are from the East Coast of FL so the West Coast sunset was beautiful!



A rare sighting: all of us in one pic!

The little harbor where we caught the boat

My big boys


DOLPHINS! Flipper in the flesh. :)




Ultimately we liked the houses, but they weren't amazing and same with the area. It was nice but we'd be starting over again. Not knowing anyone, etc. I think we'd be willing to do that if we thought our quality of life would be way better but it didn't seem that would be the case. Not being around family and not being overwhelmingly floored by how awesome the place was made it an easy "UH NO" when we drove away. It's funny but Edson said "Sooo?" and my response was "NOPE!" before he even finished asking the question. We were both relieved that we agreed it wasn't for us. 

There are only 2 options remaining: CLICK HERE for dramatic sound effect :) 

1. Buy or Rent a house in South Florida
2. RV Full Time

We will keep you posted. 

June 26, 2016

Good Ole' Walt

DISNEY & UNIVERSAL

Yes, we did it. I took the plunge. I went to Disney with my family. We are from Florida and we haven't taken our kids to Disney World. Most people would think that is ludacris.

I was not motivated AT ALL to be amongst 5 gazillion people and to stand in line for a very long time with small children but we did it and we survived with minimal injury. My mom was the one who made it all happen. She has been wanting to take our boys since they were little and didn't want to wait until they were too old and wouldn't be interested.

We woke up very early and drove to the parks. Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios the first day and then Universal's Islands of Adventure on the second day. It was a whirlwind. I can honestly say that seeing Cayenne meet Pluto (whom she cried for) made it all worth it. We waited in line for a picture and when we got to the front of the line she walked up to him and hugged him-- it was a long warm embrace for at least 4 minutes. She didn't want to let go. It was the sweetest thing ever.

Pictures are way better than words.








This was 4 minutes later. Pluto started making motions like he was flattered and covering his eyes.




Hollywood Studios will be way better when the Star Wars Land is up and running, but the kids really liked this place.






Not sure we will go back anytime soon. Disney and Universal, food and lodging for one night and two days cost a lot of bucks. Luckily, my mom covered most of it-- thanks, Ma!  That being said, if we stay in the South Florida area a day trip is possible. Although I would've wanted to stay at our hotel a bit longer. We were in such a rush to get everything in that we didn't get to enjoy it. The Cabana Bay Beach Resort was super nice. I wanted to hang out by the pool, walk around, have a cocktail and all that. I would definitely recommend the hotel and Islands of Adventure for kids the boys ages. Cayenne, poor thing was bored there. The Dr. Seuss area was not even catered to her age. Disney was something that we checked off the bucket list. I'm sorry, Walt, I will watch your movies (and we do our fair share) and enjoy Mickey and Minnie from afar.