Naturally Optimistic

Donna at Spuddy Buddy tagged me and I’m all about a good opportunity to talk about myself. Ha! (I copied that from her blog...) Simple Rules: -Open your first photo folder. -Scroll down to the 10th photo. -Post that photo and story on your blog. -Tag five others (or more) friends to do the same. Clearly Dahlia was enjoying Happy Hour on the beach in Florida as much as the rest of us. Or not. Not sure. Anyway - this one is from Florida in April. Steve, Carolyn (my MIL) and I headed over to the beach to enjoy a margarita & the sunset. Dahlia enjoyed snoozing with the sound of waves in her head. Dang. This really makes me want to go on vacation! Tag! You're It! Kate Peder Sarah Holly Meigan Michelle Laurie

I'm finally mostly caught up on emails, messages, paying bills etc...so time for a little vacation recap: Saturday - we flew from Duluth to Mpls then to Tampa. We were nervous about Dahlia...but she did great! Peek-a-boo with the passengers behind us, fell asleep on the runway on the 'long' flight...woke up in a great mood & enjoyed the Sky Mall catalog. Got to the island around dinner time...so didn't do much. Picked up a few supplies, ate dinner, marveled at how warm it was (& humid!) and that was it. Sunday - Rained all night - thunderstorms. It rained on Sunday too - but not too much. We went for a walk with Grandpa H. We went to the beach. We swam in the pool. Dahlia LOVED the pool. A lot. Monday - I'm sure we went for a walk & we went swimming (amazing how fast it becomes hazy!). Oh yes, Steve & I walked with Dahlia on the beach. We saw lots of beautiful birds. We went swimming in the ocean - Dahlia had no fear, would've crawled right in ha...

vacation is exhausting...particularly with a toddler...one that gets sick. Ay yi yi! I feel like I need a vacation from vacation! Dahlia's fine. She just had a little bug, no biggie. But it made her very hot, whiny & clingy. Oh well, we got through it. She traveled *fairly well* except for our Tampa-Detroit flight but again, we made it through. I'm in the process of getting photos & video uploaded and will have more soon. In the meantime...one of my favorites from the trip:

* My legs are so frickin' sore I can barely walk down the stairs or sit down on a chair. Ay yi yi. Apparently I NEVER ever use those muscles. Awesome. *We bought a SWEET new hi-def camcorder last night. It's been on our "list" since Dahlia was born and since we leave for vacation tomorrow & got a nice tax refund...it was time. It is TINY. I love it. I can't wait to take some video. *I'm on the last chapter of the last TWILIGHT book. I think I'm reading it really slowly because I don't want it to end. Argh! *We leave for Florida tomorrow! We're staying at my in-laws condo (where we honeymooned) with them. They are driving down and picking us up at the airport. It's a cheap vacay for us - we used frequent flyer miles for the flight, we aren't renting a car, we aren't paying for a place to stay...sweet! We plan on sitting at the beach, kayaking, sitting at the beach and more sitting at the beach. I hope Dahlia is a good flyer!!!!! I...

So March is going to be full of travel for me.... Fargo Austin, TX and now - FLORIDA! We've decided to join Steve's Mom & her SO at their condo for a week. It is a cheap vacation for us - we used our frequent flyer miles for plane tickets, they're driving so they're going to pick us up at the airport (no need for a rental car) and since we're staying with them at their condo - no hotel costs! We just figured when are we going to get such a cheap vacation? Plus it's a nice two bedroom two bath condo that it'll be *easy* to have Dahlia at. There's a pool, it's a block from the beach....and since they're driving we can *hopefully* load them up with a pack & play, high chair, jogger (?) etc. And we'll have built-in babysitters if we want to do something sans baby. We honeymooned here in 2006 and it was one of the most relaxing vacations I can remember. Of course it'll be different this time but I think it's definitely something we...

...well, hopefully by that I only mean the week of vacation in Florida. We had a lovely time! The weather was cool, however. Not exactly tropical as the Alberta Clipper that swept the nation made it all the way to Anna Maria Island...Hmph. Friday was only in the 50's! But that was okay. We managed to spend the day biking, walking, lounging, reading, napping, playing guitar and watching the sunset on the beach. We were BUNDLED up but it was the most beautiful sunset of the week so it was okay. More details to come..... Here're some tidbits: biking hiking tree-top canopy walk kayaking eating eating eating (I'm so not stepping on the scale until I've worked out for this whole week!) sitting on the beach DisneyWorld Trying to watch the space shuttle launch (it was canceled though -hmph) eating reading lounging and just really enjoying being on "island time." I have lots of pictures to share....but haven't gotten around to getting them on the computer yet... Ti...