Mamma is off for the Big Apple

We have had som good days in Ormond and yesterday we drove down to Miami. We arrived late and this morning I got up really early to...GO TO N.Y to see some friends from Sweden!!! Marlee and Noah is staying in Miami with Alex and farmor and farfar. I'm sure they will be doing great but I can't help worrying a little...

 Yesterday

Beach day!

I had my "sleep-in-morning-of-the-week" today so Alex took the children this morning and walked down to the beach. They were back when I woke up and after eating we all took the car to where you can drive on the beach. It is so much easier that way with all the stuff that we bring (toys, umbrella, surf board, snacks etc). It was a great day, not so windy but big waves. Lately we have had a few days with lots of rain and wind. The beach patrol has even had the "no-swimming" flag up. Well, today it was nice and a lot of people went to the beach. 

Surfers don't care much about flags... ;-)

A very rare species appeared in our garden when it was raining a lot!! :-D

After we had been on the beach for an hour or so we heard sirens and an ambulance and two beach patrol cars drove by us. A Dutch woman, about 100m (350ft) from us, had been attacked by a shark. It had bitten her in her leg. Nothing serious but they took her to the hospital to be on the safe side. Me personal, think that the mental damage is a lot bigger than the physical harm these shark attack makes here. The beached here in Volusia county has more shark attacks than any other place in the world, apparently more than the whole of Australia. BUT they are not fatal, which they are in a lot of other places so it does not seem to bother people that much here. I still don't know that I think. We were definitely more careful in the water after the woman was attacked. Over all we had a great day on the beach with swimming, surfing, soccer playing (even Noah) and ice cream!

Just like pappa!!

A shark attack does not scare the people on the beaches here!

We had an ice cream before we dared to go in the water again

Alex is getting up on the surf board!

...and he is standing!

Yes, it is time to get Noah a new care seat!

Everyone is sleeping now so it is time for me to do the same! See you soon!!

Great weekend in Madison!

Yesterday we got back from a few days in Madison where we have some land and a trailer. Jackie and Doug were there too and we had a great time with them. I am so happy we had the chance to spend a few days with them there. The nature there is so beautiful but we did get very annoyed with the Love bugs which were everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE!!! Good thing they don't bite or sting but when they are everywhere it gets kind of ugly... Jackie had made a little garden by the trailer, "Tina's garden", with cute flowers and I totally forgot to take a picture of it :-( Next time! I also forgot to take pictures of Jackie and Doug and their two dogs that joined us, Scooter and Tigger. Such cute dogs!!! Marlee and Noah really enjoyed being out in the forest, especially Marlee. I think he misses the forest. One day we went to a spring close to the land. The water was kind of cold but sooo refreshing and clean! 

Marlee sleeping in the trailer

Noah got the master bedroom!

Marlee in the spring

Jackie, me and the children

Me swimming with Marlee

Even Alex dared to get in!!

Noah and Marlee is exploring the land with Scooter

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Gimme that sticker!!

Turtle-freak-out (it is an empty shell)

The whole family gathered!!!

Exotic wildlife

Before we went to Madison we also had some activities worth mentioning...

Good morning!

Back from the beach

Turtle crossing on our street

Marlee playing with some kids when we joined a bbq by the beach

Found this Swedish tile at Goodwill :-D

Kids gone crazy in the car!

Noah has learned to drink from a straw :-)

Cool boy (with baby oil in his hair)

First night in our new house!!

Right now we are all in our new house and the boys are sleeping. Alex is working and I am updating the blog. Dah! We still have to remove minor things that we do not want to use and figure our how we want to solve the bedroom idea but the house is pretty much child adjusted now and we enjoy our new place! :-)

Marlee is sleeping in the corner :-) We will move in his new bed as soon as it is fixed up!

Yesterday we spent part of the day on the beach. Great weather, nice and warm! 

Slowly moving in to our new home

I have had a cold for more than a week but is finally feeling better now. Life still goes on and here comes the latest news :-)

The church that Marlee's preschool is part of and that we have been to here, had the mass on the beach last Sunday. We had a great time, brought picnic and went swimming. They always have great music playing so we enjoyed that, too.

The band playing

Our little picnic

On Tuesdays, Chick-fil-a, which is a fast food restaurant here, with chicken only, have craft night and I took the children there. Marlee got to do "some crafting" :-)

Painting the little fish

The excellent result!

Yesterday we finally got access to our new home!! It needs some adjustments for our living and me and the children have spent two days there preparing. We have mostly brought things over, taken picture of the current "setup" (so that we can "reset" it after our changes) and tried to figure out how we should do things the best way. Right now there are only two bedrooms and we would like to make a third one by using part of the living room or family room.

Checking out the beach next to our house :-)

Future children's room

Probably future guest room

One of the two bathrooms (one has a shower and this one has a bathtub)

My favorite room with the view of the back yard

Noah helps out with child proofing the house. Glass table has to go!

During the afternoon today I went to the beach with the children and it was the perfect conditions! Not too hot, not too windy, no current and the tide was just right! For the first time I could let go of Marlee even when he could not touch the bottom without being worried about the current or the waves. I asked him if I could take the chance to take a picture of him in the water but instead of going in and swim he insisted that he should lay on the shore...