Highlights from our trip to Florida

Our road trip through Florida in June was full of the kind of beautiful moments that summer is made of for me. We spent so much time outdoors, enjoying the sunshine and swimming almost every day in pools and the ocean, exploring as a family, watching sunsets and dreaming together of what it will be like when the baby is born in August.

One of the most special spots that we visited during our trip were the islands of Captiva and Sanibel, on the west coast of Florida. I was able to find a great last minute deal for a condo at South Seas Island Resort, and we spent a few days at this amazingly family friendly resort with lovely beaches, oh the turquoise sea!

Carys and I spent fun hours looking for pretty shells,

Another fun part of our trip was taking a few days at Disney in Orlando. The kids and I do enjoy a good Disney visit, and Frank is nice to humor us by coming along. I love how artfully done the details at the Disney parks are, especially at Disney's Animal Kingdom park where you feel like you've taken a quick trip to Asia.

The most fun for me about Disney is watching how much fun Jasper and Carys have when we are there!

What a great time we had, I'm so glad that we were able to share this memorable trip before the baby arrives, it was so nice to have it be just the four of us while also looking ahead together to the changes that will happen in our family so soon, we are all so excited.

I'm here!

Its hard for me to believe that its already almost the middle of July, time has flown by and I've missed being here! We've been having adventures and really been totally caught up in the magic of summertime. I also had a huge set back and few weeks ago, when I came down with Pneumonia...its been a slow recovery and disappointing for me to get so sick right as I'm gearing up for the end of an otherwise good pregnancy.

To quickly sum up our past month and a half: At the beginning of June, when the kid's school ended for summer break we hopped in the car and headed south to Florida, where we met up with Frank's parents who live there. We visited Disney briefly, then Frank and I took a quick "baby moon" without the kids in Miami. We then spent time at Frank's parent's house and also visited Sanibel and Captiva Islands which were so beautiful. We returned home to Charleston in the middle of June after our long road trip, and as I was adjusting to being home I was feeling great and ready to head into the end of my pregnancy.

I've felt so strong physically with this pregnancy, I've been working out at the gym and doing yoga, both of which have kept me feeling so good. Here I am in my 33rd week, the week after we returned from Florida,

As I've been feeling so great it was such a surprise to me when I suddenly came down with what I thought was a horrible chest cold. I was so sick that I just had to be in bed, and I kept thinking I'd start to get better, but as the days passed I got worse. My breath began to get wheezy and there was a "clicking" sound in my chest when I exhaled, and I had horrible coughing fits. The nights were especially hard as I struggled to breathe, and began to have a feeling that I was drowning. This just didn't seem right to me, and even though I am usually hesitant to head to the doctor, this was definitely a situation where I should have gone in days earlier than I did.

I almost had to be hospitalized with a case of left lung Pneumonia, the doctor said that it has been going around our area, and I guess that in my very pregnant state my body just wasn't able to fight it off once I was exposed. I'm just relieved that my kids didn't get it too! I'm feeling so much better after 2 and a half weeks of treatment, but my energy level is still very low and I still get winded very easily if I exert myself (even climbing stairs is hard), it scares me when I think about how sick I was. This is really one of the times in my life when I have been most thankful for modern medicine, I feel really blessed by it and so fortunate and amazed at how much better I am starting to feel even from one week ago, what a difference!

So, after those adventures I'm back. Still recovering, and my main focus right now is on getting fully better so that when I face labor soon I will be ready with everything that I have within me. I'm in my 36th week of this pregnancy, feeling huge and so ready to meet this baby!

I hope that you are having a wonderful July, I'm excited to share highlights from our time in Florida and our "baby moon".

xo

Thanksgiving

Perhaps I can blame it on our move this year, but I really can.not.believe that the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up this week! How can it be the end of November, and is Christmas really only a few weeks away?!?
While I absorb all of that, and cook and host Frank's family for a Thanksgiving feast coming up on Thursday I might be pretty quiet around here, but perhaps I'll pop in with some images of our celebration.
I am feeling extra thankful after a quick trip that we took last week, we drove down to Disney in Florida and met up there with my mother and also with Sarah, my closest friend from childhood who flew down from New Hampshire with her kids.
We all stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we had a view of safari animals from our room's balcony which was pretty cool,

My friend Sarah has a son who is Jasper's age and a daughter who is Carys's age, which is an amazing serendipity, and the fact that they all love each other and play so well makes me happy on many different levels. Watching them play makes me think of the way Sarah and I used to play when we met when we were only 4, and it also makes me realize anew how thankful I am for her and for all of my deep friendships that have seen me through the years.

Another side of the trip was actually tough, Sarah's husband Jamey died 3 years ago in a motorcycle accident, and this was the first trip that Frank and I have spent with her family since the accident. So, Jamey's absence was tangible, strange and aching. Seeing how their children have grown and watching their son's face form the same expressions and smiles that Jamey would do was a constant reminder of their loss. It made me so grateful, so deeply Thank-full, for my own family. The simple fact that Frank and I get to wake up every day together and watch our beautiful children grow is a joy that never gets old and something that I am thankful for every single day, and I could taste that on this trip.

I plan to celebrate that joy, especially this week as we give thanks on the holiday. This past year has been a huge one for my family of 4, as we moved together to a new place where we only had each other and together we have branched out, made a new home and new friends slowly making this place our own. We have come through it all together as a stronger family unit, they are my joy, my strength and my thanks for them overflows.

Tropical Christmas

We're here in Florida, preparing for a tropical Christmas with Frank's family,

Being in the sunny warm weather has felt so healing after the frigid temperatures that we were having up north. We are melting into it, after the initial feeling that it is a shock to the system to fly down here and suddenly be in summer weather, with the sun shining so brightly! Oh sun how we've missed you!

So far we've been doing some of our favorite things to do when we come to Naples, Florida. We visit our favorite "pirate ship" playground (the wooden structure looks like a ship!),

Marvel at the tropical foliage,

Go to the zoo, where we go on the special boat ride monkey tour (I love that Carys looks so serious in the photo, that's some serious monkey watching),

Collect and arrange our nature finds (The fact that my children do this makes me feel like I have trained them well!), 

And generally enjoy some tropical silliness,

Things are about to kick into some serious Christmas celebrating when the rest of the family arrives tomorrow. I hope that you are getting ready to celebrate a wonderful holiday where ever you are!

The Happiest Place on Earth

OK, I have a little secret to confess. Last week we popped away for a mini-break down to Florida.

Where two princesses and a pirate conquered the "happiest place on earth", aka Disney World, oh yes. As you can imagine, there was a lot of this...

and a lot of that....

As the kids get bigger this has become our annual trip with Frank's family, and Jasper and Carys love being there with their cousins so much! With enough mystery and suspense thrown in, it is hard to resist the magic of moments like this...

Where my boy really does feel like he is embarking on a jungle expedition, and moments like this...

Where the shear excitement of feeling like she is driving a car makes my girl giddy! For Frank and I, having enough moments like this...

and hanging out here...

Helps to keep us sane as we spend the days navigating the theme parks.

 But, I think that I can finally admit that I like going to Disney, there I said it. I have given up the embarrassment, the cringing at being made happy by something so blatantly commercial, and given over to the joy of watching my kids be swept away by the experience.

Disney is one place where it is hard to avoid being right there "in the moment", and that, I can truly appreciate!

Now, I'm off to jump back in to life at home, and get ready for fast approaching Halloween which is celebrated in a big way here in our part of Brooklyn. Our neighborhood does a parade, lots of trick-or-treating (we get about 300 kids at our house), and decorations every where. Things are looking mighty autumnal here!

Headed home

This evening we are heading back to Brooklyn. I hope that you've enjoyed coming along with us on our Florida escapade.

We've had such fun, but I am looking forward to getting back into the studio at home. I really start to feel it when I am away from the studio for days on end. I have some paintings that I had just finished when we left that I am dying to share with you! I am even more excited knowing that my very favorite season, spring, can't be far away even in the frozen north. I am already loving the longer days with more light, aren't you?

Flora

While our trip to Florida has been a bit disappointingly unseasonably cold, meaning we've had almost none of what would be our normal beach routine here, we have enjoyed endless beauty of the floral variety. Visiting botanical gardens both here, where my in-laws live in Naples, and on our interlude to Miami, have been highlights of our trip for me! Here are some of my favorites.


Speaking of "flora", Frank and I just want out on a rare movie date to see Avatar (yes, for the second time). I just had to go see it again to be back in the visual delight of that jungle, if you've seen the movie you know what I mean! All of the details of the world that Mr. Cameron created in the movie, the bugs, glowing plants, floating mountains, it all just blows me away visually. My head is still spinning, I loved it!