Full Circle: Living in Orlando

Orlando is called The City Beautiful, and often it really is. One of our favorite things to do on Sundays is head down to Lake Eola for the farmer's market. Lake Eola is in downtown Orlando and right by Dax's office and a branch of the public library, so we're down there a lot. Dax and I each got early Christmas gifts of new bikes (love my bike! love it love it!). Dax rides his bike to work most days of the week. I'm still getting used to riding in a bigger city, but I'm getting used to some routes I like. Jack will be getting a new bike for Christmas (his is getting too small, and is only a 1-speed), and once that happens, I see a lot more big family bike outings in our future. But back to the farmer's market....I have no reason to post this other than it was taken after Jack had a snowcone there. <3

Such as I don't really have a good reason to post this picture of Kenny except that it's funny, he has a tutu/clown collar, and if Cori and I ever had a booth at the farmer's market, we'd sell tutus along with a lot of other junk.

Dax and I have been trying to get out on our own a little more than we did in Albany, and have been enjoying spending time together sans kids. One night we went to a cool, dive bar called Will's Pub.

It reminded me a lot of Bodies in Warrensburg, MO, and the years I spent there watching going to see local bands and hanging out with friends. It had just the kind of seedy atmosphere/hipster cool vibe that I like.

I'm not a big fan of going to see live music though. I used to be, but over time I've come to realize I don't really like just standing around watching a band play. This was a good night though. It was a very small crowd, which wasn't so great for the band, but nice for us. It was a much more intimate gathering. It also allowed us to spend a bit of time getting acquainted with the lead act.

That's Dax hanging with Jimbo Mathus of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. He's fronting a Mississippi blues band and is one of the most personable people I've ever met. He made an effort to remember our names and he was just steeped in genuine southern charm. Very cool guy and a really good show!

Finally, as I mentioned before, the kids (mostly Mazzy) did not take well to homeschooling. Finding people to socialize with, and outside curriculum enhancement was much harder than I thought it would be. I assumed I would get down here, find a few homeschool groups, meet up a few times and figure out what direction we wanted to go. Well, I would spend tons of time looking for groups, trying to find one meeting up soon, joining the groups so I can get updates, trying to go to a scheduled get-together with the kids only to have no one else show up! It was a lot of time and a lot of disappointment. Combining that with unpacking, finishing weddings, dealing with house issues both here and in Albany (we still haven't even closed on this house yet!), and I just felt like I was doing a terrible job and NO ONE was happy. It didn't help that the kids were barely even meeting any neighborhood kids. We live 2 blocks from an elementary school. There are tons of kids in the neighborhood, but no one ever plays outside. That's so weird to me...especially after leaving Albany where people are outside hanging on their stoops all the time. Our neighborhood can seem really empty. So finally we made the decision to enroll the kids in school for this year at least. I've gotten some info about a great magnet school that has emphasis in visual and performing arts, and there's a high school you can get into too. We're definitely going to apply for Mazzy and hope she gets in for next year. Anyway, here they are for their first day of school here in Florida. They started November 30.

Finally, now that I have finished my weddings, I'm starting to spend more time with the hobbies I never seemed to have time for before. I'm learning how to crochet, and I love it! Mazzy and I had a tea party recently while we worked on making granny squares. I love this space.