The Everglades

For those of you who come Florida for vacation, you should not leave without going on an airboat ride in the Everglades. It's a lot of fun, it's very educational, and you get to see some cool wildlife. We went to Everglades Safari Park about 30 minutes or so from downtown Miami. We hadn't even got on the airboat yet and we saw a huge alligator in the water right next to us. Cool, but a little scary!
For those of you who know nothing about airboats, they are one of the coolest inventions. It is like a boat, but you also glide over all kinds of grass and weeds growing out of the swamp. It's a little disconcerting at first, but it is a great ride. We had fun looking at all the wildlife and Clark loved the boat ride.
When we got back, there is an area where they keep alligators and someone who comes in to do a show. It's very strange seeing a person inside an area with 6 gators just hanging around...but she seemed very comfortable around them. I was wondering if I should be concerned that Clark looked at all the alligators like they were cute little puppies. I swear if we had put him in there, he would have gone right up to them and put his little hand in their mouth and would also try to poke their eyes out like he does with my parent's dog. It's fun that Clark is pretty much not afraid of anything...but he definitely keeps us on our toes!

Apple Thief

So, I had packed some snacks for the drive down to South Florida, and they were just in a bag in the back seat next to Clark. On our way to downtown Miami for dinner I heard a strange noise coming from Clark behind us. When we looked back, there was Clark CHOWING down on an apple from the snack bag. He looked at us with a cheesy/mischievous grin, and he just kept chowing. He ate the whole apple down to the core. I couldn't believe it, but it's not like I am going to complain that my child was eating fruit.

Fort Lauderdale Beach

We also stopped by Fort Lauderdale on our way down to Miami. Miami gets all the hype, but I actually prefer the Fort Lauderdale beaches and strip to Miami, especially if you aren't as much into the whole clubbing scene. I think it is also better kept and looks a whole lot less run down than South Beach. We ate lunch on the strip and went for a walk on the beach and then headed the rest of the way down to Miami. Once there, we stayed at an okay hotel right on the beach and went over to Bayside and ate Cuban food listening to the live salsa music. We had a good time and we drove around the downtown area and also down South Beach on our way back up to our hotel. I always laugh when I see snippets of CSI:Miami on TV because the make everything have a orange/yellow glow in the show. It's a beautiful city, but it's not like that in real life ALL the time.

Pilgrimage to Parkland

Tanner and I decided that we needed to do something other than lay around the house for four weeks before he starts work on Tuesday, so we decided to take a trip down to South Florida. I really wanted to go and see my old house in Parkland and just see how the area had changed. I was excited to go, but the logical part of my brain thought that it really should be no big deal. I was like a little kid pointing things out to Tanner after we got off the Sawgrass Expressway showing them how things had changed and stuff I remembered. When we got to the gate at Meadow Run, the guard came out. I thought I recognized him, but then I thought, why would I know him? Here is how the conversation went:

Me: "Hi, I used to live in here, and I just wanted to drive by my old house"

Guard: "Oh, well, what's your name?"

Me: "My last name is Nielson"

Guard: "What was your name when you lived here?"

Me: "Carter. We lived on NW 98th..." (the guard cut me off in mid sentence)

Guard: "Doug and Debbie?"

Me: (In complete shock) "Uh yeah! Did you work here then? Because you look familiar"

Guard: "Yes! How long has it been?

Me: "8 years since I graduated high school. This is my husband and my son"

Guard: (He is now in complete shock) "Wow! Yeah, I remember you guys were the ones with the jet skies that would go in and out all the time"

It was so surreal talking to him. We chatted for a few minutes and he let us in of course, since he KNOWS me.

What is it about the sights and smells of your early childhood that are so endearing? I remember buying some random cleaning solution one time and realizing the second I sprayed it that it was the exact same cleaning solution that my kindergarten teacher used to clean our desks. Just like that my brain had made the connection, and whenever I smell it, it gives me warm fuzzies about my kindergarten days in Mrs. Ickenberger's class. It was the same thing as I sat there looking at my old house. It was the feelings I had while living there more than specific memories that came back to me and the fuzzy feeling was back. Although I would never want to go back to that time, it was great and I will always look back at my Parkland days with fondness.

I've been tagged...FINALLY

I was so happy to see that my sister tagged me. I have seen that most people who have blogs have done tagging blogs, but I have never been tagged. I even thought once that I would just say I had been tagged and do the blog even though I hadn't. Thank you for tagging me Mel!

ABOUT ME:

Jobs I've Had:
*Office Secretary, numerous temp jobs
*Secretary at a Mental Institution for 3 days
*Admissions processing Supervisor at BYU-Provo (if you need advice for your kids applications, I'm your girl)
*Secretary for Office of Development at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Williamsburg, VA
*Online scorer for ETS
*Mommy

Movies I Can Watch Over & Over Again:
*Jane Eyre (the brand new one that just came out..SO GOOD!)
*A Few Good Men (I know it's rated R, but it really should be rated PG-13...not that that is an excuse or anything...there are just too many good one liners! Back me up people who like this movie!)
*Back to the Future Part 1
*Sense and Sensibility
*Groundhog Day (I can't believe you did not put this on your list Mel!)
*The last 15 minutes of Top Gun (all stereo systems must be tested using this movie--just ask my dad)

Favorite TV Shows (does this include EVER? Okay, I'll do both):
*24
*So You Think You Can Dance
*Amazing Race
*West Wing
*Around the Horn and PTI (they get put together because they are 30 min. sport shows)
*Everybody Loves Raymond
*Survivor

Favorite Hobbies:
*Reading
*Blogging
*Reading/Watching the News

Places I Have Lived:
*California
*England
*Florida
*Utah
*Virginia

Favorite Foods:
*My mother's lasagna (the unhealthy kind)
*Chicken Cannelloni from Macaroni Grill
*Flautas from Tijuana Flats
*Breakfast for Dinner!
*Fudgsicles (can you believe this is not in the dictionary?!! Popsicles are but not Fudgsicles! What a travesty!)
*Anything my Dad BBQs
*Any chocolate that is English Cadbury's...two of my favs are Fudge and Caramel

Favorite Getaways:
*Visiting Family
*Hiking in Zion's National Park "The Subway"
*Washington,DC day trips
*Skiing in West Virginia
*The Outer Banks
*Any Theme Park....I love Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA

Websites I Check Daily:
*Hotmail
*Blogs
*Fox News
*Drudge Report
*Google
*Intellicast (my favorite weather site)
*As of today, August 25th, NFL.com Fantasy website...go Cheznanigans (that's my fantasy football team name...cool huh!) And since you are all SO interested...here is my logo for my team that I created all by myself!

Stephanie Nielson, Rosemay Webster, and Chenaenae YOU HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

Mater PJs

Dear JB,

Thank you for giving me your Mater PJs. I know that it was hard for you to give them away since you loved them so much. I am glad you convinced your mom to give them to me instead of throwing them in the trash, even if they are very worn and faded. I like to wear them, which is good because it seems like lately, more often then not, my mom forgets to change my clothes and I end up wearing my PJs all day. I promise that I will take good care of them.

Love, your cousin Clark

Shuttle Launch

One of the unique and cool things about living in the Orlando area is that you get to see shuttle launches from Cape Canaveral. We actually live about 40 minutes directly west of the cape. My parents reminded us that the Space Shuttle Endeavor was launching today and so we walked outside our apartment to see if we could see it. There were others in our apartment complex who had come outside to watch it as well. It was really cool to watch.
We found out that due to hurricane Dean they were going to have Endeavor land back here in Florida instead of in Texas. I was excited because I had never heard a sonic boom before and I thought it would be cool. Well, sure enough we completely forgot about it, and yesterday (I am writing this now on Aug. 22) we were just finishing up lunch and getting Clark ready for his nap when we heard this huge bang that sounded like someone had just tried to kick down our front door. We were clueless enough to think that it was our neighbors upstairs, and we were just shocked at how loud it was. Only later that night, we suddenly remembered about the shuttle landing and we realized that the big boom we had heard WAS in fact the sonic boom. I was ecstatic that we had heard it, even though I didn't identify it for what it really was at the time. Maybe we'll actually remember next time!

A break from work

My Aunt Bonna

I am glad we moved to Florida because...

1) I get to sleep in a big boy bed now

2) I can walk out the front door to the outside instead of a smelly stairwell with scary stairs (how's that for alliteration!)

3) My parents seem a lot less stressed out than they were last month

4) I get to see my Nana and Papa a lot more

5) My aunt Bonna comes to visit me and I have lots of fun with her

The Cable Guy

So I may not be the most organized person on the planet, but I DO like things in place when I move in. I want my electricity working, and I want my cable and internet hooked up and ready to go, because let's face it, how many of us can survive without the internet for more than a day without starting to hyperventilate. This is why I had scheduled our cable guy to come the afternoon we moved in. He was late, but he came. He spent an hour here, and made friends with Tanner because apparently he is the cousin of D. Jackson, former wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks. Oh yeah, and he forgot to bring a modem. I was annoyed, but he promised he would be back a 9am with a modem in hand to hook everything up. He left, and we realized we didn't have the right cable channels on our tv, and we still had no internet. What did he do for an hour? Yeah, we still don't know. We didn't hear from him or anyone else from the cable company the next day (COMCAST by the way, avoid them if you can...we were forced to use them). I spent literally hours on the phone talking to tech guys and customer service people (don't let the name fool you). They even somehow managed to transfer me to their competitor Brighthouse cable at one point. Finally, I got a supervisor who explained that the modems they received from the warehouse were all defective and I wouldn't get one until Wednesday...begin hyperventilation. I stated that I was going to go buy my own modem (since my cable guy said the one I already owned wouldn't work with their system), and they could reimburse me and what were they also going to give me for the 4 hours that I spent on the phone with them all day? $24 bucks. Total. Seriously? (NOTE: my sister had problems with her cable once and she received a year free of cable...not even kidding, she is my hero). He said they can't put a price on my time or frustration and while they were very sorry, $24 is all they can offer, and oh yeah, you aren't the only customer that is having problems. Now I am FLAMING mad, and I start yelling at him on the phone. I would be embarrassed to admit that I actually swore at one point except for the fact that a) he totally deserved it, and b) it wasn't that bad of a swear word, and c) I didn't call him personally a swear word, it was actually referring to the phone, which they did not bother to pick up all day to call me and let me know that no one was going to come over. Eventually, I got someone to configure the modem we already have to work with the internet, and on Monday, we actually caught our cable guy at our complex servicing another apartment, and we made sure he came over and hooked everything up properly. And he still acted like our best friends. Whatever. We have internet and cable now and I am a happy woman once again. For the record, I don't normally get this mad and I am normally very sheepish when talking to people I don't know, but like I said before, when it comes to the internet and gross incompetence, there is no mercy.

Welcome to the Sunshine State!

We have arrived! The drive wasn't so bad, but of course as usual, it was raining when we got to the sign the says "Welcome to the Sunshine State". Florida really is a sunny place, but when it rains it pours, literally. They don't make wipers fast enough for the rain that can come down here. Once it started to subside, I lost Tanner in Jacksonville after he was pulled over by a policeman after the officer noticed one of the tire fasteners had come loose on the tow dolly pulling our other car. I saw that he was pulled over and I thought something was very wrong so what did I do? I got off on the next exit, turn around on I-95 to go back to him. Then I saw him on the other side of the freeway riding along. I tried to hurry and get off the freeway and turn around to get back on going the right direction to catch up to him, but it took a little while. It took me almost an hour going between 75 and 80 mph to catch up to him...and then he gave me this look through the window like "Where have YOU been?" I WAS COMING TO RESCUE YOU, AND YOU TOOK OFF! Yeah, you know the look I gave. But the important thing is that we made it to the Birdhouse with no major catastrophes. We got to relax the rest of the day until Friday, when we were slated to move into our apartment. Luckily we had Nana and Papa to help us the next day. Somehow I managed to lose Tanner and my parents the next day too after I was fighting with a toll booth guy, and I ended up being the last one to the apartment, when I was supposed to be the one who knew how to get there.
Due to the skillishness of all involved, we were able to unload the truck in under 2 hours. Even Clark helped with the unpacking.We love our new apartment, especially the washer and dryer and the two bathrooms. It only makes me more excited to start looking for a house. As I said in my previous blog, we decided to set up Clark's bunk bed. I thought we had sheets that were a full size, but apparently not. We bought some new ones the next day. He loves his new bed, but he also has figured out that he can get out of his bed whenever he wants. We have heard him playing in his room for a little while after we have put him to bed and locked the door, and we go in later and move him from the floor (where he has passed out) back onto his bed. He has actually stayed in his bed a few nights, so he does get the concept!

Moving Moments and Mishaps

Moving into a new apartment is fun. Moving out of the old apartment is not so fun. Just when you think you have all the big stuff packed away and you are feeling pretty organized, an unending supply of nicknaks clutter the apartment for days and just won't go away. Once Tanner got back from the bar, things went a lot faster than when I was by myself. He is a focused worker, while I am all about 10 minutes of working and 30 minutes of relaxing. I wonder where I get that from? Oh yeah, my dad. Don't take offense dad, I think it's way more fun that way. Anyway, Clark has definitely got the relaxation thing down.

We decided that since we are moving and Clark is almost two, it would be a good time to move him to his big boy bed once we get to Florida. So we just HAD to take one last picture of him in his crib.


Oops. Now that's the understatement of the year. We had been very careful to keep the permanent black marker we were using to mark our boxes up high so Clark wouldn't be able to get to it, but once we started moving boxes out to the truck, our system got out of whack and Clark decided to practice his drawing skills, all over our couch. We didn't even see the couch at first because we saw him starting to draw on the entertainment center, and he was banished to his room. But as I was getting a cloth to get it out, I hear Tanner scream "Oh No!" I knew the second I heard him that Clark had done something else far worse. We both sat down and just stared at the couch. Tanner said "This is the one piece of furniture we have that isn't white trash and now look at it?!" I turned the cushions over they looked as good as new except from the part of the arm on the couch where he also got some of his doodling in. We brought Clark out and went one by one to all of his swirly marks and explained to him that this was a no no and an uh oh in the worst way. Clark usually just says okay and once he gets a kiss from me, he is good to go and it's like it never happened. When I wouldn't give him his kiss until we were all through showing what he had done, he started bawling. It broke my heart, but we really wanted to try to get him to understand what a big deal it was. Finally, when we were all done, I gave him a kiss, and he immediately broke into a big ol smile. So we felt like we got through to him for like a minute, and I guarantee you, if we left that marker out again, he would decide it is drawing time again. But I don't think we will make THAT mistake again...it will just be something else.

Clark saw Tanner with his back brace and when Tanner decided to see what Clark looked like it in, Clark thought he was THE COOLEST. He even figured out how to take it off and put it back on again. Moving is definitely more difficult with a child around, but they CAN be pretty cute too.