2018 ~ We're the Baldwin's!

If you’ve noticed a trend that we go on trips every 2-3 weeks, our trend continued through August.

A year ago, we moved to Florida for a few reasons, the biggest one being an MBA program for Brian. We wanted to be in Florida for at least a year before the program started so we could get in-state residency tuition, and spend some time with my grandma who lives in Clearwater, which is about 2 ½ hours from Gainesville, where the University of Florida is located.

The U of FL has one of the top ten ranked MBAs in the country with multiple different options. Because Brian’s undergrad degree is in business and finance, he was eligible to do an intense, 16-month accelerated hybrid program. The program started with a week of foundation review, 10 tests to finalize his qualification into the program, and one day in class with his classes for the first semester.

We left our house at 4:30 AM on the 12^th to make it to Gainesville by 7:30 for the first day (a Sunday, yes he had a 13 hour day on a Sunday). Brian had information sessions and a welcome reception that kept him busy until 8:30 PM that day. The rest of the week, including Saturday, he had the foundations review classes from 8 AM-5 PM and Sunday the 19^th he had his first day of class for the first semester.

Since it’s a hybrid program, it’s mostly online and he just has to be on campus for exams and projects at the end of every term: this December, April 2019, August 2019, and December 2019. He’ll graduate in December of 2019! Since he would be gone for a whole week for the start of the program and there wasn’t anything keeping us in Clearwater, Tatum and I decided to go with him! It wound up being a great decision and I like to think it made it a little easier on Brian having someone to drop him off at classes and pick him up and have dinner ready haha.

We originally rented a one bedroom apartment on Airbnb, but about a month before our arrival, our host messaged me and asked if she could upgrade us to another place since I had requested an early check in! Most places don’t let you check in until 3 or 4 PM, and since we were arriving by 8 AM I needed something earlier. She could get us in at 1 PM if we switched, so she upgraded us to one of her luxury 2 bedroom/2 bathroom condos with a pool in a great location! It was closer to the business school, and near Main Street downtown with lots of cute restaurants and convenient parking in a covered garage. We were also close to a great new park, Depot Park, with a bunch of different playgrounds and a free splash pad. (If you EVER go to Gainesville and need a great place to stay at an affordable price, look for Superhost SUSANNAH on AirBNB! She was fabulous!!)

Sunday, we dropped Brian off, grabbed some breakfast, and went to church. Somehow I miraculously made it through all of church with Tatum without her having a meltdown, then we grabbed some lunch and checked into our condo. Tatum took a brief nap and we went grocery shopping before we picked Brian up. I felt good about not spending a lot of money this trip and I’m glad we decided to go with an Airbnb so we had our own kitchen. Our week was spent hanging at the park and exploring while Brian was in class.

Thursday, Tatum and I went on a little day trip to Jacksonville to go to the zoo! I was trying to decide where to take a day trip and other considerations were St. Augustine or the gulf side beaches farther north than we are, but then Brian suggested the zoo in Jacksonville and it felt perfect! The zoo was sooo much fun. Tatum loves animals and the older she gets, the more excited she is about stuff like the zoo. We spent almost four hours there and Tatum walked pretty much the whole way which was great for me because she took a good nap on the hour and a half drive home.

We checked out a little Mexican restaurant in downtown called Boca Fiesta and it was sooo yummy. Brian got an alligator burrito and loved it, and Tatum kept trying to steal the pieces of gator from it because she loved it so much! It was a very long week and we were all happy to come home on the 19^th. We had five days to get back on a routine and get some things accomplished around the house and then my dad flew in for a week and a half vacation the next Friday!

Most of that time was spent at the beach with Dad, and the last day of August Brian and Tatum and I spent the day at Adventure Island, a full waterpark in Tampa! Tatum had a blast and we were even able to take her on some of the water slides with us. They have a huge lazy river and a couple sections strictly for little kids. It's also one of the more affordable amusement parks, considering we live within an hour and a half of about 15 major parks!

Luckily, the next month and a half were travel free, but not without our normal business! Check out our next post for more on that.

-XoXo

Oh, July.

A month I was both anxiously anticipating and dreading all at the same time. I HATE MOVING. Have I ever mentioned that? You would think after living in West Virginia, Florida, California, Utah, and back to Florida in the last five years (plus two separate moves in Utah and two in Florida) that I would be an expert and it would be a piece of cake by now, but it’s not and I’m not.

We got home from our Utah trip, enjoyed the Fourth of July, and set the dreaded dates for moving. To touch briefly on the 4^th, Brian had the day off and we spent it at the beach at Honeymoon Island with a picnic lunch and lots of swimming, then headed home to get cleaned up, eat some Buffalo Wild W

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ings, and catch fireworks at downtown Clearwater overlooking the ocean. It was pretty much the perfect, all-American day.

The next weekend, we started packing and moving. We enticed my grandma with Wimbledon to come over and be at the house while Tatum napped so we could start taking some stuff over to the house. It felt good to start getting stuff packed up and out of there, especially a lot of boxes that we never unpacked before in our apartment because we just didn’t have the room. I was doing a happy dance for our third bedroom and garage at the house!

The next week, we spent most of our time packing and prepping for the big move on the 14^th. I got everything packed up, we rented a moving truck for the day, and we had so much help from our friends and family! We had everything packed into the moving truck, driven to our house, and unloaded inside the house in an hour and a half flat. SUCH GREAT FRIENDS. It took some time to get the house in order and I’m still adjusting to a smaller kitchen, but we got unpacked in record time and all set up before I left for Maryland/West Virginia the next weekend.

Onto that trip… I have the best husband ever. My parents will tell you that they’re witness to the fact that Tatum and I both are grumpier before Brian arrives. He always encourages me to visit family a few days before he flies up so that I’m not bound to his PTO schedule, so Tatum and I flew up on Saturday the 21^st and came home on the 29^th. We’ve been saving all Brian’s PTO for the holidays this year, so he flew up on a Friday evening (the 27^th) and flew home with us on Sunday evening. Talk about a trooper! He was literally there for less than 48 hours and spent time with all my parents plus attended the wedding (the main reason for the trip) with me.

The start of the trip was rough. I specifically booked a flight that left at 8 PM on Saturday so that Tatum and I could spend the whole day with Brian and then hopefully she would fall asleep on the plane. We were supposed to arrive at 10:10 PM. Our flight wound up taking off 45 minutes late, Tatum didn’t sleep the whole flight, and as we were about to land in Baltimore 1000 ft off the ground, we were suddenly shooting back up to the sky. They tried to land 3 times but the winds and storm were so bad that they rerouted us to Philadelphia. Oh, joy. We wound up landing back in Baltimore at 1 AM, got our bags and were in the car with my dad at 1:45, and Tatum finally fell asleep once she was in her car seat. Talk about a long day.

Sunday, we were up by 9 am despite the previous late night. We had a huge breakfast with my dad and stepmom and hung out and played before heading to West Virginia. We stopped in the middle to have a dinner and girl’s night with my best friends from college. I love trips home because it’s an excuse for everyone to get together and we don’t get to very often! My friend Sam has a little girl who’s a year younger than Tatum and the two of them sat together and laughed and shared food and it was the cutest thing. Three hours later (the waitress probably hated us) and we were on the road again headed to my mom and stepdad’s house.

Growing up, I probably took for granted how much their house is a child’s paradise. They live in the middle of nowhere, on top of a mountain surrounded by woods, with a creek at the bottom of the hill, and a personal petting zoo. When I was growing up we had chickens and horses, but my parents have expanded that to include goats, sheep, ducks, and a million other things. When we were there this time, they had baby kittens, ducks, and goats and they were the cutest things ever. Tatum adores my mom’s house cat and calls him “ee-shee” for kitty. She spent every minute inside the house looking for or petting him and he was surprisingly tolerant of her.

Monday was a pretty laid back day of hanging out at their house and visiting my stepdad’s mom, now warmly referred to as “GG” for great-grandma. Tuesday, Tatum and I headed to see my two Brittany(ney) friends and have a playdate with their littles! One has a little boy that’s two weeks older than Tatum, and the other has a little girl two years older and a little boy three months younger, so it’s always fun to see them “play” together and have some girl time to catch up!

Wednesday was the best because I drove to Cumberland to see my Alysha! It’s always funny to us how we became friends and the circumstances that led us to be so close. This girl is such a rock to me and no matter how long we have to go between seeing each other, we always fall right back into place. It was perfect timing because the day before she had taken her licensing boards to finally become a physical therapist and she passed! We grabbed lunch with a friend and spent the day catching up and laughing my guts out, like usual. Everybody needs an Alysha in their lives, and I’m so grateful for mine.

On Thursdays, my mama leads a bible study group at the local nursing home where my grandma stayed for a while after she couldn’t live with us any longer. As if I needed any more reason to love and admire my amazing mother, she gave me another. I wasn’t planning on dropping by originally, but we wound up getting all packed up and ready early so I took Tatum in and caught the end of her class and got to meet a few of her favorite residents. Everyone loved seeing Tatum and I’m happy that I decided to drop in after all. We grabbed some lunch with her after and then headed back to my dad’s house in Columbia.

I usually plan my weeks out better since it’s a two-hour drive in between my mom’s and dad’s houses but with Brian flying in on Friday and the airport only being 20 minutes from my dad’s, it made more sense to stay there Thursday and Friday night. On Friday, my dad was able to work from home so Tatum got to spend more time with her Poppy and we took walks and played at all the playgrounds I used to go to when I was little. After I got her in bed, I picked Brian up from the airport. His plane was delayed an hour also so you know, that was great… -___-

Saturday was the day of one of my best friends since middle school, Ardath’s, wedding. We drove back up to West Virginia, hung out with my mom and stepdad for a bit then headed to the wedding. The ceremony was in Ardath’s dad’s church where he has been the pastor since we were little. My other three best friends from high school were there and it was kind of my favorite day of the entire month getting to watch our best friend marry the love of her life and celebrate all night. Her reception was held where we used to have prom together and it gave me all kinds of nostalgia. I think Brian caught a small glimpse of my life growing up as we sent Ardath and Kenneth off after a huge circle swaying to Country Roads, singing at the top of our lungs, with tears in people’s eyes. I’m so grateful for these incredible women that made me who I am today and the bonds we still share.

Sunday, we had to head back to Maryland and fly out that evening. We did breakfast with my mom and stepdad, said bye to GG, lunch with my dad and stepmom, and headed out. Thankfully, our flight home wasn’t delayed and we were home by 8 PM, got Tatum in bed, and we resumed life as usual.

Trip 3 of 7 for 2018 done, with wedding 3 of 4 in the books.