After some doctor appointments and some fun with friends, we kept enjoying our home leave - it was amazing to have a vacation! Or at least a change of scenery - something we had not done since November 2019!
Clarissa started wearing contacts this summer! Her eye doctor said tweens are actually a really good age to start wearing them. Nothing says summer like ice cream!
The teen headed off to Texas to visit with dad. We weren't sure if Clarissa's summer camp was going to be a go or not. So we planned a little overnight trip to Myrtle Beach on our way (so at least we had something fun to do if camp was cancelled). We beached and hit the hotel pool.
We spent a ton of time on our balcony. It was nice just staring out into the ocean and feel the breeze.
Pelican fly bys and airplane take offs were frequent.
Her good friends/cabin mates from camp in 2019, both lived in Myrtle Beach. So we met up the night before drop off for ice cream for them to catch up....smiles all around and it was as if no time had based!
The next morning we headed the rest of the way to camp! Looks the same!
Her full prescription of contacts weren't in yet (and trying something new could be tricky at camp....so, she wore glasses to camp). She was so excited! Daddy was a little nervous. We were doing our good bye hugs while waiting for the gate to open up. I sent the above group picture to the other mom saying we just arrived. She responded she had just pulled up (and there was only 1 car behind us....super lucky). So while we drove to the stations (lice check, temperature check, paperwork, etc), they were right behind us!
Clarissa did some awesome new activities this summer!
Axe throwing and Archery! Hitting the target both times!
After a week at camp, we picked up Clarissa. Then, we headed straight down I-95 to Orlando! If you recall, we added a new tab to the blog. We bought a townhouse, sight unseen (in person, lots of zooms), and we were heading down to the check it out during the only week of availability we had all summer!
We made it to Home Sweet Home late Friday night (thanks to lots of traffic on the 95).
Lucky for us, it looked like it did on our zooms and the photos. Huge sigh of relief. Of course, we want to change some things and put our touch on it (but also knowing it is a rental). We spent a ton of time cleaning out the owner's closet! The previous owners left it full of baby gear (pack'n'plays, high chairs, baby floaties, etc), so we cleared it out and made a donation run!
The resort entrance is great!
We made a friend at our entrance and hung out in our private pool quite a bit!
It's great in that our property overlooks a pond. We didn't see any alligators, but there were some wood cranes, herons, and ducks.
I couldn't pick a fave of the wood cranes (new camera + photogenic birds....). Click on one of the images to see them full screen! We also checked out the resort nature trail, it was late evening, so low light, but saw a raccoon in a tree and sleeping ducks.
We played with some sparklers in front of the townhouse to celebrate the 4th of July.
For safety, the resort asked for all fireworks to be shot off from a field near the clubhouse. It made for a nice little show with everyones fireworks. We watched up close for a little bit, then walked home and watched from our pool!
Now don't worry, we didn't just work on the townhouse and walk around nature....we did some fun theme park days!! Coming soon!
