Still in the midst of a little chaos.

The in between has never been a comfortable spot for me. Give me a project (or five), and I struggle to relax if it's only halfway done. Sometimes, this is a good thing, but often not. My focus locks in so tightly on the project to be completed that I can hardly focus on anything else- like writing this blog post, or calling my parents, for example. The dreaded in between is where I'm currently stuck. I really struggle taking things step by step and being patient as we settle in to our new home. It's like I can't see myself as having made progress until we're actually done.

And really, I shouldn't worry because we've made good progress. We've been here for four and a half days and: everything's unpacked and mostly put away, our used washer and dryer were purchased and hooked up, we painted, our internet service is arranged, our curtains and most of the decorations are hung, and I know how to get to the closet Walmart and Target. Yet,  I have to almost force myself to sit and stay in this chair instead of finish what I want to finish so bad. I'm driving my husband crazy. I'm driving myself crazy. I'm probably driving our dog and our neighbors crazy

I only made it a day and a half before buying paint. The long, white walls were making me sad, and I just had to make this place feel like less of a hallway and more of a home. We picked a soft gray and I feel so much more relaxed already. We also found a giant clock that goes perfectly over the fireplace- thanks, Lowe's, your half-price eye-catcher was too hard to pass up. The area rug? Yeah...that took some work. I probably looked at every rug that the internet and stores had to offer before deciding I just needed to pull one off the shelf, take it home, and only return it if I hated it.

As for Florida, I have yet to see the beach. That was on the agenda for today, but then it rained. It's really not that different in our neighborhood- but people care less about their cars than they did in Virginia. It's pretty warm, too. We've been in the 70s the last couple of days and the month of January is supposed to average around 60 every day. It think I can handle that!








Keagan checked in at his new command, but isn't doing much until he's ready to class up for Introductory Flight School (IFS). In the meantime, he has to report for formation Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and PT on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If he doesn't start IFS soon, we may be lucky enough to take leave for Christmas. YAY!

Well, it's back to try and finish up this decorating thing. Wish me luck as I try to come up with a wall arrangement that's "de-symmetricalized." (Yes, it is more fun to say de-symmetricalized than asymmetrical).

Florida: The Places We Went

So, I don't know about you, but on a blustery, cold, pretty much misreable day like today, I wish I could strap on my jetpack and fly to anywhere but here. I crave the outdoors. I'm having a rough day. Dreams of gunmen chasing me down last night resulted in restlessness and etc. Work didn't go so well. I was flustered, lacking in self-confidence, and downright struggling. I wanted so, so, bad to go outside and just walk. That always helps. But not when the temperature gauge is hanging out in the single digits. Yikes.

So, I'll just curl up in a blanket and pretend someone is giving me a big, warm hug. I'll remember that someone told me my boots are awesome today (yes!). And then, I'll talk about Florida. Yes, warm, sunny, and beautiful Florida.

After my friends left Saturday night, I ran around the house like crazy- singing about how excited I was to go to Florida. I'm sure my crazy antics (and hair, for that matter) drove my husband crazy. But baby, it was almost Florida time! I layed outfits out on the bed to make sure they looked right, rolled them up, and somehow squeezed a ridiculously unnecessary amount of cardigans and tank tops into my suitcase. Then, I slept. Haha, good one. I tried to sleep. Morning came quickly and it was off to Omaha in the slushy rain!

A flat tire on the side of the road, a Jeff Hicks sermon, and a couple of flights later, we arrived in Florida- tired, hungry, and ready for fun. The Hicks family enjoyed a lot of things that week- food, beaches, museums, food, games, entertainment, and did I mention food yet? A good amount of us also read or re-read the book, Heaven Is For Real (read it, seriously), played some hilarious rounds of Loaded Questions, and tried to memorize the phonetic alphabet.

Let's get to the good stuff though. Here's where we went on our trip to Florida:

Medeira Beach
On Monday, it was hot and sunny. Oh boy, were we midwesterners craving some sun. So, naturally we headed to a beach. We drove about an hour away from our house to the Gulf of Mexico where we found a quiet, fairly populated beach. The beach was scattered with obvious Floridians- tanned to the point of looking like leather. The girls (Kay, Kiley, and I) braved the waves and slightly chilly water, as the guys (Dave, Keagan, and Wyatt) sat on the beach. We enjoyed the birds skittering on the beach and the warm, open air. Watch out though- if you're as white as us, you'll probably want some sunscreen...

The Roadside Fruit Stand
What's Florida without fresh fruit? I guess I could have included this in the "What We Ate" post (coming soon..), but this pleasant little stop was well deserving of fitting into this category. A short stop at this stand was a good way to end a hot day at the beach- we picked up strawberries, kiwi, starfruit, coconut, pineapple, and pummelos. Breakfast for the week? Covered. The stand had produce of almost any kind you could imagine- things we never see in Iowa.

Boggy Creek Airboat Rides
On Tuesday we opted for something a little more adventurous. We hopped on an airboat (much like the ones you see on Swamp People), put on our 'ear goggles', and went on a half hour wildlife tour. The ride was so much fun in itself, but cruising through a beautiful, swampy land full of birds, alligators, and even cows, was incredible. It was so beautiful seeing what Florida is like beyond the tourist hot-spots. After our ride, we even got to hold a cute baby alligator.

Cocoa Beach
Wednesday, we decided to visit a beach on the opposite side of the state. We drove an hour from our house to the Atlantic Ocean- specifically Cocoa Beach. This beach was much more 'touristy' than Medeira. This time, none of us were brave enough to go in the water- it was windy and quite a bit chillier than our first couple of days. Instead, we walked up and down, enjoying the beauty. One highlight of this beach was the amount of shells scattered in the sand. I found a perfect orange color shell that I hope to make into a necklace when I feel inspired. :) After enjoying the beach, we went on a mission to find a fun seafood restaurant...and had great success! I'm so excited to tell you about The Lobster Shanty soon!

Warbirds Museum
What would a Hicks vacation be without a visit to a military/aviation museum? Thursday was a drizzly, cold day, so we decided to visit some indoor attractions.This museum is a few miles away from the Kennedy Space Center and is run by volunteers for the most part. If you have any interest in military history or aviation, then you should definitely visit this museum. The museum itself is not very big- but does have a fun collection of war memorabilia. The big draw of this visit (if you're anything like my husband) is the large collection of war planes, restored to flying condition. It was definitely an interesting stop.

American Police Hall of Fame & Museum
After visiting the Warbirds Museum, we went across the street to visit the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum. What we didn't quite understand, was that this museum was more of a memorial than anything. It did a great job of commemorating the lives of policemen who died in their service, but it kind of left a few of us feeling more sad than anything. The highlight of this stop, for the guys anyways, was the shooting range. Keagan and Wyatt got to shoot off 50 rounds with the weapon of their choice.

Imax Theater
Thursday night, we went to see The Hobbit in and Imax theater. It was a good way to wrap up a long day of museum viewing.

Universal Studios
Exploring a theme park of some sort is a must in Florida. Although none of us have ever been to Disney World, we decided this park would be the most interesting to us (I mean, seriously..HARRY POTTER). We picked the best day to go- it was cooler, yet sunny with no chance of rain. The lines were a little long to stand in, but we enjoyed the rides thoroughly. The highlight? Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The line took almost an hour to go through, but we spent it walking through Hogwarts- complete with the talking pictures and everything! It was an incredible ride- definitely the favorite.

Whoa. That got a lot longer than I expected. If you made it this far, congratulations. If anything, I know my parents enjoyed my long-windedness.... :)

Overall, it was incredible visit. This vacation was a little different than the vacations I'm used to. On our annual vacation to Northern MN, we rarely leave the resort- there's plenty of relaxing and beauty to enjoy right on site. Although busier and more tiring, this was a nice way to vacation too.