Goodbye Orlando!

 The Wensyel and Craig crew

 Jake and Daniel

 Ethan, Grant, Gavin, Jordan, Nate, Parker, Bella, Anderson, Walker, Luke, and Jackson.

 This is how surprised I was- I had on no make-up, sweats, and my hair was a mess.  Hahaha.

(Holly, Katie, Shelly, and Michelle)

What a crazy weekend our last weekend was in Orlando!  On Thursday, the packers arrived, so I had to have all of our stuff (everything we needed for 10 days plus all the things the movers wouldn't take) packed and ready.  On Friday, the movers arrived and took...well, everything..even my car.  Tyson flew in late Friday night and we all camped out in an empty house for the weekend.  We went to Walker's soccer game, ran a few errands, and then mostly just stayed at home for the afternoon so that people could drop by and say goodbye.  Then, the Sperrys had us over Saturday evening for swimming, dinner, and one last hoorah.  And lastly, my friend Shelly asked if she could bring us donuts Sunday morning before we left for our flight; much to my surprise, my friends Katie, Michelle, and Holly and their kids showed up for donuts, too.  It was awesome!  It was the best surprise goodbye party ever!  Lots of tears were shed, though.  :(

Walker's Soccer Trophy Presentation

 The Knights

Walker played in his last soccer game the day before we left Orlando.  I can't remember how many goals he had (maybe 3 or 4), but he was awesome as usual.  I even had a few parents approach us and ask if Walker could just stay back in Orlando so he could play soccer and basketball.  Ha!

Walker's Graduation Practice

Walker's teacher, Mrs. Kleinburg, starts tearing up when she says his name here.  She was a mess when he had to say goodbye.

 Walker's teachers went "1-2-3" and then surprised him with a kiss.  Hahaha!  Look how embarrassed he was at the next picture. Ha!

Yay! We FINALLY have internet!!  I'm going to have to do a little catching up from our time in Orlando before I get to Colorado.  To start with, this is from Walker's graduation practice on Friday, May 30th.  Walker's teachers invited me to watch practice since we were going to move before Walker's actual graduation.  I'm sorry for video overload, but I couldn't delete the cuteness.

We Made It!

I'm blogging from my phone, and for some reason, I can't download any pictures. As soon as my internet gets up and running, which will be next Thursday at the latest, I'll try to post some pics then.  Here is a little about what's been going on the last few days:

• Leaving Orlando was really, really hard. Our friends threw us a surprise send-off party the morning of our flight, though, so that was pretty cool. I have a ton of pictures from that that I'll have to post.
• The flight was a nightmare. First of all, "someone" forgot to pack the stroller and left it behind at the old house, so we struggled with Anderson in the airports. And as it turns out, Anderson hates flying...or maybe he just hates being made to sit still for 4 hours. He'd much rather run up and down the aisle of the airplane or throw a temper tantrum in the seat. Yep, Anderson was "that kid" on the plane.
• The weather here in Colorado had been amazing!!!! It's been in the 50's when we wake up (but it isn't as cold as it sounds) and it gets to the mid 80's during the day. I'm loving the no humidity!! People have been complaining about the rain here lately, but it just reminds me of Florida's afternoon rainstorms that we got during the summer.
• Ok, here is where the real complaining starts- the movers packed and loaded us last Friday (May 30th) and shipped my car out the same day. We've been living with no furniture, TVs, toys, beds, etc since then And I'm so over it. The movers aren't supposed to get here until next week- like June 8th or 9th. Do y'all realize how long that is to live with no stuff? I'm about to lose my mind!
• I've been having to drive Tyson's 4 door truck since I'm car-less, and y'all, I can't drive a big truck like that for nothing! I can't tell y'all how many curbs I've taken out. Hahaha! And let me tell y'all how fun it is to load up the family and take Tyson to work at the crack of dawn!
• Speaking of the crack of dawn, the sun comes up here at 6 am and doesn't go down til 9 pm, and it is soooooo bright here.
• The time change has been pretty difficult for us to adjust to. We are on Mountain time here, so that puts us 2 hours behind Eastern time. We've been trying to keep the boys up later, but it never fails, they are still up at 7 am eastern time. At least I haven't had to wake them up to take Tyson to work. :/
• Our new house is amazing! I can't wait to show y'all some pics! I looked at this house when I came out in February, but I kind of let Tyson handle the house stuff. He has done a great job...I never imagined I would live in a house this nice.
• The first two days we were here, Jake and Walker got to go to CSU's football camp. They both had a great time, learned a lot, and met new friends. Jake managed to get in a fight with an older kid, but all the coaches said the other kid had it coming.
• I took the boys to see their new elementary school and it's pretty awesome! Both boys seemed excited about it.
• I was planning on going to the pool all this week while we waited for the movers to get here, but who knew you had to go through background checks to get a pool key. Dang! Anyways, I passed and now have a key, so we're going to hit the pool ASAP. Did I mention that the pool is heated? 
• We still haven't made any friends outside of the coaches' families. Our house is a new construction and we don't have any neighbors yet. I'm hoping we'll meet some people at the pool and get this party started. I'm pretty sure the boys are tired of playing with their mama and each other.
• The views never get old! I take a picture of the mountains at least daily with my phone! So beautiful!
• ok, that's all I have for now. I'll post more when I'm able!

Jake's Going Away Party and Anderson's End of the Year Program

 Jake with Mrs. Winemiller

Anderson with Ms. Evie and Ms. Cece

Jake's teacher called me a few weeks ago and asked if we could have a going away party for Jake at school.  How sweet is that?  We LOVE Mrs. Winemiller- she is one of a kind!  Anyways, I wanted to surprise Jake at school with lunch for his class, but my stubborn child started packing his own lunch that morning and would NOT let me talk him out of it.  I finally got frustrated and was like "you can't pack a lunch because I'm BRINGING you lunch!"  Yep, I spilled the beans.  He was stoked, though!

Jake's class his been together since Kindergarten with Mrs. Winemiller, so it was an emotional day.  Mrs. Winemiller adores Jake; she says he is "all boy," but that he is the most tender-hearted boy.  She cried during our parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago, and she started crying again today as I was leaving.  Believe me, the feeling is mutual.  It's going to be hard to find a teacher like Mrs. Winemiller.

Anderson had his end of the year program at Lifesong the same day as Jake's party.  Unfortunately, Anderson had stage fright and wouldn't come unglued from my leg long enough for me to get any pictures or videos.  Grr.  Anderson's teachers are amazing as well; there aren't many people that Anderson will leave my side for, but Mrs. Cece and Mrs. Evie are two that he will.  They call themselves Anderson's "aunts."  Hahaha!  

I think I say this every time, but this will be my hardest move; we've made really good friends in Orlando and had just started putting down roots.  We have an awesome neighborhood, church, preschool, elementary school, gym, etc.  It's going to be hard to top Orlando. :(

I think this will be my last post from Orlando.  Our movers will be here this weekend to pack, load, and ship my car, and we fly out Sunday, May 31st.

The Rest of the Memorial Day Pictures

 Gracie, Ryleigh Kate, Cam, Walker, Jace, Chase, Jake, my mom, and Anderson

 My parents and all the grands

 The whole fam

 My cousin Christy's kiddos

 Amy and her crew

 My favorite people

Love my mama!

I'm so thankful I got to see my family one last time in Georgia before we move.  I'm going to miss seeing these folks as often as I've been able to these last few years. :(

Next stop...Fort Collins, Colorado!

Memorial Day Weekend

 Granddaddy!!!

 Granddaddy and Ryleigh Kate

 My boys with Uncle Bobby

The annual boys' fishing trip

We spent Memorial Day weekend in St. Simons with my parents, my sister and her crew, my granddaddy, my cousin Christy and her crew, and my Uncle Bobby (my dad's brother) and his wife, Jackie.  This was our last weekend to see everyone before moving to Colorado, so it was bittersweet.

Tyson was recruiting in Jacksonville on Friday, so I picked him up on our way and then the party started!  We all stayed in the same complex where my parents' condo is, and we just bounced back and forth between condos all weekend long.  It was so laid back and relaxing.

Saturday morning, the guys went fishing on their annual charter fishing trip.  They didn't catch much on this trip, but they had a good time regardless.  Meanwhile, the rest of us went to the beach and braved the wind and chilly (well, chilly for this Florida girl) water.  Anderson Summers must have run 5 miles running back to where the water started to where the water crashed.  He had a great time! Once the older boys got there, they were all about jumping waves.  The rip current was pretty bad, so this mama was stressed the whole time.  Everyone survived, though, and no one got lost on the beach.  Haha!

We spent Sunday at the pool all day because the rip current was supposed to be worse than Saturday.  After the pool, we all got ready, took some pics, and went out to eat together.  I somehow managed to not get a pic of the whole group, though.

Anyways, in a nut shell, that was our weekend.  It was so hard telling everyone goodbye when we left; my parents are already planning a visit to Colorado next month, but I have no idea when we'll see everyone else.  :(  Boo!  I'm so thankful that we had this weekend together, though.  Next up, I have a few more group pictures to post, so stay tuned!

Staycation

 I love how they lined up by age- the Summers boys + the Braun boys and girl

The view from our room...Anderson was in Heaven with all the lawn mowers that were out on the golf course.

We decided to have a last minute "staycation" this past weekend at the Hilton Bonnet Creek here in Orlando.  A lot of our friends come to this hotel and rave about it, so we decided to give it a whirl before we leave Florida.  Oh, and our best friends, the Brauns, just so happened to be staying at the same hotel for the weekend.  ;)

We left for the hotel shortly after Walker's soccer game Saturday morning and got there before lunch.  We played by the pool ALL day long; it was awesome!  The pool area is huge and has a water slide, lazy river, baby pool, and zero entry.  Our kids had the best time!  We had to literally drag them away that evening so that we could all go to dinner together.

Unfortunately, not much sleep was had by the Summers family that night, so we decided to get up and go home and nap.  Haha.  The Brauns stayed on and played for another day, though.

And that is it for our last weekend in Orlando. :(  I'm glad we could spend it together, not stressing about packing and the move, and with our best friends.