Reunion in Florida

Last week I traveled to Florida with Jonas to see two of my dear friends from Harding. (Thanks David for letting me go and a special thanks to Nana and Angie for taking care of Asher during the day while I was away.) Julie was my maid of honor and Melanie was my matron of honor. I think the last time we all were together was four years ago at Julie's wedding. So, when I caught word that Julie was going to be in Orlando for a conference (she now lives in Vancouver, Canada with her husband Paul where they are starting house churches.), I cleared my schedule and booked a flight. This was my first time to fly with one of the kids. I was very nervous but Jonas did GREAT!

Since Julie and Paul were at a conference during the day and Melanie and I had the responsibilities of moms to nap our children, we mainly hung out at the house. It was fun just to layout in Mel's backyard. Jonas took some incredible naps while we were there but when he was awake, he cooperated by playing on a blanket in the shade (thanks Daisy, Mel's little girl, for letting Jonas play under her Dora tent).

This is Melanie's sweet boy, Isaac. He loved being near Jonas and would sometimes want to crawl into my lap. It felt like I was holding Asher at times, which helped me from missing him so much.

We hung out one afternoon at the YMCA. The backyard wasn't going to do it for me anymore...it was in the high 80s and I needed WATER and somewhere snake free (yes, I saw a fast, long black snack in Mel's backyard)!! Above, Jules and I are checking out the Y's water slide.

The Red Rocket...

Jonas hanging out in the carseat, while his mom is sliding down the Red Racer?, Red Rocket? (Don't worry Melanie was watching him.)

Melanie was kind to get us a babysitter one night so that we all could go out for dinner and have uninterrupted conversations. We headed out in the minivan that Julie and Paul had rented for the week. (Our waiter gave us a hard time when he found out we were traveling in a minivan...he's right, we should have rented a Hummer limo...what were we thinking!)

Night on the town without the kiddos! Good times! Good times!

We had an incredible dinner at Taverna Opa. It's a Greek restaurant, which included hummus made fresh at your table (I could not get enough), flaming cheese appetizer, napkins being thrown in the air, occassional "opa"s being shouted out, and belly dancers (???, I don't recall seeing any of these in My Big Fat Greek Wedding so not sure where they fit in the whole Greek mix).

After dinner, we all held out for dessert. Dan and Mel said they knew of an incredible bread pudding. So we ordered one "to go" and Daniel put it together for us. Above is the final product. It was good but not as good as the Nutella gelato I found for my dessert choice. (Sorry, Dan and Mel...but Jules agrees with me. :))

As Melanie drove Jonas and me to the airport for our departure, I had the sad sick feeling in my stomach like I did the day I left Harding. It stinks when your best friends (besides you Dave) are spread out all across the US and now even in Canada! We used to look forward to the next wedding where we would all meet up but those days seem to have come to an end. I am going to hope for the best that we can meet up again (including those who were not able to be with us...Schepp, Amber, Christy, Lorina) and hopefully in less than 4 YEARS! Vancouver Winter Olympics here we come!