Sickness

Poor Kianna has had a rough time health wise since moving to Florida. For months, she has been battling some sores on her legs. Recently these sores have been spreading. Before we moved, we had the spots checked out. We were told it was a bacterial infection and so she was given an oral and topical antibiotic, which did absolutely nothing to help.

After Kianna returned from her mission trip her legs were even worse and the sores had spread to her belly and hand. She saw a dermatologist a few days after moving here, who gave us a name for these sores. Molluscum Contagiosum, is a skin virus that is highly contagious and commonly picked up in community swimming pools in hot and humid climates. We really think she got it when we were here in May, as she swam in the hotel pool. Unfortunately the virus can last months to years. Thankfully there is a topical treatment that the dermatologist performed to jump start Kianna's immune system.

The dermatologist placed medicine on the sores and then immediately covered them with paper tape. Kianna had to leave it on for 2.5 to 3 hours before taking a shower to wash the medicine off. By that time, the spots had blistered, so we immediately covered them with neosporin and lots of bandaids. In addition, we were told that apple cider vinegar baths could really help. So she faithfully soaked her body for two weeks. Her legs were pretty sore as the blisters healed, but we are happy to report that the sores have now healed and her legs look amazing. Yay!

As if that all isn't bad enough, a few days after her treatment, she broke out into a rash. We weren't sure if the two things were connected or not? Poor girl was an itchy mess with little dots all over her feet, knees and elbows. This was then followed by Kianna coming home from her first day of school feeling miserable. Poor girl had a fever and had to miss the next two days of school due to a fever and sore throat. I was hoping it was strep, so she could get some medicine, but unfortunately it was viral, so she had to wait it out.

She is feeling fine now, but still has clogged ears, which makes it difficult to hear anything. What? Can I tell you how many times I have had to repeat myself lately. She also has a lagging cough and stuffy nose.

Then, Trace came home from school last Friday not feeling well. Little man, spent the weekend in bed watching Netflix. He missed two days of school due to a fever and sore throat. He's back at school, but now has the stuffy nose and cough...

Guess who has it now? Me. I've been home taking things slow, recovering. We're praying Kaylee and Trevor stay healthy as we move into Labor Day weekend.

Beach Living

We are really enjoying living close to the beach. Trevor and I enjoy taking evening walks on the beach. We love going to Coral Cove and looking for shells as a family. We love just chilling at the beach watching the waves crash, watching our kids play on boogie boards and skim boards, and enjoying the beautiful views and sunshine.

We have discovered the power of polarized glasses, as they reveal the wildlife swimming below that my normal sunglasses do not reveal. My friend, Indy, kept telling me that they have seen quite a few spinner sharks on our private beach. One day, while we were at the beach together she let me borrow her sunglasses and I was amazed at the sharks I could see. We have probably seen 6 sharks since living here. We have also seen 4-5 dolphins and a stingray.

Rizzo hasn't been quite as sure about the beach. The waves tend to scare him. He sniffs at them and then they come towards him, so he runs away from them. We haven't been able to get him into the water until this past week when he met a new friend, Scout at the beach. Kelly and I met up to take our dogs for a walk. However, her dog, Scout, was not a big fan of the heat, so after a very short distance Scout decided he would rather sit in the shade. Can't say I blame him!? Anyway, since walking wasn't a hit, we decided to let the dogs cool off at the beach. 

Scout loves the water! As soon as we got there, Scout ran into the water and Rizzo followed him. Rizzo went in farther than he ever had before. Scout went in to the point where he had to doggy paddle. Rizzo didn't go in that far, but he did go in! 

Later, I had to show Trevor and the kids how Rizzo did, so we took Rizzo for a walk along the beach. Rizzo still didn't run into the water on his own, but he is definitely beginning to let his guard down. He saw a coconut being pushed around by the waves. He was so intrigued by this ball-looking coconut that he went in farther than before. It was so cute!

Volleyball

Kaylee joined the Jupiter Christian Middle School Volleyball team a week after moving here. It has been a good way to meet new people. She is a very scrappy player and therefore is very fun to watch. She dives all over the place, never wanting a ball to drop. She starts in the front row and then rotates out for the back row and before her serve. For whatever reason, she has really struggled to get an overhand serve over the net.

New Friends

We have made some friends in our neighborhood. We met them at the beach last week and exchanged phone numbers. The mom's name is Indy and she has four kids: Daniel, age 10; Noah, age 8, and twins girls, Faith and Hope, age 5. They are a very sweet Christian family. Trace really hit it off with her boys, especially Daniel. In fact, they have invited him back to the beach with them several times and invited Trace to Daniel's birthday party. How cool is that? The only bummer is that like us they are renting and their rental is up the end of August. At that time, they will be moving back to their home in Miami, which has been renovated over the summer.

At school, Trace has become friends with a boy named, Caleb. They have been eating lunch together each day, along with a few other boys. When I dropped him off at school, I noticed a boy making eye contact with Trace, smile at him and then stop to wait for him. I smiled to myself, thinking how sweet that little act of kindness was. After school, Trace asked me if I noticed that boy at drop off time? He told me that's Caleb. It meant a lot to him too.

I have been keeping in touch with Kelly Nelson, the mom I exchanged phone numbers with at Open House earlier this week. We had breakfast together this week. They have been so busy getting settled into their new place, that they haven't made it to the beach yet. Given that we live a block from the beach, we are at the beach regularly and are loving it! We decided to invite the Nelsons over for a day at the beach followed by dinner. We really enjoyed getting to know their sweet family. We ended up spending the whole day with them.

Kaylee has been eating lunch with Camryn and Makenna everyday. They have dubbed themselves the "Popular Loners" in their texting group. They are keeping a tally as to how many people sit at their table. They joke that the popular girls sit at the table next to them, so the boys come sit at their table and then turn to talk to the popular girls. I guess their tally is up to six right now. It is all in good fun.

Kianna has made a new friend named Jessica. They have been eating lunch together and exchanged phone numbers. I reached out to Jessica's mom a few days ago. We hope to get the girls together sometime soon. We are all adjusting well. It seems a bit easier to make friends here because very few people are actually from here, so they too know how important friends are when moving to a new place. We are blessed!

First Day at Jupiter Christian School

The kids were all a bit nervous to start school today. They are anxious to make some friends. Actually if I'm honest I am too! Yesterday, the kids were able to meet their teachers and drop off their school supplies. Trace's 4th grade teacher is Mrs. Beirnes. She seems really sweet. There are several other new students in his class, so he was able to meet a couple of them, which helped.

Kianna's 6th grade homeroom teacher is Mrs. Hagenbuch. Her teacher is also the science teacher, which is one of Kianna's favorite subjects. Kianna's class changes classes all as a group, so she will get to know her classmates well.

Kaylee was able to meet her teachers yesterday and walk through her schedule. She also had a luncheon for new students where she met a new girl named Makenna, who moved here a year ago from Texas. It turns out they have several classes together.

I was able to meet several other new families yesterday too. I actually exchanged phone numbers with one of the moms, Kelly Nelson. They have an 8th grade daughter named Camryn, who seems really sweet. They just moved here from San Diego, California. God is blessing us with a very welcoming new school. I'm so anxious to hear how their first day goes. I'm praying for good friends for each of them.

Kianna's 12th Birthday

Kianna is a sweet girl with a great heart for Jesus. She loved playing with all the little girls on her mission trip. She loved letting them play with her hair. They didn't want to let her go when the time came.

Kianna has lots of determination, lots of spunk and lots of interests:

• Slime- She is currently obsessed with making slime. She can make butter slime, glitter slime, floam slime, flubber slime, and the list goes on. She enjoys playing with it, watching videos about it, and particularly enjoys making it. She has always enjoyed mixing soaps and shampoos together, to make her own concoctions, so this makes perfect sense. We are encouraging her to use these skills to develop her cooking and baking skills. She made us chocolate chips cupcakes with homemade cookie dough frosting, which were amazing! She also helped me make dinner recently. She loves doing things on her own without my help. 
• Animals and Dinosaurs- Kianna loves animals. She loves to cuddling with Rizzo and teaching him new tricks. She enjoys giving him baths and often get in with him. She enjoys watching animal videos and as a result is quite knowledgeable. She still loves dinosaurs. She currently wants to be a marine biologist or paleontologist when she grows up.
• She loves stuffed animals, especially the big eyed ones. She has quite the collection going on.
• Shopping- Kianna loves to spend money. She doesn't like to work or save money, but loves to shop. Especially when she knows she gets to buy something. It doesn't really matter what she buys, she just loves to buy things, especially little squishy trinkets. 
• Singing- Kianna has a beautiful voice and can often be heard singing around the house. She loves singing on her karaoke machine. She led worship on her mission trip, which is pretty cool. She enjoys choir at school.
• Music- Kianna has decided to give up the clarinet, so she can have time for theater at school. Kianna is very dramatic and enjoys performing, so we think this will be a great fit for her. She did show choir last spring at Vernon and thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, her new school doesn't offer it. Kianna also wants to learn how to play the piano. Our rental house has a piano, so we'll see how much time she dedicates to learning to play it.
• Sports- Kianna's favorite sport is soccer, followed by basketball and volleyball. Kianna and Trace had soccer tryouts for a travel team called Jupiter United. She is excited to get plugged in with a new team here in Florida.
• School- Kianna's favorite subjects are Math and Science. She is not a big reader, but occasionally enjoys reading books about animals. She read "My Life in Dog Years" over the summer and really enjoyed it. 
• Friends- Kianna doesn't really have a best friend. At Vernon, her closest friends were Amory and Ella. At church, she enjoys Christian, Isaac and Zoey. In our neighborhood, she enjoys playing with Claire. We are praying Kianna will develop some good friends here in Florida.
• Food- Kianna loves sushi, hamburgers, ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, Takis (a spicy rolled chip she introduced us to), and cookie dough.
• Allergies- Kianna has been getting allergy shots since last summer to help with her oral allergy syndrome. Thankfully she can now eat all of her favorite fruits and vegetables again. She still occasionally complains of a food upsetting her stomach or making her mouth itch, but the reactions seem to be much milder than before. She is currently in the maintenance phase of her shots, where she gets a shot every 3 weeks.

It was important to Kianna that we celebrate her birthday with family in Iowa before we moved. We ended up celebrating at Osaka Japanese restaurant with The Langfalds, Grandma Becki, Grandma Sue and Grandpa Wayne. We followed that up with Angel Food Cake and gifts back at our house. 

We also celebrated all of the summer birthdays with a farewell party at Aunt Stacie and Uncle Patrick's house. Aunt Stacie ended up cutting Kianna's red tips off her hair, which was a little bittersweet, but necessary to comply with the new dress code at JCS. We had buster bar for dessert. Yummy!

In order to celebrate the actual day with a bang, we invited the Wenzel's over to celebrate Kianna's birthday with us. We hadn't seen them in a little over two years, so it was really fun to spend time with them again! We took them to the Loggerhead Marine Life Center to show them the sea turtles. The kids were able to participate in one of the Junior Vet Labs again. This time they learned about sea turtles nesting habits, since it is nesting season. Sally and I enjoyed listening to the lesson too!

We spent the rest of the day at the beach, had a nice meal and frozen yogurt for dessert. I'd say our little lady was well celebrated!

Jupiter United Soccer Club

Before we arrived in Jupiter, Trevor researched soccer clubs. He found Jupiter United and contacted the coaches. The kids missed tryouts in June, but based on their experience they each made a team. Practices literally started the day after we arrived in Jupiter. The kids were excited to meat their new teammates and begin making new friends.

Roadtrip to Florida

We decided to break up the 22 hour drive to Florida into two, 11 hour days of driving with a pitstop in Chattanooga, TN. The first day of driving went really fast. I had planned several games we could play in the car, audiobooks to listen to and movies to watch. We played the license plate game, car bingo, a traveling scavenger hunt, listened to the third Harry Potter book and watched movies. We stopped for dinner at a dog friendly restaurant in Nashville, TN. Did you know there is an app called Bring Fido, which helps you find dog friendly places around the country? We landed at an awesome barbecue restaurant, where we sat outdoors and Rizzo was given a bowl of water.

We rented a dog friendly house in Chattanooga, TN. We spent the following day at the local tourist attractions. We went to Rock City, Ruby Falls and took an inclined railcar up the side of Lookout Mountain. However, despite the nice scenery my highlight was our yummy dinner where we had a delicious meal. I got to try creamy grits, which was amazing. We ended our day with ice cream at one of my all time favorite ice cream shops.

The last day of driving, didn't go quite as fast, but we made it here safely, so all is good. We ended the trip with all but 8 license plates. Rizzo was an amazing traveler. He did his usual cuddling and napping. He was terrific. We were greeted with a welcome balloon, key lime pie, a cookie cake and a few groceries all provided by our awesome realtor Lori. Trevor's car and a few boxes arrive in the morning. The rest of our stuff is still back in Iowa unpacked until the merger is official and our house sells.