The travels have begun....

. I have completely ignored this poor blog.  For those of you still reading, thanks for sticking with us over here!

The crazy traveling has begun!  In the past month, Carl, Jack and I have been to Chicago and Jacksonville.  The trips were both wonderful.

In Chicago, Carl had a review course for his orthopaedic boards that are coming up in July, and so Jack and I decided to go with him.  It was wonderful to see our friends, Kamran, Bahar and Anthony.  We had a great time catching up, and they all enjoyed playing with Jack.  The weather was pretty chilly so we didn't get outside as much as we would have liked.  We did get to play in the hotel pool. Here are some pics from that trip.

Getting ready for the day...

Jack in his robe after a quick dip in the pool!

He loves to take all of the wipes out of the container

He thinks he is SO funny!

We had about two weeks to recuperate before we went on our next trip.  We enjoyed the days at home with the pups.  I finished my work on the Economic Development Board, and the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority and passed the gavel to the new members.  Carl worked on his medical licenses for Tennessee and Florida.  Jack was busy learning to pull himself into a sitting position and pull himself up on furniture.  One of our close friends, Hannah, came over for dinner.  She is moving to Colorado so we had her over for dinner.

Loves his catepillar

Having fun with Dad

My crazy guys!

Tickle monster

Loves to eat eggs, bagels and sausage for breakfast...and yes still  NO teeth

Jack and his eggies

Having fun with his toys...and still in a turtleneck.  Please let there be some type of warm weather before we leave Erie

This past week we were in Jacksonville trying to find housing.  Jacksonville is very large, technically it is the largest city in the USA if you calculate it by land mass.  We went there to try to pick an area.  On our first night there, we went out to dinner in Avondale, and fell in love with the area.  There are such wonderful shops within walking distance from many of the house.  There are a lot of restaurants and children boutiques there as well. The three of us ate at this incredible frozen yogurt place daily.  We found that Jack LOVES frozen yogurt!  We didn't end up buying a house but at least we know what we are looking for next time.

We took Jack to Ponte Vedra beach.  He was fascinated by the sand, and strangely enough, thought it tasted great.  I had to stop him from eating the whole beach!

Just arriving in Avondale 

Ready for dinner!

Amazing pizza in San Marco...and they say you can't get good pizza in FL

At the beach...enjoying his first juice pack. I was surprise how easily he drank from a straw

Loves to take the straw out of the juice pack...and play

SO big:)  Sand all over his face

This is right after Dad had poured water all over him...Jack thinks it is SO funny

Looking for some more water

After we had fun at the beach, we went to a local restaurant across from the beach for alligator bites.  Jack LOVED them!

Eating some organic baby lasagna...he makes such a mess

Loves his baby lasagna

He wasn't so sure about FL at first but now feels quite at home

Getting ready to board the plane home

We have three weeks left before we leave Erie for good.  I can't believe how fast time has gone by.  We are booking our trips in Europe, and hope to have plenty to tell you about next week. We are spending our remaining time decluttering, saying goodbye to friends, finishing up work, and enjoying our home.  After our house hunting trip, we really appreciate our home more now than ever.  Carl and  I both love everything about it, and frankly wish we could get someone just to pick it up and place it down somewhere in JAX.  Knowing that is not possible, we will try to truly treasure the time we have left here.  With this said, we are excited to make a new life for ourselves in Florida, and find a new place that we can call home!