Camping in Florida

Lately Noah has been obsessed with camping. He talks about it constantly. Most of the time he talks about wanting to go camping in Florida, not sure why he always picks Florida but I think it would be awesome to camp on the beach. I wonder if they make special camping tents for camping on the beach. It would be amazing to camp at Fort Desoto, which happens to be my mom’s favorite beach. I would be kind of afraid that out camping gear would be swept out to sea during high tide. I am sure we wouldn’t camp really close to the water, so the odds of that happening would be slim to none. Of course you know days before if a hurricane is coming and so I think it would be pretty safe. I would love to wake up in the morning and unzip my tent and see the beautiful ocean and have my lungs full of the sea air. Talk about the perfect view.

My whole family loves the beach. I think my mom would be perfectly happy with a tent on the beach somewhere. She loves it that much. I am not sure if I could picture my mom camping on the beach as a residence, but I am sure we would have a great time camping together as a family. You can really camp many places. In the woods, at the beach, in your backyard, all that matters is you have fun with your loved ones and stay safe of course. Right now we can’t have open fires in my county because it has been so dry this summer. No campfires, bonfires or fire pits. So my longing to roast marshmallows will have to wait until another day. Noah wants to roast flowers. I don’t think he fully understood the meaning of roast. I spent the day explaining what roasting is and how it is not safe to do it in a tent. Shortly after our conversation he decided that he rather roast marshmallows.

Global Resort Homes Review

My family had the amazing opportunity to go on vacation to Orlando. I love Orlando because I love going to Disney. Well honestly I have a new favorite thing about Orlando. My new favorite thing was where we stayed. We had the pleasure of staying at a property by Global Resort Homes. We stayed in Windsor Hills. Global Resort Homes is an amazing rental company. The staff is very friendly and helpful to make your stay what you want it to be. All of the units are owned by people. They are not timeshares. There is no trading your weeks or having a set date you must go every year. I had a friend who owned a time share and she hated having to go the same week every year. You can pick when you go and you don’t have to buy anything extra. Think of it as the most amazing “hotel” you will ever stay in because you just book it like you would book any other place you would stay on vacation.



Disney with my almost 4 year old was very trying and hot and not the happiest place on Earth. During those trying times of waiting in line and listening to Noah scream and cry all I could do is think about going back to our amazing vacation home and jumping in the pool and relaxing. We had a gorgeous 3 bedroom town home to stay in. The vacation home became my own personal oasis away from the chaos of the other tourists at the parks. The armies of people from other countries that walked 10 people across around Disney, and SeaWorld were everywhere. The location was great too. I loved not having to ride in the car for a long time after being out with my family.



Noah who had been up since 4 am the morning we got there with no nap was glad to be out of the car, the plane and the shuttle bus. He was still cranky when we walked in. Noah saw our dip pool and did a complete 180 and was so excited and wanted to go swimming! I knew that all of the properties had some kind of pool but I was surprised how big the dip pool was. I guess I was thinking it was comparable to a baby pool. I was wrong it was awesome. It was private and didn’t require a walk or drive back to change. We had never stayed at a place where there was our very own pool. I am sure some of you know about how I like to relax and not really deal with 20 screaming kids throwing footballs from the pool to the hot tub.



The vacation home was beautiful. I loved all the decorations and it was very inviting. The first thing I did was remove the beautifully set table. I didn’t want to break anything and I thought that it would be a good idea to remove the dishes from being out. The kitchen had everything you could think of as far as dishes and utensils which was nice because we decided to have a frozen pizza on our first night cooked in our own oven. We stocked the fridge with lots of milk and juice and soda. Noah kept trying to get the milk out and pour himself a cup. Each of the bedrooms had their own bathroom and TV in each bedroom. There was also a nice flat screen TV in the family room. All of the beds were really comfortable too.



I slept in the master bedroom and the king size bed was so comfortable. I ended up falling asleep the day we arrived around 5 pm because I was so worn out. I didn’t intend to do so but I was lying in bed watching TV and the next thing I know I woke up and it was 8 pm. I loved having all the room to myself and the sheets and blankets were so soft. I had a ceiling fan that was controlled by a remote. The size of the town house was great because there was actually breathing room. Even with a suite at a hotel there is still never enough room. I consider myself a accommodations snob where I will only stay in really nice places.



When I found out that every unit has a washer and dryer, I was thinking that was cool but I probably wouldn’t do laundry on vacation. I was wrong, I did quite a bit of it during my week stay. The neighborhood also had an awesome playground that Noah loved to play on. They had a giant chess board and Noah built a city with it. When he was finished he said “Hey boys and girls, look at my city.” I really liked the sundry shop. I am such a sucker for gift shops and little stores. I had really bad sunburn on the back of my neck. It was really painful. I walked over to the Sundry shop and I found a bottle of Aloe, a really big bottle of aloe. I immediately bought it and got relief without leaving the gates of our community. I was extremely thankful that they had aloe among the many other items they sold.

I highly recommend staying at a Global Resort Homes property the next time you visit Orlando. They provide all the comforts of home with luxurious accommodations.

Thank you so much to Global Resort Homes for inviting my family to stay for a complimentary week at one of your awesome vacation homes.

The best thing that anyone has done for me

I am in a nostalgic mood tonight. I am listening to old mix cds I have from 4 or so years ago. I decided to tell you all about the best thing that anyone has ever done for me. I have lost contact with her but I will never ever forget what she did for me. In July 2003 I had a miscarriage. I was devastated completely and utterly devastated. All my life all I wanted to be was a mother. Most girls were playing with Barbies I was playing with dolls. I owned like 3 barbies in my life. They weren’t my thing.

When I was in the hospital, I found out that they do a memorial service at a cemetery where they cremate the baby’s ashes and put them all other and bury them in a cylinder a couple times a year. That was something that I really wanted for my child. It was something tangible to hold on to. I could go visit. It really helped me with my healing process.

In October 2003 I met a girl named Charlene. She was dating a guy that my ex was in a band with. Ok it was more like jam sessions but they called it a band at this point. Charlene came with Caleb to band practice one day. I stayed home and hung out at the apartment. My ex called me and told me about her. She ended up coming over that night. She was crying. Crying really hard. I sat down next to her and rubbed her back and reassured her that everything is ok and we talked. I thought I would never see her again. It was one of those random meetings. I hardly ever went to band practice with him so I just thought oh she was nice. Charlene and Caleb were planning on going to Florida a day or two later.

I had gotten an invitation for the memorial service so of course I wanted to go. We got there and my mom and sister were there and his whole family was there. I couldn’t take it. I was crying so hard I couldn’t see. I was looking down at the ground because I couldn’t look at anyone. I saw a hand give me some Kleenex and I looked up to thank them and it was Charlene. I met this girl one night and she was there for me the moment I needed a friend. I was amazed that she would take time out to be there for me. Especially when they were supposed to be in Florida.

At the end of the service, she and I were joking about hiding in the trunk and going to Florida with them and the guys said we didn’t have to hide in the trunk and we left for Florida at midnight.

After that we were always together. We were best of friends. We did all kinds of things together. We would go on little adventures together. We would stay up late and go to a restaurant for hours. They passed out ribbons at the memorial and she hung hers from her rear view mirror with a message to my child. Every time I saw it I thought about the wonderful thing she did and about my baby.

She had the opportunity to go to Germany for a semester of college and when she came back she had changed. She was like a stranger again. I had hung out with her a handful of times before we just stopped contacting each other. I miss her. We had some really fun times together. People change and times change. I just hope she is happy and all that.
Honk Honk. Beep Beep.