Adios! Ciao! Bye!

That's the extent of my foreign language skills.

Brent gave me this card on the morning we found out that
 we're  pregnant.  He wasn't kidding!

Brent and I have packed up the house and we're moving from our home in Florida for new adventures in Seattle, Washington.  You really can't have a more drastic move in the continental US.  We love Florida for many reasons, but we know that we don't want to raise our kids here. The country is evolving all over in many good ways, but Florida is still pretty backwards on a lot of social issues and we want to be in a place where our kids will feel "normal".  In my 20 years living in Florida, I have not seen even one set of gay dads.  Two guys walking through the mall with kids in tow would be like a shock to everyone here.  We'd rather be in a place where we can show up to our kids school together and not turn everyone's heads.  This was something that I initially struggled with because someone has got to pave the way for other future gay families, so why don't we pave the way.  In the end, if we can put our children in an environment where having two dads isn't an issue, we'll do it.  I don't expect Seattle to be all rainbows and unicorns, but Seattle has a much more welcoming attitude to families of all shapes.  So that's that.  

We've made a lot of friends here who have become our family.  Seriously like brothers & sisters.  Leaving them is going to be one of the hardest things we'll do in our lives.  Some that we will miss:



Me, John, Jason, Julie, Brent, Michelle, & Jenn.  They're going to make great Aunts & Uncles!

It's going to be weird living in a place without palm trees everywhere.  At the same time, it will be nice to experience four seasons, rather than summer, summer, summer, and summer.  We'll be happy to see the leaves change and even some snow.

This was from last Friday as we met Michelle & Jenn for Michelle's birthday dinner.  Jenn insisted (with a very evil eye) that they pay for half, even though it was meant to be our treat, so we're taking that money as the starting funds for our travel savings so that we can see them as much as possible.

 

This was also from last weekend.  Most of our weekends here were spent laying outside, reading, having some drinks, and just enjoying lazy Florida life.  We probably won't be having many frozen drinks in the backyard by the pool in Seattle because of the big temperature change.  The good news is that if we're lucky with this pregnancy, we won't be having much time for relaxing by a pool anyway!

A few more things that we'll miss:

Tropical flowers from the yard. 

The herb garden, including the rosemary that takes up a 4x4x4 area!
I wish we could take that beast with us!

Florida bugs. OK, we won't miss all of the nasty bugs that Florida has (lovebugs especially!!),
but this little critter cocooned last weekend and we will miss seeing his transformation
and butterlies dancing around the yard.

The wide open field behind the house. 
The silly cows and the Spring season that brings new calf. 
The beautiful sunsets.

Entertaining for our friends.

Brent's famous spicy rosemary cashews.  Granted, he can still make this even without
that moster rosemary plant, but since I posted my cupcakes from last weekend, I had to
post something of his.  :)  These things are addicting!

Our little lizard friends - eating spiders and chasing each other on the patio. 
Not many of these guys in cold, rainy Seattle!



One last sunset for good measure.

Seriously though, it was a really, really hard decision.  We're excited for all of the new adventures and experiences we will have in the Pacific Northwest, but not being able to pop over to see our friends for every little promotion, birthday, holiday, etc. is going to be the biggest adjustment for me.  I know that after a while, flying out a couple of times a year and hanging out on Skype or FaceTime a lot will be the new normal, but it will take some getting used to.  In the long run, it's the right thing to do for our evolving family.   

Goodbye, Tampa, for now. We'll be back again soon!