Ft. Myers, Florida

I guess I haven't officially announced it on my blog (not that anybody reads this thing anyway!), but Drew accepted a job with FDLE and has been assigned to the Ft. Myers Regional Office...so to Ft. Myers we are are heading!

He had to report to the FM-ROC on Friday the 25th, so we decided to head down a couple of days early and start scouting out a place to live.  We had been passed to realtor after realtor with no avail...I guess when you're only renting they really don't wat anything to do with you.  So finally we called the Bishop in the ward down here and he have us the phone number of a realtor in the ward.  We called him, he emailed us some places the next day, we sent back what we liked and scheduled tours for Thursday!  What a miracle! 

So on Thursday we started our tour wth Brother Lowrey.  What a nice man!  He took us all around Ft. Myers, showing us the good neighborhoods, the shops, the church, Drew's office and much more!  And the whole time...Bellamy was sooo good!  I was sooo nervous she was going to show out, but she was just an angel!  She never once showed out, except the time Drew banged her head against the car putting her in.  Other than that, she was good!  Now comes the hard part...picking a place to live!  And I guess we've been talking about it so much because Bellamy has been walking around the hotel saying "so many places to live!"!

On Friday we took Drew to the FM-ROC and then Bellamy and I went exploring!  We first hit up Chick-Fil-A where we played on the playground.  Then a little girl came in and she and Bellamy had sooo much fun playing together.  After her friend left and she was acting tired and ready to go, I made the decision it was time.  So I told Bellamy and of course that meant "time to go play".  So her little tail climbs up the steps to the playground, lays down on them and says "I just need to rest".  Since I couldn't climb up there, she just laid there.  Then she moved to the car and WOULD NOT come down.  She just sat there and stared out the window at me.  I finally got her to comedown by saying that I was gonna go get some ice cream by myself.  Once he scurried down the slide chatting about ice cream I had to explain that since she didn't listen to mommy wen I told her to get down ere that she couldn't have any...and we didn't.

After that we went to Once Upon A Child, bought a few clothes, then headed to Oarty City, which wa a bust!  So we grabbed some lunch and came back to the hotel we went.  When Drew got off work we all took a power nap and woke up with a little more energy!

After we woke up we went and ate at Bahama Breeze and then went to check out one of the new town centers/outdoor mall.  It was there we found the answer to our Halloween costume dilemma.  See, Bellamy wanted to be a ghost for Halloween, but  the only costume they had was a 24 month...so we got it...and yeah, it was too short.  So while we were out and about Drew spotted a monkey costume and Bellamy fell in love!  She couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and put it on...so we did!

What a cute little monkey she is!!  We can't wait until Halloween to go trick-or-treating!!

Finally on Saturday we packed up our suitcase and headed out!  We stopped by Home Depot to buy the first set of moving boxes!  She had so much fun helping load the cart, unload them in the car and then unload them again when we got home!  She is such a good little helper and we just love her to pieces!

Sunday Best

Good morning daddy!

Here I am looking all pretty for church!

What a great day at church this was!  I mean, it's always a great day, but this was extremely great!  Just before the closing song Bellamy told me that she needed to go potty.  Se does not use the potty, so I thought it was just a ploy to get me to take her to see the Koala station.  But I figured it couldn't hurt to try...so to the potty we went!  We got in there and I sat her up on the potty and told her to let it out.  She said "let it all out" and them she peed!!  I could not stop smiling and praising her!!  I ran in to tell Drew and he was so excited/surprised too!!  When we got home from church, she continued to use the potty and has been doing good since!!  She still hasn't figured out how to hold it all night or wake me up if she needs to go, but for her first almost week...she's doing GREAT!!  She's not even scared to poop in the potty!!  I know, TMI, but we are soo excited and proud of her!!

Chuckleberry

Chuckleberry is a funny little man.  He roams our office at night and wreaks havoc, or sometimes just likes to give you a "chuckle" when you walk in in the morning.  Except mine was when I came in from lunch.

It all started like this.  It ended up in Craig's cube, the guy that sits next to me.  Then it ended up in Christine's cube, two cubes down.  Then he ended up in mine.  The picture on the top is what he did to me first and then they stole him back and did the picture on the bottom...

Well, I don't take pranks lying down!  So Christine and I got together and began plotting to get back at Craig...and we did!

We turned Chuckleberry into a Halloween costume and turned him into "Chucky"-berry and then we draped his cube in spiderwebs.  It looked awesome!  My favorite saying we out in his cube was "I don't usually smile, but when I do, I don't!"!!  We had soooo much fun...hopefully he's learned his lesson! ;)

 

Sunday Best

Once we got up and got going, Bellamy insisted on taking a picture for Drew...so we did!

I always think it's funny how she'll pose for a picture if SHE wants it, but not if I do!

She's still precious though!  After our nap in Sunday all Bellamy wanted to do was lay on me.  I tried everything to get her to smile...but nothing worked.  Then I flipped the camera around and it worked!

What a silly little goose!

 

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we celebrated Drew's birthday with his family, so on the way up to Tallahassee we decided to hit the pumpkin patch!

Bellamy was in love!  She loved the little baby pumpkins!  If anybody came up to get one, she would stare them down...how dare they take her WALL of pumpkins?!  We even got to meet McGruff the Crime Dog!  She loved him!!  Now all her stuffed puppies are named "McGruff the Crown Dog"!

As we were leaving the patch we bought a baby pumpkin and decorated him on our way to Nana and Pop's.  we ended up naming him "Perry the Pumpkin"!

She was so proud of her little pumpkin! We had a great time at Drew's dinner and enjoyed spending time with family!

Picking Flowers

Bellamy loves being outside.  Her latest obsession is picking flowers...

And what a precious little flower-picker she is! 

Silly Chick!

When General Conference rolls around and we have to sit inside for hours at a time, I always feel guilty because Bellamy wants to go outside and play, but I know we need to watch conference.  So after the last session on Saturday night, we took a ride to the store and went to the park.  We didn't get to stay long because Drew had Priesthood session, but at least we got to get out of the house!

After Drew left we grabbed a bite to eat and then decided to eat some ice cream too...and be irreverent and snap a picture for Drew while he was at the church!

When it was time to go to bed the only way I could get Bellamy to get in the bath was if I promised to let her wear her "monkey jammies"...I caved!

This little girl just always keep me smiling..most of the time!

Pop's Pics

Here's Bellamy showing off Nana and Pop's pumpkin!

Next here she is playing in the water at Carrabelle Beach...

And here she is posing with Nana, Uncle Tony, and Aunt Karen!

Bellamy loves Uncle Tony and Aunt Karen!  For a number of reasons, but they brought her prizes when they came to visit, so they are definitely on the top of we list!  They brought her the baby Mrs. Potato Head (and a Dora puzzle!) to add to her collection!

Thanks for the pictures Pop!

Dance Class

Bellamy has been prancing around the house in her tutu and church shoes, so I got the bright idea to ask her if she wanted to take dance.  And she did!!  So to dance we went!  

She did such a good job!  Since this was her first time there I was able to go in and watch...but after tonight, she's on her own!

Sunday Best

For Britty's birthday, Bellamy wanted to buy her a dress.  So we went shopping for a dress.  Little did I know I would leave Old Navy with the same dress in a different color for Bellamy! So here we are in our new dress!

What a cute little stinker!

 

Panama City Beach

Since Drew loves the beach and he is doing his best to make Bellamy a beach girl too, this year for vacation we headed over to Panama City Beach. 

Once we got there, we took a snap shot of our condo, The Celadon.

After we found a place to park, we started unloading the car, and i got this sweet picture...

Next we checked in and Bellamy was ready to hit the beach...with her bucket and her "gobbles"...

So to the beach we went!  Unfortunately the waves were pretty rough, so we only stayed there for a little while and then we headed over to the pool and the "little pool" (the hot tub!)...

The next day we did a lot of lounging and swimming at the beach and pool.  I mean technically, that's what you're supposed to do on a beach vacation, right?!

The next day, Wednesday, we headed over to Gulf World!  I hadn't been there in YEARS so you can imagine how long it had been for Drew as well!  But we had a blast!  I think my favorite thing was the sea lion show!  Otto was quite the entertaining little fellow and Bellamy absolutely fell in love with him!

Later that night we went to Captain Anderson's for dinner and had an enjoyable time there as well.  We snapped a few pictures of us before we left...it was mostly for the beautiful sunset!  I love this little picture of Drew and Bellamy I took as we waited on her check!

The next day we went to Pier Park.  I had seen a lot of people posting about it on Facebook so I was a little excited...but it wasn't anything new.  It was basically an outdoor mall.  The sales weren't that great, but we did have a good time!  Bellamy especially loved the Great American Cookie Company shop...it was by far her FAVORITE!

That night when we got home we decided to go crab hunting one more time.  We had been out there for a while and had been unsuccessful and I was getting tired.  Just as we decided to head in, we saw it and Drew went in with the net!  SUCCESS!

Friday was our checkout day, so while I finished packing up, Drew took Bellamy down to the beach one last time!  They had a blast...and of course she came back up wet!

We knew Bellamy was tired on the way home, but she just wouldn't give in.  But as I predicted, about 30 minutes before we got home, this little booger passed out cold!

We sure had a blast!  Hopefully that will not be the last (beach) vacation for us because we are already looking forward to another one!