first day of cross country

I guess we had to move all the way to Florida to get my girls to start running! Since we are enrolling in a little private school in Rosemary Beach with a home school classification we became eligible to sign up for cross country at an amazing little charter school call the Seaside School.

I will post more pictures later this week, but the setting is like a Hollywood set. Beautiful green lawn, anchored by a permanent white tent structure built over a wooden deck. The kids meet under the tent and are coached by an amazing man who loves running and loves teaching kids to love running. After a few housekeeping comments we did a warm up run around the school/town, then the "pink course" named for the coaches map which is highlighted in pink.

The course starts at the tent and the surreal, picturesque route just gets better from there. We cross the road and enter a gravel trail that must be crushed sea shells or something that magical. We cross under an arch of whimsical tree tops that provide a light canopy that shades us over the entire path. Water...I guess a lake or bay runs along the course. We run from bridge to bridge, crossing over the water like an army of angels producing a symphony of thunder that echos from the wooden bridge. The water, complete with Lilly pads and lotus flowers, is completely still and serene under the turbulence of 0ur middle school soldiers.

Who runs here, who lives here? The sky is partly cloudy today so the light is filtered. As a runner of many years, and a route snob from Minneapolis, I am silenced. I think with anticipation of Beth's visit in November and our run in this Paradise. I study the map to calculate how many miles we can eek out of this haven. I am so grateful to be here and have this experience.

Picture of post-cross country practice. Refreshments at a nearby Seaside airstream, shaved ice, nice hang out.

First blog!

Ok after several attempts to get help setting up the blog, I had to go solo and hack thru it on my own. It wasn't very hard but I'm not sure where these words will end up!

We have been at the beach for one week today. It feels longer since so much has happened and our life is so completely different. Going from a large planned community in suburban Texas to a small beach town in the Florida panhandle gives me a few thing to write about.

First the nuts and bolts...do we fit in our new place?

Lots of people have asked how the 1,500 sq ft loft works for our family of five (me, my husband our three kids and two dogs). After living in a large house with a two car garage and a big back yard, I was a little unsure. So far no problem. We all fit ... well, we all fit minus lots and lots of stuff we left behind in Texas, (a whole blog of its own later about getting rid of the stuff ). But for now know that I sold, donated, and trashed like a mad women in preparation for this move. I have to say other than drawer space for the clothes I never wear, I really don't miss it at all. (The clothes I do wear still hang on a chair, a hook or the side of the tub just like they did at home!)

The third floor loft has high ceilings and lots of windows which make this place feel pretty open. The bedrooms are smaller and the girls share a room with a triple bunk that they seem to love so far. The first night here they had three friends sleep over!

The no garage is new. My bike is in a public bike rack outside the entrance to our three story loft building, unlocked. Every day when I bring the dogs down to walk them on the "common" or "green" across the street from my place, I look for my bike. Like a miracle, every morning, it is there right where I left it! My kids rip sticks are strewn across the sidewalk or in the hall way of our building with about four extras that belong to their friends.

As promised, well as I promised myself, I can vacuum the whole place in about 15 minutes. I have to admit I've only done it once. So it looks like house keeping really will be a lot less work...good more time to blog! Pictures are coming but first I have to figure out how to get them on the blog with the words...how do it know?