Florida Trip, Day 1 - New Smyrna Beach

When I started planning my summer vacation, I knew I wanted to try and get to Orlando as part of my travels. There were three big attractions to the Orlando area - my friend Amie from Scotland was temporarily living there, my friend Nicki from seminary had moved there a couple of years ago and had two little boys I was dying to meet, and of course, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was calling my name. Amie and I worked it out for me to stay with her at her aunt's home and made plans to go to WWoHP together, and I was very excited that all the details came together to see Nicki and her boys while I was there too.

Amie and I woke up the first morning I was there and headed off to DeLand for brunch and the beach with the Glenn's. Nicki was kind enough to fix us a great pancake breakfast, which allowed me to meet 8-month-old Micah who was not going to the beach with us. I took a small gift for Jonah, who's 5th birthday was the next week, and Nicki wanted to take a picture of us together. It was hilarious, because when she started counting, their dog Max sat down next to me and posed for the picture too!

Jonah is quite a hoot - Nicki is always posting things he says on her blog. She told him that I had been reading about him on her blog since he was a baby, and he wanted to know why I had never been to see him. When she said that I lived a long way away, he said "hasn't she ever heard of an airplane?!" Funny boy! (Later he asked me if I was "Miss Amie's mom" - I wasn't too thrilled with that one!) He warmed up pretty quickly to Amie and me, especially when we were at New Smyrna Beach and played in the waves with him. It was a beautiful day at the beach - sunny and warm but not too hot, and I was excited to be back at the ocean for the first time in 3 years. Amie was sweet and played with Jonah in the water while Nicki and I sat at the edge and caught up on all that had gone on in our lives since the last time we saw each other, 10 years ago! And later, I took Jonah on a short walk to look for shells. The boy loves everything about the beach, and you couldn't help but feed on his excitement and enjoy even the small details.

Nicki had arranged for us to park at her friend's condo, which allowed us use of their pool and the private beach. So when it was time for Nicki and Jonah to pack up and head home, we headed up to the pool to cool off and rinse of all the sand. It was very refreshing, and Jonah enjoyed showing off his swimming skills. Nicki, thanks so much for sharing your day with us. Amie and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. You are so blessed with your two precious boys. I'm already looking forward to getting back to Orlando to see you guys again! :)

Then after they left us, Amie and I changed into dry clothes and headed back down to the beach for a few pics before it was time to head back home. We needed to get into bed early, because was had an exciting day planned for tomorrow - WWoHP!