florida

It may not appear so, but we’ve been busy since the May 5 Fun & games post, in which we alluded to the “next Olsen Mission.”

After Fernandina Beach, we secured a rental in Saint Augustine for the month of May, primarily to pull together mission critical details. (More on that below.) It wasn’t all work and no play, though. We made routine use of the neighborhood fitness center (play??) and watched spring bloom – although it already felt more like summer (ain’t gonna lie – is the Florida heat stereotypically true? Ha!).

It must be spring. This proud Muscovy duck paraded 17 ducklings past our patio.
**SEVENTEEN**!
Now that’s a whole lot of missions!

On one pretty spring day, son Tate took us for a boat ride on Lake George. Nothing like getting back out on the water!

Tate easing down the ramp & Todd waiting to secure the boat

Since the boat decided to act up (as boats will do, oi vey!), we enjoyed our picnic lunch and called that part of the day done.

Not to be deterred from enjoying the remainder of the afternoon, we headed to nearby Welaka.

The one thing our Saint Augustine rental lacked was a grill. So, when the time came for a traditional Memorial Day weekend cookout, daughter Tracee and her boyfriend Royce hosted the festivities. Everyone donned patriotic red, white and blue for the family photo op.

Top row: Royce, Noah, Tracee, Kayla, Todd (aka Dad/Pop)
On the floor: Tate, Alan, Alaina, Susie (aka Nana)

Happy Memorial Day!

Travel Challenge conundrum: We pulled a card while in Saint Augustine, but per the instructions cannot share the results.

(Perhaps someone will have figured it out by now.) 🙂

Ahem. Now, how about that mission?

Oh, dear. No. Nothing quite like that.

Or that. Please, no fire stunts.

Okay, that’s more like it.

If you know Kayla, you know we had to throw in a cute kitten.

Spot on!

After much research and many conversations about the possibilities of the future, we reached consensus, put our own plans on hold, and hatched a whole new mission! Time to help young granddaughter Kayla get “launched!” We scrambled into school tours and apartment hunting before Kayla completing driver’s training, getting her license, and turning in her two-weeks’ notice, led to Thursday, May 29, as the day for the big move.

With Nana’s planning and Tate’s help, we bounced smoothly from the furnished rental on the east coast of Florida to a temporary furnished rental over on the west coast of Florida. Given our packed travel rig (Pearl), thankfully Tate had room for Kayla’s things with a little trailer in tow containing the rest of her stuff and some “gifts” from her mom and Uncle Tate.

Big move, and just in the nick of time. Within an hour of arrival, we had appointments for school registration, tuition, and orientation. Whew.

We then ordered new bedding before hitting thrift stores and estate sales to begin furnishing the empty apartment we’d leased for this endeavor. Time to shop til you drop! (Not really, but it felt like it.) Or you’ll not have anything upon which to set something down, or heck, even to sit!

The comfortable 4th floor apartment, where the three of us are now “roomies”

As to the most important part of this new mission, just a few days later, Monday morning, June 2, Kayla began the journey to becoming a clinical esthetician. Double whew!

Olsens’ Travels is on pause for now, but the new mission has only just begun. We’ve got your back, Kayla, and you’ve got this!

It was in the twenties the morning in February when we left North Carolina, so we were looking to go somewhere that we could shed some layers. Idea: Let’s head to the other chunk of family that happens to live down in F-L-A! Two of our kids now live about 40 minutes apart. Warmth of two kinds!

Good target. So off we went, and mile by mile the temperature – and correspondingly, our moods – improved! Even luckier for us, these two live near the coast.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea

It did not take us long to head for the beach. Hello sunny, but still too-cool-for-a-dip, Florida!

About town

Our son Tate recently purchased his first home (congrats, Son!) in the pleasant small town of East Palatka, less than 30-miles from his sister in Palm Coast. Naturally, we couldn’t spend all of our time at the beach, and small towns are indeed our cup of tea, so small town exploration began!

Found a nice “fixer upper” near the St John’s River Walk

On the trails

Same thing for gardens and trails, if they’re nearby we want to see ’em. Tate had some good ones in mind, and boy howdy, we need the walks! (A bit too much Italian pasta is still hanging around our waistlines.)

Who would have thought that Florida would have a ” Potato Capital” (Hastings) or anything called a “ravine.” Both were lovely surprises!

St John Botanical Garden in Hastings, FL

Sign. Sign. Everywhere a sign… ha! We got tickled by some of the signs we encountered!

Hitting the field

On March 8, we had the pleasure of joining several of the grandchildren at the soccer fields. Well, it was mostly a pleasure – we did have to wake up to an alarm… (Why can’t soccer games start at 10 am?) 😉

So great day, three different games, and one can only remember the energy one used to have!

Royce was prepared to coach a friendly game

It started to rain right after the last of the games, but after a short drive home – and another snack (man, these kids snack!) – the clouds parted enough for us to walk to the Holland Memorial Park right in the neighborhood.

Alan laughed from a safe distance as Uncle Tate sent the three girls on a head-spinning twirl

The family time was wonderfully warm. And the weeks seemed to pass all too quickly. But these two Olsens had to get moving again. We are on the way to Fairhope, Alabama, for a very special event.

Oh-h-h, wait. Last but not least, “Challenge Accepted”

As introduced in the last post, if we plan to stay put at least a week (which we did), we must pull a Quirky Travel Task while in the area. So, here goes, Travel Challenge #02: