August

August was a good month.
After a 38 hour trip home it took us about a week to recover from jet-lag. Then it was time to get our job situation worked out. We had to get a lot of paper work in order. We had a couple of ups and downs but finally decided on the position we are in now at English Zone. We really wanted to follow God's leading.
Being back in the states was challenging financially - everywhere we went we wanted to spend money. We missed Old Navy and Walmart. One exciting purchase we made was our laptop. It was so great to see our savings go to something we really wanted and needed! We enjoyed the mall and of course got in our fill of the food we missed. Strangely enough the food wasn't as good as it used to be. The only meal I had was Chili's shrimp pasta, which actually tasted better than before. I enjoyed trying out some new recipes at my parents house - chicken ratatouille and an apple pork chop and rice recipe were my favorites.
We were able to spend time hanging with my parents, Adam and Marissa and some great friends - mini golf, Coldstone Creamery, Dutch Blitz, Apple Bees, Mother's, Perry's Piece of Cake ice cream. I celebrated my 27th birthday with family which hasn't happened in a while. It was fun and funny - see the Buffalo photos for my birthday cake story.
It was nice to be able to watch the Olympics. I haven't gotten to do that since high school. We enjoyed watching gymnastics and swimming - Go Michael Phelps! Sometimes the olympics made us a bit lazy from sleeping in too late.
The last Saturday before our trip to Brazil was a fun and busy one. We went out with my parents to Benders - new Christian books and music - Yay! Then we got to go to Niagara Falls and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was unseasonably cool in Buffalo while we were there.
The rest of the weekend was packing, packing and more packing. We didn't actually finish packing until Monday. Monday was a very busy day. We had to go get our fingerprints done for our NYS background check for our new position. That posed to be more challenging than we thought it would be. Unfortunately our time-line wasn't very long due some document issues so we had to wait until the very last minute to do this. We ended up having to go to the state police office in Boston, NY. We were very thankful that they were able to do it! It was a bit nerve racking. God opened the door on that one.
Finally we were on our way to Detroit where we were to fly out early the next morning. We drove through Canada and stayed overnight - for only about 3 hours - but at least we got a little sleep. The next morning we were on our way to Florida for the first leg of our 5 week trip.

Orlando, FL
Tuesday
Rental Car - Dodge Charger - Cameron ecstatic! Resort preview - discount tickets to Universal Studios - timeshare sales - beware. Late lunch - Taco John's - nice surprise. Final destination - Aunt Jackie and Uncle Gary's. Exhaustion! I had a nap while Cameron hung with Grandma Fitch - he enjoyed time catch up time. Labradoodles - Ebony and Sandy - full of energy - fun. Ribs for dinner - Yum! Coming off valium - not fun!
Wednesday
Valencia for transcript stamping. Tour of Cameron's old neighborhood. A&Ws for lunch - didn't taste as good as it used too - no marinara for the cheese curds - bummer! Pleasant evening at the house.
Thursday
Ready for Universal Studios! But first - resort preview - 90 min - No Problem! Ha! 3 hours later. Beware and be ready - they will really try and suck you in no matter how long and hard they have to work. Just say NO! We learned the hard way. Too tired for Universal - Boston Market for lunch - YUM! Back to the house to chill for the evening.
Friday
Universal Studios- fighting a bit of anxiety in the morning - Terminator 2, The Simpsons Ride, MIB, I Love Lucy, Disaster, Revenge of the Mummy, Shrek - FUN Day! Beautiful!
-Chili's shrimp alfredo for dinner - best restaurant meal since we came back! It was a good day.
Saturday
Breakfast out with Uncle Gary and Aunt Jackie - good oatmeal - RAIN! Oh no! The 4 of us went on to Sea World anyway! - Hurricane Gustav coming in to the Gulf - stormy all day! First show attempts canceled :o( Saw Arctic - belugas very cool, polar bear, walrus - pouring rain! Ponchos! Anheiser-Busch - saw Clydesdales - more rain - lunch at hospitality center - Yummy! beer braut and saurkraut - mouthwatering! Penguins, puffins - very cute and funny. Sharks and dolphin nursery - neat! Sea lions - amazing! Clyde and Seamore - very funny show! Shamu Rocks - awesome! Cameron ended up with a headache :o( Dominos for dinner - late! Good day - bummer that Cameron ended the night feeling yucky!
Sunday
More Gustav rain in the forecast - we decided to go to Seaworld anyway! It ended up being a really nice day - a bit over cast and some sprinkles, but it was nice.
We saw - Shamu Believe show, Dolphin and Whale show, manatees, stingrays, sea turtles - got a nice photo - it was a successful day! We met Aunt Jackie and Uncle Gary for supper at TGIF's - great pasta! Talked to mom and dad. Finished the day getting nervous about our trip to Brazil.
Monday
Slept in. Packed all morning. Emailed Mom and Dad, Not too nervous. Airport-flight delayed - plane held in Miami, I couldn't eat on the plane (anxiety) - otherwise not a bad flight.
Continued in September :o)