My Cousins!

No rest for the weary. Whatever happened to the wonderful month of relaxation we had planned?! Three days after the golf weekend we headed to Orlando where Jeremy played more golf with Manuel and Eden and I visited with Tina and baby Jake. We stayed for two nights and then traveled to Sarasota where Eden got to meet her little cousins and all of Jeremy's aunts and uncles.

Aunt Jane took us to the beach one day, Aunt Winkie had a fantastic family dinner and Uncle Phil threw a huge family BBQ/Swim party. You should have seen Eden around her cousins (who she kept calling "my cousins" or just "cousins"). She loved every minute until she decided it was time for bed and thats when she said "bye, bye cousins!"

We had a fantastic trip and really enjoyed seeing everyone. Thanks for the fun weekend!

Sawgrass and the King and the Bear

Jeremy returned from DC on Sept. 5 just in time for his buddies Cason, John and Randy to arrive for a golfing weekend, a.ka. Jeremy's postponed bachelor party. They were all lucky because a hurricane chose to hit Savannah, GA instead of Jacksonville the day before.

Saturday they tackled TPC Sawgrass and Sunday they headed down to the World Golf Village's King and Bear course. I think that at the end of it all they were all exhausted, but had a fantastic time.

Erie and the Great-Grandparents

The day after Jeremy finished work we got on a 6am flight to Erie, PA to see my grandparents. When we arrived it was a cool 80 degrees that felt fantastic after the sweltering heat of Jacksonville.

We stayed with my Godparents, Santina and John, and got to spend a lot of time with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandfather. We even took Great-Grandpa to the beach and then he and Eden shared some ice cream.

Jeremy left a day early to fly to DC to close on our new house and Eden and I flew back to Jacksonville. She surprised me and slept the entire 2 hour layover we had in Philadelphia. So nice!

Happy Birthday Eden!

Eden is 2! So hard to believe that she's growing up so quickly! Eden had the best time on Sunday at her birthday party with her friends Luke, Wesley, Kate and Ryn. We ate pizza, did an art project, swam in the baby pool and opened presents.
























































Round 2 for the cake


The next day Eden got to open her presents from her grandparents and us and had an absolutely fantastic time. Mamma and Grandpa went in with us on an art easel and supplies and all she has wanted to do the past couple of days is paint. Thus, we have taken a lot of baths.

Our little collector

NC Mountains

After returning to Jacksonville for just two days from our house hunting trip we went to the mountains in North Carolina with some of Jeremy's work colleagues. It was absolutely beautiful! I think the highlight for everyone was the hike along the Appalachian Trail and the amazing view of the mountains. Eden LOVED being in the backpack; she kept shouting "Double Time Daddy!"























Matt, Meredith and Double Time Daddy

Househunting

A lot has been going on in the Dresner house. On the first of August we started our drive, yes drive, from Jacksonville to DC to look for a new house. Smartly, we decided to stop off in Durham where we were lucky enough to see Heather and Matt and their new baby Meridian and Lauren and her son Nathan.






















Heather and Meridian, Me and Eden, Lauren and Nathan



We arrived in DC on the second and gratefully unloaded at our friends the Klingele's house. Cecelia and Jeremy clerked together in Jacksonville and now Cecelia is clerking for the Supreme Court. We love that we get to spend another year with them. In fact, there are another 2 Jacksonville clerks who are moving to DC as well, so we get to continue these great friendships.

We started our house search on Sunday and probably saw about 15 houses a day until Wednesday. We are so lucky to have great friends in the Klingeles and Brooke and David Thomas because without them taking care of Eden our marathon house hunting trip would have been impossible.


Brooke with the kids at the splash park

The craziness started on Wednesday morning when we decided to put in an offer on a house that already had one offer to review. It was a long, long day that ended up in a bidding war, but by 9pm we had a ratified contract and our inspection scheduled for 9am on Thursday.

WhooHoo! We're soon-to-be homeowners of a 3 bedroom 1 and 2 half-baths colonial house with a great yard that is only a 15 minute commute via metro for Jeremy! We close on the 4th of Sept and will probably move at the end of Sept.

We thought we could head home, but there's a lot to take care of when you are an out of town buyer! The plus side of this is we got to spend Thursday evening in Annapolis meeting Justin and Farracy's new baby Jackson and catching up with my cousins Barbie and Bill.










Eden did not cooperate for picture time


Finally, Friday evening we headed back to Durham for some pool fun with the Kings and a wonderful dinner with our friends Andrew and Carla and their new baby Noah.