We decided to sell our 29' RV and refocus on international travel. (More about this in our upcoming post.) As soon as we sold our RV, we were invited to two camping trips with friends. The first was with Steven and Darcy at Hopkins Prairie. After birding and enjoying dinner conversation around the campfire, they slept in their overlanding trailer, us in our rooftop tent. All four of us on the king-sized bed! Daddy woke up well-rested and surprised how much room he had, while I ended up with both kids practically on top of me.
A week later, Kelley, a friend I hadn't seen since high school, visited us during a Florida road trip with her husband and son. After camping in our yard for a few days, we joined them at their next hipcamp spot. This is someone's four-acre backyard in Meritt Island, Florida. An absolutely incredible piece of property! Parking was too far away for our rooftop tents, so the owner set up these teepee tents for us to use.
We had so much fun together! I love that we were able to reconnect and look forward to future adventures together.
After these two camping trips, I realized my days of enjoying tent camping are pretty much over. We ended up buying a used Weeroll overlanding trailer to make our trips more comfortable (A/C, real bed and a little bit of kitchen space). We put our rooftop tent on top and Asher and Daddy used it on the father/son church campout. The awning has another tent that attaches to it, so we have three options for sleeping.
Later he accompanied Journey to the father/daughter dance. Daddies get to have all the fun! Somehow seeing your daughter all dressed up makes you realize how much she has grown.
It turns out this was truly a season of reconnecting. The Logsdon family invited us to visit them at their house in Venice, and let us stay in their beautifully decorated guesthouse (the RV they usually live in fulltime). They took us to the parrot rescue where they volunteer and to the wildlife sanctuary where we met a leucistic (all white) Screech Owl named, Luna.
We spent time together at the beach and took a day trip to Peace River to do some shark teeth hunting!
Six weeks later, they came to stay with us and we hiked Ocala National Forest, kayaked Silver Springs and they experienced bird banding!
Mom and her friend, Sandy, came for a visit. We watched a plane land on the lake while we ate at Gator Joe's. After kayaking, we got to see a manatee from the bridge! They also helped us decorate for Night to Shine.
Easter at church
One morning in March, I got the most shocking phone call from my dad. My aunt, Janie, had passed away. That morning she had taken her beloved dog, Zoie, out and then reclined in her chair for a little more sleep, and just never woke up. It didn't feel real. Four months later, it still doesn't. We had become very close over the past five or six years. The only person I called more often was my dad. I looked forward to our conversations. She loved to hear about my family, our adventures, and the birds I was seeing. She had begun her own path of learning about birds. She signed up for a birding class and was looking forward to joining walks with her local Audubon chapter. She particularly loved eagles, hummingbirds and was enjoying being able to identify the birds coming to her feeders. She is very greatly missed. But if you knew Janie, you'd understand that's exactly the way she'd have wanted to go- no sickness, no fuss, straight to Jesus in a blink.
Journey and I flew to Ohio to be with family and attend her funeral. The cousins are growing up!
A flamingo in the Tampa airport welcomed us home.
A couple months prior, my friend, Lisa had offered for my family to stay at her condo on the beach in St Pete, during the Villages birding trip. The timing couldn't have been better, as Daddy was able to pick us up from the airport and go straight there. It ended up being an opportunity for healing and processing what just happened before going back home.
This is the view from her patio of the kids playing flashlight tag on the beach.
We spent a day at Fort DeSoto where Asher fished from the pier while thousands of fish swam in a huge swarm below us!
He also did lots of fishing, day and night, at Lisa's while I enjoyed beachcombing plus birding Fort Desoto with my friends Liz, Alice, Wendy, and Candi.
As we were prepping for our upcoming trip, we had visits from multiple friends. Our dear friends, the Bemis Family, had moved away to Michigan during our road trip last summer. It was great to have them visit and reconnect. Everyone has grown so much!
The Duren family included us on their summer road trip (via minivan) thru SEVENTEEN states! We took them kayaking and they taught us to play the One Night Werewolf game.
Our friend, Carrie, brought her boys, Trevor and Logan, to spend a few days with us. This time we got to see monkeys up close! While they are regularly at the park, this is only the third time I've seen them and the other times were from a boat.
June Challenge was a super fun experience. Basically it's a contest to SEE more birds in the county that anyone else. Hearing them doesn't count, so it's a lot more challenging. On day one, Alice, took Liz and I birding by golf cart, which is SUPER fast and fun!
Steven and Darcy took us birding by boat many times during the month and helped us get birds we needed.
Tami ended up winning the contest with 115 (+2 non-ABA) species and Alice came in second. It was a fun way to spend the hot mornings and helped our group grow closer together.
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