Florida, Easter, and Skating.... Oh MY!

We have been very busy around here! In the past two weeks alone, we have traveled to Florida, celebrated Easter, and attended a JDRF skating party! Whew! We are exhausted!

So... I'm going to tell you about all of this fun through pictures!

This is Sweetpea at my favorite restaurant - The Beach House! I love sitting out on the deck, listening to music and watching the sun shining or setting over the ocean. Sweetpea was here for the first time at 8 weeks old to celebrate my 30th birthday!

Sweetpea's favorite part is going out and playing in the sand after dinner!

We took Sweetpea to her first dinner at a Japanese Steak House! Here she is enjoying dinner with Mimi! She really liked using the "tweezers" to eat her food!

Sweetpea is standing out on the dock that looks out into the bay. You can see the mangroves and some of the condos in the complex where we are. She and Gaga were looking for Gators!

Here's the bathing beauty at the pool!

Here we are at another one of our favorite places to eat. This place is called "Skinny's". You would not be skinny long if you ate there too often. They have great burgers! You cant' let the looks of the place fool you - it's a little shack - literally a shack - on the beach. There are no "windows" - just chicken wire. Lots of sand. But it totally ROCKS!

My two favorite people out on the pier waiting for dinner! It was windy that day - and the wind was cold. But - we did see a dolphin! It came up VERY close to the pier and was showing off for us! It was the closest I've ever seen a dolphin in the wild. We could have jumped off the pier and touched it!

This was taken while playing Mini-Golf! Sweetpea loves mini golf! She doesn't have a lot of patience yet but she has a good time!

A very exciting part of our trip was meeting D Mama Lora and her kiddos in real life! Here are Justin, Sweetpea, and Leighanna!

Here we all are! We met for dinner and hung out at the mall! It was really like meeting a friend for dinner - not meeting someone that you didn't know! She is as sweet as she seems from her blog! And her kids are DARLING! Justin was so brave getting his insulin shot and he dealt with all the D stuff with such maturity! It was fun for Sweetpea to see another kid with diabetes - but it was more fun for her to play two new friends! She LOVED them both! They ran around and played like old friends, too! And she talked about her "new friends" for the rest of the trip! In fact, she still mentions them and definitely wants to see them again soon! So do I! Thanks for meeting us, Lora! It was such a neat experience to meet in person!

Sweetpea's favorite part of this mall is the indoor carousel! It's this two floored carousel that sits in the middle of the mall - and is a big draw for the kids! It goes kinda fast - so the adults take turns riding with Sweetpea so we don't puke!

Sweetpea wanted to go to the beach like none other! It was cold the first couple of days there but warmed up nicely. The ocean water was FREEZING - but the beach was great!

It was a great trip! We were able to relax a little. It was so nice for me to be able to focus only on D - and not have to worry about work! I didn't feel the panic that I do at home when her numbers are crazy and I know I have to get up and go to work the next day. I felt much more calm and I think that helped me make better D decisions, too!

The best part was that her numbers ROCKED! I don't know if it was the increased activity or the warm weather or what - but we had GREAT bg's! That was a wonderful gift! Even on vacation, D follows you everywhere. There really is NO vacation from D. But, the least it could do was cooperate and that it did! Mostly.

We had one low on the way to the aquarium which made for a quick visit. She had been talking about going to the aquarium forever (we go every year: Mom and Dad have passes). So it was a little disappointing that she just didn't feel good and really wasn't interested in looking at anything. But - we can go again!

We had a kinda scary low one day after she drank some fresh squeezed OJ from the orange grove. She was also eating at the time and we bolused for all of it after she was done. She shot up to the upper 300's about an hour post bolus. She was not feeling well so we checked. Then about an hour later she had fallen to about 130. We had checked at that time because she just was not acting right and we thought she was low. Not low - but falling fast. Actually, much faster than we thought! Only 20 minutes later, we checked again and she was 40. Whoa! Major crash! Glad we caught it - but no more fresh squeezed oj!

We also had a low (43) on the airplane. That was a little freaky - just to realize that we were confined and that there was nothing anyone could do if something happened. I had a million supplies so it was fine. She had a little juice and crackers and came up nicely. It was a little awkward to try to test and treat as the plane was landing in very windy weather... but - you do what you've gotta do!

We had a wonderful time and look forward to going back soon!

The day after we got home was Easter! The Easter bunny visited our house and left Sweetpea some really cool treats!

He left Easter eggs hidden all over our house! Inside the eggs were coins! Sweetpea was excited to go to Target and buy something with her money! She also found an egg or two with m&m's. She didn't even notice the lack of major candy! She got a few m&m's and kisses - and that was cool with her! She liked the little toys and coins just as much.

We got dressed and went to church. Here is our little Easter Princess all dolled up and riding in style!

And here she is at church...

Easter here is unpredictable. The last few years have found us hunting for eggs in winter coats with snow on the ground. This year - the weather was PERFECT! It was a warm and beautiful day! We went over to my parent's house that afternoon for dinner and ANOTHER egg hunt! It seems the Easter Bunny left her some eggs and Gaga and Mimi's house, too!

It was a wonderful day! I could not have created a more perfect day if I had tried!

Then.... on Friday, we went to a skating party with JDRF! Here is Sweetpea on her skates...

Sweetpea went around the rink almost once! This was her first time on skates. She liked it - but was frustrated that she was not really good at it right away! Perfectionism - I wonder where she gets that?!? (it's BOTH of us, Thank You!)

We got to meet another D- Mom! Misty was there with her family and we got to meet her and Ally and Jessi and the rest of the family in person! Again, it's like meeting up with a friend you've known forever! Her girls are all super cute and super sweet - just like Misty herself! I'm looking forward to getting to know her even better and hanging out this summer! I know the girls are going to have lots of fun!

I also got to reconnect with a D-Mom I had met a LONG time ago. We had sat together at the Walk Kick-off Lunch back in August. Her daughter was diagnosed about 16 months ago. It was nice to see her and talk again - and I look forward to getting to know her better, too!

It's funny how you meet people and instantly "connect" with them. Funny of D brings us together. I'm glad that it does. It's priceless to find others who "get it". Other people who speak the same weird language. Other people who worry about the same things. Other people whose lives changed in an instant - just like yours. The D community and D-friends are the saving grace of this crazy life we lead! And I thank God for all of you every day!

So, there you have it! Our last few weeks in a nutshell! We had a great vacation, great Easter, and great times with great D friends! We're hoping life calms down a little but also hoping that the D monster stays in his closet and leaves us alone a little longer!