Hershey Park

We've been planning for the series in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for at least a month! Harrisburg is gorgeous, and the team stays at a pretty sweet hotel, but most importantly, Hershey Park is a mere thirty minute drive away! 

 

Hershey Park is a huge amusement park and is attached to the Hershey Chocolate Factory where visitors can create their own candy bar, learn how Hershey makes chocolate and enjoy the rides. Yeeeehaw! We enjoyed the water log ride and a huge roller coaster, as well as the Hershey Chocolate Factory tour, complete with three singing cows who narrate Hershey's chocolate production process. Each batch of Hershey chocolate is made with the same proportions of cocoa beans from around the world to ensure that the chocolate has a consistent taste! The factory itself produces 33 million Hershey's Kisses each day! It was pretty sweet. 

 

Day Three Hundred and Eight

A gorgeous day in Northern Idaho for errands. Errr, what?! I personally believe there is never a gorgeous day to run errands because errands stink...but I suppose it's better than a rainy blustery day. On that note, please pray, sunshine dance naked, call to your powers that be or whatever for sunshine on the 21st!

Kyle and I successfully got the new car windows tinted, finished wedding decoration shopping, got the propane and internet appointments set for the new place, toured the rehearsal dinner site and the site where the wedding will be moved indoors (just in case!) and did our big Costco move-in grocery shop. Whew.

I also became officially re-employed with the agency I was with before I left. I've been promoted so I'll start taking on a new client base of severely mental ill clients involved with the Kootenai Mental Health Court and a small amount of general case management again. I start "two weeks ago," as my boss simply put it. Where there's a need, there's a job for Sue! Wahoo, it feels good to be back Idaho.

Most excitingly, I finally met for dinner and drinks with my sweet and dear friends, Sam and Michelle. It was so nice to see their beautiful faces during a conversation for the first time in five months. Telephone calls and texts are tough for me, but we made it work! We spent way too long chatting and catching up on the small town happenings....three hours too long as Kyle said. Hah, what are long lost girlies to do?! 

Day Three Hundred and Seven

13 days until the wedding. We met the owners of the home where the ceremony is being held and walked through possible seating for the two hundred people coming. Yes, two hundred, holey bologna. It looks like it's going to work out just fine with the help of our amazing friends, Lake City High School (hah, yes!) and our family.

 

Now for the truth why I'm behind on my posting.

We finally moved into our new casa today. Hallelujah! It's gorgeous, amazing, breathtaking, quiet...everything that Florida was not for me. Prior to our move, we had heard lots of talk that the ranch we were moving to was one of the most impressive pieces of property in North Idaho; that it was absolutely stunning and that the owners definitely have more than a million dollar view and yadddda yaddda. I guess we had to see for ourselves for it to really sink in. There is truly not another view like it and we are so blessed to rest our heads in such beautiful country. I'm in love with my back yard. And most importantly, I can fill my lungs  with a deep breath of fresh, clean, Idaho air. We're renting the guest house at St. Angel Ranch and we're excited to call our two bedroom, wood stove equipped, gated guest house "home" for the off season. The only downside, we won't have our internet set up until next week so blog posts might be a little bit irregular in the mean time!

 Hot tub babes, relaxation is totally necessary on moving days.

 

View from the wedding ceremony site as we scoped out seating options

 St. Angel Ranch, our new off season home

View from our backyard at St. Angel Ranch!

Day Three Hundred and Six

A busy day in the life of the (almost) Johnson family. Today marks two weeks, 14 days, 336 hours, 20,160 minutes and 1,209,600 seconds until the wedding. Whatever, whatever. Alright you got me, I'm excited!

We, of course, spent the day at the park and watching one of our favorite movies. And playing soccer, because in a fit of craziness, I was persuaded to join a recreational soccer league. Even though I've never played soccer. Okay, maybe I clocked my last game in kindergarten when I announced to my mother that I never wanted to play soccer again because it "made my feet too sweaty." Why tennis, basketball and football never made the sweaty feet cut is beyond the processing capabilities of both my five year old brain, and my now twenty three year old brain. 

Day Three Hundred and Five

We sold the Jeep in Florida after four faithful years and one crazy baseball season. Crazy in a good sort of way, because we truly found happiness on our roller coaster baseball ride:

1 trade
1 promotion
2 golf trips
3 different home fields
4 different gym memberships (I'm forever lucky to be coached by some of the most bad ass Crossfit trainers in the nation, so I won't be complaining). 
5 road series that I stayed with Kyle
6 flights total to get out to the Midwest and then home from South Florida
9 free hotel stays (thank you Mets and Angels!)
10 of the fine United States
12 new friends that I adore and am still in touch with
14 rain outs (I like to refer to rain outs as 'surprise date nights.') 
a 16 hour road trip 

And most importantly, 21 weeks where Kyle and I were simply....just Kyle and I. This was something that countless friends, family members and one impressive professional had been continuously telling us was of dire importance. Time alone. Time to grow. Time to be us. We had never been privileged to that before and it was a beautiful and well invested blessing. 

In a round about way this comes back to the Jeep, and another new chapter of growth for us. Kyle bought a car today. This will be the very first car he's purchased entirely by himself. Those of you close to us, you know the unrelenting financial challenges Kyle has faced the past few years with custody issues. For those of you from baseball, you know that those bi-monthly paychecks ain't no big thang. And for those of you who are neither, you probably remember what a challenge it was to buy your first car. So today, we celebrate another accomplishment, another dream and another chapter in our ever changing story. I'm so proud of the man you're growing into, and I'm so proud of all of your hard work Kyle.

Day Three Hundred and Two

People like to complain about Mondays. 

I'm not one of those people, and even though Kyle flew out today earlier than we planned, I did not complain. Because the Mets are good, and who whines about free airfare? Even though the WOD at Crossfit was a total bruiser, I did not complain. Because who whines about their last day at the gym with an amazing group of hard working, ass kicking, people? Even though I literally sold our car today, for cash on a holiday, I did not complain. Wait, okay that might be a lie. 

In the baseball world, I totally forget what day of the week it is because every day is game day. And I work every day that I'm not driving to a game. I only really know when it's Monday because it's the day after my gym is closed. Whoops. I showed up at the gym and instantly noticed the class was huge! Why could this be? Well WOD's were only running at 9 am, instead of the usual 9 am, 5 pm, 6pm and 7pm because it was a holiday. Say what?! A holiday?! Hello, Earth to me. I was in a pinch because I had to meet the purchaser of the car, who literally handed me a few stacks of hundred dollar bills. Banks aren't open on holidays! I've had an insane amount of anxiety about babysitting this cash all day long, and I will be feeling much better as soon as I roll up to Chase tomorrow morning on my way to the airport. Hallelujah! (I don't know how drug dealers do it!)

Day Two Hundred and Eighty Six

Today marked the second day of my sneaky vacation while Kyle's dad and brother were in town. In good local Florida spirit I took them to Jensen beach to enjoy the sun and waves. It was a gorgeous day, the temperature of the water was in the mid eighties. The waves were rockier than usual and the mild rip tide flag was up, but it made for some great body surfing. After a healthy amount of beach lounging we enjoyed lunch at Kyle and I's favorite local restaurant, the New England Fish Market. We devoured fish dip, lobster mac n cheese, raw oysters, lobster bisque, fish and chips, shrimp tacos and crab cakes. (Yes, yes, today was my weekly paleo cheat day). 

We had double family fun in the stands this evening. My great Aunt Modine, my second cousin Cory and his girlfriend Shoo, came to the game tonight. My great Aunt Mo and Uncle Hep (Pappy) live in Orlando so it's really a short trip down the turn pike for them. Uncle Hep wasn't feeling all too well, so he didn't make it tonight. But it's been wonderful to be close by to family on this adventure. They're an absolute delight to spend time with, and they adore Kyle. Kyle met Aunt Mo for the first time tonight and thought she was just "adorable." He is such a sucker for my family, I absolutely love it.

 

Day Two Hundred and Eighty Five

This trip is a vacation for Kyle's dad and brother, but today marked the start of a short vacation for me as well! After dropping Kyle off at the field, I met Tony and Jay at Duffy's the local fun house joint. They have arcade games, bowling, batting cages and mine and Jay's favorite, putt putt golf. We played like little kids and got a little more competitive for the putt putt golf and batting cages. Once we had exhausted all of our fun house options, we were on the move to the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce. The museum is the only nation wide that honors the history of the Navy SEAL's. We surveyed the boats, helicopters and monuments from all era's of the United States history. And it was pretty awesome!

 Fort Pierce Beach

Batting cages

  

A huge recon boat at the Navy Seals Museum (I'm in this photo...somewhere!)

Day Two Hundred and Seventy Five

Today was an off day. At long last, a day with not a single commitment to be had. Ahhhhh. Despite the recently crumby weather we were determined to spend the day at Jensen Beach. We were up early by our standards, 9 am. (I've still haven't really adjusted to Eastern time. No biggie right?) We packed up the cooler and beach chairs then headed down the road to pick up our new friends. We've recently become acquainted with the married Dominican couple down the street, he's a pitcher for the Mets. When the four of us get together we usually comprehend about twelve percent of whatever's said, English or Spanish. But they're very sweet, and patiently teach us new words to expand our Spanish vocabulary.

I still don't know how the Domican players do it, they receive only travel visas to come here to play baseball. They usually don't speak much English and don't have an opportunity to learn when they're working hard at the field all day. I couldn't fathom trying to find a home, orchestrate rides to the field, and take care of every day necessities while in that situation. I have a huge soft spot for those boys and their families.

We spent a fun day on the sand and playing in the waves (holas, like "hi,"), before they treated us to lunch (pollo). The beach was especially interesting today as the sea turtles have now laid their eggs on the shore. It's a serious crime to enter these nesting areas or tamper with them in anyway. We politely set up our beach spot, giving the turtle eggs (juevos de tortugas) a wide berth. No matter where in the world we are, language barriers aside, I can always have a great time with good natured people like the happy couple we spent today with.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty

Double Header and Beach Day

What's a Daytona Beach vacation with out a beach day? We were determined to have a beach day despite the crumby weather. Period. Nothing could stop us.

 

We were up  fairly early, by baseball standards. We freshened up and met Kyle at his hotel on the water, and he accompanied us out to the beach. It began raining about forty seven seconds later. We took cover in the hotel while the clouds again pelted the shoreline. When the sky finally reduced it's evil down pour to a small drizzle, we tip toed out to the hot tub. 

Shortly after, the cloud coverage cleared enough to let some small rays through. So we relocated to the sand and laid out on the beach. Talking for hours. And getting a sneaky sun burn.

 At the game, we rocked our respective caps in honor of our guys. It just so happened that one of my girlfriends, who I met with the Angels, lives near the field. She joined us for the game and we had a blast. What a group: a Met, a Marlin and an Angel. 

From Kendall's blog: http://a-life-in-flight-365.blogspot.com/2013/07/day-six-hundred-and-eighty-one.html

 

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Nine

The Daytona Meeting

Kyle's away series this week began in Daytona. Like the Daytona that is right-smack-dab between our new home in Port St. Lucie and the home of our beloved Conley friends, who live in Jacksonville. 

Oh. my. so. happy. gosh.

As soon as Kendall and I discovered this, we began planning. We purchased our cheapy hotel, with a full kitchenette (a paleo must). We packed our bikinis, baseball caps, and fruit. And we began driving towards one another.

And we were sorely disappointed when rain began pelting the gorgeous Daytona beach. Ughhh. Of course the baseball game was cancelled, it was a literal torrential down pour. Double ughhh. Not to worry though, a double header was scheduled for the following afternoon, our baseball fix was sure to come. We picked up Kyle at his hotel and headed down to the Daytona beach boardwalk. It was buzzing with tourists and brimming with neon beach wear. We oh'd and ah'd for awhile and watched the waves. It didn't take long to realize we were starving, so we headed to the Roof Top of Joe's Crab Shack and enjoyed appetizers and baseball chat as the sun slowly set on the ocean around us. When our table was ready, we gobbled up our crab, shrimp, haddock and giggled about college memories and the upcoming wedding plans. After dropping Kyle off at the hotel, Kendall and I laid in bed with full bellies and told stories and laughed our buns off to the wee hours of the morning. Not much has changed in the last four years, and thank gosh for that.

From Kendall: http://a-life-in-flight-365.blogspot.com/2013/07/day-six-hundred-and-eighty.html

In other news, Kyle and I have finally found "the one." Agent that is. It has slowly become more and more apparent that we would be needing an agent to help us on this journey. We discussed the approach we wanted to take to find the perfect fit, and decided we would not be shopping around. Instead, we were going to wait for one to come to us. Kyle wanted it to be someone who was so interested in representing him that they would work to network and to get into contact with him. There is no master list of the players phone numbers and the agents they may or may not be represented by, so agents really do have to work hard to connect with the players they are interested in. This methodology proved to be tricky, as most agents thought that Kyle already had someone representing him. We had connected with two agents since the trade, but were not sold. Mike, our new agent, reached out to us through the Met's big league pitcher, Tim Byrdak. We had great vibes as soon as he first reached out to Kyle. Mike is very family orientated and communicates openly with the wives of his clients. He even encouraged me to call him and discuss our baseball goals. He also encouraged us to have any one close to us call him with questions about his strategies, techniques and representation. We had our baseball mentor and additional dad figure, Chris Stangel give him a call. Chris, ex-LAPD, grilled him for over an hour and Mike prevailed! (Note: Mike is also ex-LAPD, small world). Mike lives in Washington and represents twenty five ball players. He likes a small clientele and giving his full attention to each of his clients. Agents provide a unique set of benefits to players. Agent's help find or negotiate endorsements, additional training, card deals, housing, equipment deals and even provide legal representation when needed. We are so excited about this new development and blessing on this adventure.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty One

 Florida Move in Day! 

(Note: Move in days lose their luster after the third time in three months).

So here's the down low on the new casa. I posted an add on Craigslist on the drive down to Port St. Lucie from Savannah. This was at the advice of several lovely gals in the online MiLB Wives & Girlfriends support group. (Yea, get your giggle on, but it's been a fantastic resource). The group has several cool resources that women across the nation have created together, one being a document that lists popular housing for each team at each of it's levels. Only bummer? The Met's section is  bare bones compared to the Angel's section and there were no recommendations from other wifies for Port St. Lucie. Sigh. Some women in the group swear by Craigslist alone, and say they've always been able to find a reasonable room to rent in a home or a "host family." Left with little other choices, I posted the advert and received three replies in less than twelve hours. I was pleasantly surprised. I picked my favorite response during Kyle's first game, and afterwards we went to look at it. An older gentleman, Alan, was looking for someone to pet sit his dogs while he was out of town resolving some personal matters. His trip is in early August, but he wanted someone to stay before hand to get to know the doggies. They're sweet, cheeky little things. The house is spacious and comes with all the amenities that are hard to travel with, like a washer and dryer, a vacuum cleaner and pots and pans. And a cool guy who gave me his office for my work and renamed his wireless network "Alan & Sue," before I moved in. 

Day Two Hundred and Fifty

Road tripping Florida. From BFF time to a family catch up lunch. (I hadn't seen my great aunt and uncle in 12 years!)

PS: My fiancé hit his first bomb as a Met tonight. Rock on babe!

Day Two Hundred and Forty Nine

  Harry Potter Happiness

Harry Potter Land at Universal Studio's Island of Adventure. After a day of work, for both of us, we quickly freshened up and headed across the street. We got just about ten steps out of the front door when Michelle hailed a black Escalade, and quickly dubbed it my bachy limo. The park was less than a mile away but it was a fun ride! 

I won't be explaining every last detail, because you really just need to go see it for yourself. The highlights:

 

 Hogwarts.

 

 Inside Olivander's wand shop.

 

 

Quiditch supplies. 

The Hogwarts Express!  

Michelle is a roller coaster junky. I'm indifferent for the most part, I love riding them but always seem to pay for it later. We did both of the dragon roller coasters at the Triwizard Tournament. Both were awesome, fast and scream worthy. We wandered through Hogwarts and enjoyed Dumbeldore's office, talking framed photographs and the Gryffindor commons...among many other things. We also visited Hogsmeade's Honey Dukes and Zonko's. We were in absolute heaven. Besides all things Harry Potter, we visited Jurassic Park and did the river ride, surviving the ferocious uncaged T-Rex. We scoped out the Comic Stip and rode the newest Hulk inspired roller coaster. We explored Dr. Seuss land and toured Poseidon's temple. Whew, for only having four hours, I'd say we did pretty well. I know I was out in less than a second of my head hitting the pillow. 

Day Two Hundred and Forty Eight

Call me crazy but I needed a vacation. Now. Hello two moves in two weeks. I also needed one of my girls. And a hotel for that matter.

The Mets kindly provide us with a hotel while we get settled in Port St. Lucie. But only as long as Kyle is in town, they obviously won't pay for TWO rooms. He has a room on the "gulf side," of Florida seeing as he's away for a series this week. (Did you see how I laid down some Florida lingo there?)

The gods of baseball, friends, and goodness must have gotten together last night, because it just so happened that my friend Michelle was in Orlando on business. With an extra bed in her hotel room. Until Thursday. (Which happens to be when Kyle gets home from his road trip). AMAZING.

We tanned pool side and enjoyed a nice dinner. On the menu for tomorrow? Harry Potter land and Universal Studios. Just what the doctor ordered. Ahhhh.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Seven

What a day! So much has happened in our busy little baseball world thats it's even hard for me to keep up! We went to bed at 2 am, Kyle got in from a road trip with the Sand Gnats at 1 in the morning. Then we were up and at 'em at 7:00 am to be to his new field by 2:00 pm. Brutal. The drive down to Port St. Lucie, Florida was about 6 hours. Even though we were exhausted, actually exhausted doesn't begin to cover it, the drive seemed short. Maybe because we clocked a16 hour road trip just 10 days earlier? The city is beautiful; sunny and filled to the brim with palms.

Kyle went straight to the field, I went to the hotel to sleep. He was so exhausted and there was nothing we could do to fix that. Looking back now, it's probably just fine we rolled with it because Kyle batted .750, he scored 3 of the 4 runs for the Mets including the run for the lead and win, AND he claimed his first bag. Hot damn. After the game Dick Scott, who was in the stands to watch Kyle's first game, hustled Kyle into the locker room where a player on his team presented a brief speech. He gave several honorable mentions and then went on about Kyle's performance. When he finished, he awarded Kyle with the festive "team helmet," and placed it on Kyle's head. Of course Kyle relented to the "speech, give us a speech," chants. He faced his new teammates for the first time and told them what an honor and blessing it was to be here with them.

I am so incredibly proud of my fiancé, I have yet to meet someone whose faced, and over come, more obstacles in their life than he has. Instead of getting down on himself or letting others negativity weigh on him, he challenges himself to do better, every day. No excuses. He earned this, there's no doubt about it, and we're just that much closer to The Show. Way to go Kyle!

An article about the game last night:

http://m.tcpalm.com/news/2013/jul/09/no-headline---st-_lucie_mets9_c3/

Day Two Hundred and Forty Six

Another Move

The gods of baseball waited until I had literally hung the last of our clothing in the closet to inform us that we are indeed, moving up in the Mets organization. The strength coach and manager called Kyle in after his game today and teased him that he had been traded...again. Kyle shot that thought down real quickly. They put their heads together for a moment, then told Kyle that he had failed his initial drug test screening when he first arrived to play for the Mets. Kyle was absolutely certain that this couldn't be true and shot it down even more quickly than the trade idea. So finally the two goofballs relented with the jokes and told him he had been promoted and to pack his gear up. Port St. Lucie Mets need him at the field tomorrow by two. I repacked everything literally less than ten minutes after finishing unpacking it. Pretty typical right?! I'm about adopt a new minimalist lifestyle...tomorrow. My mom teased that I'll be down to one bag soon. New goal, one bag. We'll be in Florida by two tomorrow to meet our new team! Cheers!

Two Hundred and Thirty Nine

After today's game Kyle and I decide to branch out and explore a little. I was ready for a new scene after getting settled in our new place, Kyle was mostly ready for food...and ghosts!

The wonderful thing about being in Savannah is, really, being in Savannah. Living in civilization again, with perks like coffee, yoga, fro yo, and most importantly, Groupon. Yesterday, I found a "Savannah Ghost Tour," deal lead by a renowned ghoul investigator and tale collector. He's even published his interviews and stories in a popular book amongst the chasers of poltergeists'.

First things first, we enjoyed a fine meal of appetizers (we just couldn't decide) at our new favorite restaurant, Cotton Exchange. On the menu for tonight: alligator tail, crab stuffed mushrooms and Savannah's most popular crab dip. NUM! It was the first time eating alligator for the both of us. And it does taste like chicken! But better.

Afterwards we moseyed down river street enjoying the sunset and taking in the creations of local artists. Once the night began to settle we quickly made our way to Wright Square for the beginning of our haunted tour. The historic district of Savannah is very different from Las Vegas, but they' do have one thing in common. Open containers on the street are allowed; only plastic cups. One of our first stops was to a haunted bar where everyone grabbed a cup. We continued on to several squares, a slave quarters, a quarantined hospital and two grace yards. All dating back to the 18th and 19th century. The guide shared tales and true accounts of ghostly presences and happenings along the way. It was a ghastly good blast!

Day Two Hundred and Thirty Seven

Bacon and blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Check.

New place toured and signed for. Check

(Gated community, pool and fitness center? Check!)

First at bat as a Met. Check.

First at bat as a Met leading to first hit as a Met. Check.

First ever at bat wearing my number. Check.

Connected with the two local wifies. Check.

Double date celebratory dinner after the Sand Gnats win! Check.

We kinda love it here.

Day Two Hundred and Thirty Six

Apologies in advance, but this day calls for more than one photo!

 

We made it to Savannah, Georgia at about 3:00 pm today. 

The very first cool thing about Savannah, there's not only moss hanging from the trees, but a beautiful abundance of palms. I had no idea these things could coincide. It's a true beauty that's much different than our typical pines and firs in the Pacific Northwest.

As promised by the Angels, Kyle's hear arrived at the Sand Gnats club house before we did. Not to worry though, he was outfitted with brand new blue and orange Mets gear. Holler if you're in need of Angels 'ish, we seem to own an obscene amount for Mets. Hehe.

Grayson Historical Field is just as the name says, historical. It's large, the bleachers are older with out numbered seating, the aisles are big and the seating options are bountiful. It also comes with things we didn't have before like a sky bar, a huge screen in the outfield and tons of die hard fans. (It's so awesome it almost re-sold me on the name Grayson for one of my hopeful future sons. Alas, Kyle again reminded me how unfortunate the initials GJ would be).

Coincidentally tonight was Military appreciation night at the field. We're now only several hours from my active duty brother who is currently at Fort Bragg. I had to buy Kyle's jersey, even though he didn't play tonight. Not only did he pick MY number, 5, but the jersey is camouflage in honor of my brother. Plus it's his very first jersey as a Met! Perfection. Kyle will need to complete a physical with the Mets staff before he can play, this is standard procedure after a trade. AS of now, they've slated Kyle for the right field and designated hitter positions.

For those curious about the details and dirt on Kyle's trade, this article has been the most detailed and accurate that we've seen thus far:

http://baseballnewshound.com/?p=4618

We would like to thank you all for your support, love and encouragement on this journey. We are unbelievably excited for this next chapter.