Atlanta vs. DeLand

So we have left the big city. There are definitely pros and cons to living in a big city vs. a small town. We were never socialites and we didn't have a ton of friends that kept us busy with outings. We didn't have a sparkling night life, but we had everything we needed/wanted within 10 miles of our house... Church, shopping, zoo, aquarium, airport, chiropractor, doctor, parks, restaurants (every kind you can imagine), skyscrapers... and then there is the smog, trailer trucks and fire engines whizzing by our house, police search lights from helicopters lighting up the sky on a random Tuesday night, Boulevard between Freedom Parkway and Ponce De Leon Ave, Rubber Man Tires, The sock man who sold socks and rims for your car...

But we have traded all of that for...

90% of our family within a 1 1/2 hour drive, Gramma and Papa 10 minutes away!, having a "little" birthday party for Anson with 26 people(mostly family!), a quaint little downtown with shops and restaurants, a BBQ restaurant that I went to once and on the second time going, they remembered me!, being able to meet my Mom, Aunt and Uncle, Cousin and her son for the Wednesday morning farmers market held at the fairgrounds, having Gramma willingly take the kids to her house for the afternoon and Toto coming for the day to entertain them!, hearing the crickets at night instead of the hum of traffic, the St. Johns River right down the road and the Atlantic Ocean 25 minutes away, seeing beautiful Florida sunsets from our second story windows, and even a palm tree in our front yard! So yes, it may take two weeks to get our foreign car fixed and two hours to find a store with just the right thing we need (but they could call another location and get it here next week!)but, culture shock and all, we love it! We are glad to get to raise our kids in a small town and glad to be near our family!

Asa's Baptism - Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Dusty's parents came up for the weekend and took Anson and Ella to the cabin for the day on Saturday! They had a great time together and Dusty and I had a nice date at a restaurant we had wanted to try for a long time. (The Shed) Asa was a good little tag-along guest! I was also able to clean out Ella and Anson's room while they were gone for the day (looking ahead to packing up). On Sunday morning, Mother's Day, Dusty and Anson and Ella cooked me and Toto breakfast in bed! We had sourdough french toast and strawberries Romanov, coffee and OJ. Yummy! Anson was really into it this year and made me feel very special! We then got ready for church. We didn't realize it at the time but this was our last Sunday at the Church of the Apostles. (We really miss our church!!!!) Asa was baptized during the morning service and it was a very nice ceremony! It was great to have Toto and Pop there! After church we ate at our favorite Malaysian restaurant, Penang, and our dear friend Cyrl joined us for lunch. That afternoon we started packing up for our first trip to FL to work on the house. We ended up only making two trips down before the big move. In hind sight, we could have used one more week to finish things up but us Rollins' like to keep things interesting!! :o)

We Have Moved!

Hi All!
We have moved and are settling into our new (old) home in DeLand, FL! So much has happened over the last six weeks so I am trying to play catch-up with the blog. Over the next week, hopefully I will be able to get some posts and pics up about:
Mother's Day/Asa's Baptism
Our first trip to FL to work on the house
Our last week together in Atlanta
Our second trip to FL to finish the house
Our actual move down
Our new house
and
Anson's 5th Birthday!

Stay Tuned!!