We took the week of Aug 19th to travel to Tampa, Florida and settle Jesse into her new home.  She was so excited and even today seems very settled in her new location.  I guess Florida agrees with her… I am sure the free golf does.  We can’t forget the drive in this tale.  We pulled a camper to leave in Florida and since we planned to be gone a week we took Harley along for the long ride.  She was a trooper but always wanted to sit on Derwin’s lap.

After the 12 hour adventure to Ruskin, Florida we arrived and settled into our new home away from home.  For sure Harley settled in…

Moving day arrived and it was quite a confusing disaster, but patience won out and we made it.  She is moved into her HUGE dorm room!  It is a little big compared to anything we have ever moved Hannah into except maybe her apartment off campus.

I was able to snap some shots of the dorm as I stood watch on the curb.  Yep!  crazy here is my guard duty job.

Finally it all made it upstairs, elevators, through long lines to her dorm room…. The final product is a great room.

I can’t stop with the dorm room without also sharing the view.  The only better view was probably Hannah’s Sophomore year when she could watch Carolina Baseball from her Dorm porch.

This was a long day, but a successful and sad one as we said our first real goodbyes to Jesse.  So hard to believe as I type this she is over 8 hours away and not in her room behind me.

Now Derwin and I needed some down time so off to the Gulf beaches.  We saw some awesome things.  Horses swimming in the bay, some beautiful beaches and the Skyway Bridge to name a few.

I must admit my favorite part of the whole week were the sunrises over the Little Manatee River.  We were told these were beautiful and the truly the pictures do not do it justice.  Although every morning was walk with Harley around the docks, we did catch two actual sunrises.

This is the first sunrise Derwin and I watched on the day we moved Jesse in…

As beautiful as that is the last morning as we prepared to leave was the most spectacular with the colors and clouds.

My favorite is the panoramic that Derwin was able to capture with his iPhone5

Then the week was over we loaded up and headed home leaving Jesse settle in and ready to move forward into a new time in our lives.   As I look forward to this time with Derwin, I will also long for the times when all four of us together again!

Oh yes and Harley too…..