NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

Welcome to paradise. My last blog post was regarding our son's personality and how freedom of thought seems to be heavily promoted throughout Florida.  I have not posted in a few months because our son had a very serious accident and has been working on his recovery.  I am grateful he is doing so much better, and even jokes that he was never too injured he just wanted a helicopter (air ambulance) ride. For a kid that is usually headed somewhere for an action packed adventure, this season in our lives was looking worrisome.  How could we keep our kid active and protect his brain as he works on his TBI recovery?  After some serious contemplation and discussion with the medical team I think we figured it out.....  Helmet in the backyard! My Website  

Welcome to Paradise. In the town I grew up in, my hero was a bookseller who almost singlehandedly defeated the best military in the world.  He lived near me, taught himself military strategy and became one of General George Washington's closest friends.  He left school at the age my son is now to support his mom and younger brother and made himself the most interesting book seller in all of Boston. The thing I like about him was how he marched to his own drummer.  He didn't worry what others thought of him but certainly knew the difference between right and wrong.  People have largely forgotten about his heroics but, our family has not. Two weeks ago we traveled to Northern Florida and then Georgia for our son to compete in a wakeboard competition.  While we were there my son decided that some of the water lilies were cool and he should decorate his helmet with them.  Preteen boys typically do not fawn over flora or use it as decoration, but our kid isn't worried about wha

Welcome to paradise. The reasons for moving to Florida are about as varied as the people who move here.  But when talking to new residents, the weather is normally a factor even if it's not the biggest one.  I knew I was going to end up here when I was 10 years old and shoveling snow in mid-April.  That's not the life I wanted. Don't get me wrong, I had lots of great friends where I grew up and I'm a history nerd so being born in Wollaston (modern day Boston) was a point of pride to me.  Even though Wollaston was named after a pirate who was generally considered an undesirable.  But, seriously how many people do you know who grew up in a town named for a pirate?  There really aren't too many of us. At any rate, since moving to Florida, I have been surprised at the amount of time everyone spends outside.  To that end I couldn't be happier that our son loves the outdoors and is involved in a few sports that take place outdoors almost exclusively.  I feel bad for p

Welcome to Paradise. Before I was a dad, I thought that kids were kids - pretty much all the same.  Then my son Rocky was born.  From the earliest of ages all he wanted to do was be outside and be riding something.  It started with a scooter and balance bike before he was two and he's never looked back.  That's awesome, however as he became more mobil we quickly learned we needed a bigger house, near the beach with a huge backyard. Not as difficult as it sounds. Before Rocky's second birthday we bought a house 11 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico with a 500 Acre backyard.  To be fair, the yard isn't our private 500 acres, we live on a golf course by Siesta Key in Sarasota so our backyard gets HUGE as soon as the golfers go home. So we get to live in a place with a 500 acre backyard that we never have to mow.  I'm thinking no matter what kid of kid you have that's a good deal. In the "backyard" Search Golf Course Homes

Welcome to Paradise. I hadn't been in Florida long before I was bitten by several Fire Ants and needed medical attention.  My doctor tells me I have an underlying allergic reaction and I shouldn't be embarrassed that I ended up on crutches.  But let's be honest, NO ONE wants to admit they lost a fight with a bunch of ants and had to go to the ER. When our son showed up I did make all sorts of effort to ensure he didn't get set upon by this underground monster.  Needless to say by year three he had been attacked, in front of his mom, who swears to this day there were more than 200 bites.  In her defense, she is probably right.  It was a bad scene. But there were worse incidents. One year ago we were swimming in a lake and a gator popped up next to my son. One of his best friends has survived an alligator attack and I think Rocky wants some gator scars; and that's probably the only thing in my life that keeps me up at night. At any rate he left the water and the gator

Welcome to paradise. Or, see you soon if you are reading this up north.  I think my most read blog post was me explaining the vibe in Florida.  I grew up in New England and was told by a great number of people a huge litany of things I wasn't allowed to do or, things that I wasn't able to do.  When I wrote my most read blog post, I wrote about how the vibe was a mellow "live and let live" vibe and included a photo of my son on his wakeboard in heavy boat traffic giving me the peace sign....  And so, yeah, Live and Let Live is the vibe.... However, that really tells you what OTHER people are like.  The question truly is 'What is Florida Like to ME?'  Essentially, it comes down to what you feel comfortable doing in your home state.  Now my third grader was born and raised here and never even saw snow until this past winter.  He's a real Floridian. Today, he went to church then painted his toe nails, strapped an Ostrich Stuffed animal to his helmet and went s