Finally We Met - And It Was Amazing!

Finally! I met the amazing Dawn and her amazing girls Lily and Rosie! After approximately 8 years or so of following her life on her blog, I finally met Dawn. And it was everything I expected. No, it was even better than I expected. There are times when you read someone's blog for years, and when you eventually get the opportunity to meet that person behind the written words, he or she isn't anything like how he or she portrays him or herself in print. That is not the case with Dawn at all. She is as witty and wonderful as she is in her writing.

Several years ago, I came to the realization that Dawn lived in Miami. Now Miami is a big place. She could have been anywhere in Miami. But after some back and forth, we realized that she lives only minutes from where I used to live as a kid. If I still lived in that house, our girls would probably hang out all the time. Dang I wish we lived closer to one another.

And since I was making my big trip to Miami, I knew I had to meet her. I was going to be heading toward my old neighborhood, so I contacted Dawn and asked if Doug, Bri and I could stop in and see her and her girls. She gave me a resounding "yes" and we made plans.

And not only did we go and visit with Dawn at her home, she set up an opportunity for me to take a tour of my old Junior High school. How freakin' cool is that? It was awesome. I cannot thank her enough for setting it up.

That morning, Doug, Bri and I stopped at the Starbucks across the street from the hotel for a little breakfast. I started snapping some photos of my loves...

After breakfast, we headed to my old neighborhood and surrounding area and drove around for a little while. It was so neat showing Bri my old house and some other places I used to frequent. 

We were due to arrive at Dawn's house at noon. And as Dawn posted, we got there exactly at noon. Because I'm a time freak. Heh. I am either exactly on time or notoriously early. That's how I roll - snort.

It was simply amazing see those three lovely faces looking at me when they opened the door. It felt like I was meeting rock stars! It was so surreal and wonderful.

Dawn and the girls had a delicious spread all ready for us. We quickly ate lunch and then headed over to my old Junior High. Dawn's friend Ed is a teacher there and he offered to give me a guided tour. The tour was awesomely crazy! So surreal!

I couldn't believe my daughter was standing in front of my old school...

Yep - that's me with my yearbook!!

I have many more photos and I am actually going to devote my next post to the tour. So more on that soon.

We went back to the house where Bri and Rosie had a blast playing together. They were immediate friends...

And the parents and Lily had no lack of conversation whatsoever. We talked and laughed and had the best time all afternoon.

It was time to head out to dinner and Rosie wanted to tag along in our rental car...

Dawn suggested a local restaurant on the bay and it was perfect. The weather was beautiful as well as the view. And the food was super yummy...

 We took a little walk on the pier...

So amazing seeing these girls all together...

Picture taking time...

After dinner, Dawn took us over to a local park where we walked our dinner off. There were beautiful views of the bay...

The girls loved the exercise trail...

And throwing rocks in the bay...

Dawn came up with this adorable idea for a picture...

And then around 8PM, it was time to part ways (sniff). We were all so sad that the day was over. And we were all so sad that we live way too far from one another. There were talks about when we could see each other again.

Dawn and her girls are absolutely fantastic. Dawn is awesome - hilarious and so easy to talk to. There were no lulls in our conversation at all. And her girls are so smart, witty, sweet and unbelievably mature. It was beyond a pleasure to meet them in person. I cannot thank Dawn and her girls enough for making us feel so welcome.

So my next post will be about the Jr High tour. A huge thank you to Dawn and Ed who made it happen!!!