Florida 2009

Although our Florida trip lacked an actual shuttle launch, the whole purpose of the trip, it was filled with fun and memories. I'll try not to bore you too much with a play-by-play recap of a 500+ miles car trip, 3am wake-up calls for no reason and the trip to Sears Sunday afternoon to replace a tire (that luckily was under warranty and therefore free) with a tear in it before we drove 500+ miles home again.

A few of the highlights:

• Our hotel had a personal greeter Saturday morning as our mostly naked child waved and said "hello, where are you going?" to everyone walking in or out of the front door below our third floor room:
• There was the hot, hot, hot day at Kennedy Space Center. Whew, it was hot. And I LIVE in the south. There were lots of space craft, lots of buildings that smelled like they should be in Apollo 13, and stuffed shuttles in the gift shop (just what I want to snuggle up to at night). We managed to escape without any strange souvenirs, mainly because this happened:
• Peanut slept with us. Not romantic for a little getaway, sure, but I cherished every moment that we all snuggled together (this isn't typical for us, we aren't normally a family bed kind of bunch). I am very excited for peanut to have a brother and to add another munchkin to our family, but it is a little sad to think about how we won't be a family of three much longer. Sleeping together also gave us a first hand look at what really goes on as peanut falls asleep. The stories and songs he performed were hilarious ("I'm a zero man, a zero man" - where does he get this stuff?).
  
• Pumpkin really started getting active this weekend. It was a real joy to begin to feel this new little life making his presence known in such a physically strong manner.
  
• Ah, the beach. Need I say more?
• Peanut LOVED the hotel. Whenever we were out, he asked when we were going back to the hotel. He was obsessed with the elevator and pushed the buttons each time we got on (including hitting the alarm a few times and pushing the call for assistance button once - oops). He also wanted to "find" our room every time we returned - and darned if the kid didn't get super excited every time he found it (and he found it correctly every time). He actually started a tantrum when we got home because he wanted to go back to the hotel. Who knew it would be so exciting?
  

Now that we're finally getting back on track with our routines, we're already prepping for our next trip. After surviving an 8 hour drive, the two hour flight to New England sounds like a breeze! Although we missed the actual launch (now postponed until July), I don't regret going. It's amazing what a change in scenery and a little ocean air can do.

Mmmmm, ocean air. *sigh* I might have to consider changing the name of this space to "Flip Flops and Beach Chairs."