June 29-July 6

Sorry that this post is a little late.  Last week was spent in the dripping wet humidity of Florida as we visited my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Because everyone knows that the best time of year to visit Florida is early July.  You know, to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of the midwest.

Mom, Dad, Joe, Jillian, and James came to our house Friday night.  Then we all woke up bright and early on Saturday morning -- or does 5 AM count as dark and early? -- to make the 15 hour drive to Florida.  Impressively, our total travel time, including stops for gas and meals, was just under 17 hours.  The girls did remarkably well, although they napped so much that bedtime was a bit of ordeal once we arrived.  :/

Weather aside, it was quite a nice trip.  Mom, Dad, the girls, and I took a daily walk down to the playground each morning before the slides got too hot.  This served the double purpose of getting noisy little girls out of the house while older people slept draped on every available surface.  Olivia used Opa as her personal assistant and he helped her clamber over every structure at the park.  After many days of hemming and hawing on the part of Olivia, Oma finally tossed her down the tallest tube slide on the playground, which cured Olivia's need to climb up and then not go down.  After that, Olivia stuck to the slides she was willing to brave.  We usually headed back to eat breakfast by 8:30, so those light-sleeping teenagers that weren't up by the time breakfast was over were just out of luck where rest was concerned.

We took one day to go to the beach because, as Bryan pointed out, "you can't go to Florida and not visit the beach!"  I beg to differ; the pool at Uncle Paul and Aunt Char's house provided all the benefits of the beach (water) and only half the disadvantages (heat, but not sand).  We picked a good day to go, though, because the normally placid bay looked more like a wave pool while we were there.  A stiff breeze kept the bugs and heat at bay, and Gretchen and I sat in the shallows to get splashed by waves while Olivia ventured further into the ocean with the big kids, marveling at her sudden ability to reach the bottom of something so big.  Then Bryan helped Olivia build a sand castle while Gretchen sat on a towel and contentedly tried to fill Rachelle's flip flop with sand, one handful at a time.

My cousins and siblings were very helpful in entertaining the girls.  They read stories, blew bubbles, drew with chalk, and went exploring.  Olivia convinced several people to draw chalk pictures for her, and Gretchen took to standing by the door with the chalk container, stretching as high as she could to reach the knob until whoever happened to be walking by took pity on her and took her outside for a few minutes.  Jillian says that Gretchen spent more time coloring her own legs than the sidewalk, but at least she did it outside.  :)

Ricky introduced us to a game that he (or maybe his friends?) invented, and the whole 13-25 crowd played voccus (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly) nightly.  Bryan and I joined them once or twice, as did some of the aunts and uncles (and James, whenever he could convince mom that it was a good idea).  It was pretty fun when I did play, although our games were cut short by automatic street light timers, and I'm not hardcore enough to play in the dark.  :)  More exciting was the series of soccer games that we played Friday afternoon (yes, in the heat of the day).  Somehow playing pick-up soccer with the cousins in 90 degree weather with 94% humidity (I checked; at least there was a breeze that day!) seems more authentic than playing intramural college soccer in late October in Michigan.

Olivia didn't pick up any new talents during this week, although she did discover a favorite hat that had a fish sticking out of it.  Pictures of that below.  Gretchen, on the other hand, decided that this was the perfect week to improve herself in leaps and bounds.  She began walking regularly, and now only crawls when she needs to get somewhere exceptionally quickly.  She also perfected getting off furniture without dying, so she now at least attempts to swing her legs around so that she's not plunging off couches headfirst.  In a final development, Gretchen made great strides toward eliminating her morning nap.  Some days she still took a short morning nap, but many days she found it unnecessary and was able to maintain a good mood until after lunch time.

Dad flew back Saturday morning, so the rest of us took a more leisurely trip north, spending two days in the car to avoid the 17 hour marathon.  Once again, the girls handled things well, although I could have done without the last two hours.  Still, two rough hours out of 34 in the car isn't bad at all.

Pictures:
Olivia's hat:

Walking to the park:

Hooray slides!

And playground equipment!

And mulch!

Pictures from Uncle Joe.  Gretchen's unimpressed face is from when we first got out of the car at a Florida rest stop.

Gretchen, dancing to Scottish music:

Olivia, showing off another hat: