First Family Vacation

A few weeks ago we followed through on a very poor decision and took Matthew on a three-hour flight to Ft. Lauderdale.  Fortunately for us, the statistically improbable result occurred and all went well.  As you can see below, our small human did things like "smile" and "explore the friendly skies," as opposed to "have his ears pop, scream until his larynx bled and cost the airline its only remaining loyal non-business travelers."

"Mehnmnemmhemaeg."

"Hi God, I'm Matthew. Say hi to Milklady."

We stayed at my parents' condo in Weston, which is a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale, which if we are being honest is a suburb of Miami, which if we are really being real is a suburb of Cuba.

Obviously, it poured rain the first three days to the point that there was significant flooding.  Fortunately, I bought an umbrella on day three.  Beginning with day four, it did not rain again.  Fortunately, all was not lost because my parents didn't have a umbrella, so we were able to just leave it at the condo.  Something else we were able to do was realize on the plane ride home that we left the umbrella in the trunk of the rental car.  Apparently, they still accept the car when you return it with a umbrella in the trunk.

Truth be told, it was actually awesome to have a few days to be forced to do nothing.  The relaxation was fantastic.

Daddy reading Matthew his new book

Sidebar: I would like to thank E for the real value-add caption to that last picture.  Other options included "Matthew's eyes are open" and "Daddy has a pox of some kind."

We don't have a bathtub at home, so this was a real treat for Matthew and I.  Or at least me.  Matthew barely bothered to make eye contact.  The bubbles, on the other hand, were fascinating.

Matthew's first bubble bath

She's officially been removed from caption duty.

Speaking of E, her great friends from grad school, Dionne and Karim, drove three hours each way to come visit us the first full day we were there.  We had a great time hanging out.  And eating at a diner.  I got the homemade mac and cheese.  God bless heavy cream.

Eventually that week we did go out and enjoy the weather:

Imagine the whiteness after we added sunblock

 Matthew wearing a ridiculous hat

I should eat more vegetables

This picture makes Matthew's first trip to the zoo look really special.  It was not.  For an hour, we pretty much just saw birds and then had to quickly walk back to the car because it was 90 degrees and ridiculously stupid for us to go out in the first place.  Oh, and some zookeeper thought it was a good idea to put all the animals people come to the zoo to actually see, such as creatures that aren't cardinals, in the back of the zoo, requiring a two hour walk.  Not kidding.

And then we went home, via another three hour flight that was seamless.  The end.