We're Back

First off, thank you, thank you, thank you so much to Dave and Sally, and to the rest of the Bucks, who made our Florida trip possible. John said it was the best vacation of his life; Catherine couldn't decide what her favorite part was, because there were so many great things, and Peter gave his one word AWESOME to describe it all. We all had a wonderful time, and built some really fantastic memories.

I'm going to give a quick recap of some of the great stuff we did, but I have 279 e-mails waiting for me, so I can't get too into it. If I get a chance to sneak away tomorrow, I'll try to add more detail. But here are the highlights:

We landed on Saturday night, and met Dave and family at the timeshare condo. Very nice place -- plenty of room for us all, and with a large pool and private beach. We spent a lot of time in the pool, and hit the beach a couple of times. Even in April, the water was warmer than I ever remember our New England waters being. The temps were in the low 80's every day, mostly sunny. It was ideal.

We all went to see the Florida Marlins play on Sunday. They lost, but we enjoyed seeing all of those former Red Sox prospects being so successful for someone else. It was a beautiful, sunny day, great for a ball game, and got us all in the mood for the kids' upcoming baseball seasons.

Monday was perhaps the greatest day of John's life. We went to the Everglades, to a place called Sawgrass Recreation Park, and had an airboat ride to see alligators. And see them we did, particularly one mean one named Giovanni who followed us around; apparently, we were in his territory, and he didn't like it. He'd come within two or three feet of the boat and stare at us. After the airboat tour, we visited some of the animal exhibits at the park, including a few brought by a group called Predators Unlimited. The kids got to see -- and touch -- a 5 week old endangered Florida Panther (there are only about 80 to 100 left in the world). Pretty darn special. John had the Everglades on his list of places to visit one day, so he was thrilled to check that one off. (The others include the Himalayas to find snow leopards and the Amazon rain forest to see a jaguar).

We also visited the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Science and Discovery and saw a very cool 3D Imax movie; spent a day at Boomer's, an amusement spot, where the kids managed to race their go-carts faster than me, and soak Isabel and me in bumper boats. (They also learned how to play shuffleboard on the tournament-quality courts at the condo; Catherine beat me 75 to 14 in one game. I did, however, kick everyone's butt in mini golf, so it wasn't a completely humiliating week.)

We spent a morning at a very cool place called Butterfly World, which had tons of butterflies and bird aviaries (cages with birds flying around your heads). They also had a cage of lorikeets; we fed them nectar from small cups as they perched on our heads and shoulders.

We also spent some time at the Commercial Street Pier, where we got very close to some pelicans, and chatted with a man who was catching tropical fish for his 120-, 220-, and 300-gallon saltwater fish tanks at home. The people of Florida are extremely friendly, I must say, except for those transplanted northerners who don't trust anyone. (How hard is it to at least smile when someone sees your Red Sox shirt and says "Go Sox!"?)

We also spent lots of time with Dave, Sally, David, and Emily (and occasionally, the beautiful Bella) swimming in the condo pool, and in their pool, and managed to have dinner together a few times during the week, which was great.

Other highlights: Peter learned the joys of a really good pastrami sandwhich; I managed to sneak in a couple of runs the early Florida morning' John saw a basilisk lizard in his cousins' back yard (they can run on top of the water); and Catherine's deep love for both swimming and Hannah Montana only grew. (And Emily loved it when I sang Hannah Montana's "Best of Both Worlds." I'll be good and not link a vdeo of that song.)

Once again, thanks to Dave and Sally for doing this for us. We had a really wonderful time.