Blogging from the hotel room, I could not get used to this. It’s hard to write while watching “Big.” “A robot that turns into a building…what’s fun about a building?” We drove from Tampa to North Carolina today, and Silas slept in the early evening, so now he’s completely jacked at 11:30 pm. He’ll sleep eventually, and we can have a casual morning, so we won’t worry too much about this. Tomorrow we’re driving up to Raleigh to visit with my great uncle Hank and aunt Mary, and it’s just a few hours away. We splurged on a room at the Ramada this evening. The budget motels we stayed at on the southbound drive were pretty bad…terrible really, so I think we’re raising the bar from here on out. We opened the door to this room to be greeted by absolutely no smells. What a relief. I’ll pay extra for no smells. I’ll pay extra for nothing. Including no bugs, no mold, no noises, and no fee for wifi. There is a surcharge for dogs though, but we have a first floor walk-out and a nice strip of grass, so I’ll pay for that.
This past week we spent between a condo in Madeira Beach Florida, and Molly’s sister Kerry’s place in Tampa. Kerry works at the Children’s museum, so we visited there twice so Silas could get his kicks. It’s a nice place, with some pretty challenging activity stations. I killed it at the basic math computer. Silas turned out some wicked burgers over at the Outback Steakhouse for Kids.
Babbee kept Silas busy the entire week, tiring him out on the beach, and watching Shaun the Sheep with him as he went down for his naps. He had some pretty solid naps this week, needless to say. His language is developing pretty fast, and I’m sure he’s made some more big leaps with Babbee’s constant interaction.
The beach was beautiful, the temps were friendly, the water was brisk, and we had some swimming lessons for Silas in the pool. He loves that about more than anything. But he doesn’t love it more than jumping, which he does 24/7 these days. A few pictures attest to that. A few of those below were taken at the Tampa Aquarium, which is pretty nice. They have a big nautical themed playground for kids, and Silas enjoyed that a lot more than he enjoyed the fish. The aquarium had otters though, which may have been cooler than the playground. I certainly think so anyway.
Our Christmas dinner at Kerry and Calvin’s house was great, tip the hat to Calvin, and Silas has a bunch of new toys and clothes to get him through the dark winter. I could get used to the holidays in Tampa, I hope I absorbed enough sunshine to tide me over until the spring. Molly and I did some nice jogs, credit solely to Molly. I was reminded however that I really hate jogging. I really do. I’m ready to reacquaint myself with my bike when we get home.
The week was busier than this entry suggests, but Molly and Silas are sleeping soundly, and it’s about midnight. They turned off “Big” a little while ago, and without “Big” there’s no more reason to stay awake. Happy New Year to everybody. 2012… oh my goodness.
Get off that manatee, they're endangered!
Aldi's Winking Owl brand wine, and Kerry's Winking Owl cookie jar
A lizard on the nativity Jesus
Pirate Silas
Let me down!!!
My Christmas vacation with all of you in Florida could not have been more fun. He is a hopper, that Silas – hop, hop, hop – really it is jump, jump, jump – and the higher the item he jumps off the more fun he has
I thought I might miss the baby days but no way, he continues to be even more fun each time I get to play with him. Never knew a 2 year old when told “No, we need to do this instead” to respond in kind with “oh, bummer” and go on his merry way. So much fun, I could not be more grateful. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for all the foot work and trouble you went to in making it a most enjoyable and memorable holiday for me !!! I love you, Babbee
Happy new year!