Back from Florida

I know I missed a post for our 1-year Family Day on March 7th (can you believe Melkamu's been home for over a year?), but it's coming. In the meantime, I thought I'd post some pictures of the vacation I just took with the kids to Florida. We started last Monday and drove to Cocoa to visit my aunt and uncle, then went to Melbourne the next morning to visit my grandmother. After that visit, we went down to Delray Beach to visit another of my grandmother's--and my mom was there also, so we saw her again as well (thankfully she did not bring snow to Florida). We stayed until Friday and then went back to my aunt and uncle's house before coming home on Saturday.

It was about 1350 miles of driving. Of me and the kids. Alone. Without Jason. In the car. Did I mention that we drove 1350 miles in less than a week?

To be fair, the kids are fantastic travelers. They were generally happy and well-entertained. We listened to the original Peter Pan on CD, the kids watched a few movies, and Patrick was kept happy for many hours with Hidden Pictures that I'd printed and put into a binder. Melkamu played with toys and trucks and monkeys, and the kids giggled at each other for a while. We stopped on the trip home at a pick-your-own strawberries place, which was a nice break and made a delicious snack.

But it was still 1350 miles in a car with two small children in 6 days.

Aunt Joyce and Melkamu.

Uncle Bob and Patrick.

Great-Grandma Lore and both kids, in her very first-ever meeting with Melkamu! They had a great time getting to know each other a bit.

Kamu wasn't exactly shy on this trip, despite seeing a lot of people in a short amount of time--this was about 3 hours after we got to Great Bubbi's house.

No cracks on the pajamas. This is the ONLY picture from the week that I'm actually in.

We took a trip to the library, and Bubbi had fun reading to Melkamu.

There is an artificial wetland near Great Bubbi's house, so we went there one morning.

Patrick was fascinated beyond reason. He read all the signs of what we would see, and then looked for each and every animal and plant listed.

We loved seeing all the animals that live there.

Check out the baby alligators on the bank!

Baby great blue heron (I think--I should check with Patrick, but he's asleep).

It's from this nest.

Kamu and Great Bubbi move at about the same speed.

The kids didn't exactly starve while we were gone.

And they like spaghetti and meatballs more than I'd realized.

We had a great time at the beach on our last morning at Great Bubbi's.

Patrick wanted to be buried, but not completely.

Kamu had never been to the beach before, but he's happy anywhere a truck can be found. He actually did like the ocean very much.

We happened upon this strawberry-picking place in northern Florida and all had a good time. Patrick helped cut the strawberries...

...and Kamu put them into the basket.

We're glad to be back, as we missed Jason very much. Hopefully he can go with us on our next vacation!

What is up with Atlanta's weather lately???

Look who came to visit this weekend! (Those are my parents, for those who've never met them.)

Look what they brought!

Hmmm....

Guess which kids have managed to lose 3 of their collective 4 mittens?

Guess which kids had too much fun throwing snowballs to care?

The snowball fight with our next-door neighbors was lots of fun.

I would like to say that, while the snow was fun, I am very thankful that it will be back up to 70 by Friday. And just 3 inches of snow makes me wonder how rational people can move from Atlanta to places like...oh, I don't know...Minnesota. You know, just as a random thought for people whose names happen to start with an "R" and end with an "achel".