We had the most wonderful family vacation up and down the coast of Florida last week. It was both completely relaxing and surprisingly full. We drove down to Miami, via the Columbia Zoo, the Historic River District of Savannah, the manatees of Blue Springs Park, and Lori and Bob's house in Englewood, Florida. Vera saw the ocean for the first time ever and she was in awe. She tried her best to gather all the seashells on the shore and throw them back in, one by one. It was all we could do to keep her from running off into the surf. She loved it! We had two and a half days in Miami, where we hit the Miami zoo, caught the Superbowl with friends, and watched Vera delight in the sure joy of playing with her cousins for hours on end. Mike and I could not believe how hard she played, and how truly happy she was the entire trip. She is such a joyful child, but to see her run and jump and climb and laugh, laugh, laugh so hard- and just love her family (our family :)) so much- it was just plain awesome. We had planned to spend several days driving back up, but Vera was so completely exhausted that we ended up driving the whole way from Miami in one long day, stopping just twice to stretch our legs. Vera slept on and off, waking only to laugh and quiz us about where Grandma Mary, Uncle Bob, Aunt Lori, the ocean, or Mia and Isa were at that particular moment. Her world has grown, and so has she. I swear, she seemed like an older kid when we returned. It was tough to return to 20 degree temperatures, nasty wind and the whole daycare/work routine on Wednesday. When I dropped Vera off at daycare for the first time in a week, we washed hands, and went to settle in to play at the table, when she looked all around the room and then looked up at me and asked, "Mama, where's Grandma?" It was a truly incredible trip. Love and gratitude to all.
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