this year we brought a backpack each, no infant car seat, no stroller, and no tiny babies.
this year we had brief moments when all 3 kids were swimming together, and we just sat watching them from our chairs.
this year we slept through the night(s).
this year was filled with more anxiety about sickness and masks (masks for what seemed like our family, and very few others). it was frustrating, and confusing (we almost cancelled this trip because of florida's covid-19/delta variant rates, but decided to stay away from people/outdoors as much as humanly possible).
it was strange, but wonderful.
it started out rough-- a hurricane was making landfall in ny the day we took off, and all the other flights were full, so we went to the airport to ride it out. there were tears and stress we'd have to cancel and just go back home, but miraculously, we took off a mere 5.5 hours behind schedule on a rollercoaster-y airplane ride to ft. lauderdale.
in florida there is no rental car, no agenda, and no stress. just eating, swimming, and repeating. there's lots of balcony-sitting, and junk-food-eating. there's always fighting, and a lot of laughing. mike always buys a boogie board ("monkey board" as harvey called it. we're not sure why). this year the normally-calm water was rough, but still warm, so we played in waves instead of our usual catching of fish.
it was perfect.
