A few weeks ago we were in Vermont for what seemed to be winter's last try to prove to us that we did indeed live in New England. We headed out on Good Friday morn to meet Pag, Peter, Liza, Mike, and the kids - Emma, Leif, and Juno.

It was a little tough to find Easter Eggs in this weather. Max mostly tolerated being pulled around in the sled and ate icicles and snow to ease his aching new molars. Smores were also a hit. Peter did try to cook a leg of lamb on a spit over the fireplace, but the contraption he had rigged up to turn the spit stopped working. Very disappointing. The meat was still delightful, if not bloody enough for Peter.

Fast forward a few weeks to Spring Break. Passing up MTV's invitation to join Carson Daly in Cozumel, we opted instead for Sanibel Island. The best part of Sanibel Island is that all the accomodations are built along the Gulf. Staying within walking distance of the beach and pool are crucial when beach-going with a 2-year old, because one never knows when it will be time for lunch, pretzels, new diapers, more sunblock, a bath, a nap, or who knows what. The most exciting part of Sanibel Island is the drive in from Fort Myers. After that, most of the time one can focus on beach games like Flying Baby, seen here.
Our days went like this: sleep until 8:30 (for those of you without kids, pretend I said that we slept until 1:30 in the afternoon and you'll get the idea.) Then, eat breakfast on the lanai, a screened-porch/balcony that is indigenous to South Florida. Or maybe Hawaii. Either way, it is a nice place to have breakfast. By this time it was around 75 degrees and breezy, a little cool for this time of year owning to the storm that slammed Mississippi and New Jersey and all those sorts of places. After that, we'd cover ourselves in sunblock and head to the beach for sand-eating and sand-eating- prevention. Sometimes we would do the Florida cheer, seen to the right (Max, where are we? Florida! [raise arm triumphantly]). Around 12, we'd break for lunch -- a two minute walk back to the condo from the beach-- wash the kid and put him to bed, and hang around the house for 3 hours until the end of nap time.

Somehow, I managed to get a little touch of the sun poisoning on the first nice day (day 1 was all travel, day 2 was rainy) and had to take to my bed for an afternoon of TV. Nothing wrong with that, except for the chills. After nap time, we toddled off to the pool to try to guess who was from Massachusetts (everyone) and who was from New Jersey (everyone wearing Corona shorts) and to sweet talk Max into swimming. ("No, don't like this. Want to sit on bricks," he kept saying, when carried into the 85-degree pool. Luckily, we are bigger than he is.) Then we would cook dinner or go out to a restaurant called the Shrimpy Dogfish or Captain McFriedfood's. At various times, ice cream was eaten between meals, and a liter of gin and several bottles of tonic water were dealt with efficiently. Meat was grilled and breakfast was served up to 3 times in a single day. We watched almost no TV and I got most of the way through my Richard Ford book. We dressed Max in summery clothes and finally did not have to worry about whether he would keep his gloves on. On the way home (we flew in and out of Newark because it was much cheaper), driving back to my parents' house on the day before Max's birthday, my mom said, "Do you know what tomorrow is, Max?" She had, by this time, already set up the dining room with balloons and a big Happy Birthday banner, bought several excellent presents, baked a cake, planned a nice menu, prepared activities, and generally put more effort into Max's 2nd birthday party than we tend to put into his general well-being.

He smiled, because he had spent weeks being asked about what wonderful activity was just around the bend in preparation for the vacation. When he smiles, he shows about 15 tiny square teeth. They are cleaner and whiter than they ought to be, given that he eats his toothpaste instead of really brushing anything. They make him look very happy and just a tiny bit troublish when he shows them off. "Tomorrow," he said. "Florida!"