Florida

We flew to Tallahassee earlier this month, to visit my cousin, David Pascoe, his wife, Miles, and their 12 month old boy (Eve's second cousin), Sidney!  It was also Eve's first plane trip. 

Traveling through airports with an infant is fascinating and a whole new take on the subject.  Strangers either can't keep their hands off your child or stare at you like they're wishing you were sitting on the other end of the plane.  We now appreciate family bathrooms, those pull down changing tables, and the slow people (i.e. stroller and wheelchair) line at security.  Oh, and judging from the number of flight attendants who either told us about their babies or were pumping in the public bathrooms, there are apparently a large number of lactating women on planes.  Can you imagine being out on a 4 day run, away from your baby, and trying to pump?

Eve, not surprisingly, handled flying and airports really well.  By the end of each travel day, she was tired and let us know, but for the most part and for the flights themselves (with one exception, yikes), she was content and charming.  Here's my only picture of her on the trip, during our layover in Memphis.

We got to Tallahassee late Wednesday night and stayed up late talking with Miles and David and seeing their lovely home.  We met Sid for the first time!  He's vibrant and chatty and very huggy with strangers.  He and Eve didn't interact too much during our visit, probably because direct contact would have resembled an unfair cage match (2 babies enter, 1 baby leaves . . . and I can guess who!).  Sid is in that lovely exploring stage - cruising and babbling all the way. 

We spent most of our visit at a condo we rented on St George Island, off the Gulf coast between Tallahassee and Pensacola.  We had a great place that walked right out on the beach and was just up the beach from a state park with miles of undeveloped shore.


There were few people and cool but sunny days, so we spent a lot of time walking on the beach with babies in slings.

This was Eve's first walk on the beach.  She fell asleep, but we picked out a shell for her memory box.

Doesn't this one look like a J Crew magazine shot?

Sid loved being on the prow of his ship.

We hung out and talked a lot, ate tons of excellent, locally caught seafood, and amused ourselves with the kids.

One afternoon we were playing with the kids on a blanket on the floor and all four adults had become absorbed in a conversation.  Eve was on her belly . . . and then very calmly rolled over onto her back.  It took us a second to realize what she had done.  She looked very pleased with herself.  I put her back on her stomach, David started up the video camera, and sure enough . . . she did it again!  (A week later she rolled back to front, and a few days ago I caught her doing a 360 degree roll on the floor - she looked rather startled). 

And we walked more on the beach . . . the water was frigid.

Steve took some artsy photos.

Eve loved the beach, especially viewed from the sling.  "Riding in style", as the old guys drinking on the porch said.

What a wonderful, restful trip!  Thank you so much, Miles, David and Sid.  We look forward to spending more time with you soon.