I know there are those of you who are just dying for things to go wrong on this trip. Shame on you! But to appease your sadistic desires, I will let you know that the first night we were here Chloe made it very apparent she was in need, not for the healing powers of the ocean, but the Children’s Medical Center:

While the other four members of our family actually saw dolphins in the ocean that morning, Chloe and I got better acquainted with the blue walls of the waiting room where we were kept for 90 minutes. Never fear, though: I keep a card game in my Mary Poppins bag, so we became experts at Zigity.

And then another 30 minutes at the local Walgreens:

After that, we were back to normal again, doing what we’ve been doing all week – swimming for the girls and Craig…

…sitting, staring, and reading for me:

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I have actually gotten in the water up to my knees everyday, and yesterday even took the plunge and got in all the way. I found a decently sized seashell when I was in the ocean, but upon showing it to Millie, was knocked over by a wave and lost it again. Sad. I really wanted to find one super cool shell on my own. As it is, we’ve found about 1,000 of the regular kind of shells. Still, it’s fun.

Our condo is nice and we’re very grateful to the people who are letting us stay here this week. Apart from the 70ish self-appointed condo policewoman intent on issuing us some kind of personal grudge citation for bringing children into her retirement haven, hanging towels and swimsuits to dry on the deck railing (we got in trouble twice in five minutes by two people for this one), and hanging towels over the pool fence, it’s all been good.

Yesterday, we were shown around some of the “Old Florida” area by Ken and Dorothy, friends of the people who own our condo and aunt and uncle of Monica’s husband, David:

And from there it was back to more of the same:

Today, we expect to repeat this scenario minus the doctor’s office and Florida-tour several more times.

PS: Chloe feels much better now and we’re trying to obey the rules from the condo police. We don’t want to spoil the reputation of the people letting us stay here this week, but I’m telling you, the verbal restraint required to be polite is taking something out of me. Could be the reason I slept 10 hours last night… *grin*