vacation. days four thru end.

After DisneyWorld and all it's magic, we left on Tuesday morning for South Florida and loads of family and friends. We stayed with Eric's parents and watched them get to re-new their relationship with their Grand-daughters. It was a delight.

Wednesday was a day I would like to forget. Not because I didn't have a very good time seeing all my co-workers at Adventure Travels, and not because I didn't have a perfectly wonderful lunch with my good friend Linda at our all time favorite place - La Bamba, and also not because I got to spend time with my old friends at the McCarver house.....no, I would very much like to forget my eldest daughter's run in with a moving car at the Promenade of Coconut Creek.

The story goes like this: We left La Bamba in Ft. Lauderdale to go back to our old neighborhood, see our old house, maybe see some of our old neighbors, and play in our old park. Well, our neighbor friends weren't home at that point, and we all needed a bathroom break. I wasn't sure if the bathrooms at the park would be open, so I decided we would check out the new shopping plaza and use their facilities. We went into a Starbucks, did our thing, and waited outside for Eric. I spied this really nice fountain, suggested to Emily that we go and have a picture taken by it, she agreed and was off. I guess she didn't realize that the cobblestone/paver walkway was also for cars, and she went running....right into the side of a moving car. Luckily, she wasn't two seconds sooner, or else she would have been under the car. As it was, she smashed her nose into the side of the car, and was bleeding quite profusely. Yeah. It was very scary. She wasn't knocked unconscious. She knew her name and age. And after a couple minutes, the nose bleeding subsided. Everyone within the vicinity of the accident was totally wonderful, and brought us napkins, wipes, water, bags and bags of ice, and even a stuffed reindeer. I am truly thankful for all their help.

So, Ann-Marie, this is why we never made it to your house......we were totally planning on going back to see if you were home after our pit stop, but, for obvious reasons, we couldn't.

Anyway - Emily took it easy for the rest of the night. Her swelling went down as the evening wore on. She never complained of any pain other than just on her actual nose. No black eyes the next morning, just slight bruising on the bridge of her nose. Another side effect - parents who now cannot stop warning her about cars...even if they are miles away. :)

I can still hear the sound of her hitting the side of that car. It haunts me. It was my suggestion to go and have their picture by the fountain.....ahhhh, Mother's guilt, right?

So, on a lighter note...pictures:

The following, are from Thursday - we spent the day with Eric's parents, and Aunt Ingi. The girls finally got to go to a park, and had a fun day.



We also saw 7 alligators in the morning at a nature preserve in Boynton Beach:










And that's pretty much it. I didn't really take any pictures in Tennessee. We just enjoyed a relaxing 23 hours with my Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Ed. And then we took off Saturday afternoon for home - we arrived at midnight, and collapsed into bed.

Glad we made it safely - glad no one got really hurt - and glad to see everyone. Good vacation.