Greetings from not-so-sunny Florida!

Wow, what a trip so far! After an unexpected upgrade to first class on the flight (yay!) we arrived on Saturday to a sick baby and sick Grandma (boo!). Grandma Phyllis was already sounding pretty rough when we got here and Joey was just starting to feel it. Grandma is now on the mend, but Joey is right in he thick of it...we had Pukefest 2008 on Sunday night, and part two was last night. Poor kid is just not himself. Last night he was up until almost midnight, and this morning he woke up around 7am crying and sounding really stuffed up, but I rubbed his back and managed to get him back to sleep, where he remains right now at 9:30am. I think today will be the worst day, and hopefully things will improve enough tomorrow so we can take Joey to the Tampa Aquarium, which was supposed to be our highlight of the trip since Joey loves fish so much.

Sunday wasn't a total write-off, we took a long walk to a bird sanctuary. Joey didn't seem all that interested in the birds but he loved the long walk there and back. We stopped at a park on the way back to get in one of Joey's favourite activities....swinging!

Joey and Daddy at the Seabird Sanctuary

Stopping for a swing in the park

And yesterday we went for another long walk, first on the Redington Long Pier and then to John's Pass, the best tourist-trap in the Southern USA. Store after store filled with expensive and wonderfully tacky mugs, beach towels and shot glasses.

At the Redington Long Pier

The weather hasn't been terrible, but its not the best either. It was super-hot on Saturda when we arrived, the beach was packed. Sunday and Monday were cooler but still shorts and t-shirt weather. Today is very cool, it can't be more than 60 degrees out there. It's supposed to start going back up tomorrow and by Friday should be back in the 80's again. Today we're planning a little outlet shopping in Ellenton, about 40 minutes away. We're going to wait and see how Joey is when he wakes up to decide if he'll stay home with Grandma or come with us for his second-favourite activity...zooming through racks of clothing in his stroller!

P, J & J