More florida pics from Sarah!

Don't talk to strangers?

We just returned from a very fun and moderately relaxing vacation in Florida. Also in the vicinity were Sarah, Olivia, Taylor, Papa, and Lulu, so we had lots of help with the kids and got to spend some family time together too. Foster loved spending time with his extended family, and he would go from grumpy to happy as soon as he saw them! It was also great that he was totally content with anyone in the family...not so needy of our attention all the time, even for bedtime! While the rest of the family was a bit more adventerous (parasailing, nature reserve), we stayed close to our home base (Marriott Ocean Pointe Resort on Singer Island) and had short outings which were usually dictated by Foster and Molly's intense napping schedules (9:30-4, alternating times). Early bedtimes also hampered our family dinners, but luckily everyone was willing to eat on the early side those nights. Foster loved swimming in the pools, but wasn't enamored with the ocean.  He became a bit of an extrovert during the trip, and introduced himself to almost everyone he made eye contact with. Two large guys (like 6'3' and 250 lbs) got into the elevator with us one way. Foster gazed up at them, chuckled a little bit (we think at the graphic on one of their shirts) and then said, "HI! My name is Foster". They laughed in surprise. I guess we should encourage him not to talk to strangers, but it was just so darn cute. It was more of a statement...he didn't really care if they responded or not, he just had to set the record straight.

Molly didn't love the water, but it probably paled in comparison to her very warm, secure baths which luckily she still likes. She spent a lot of time in the ergo spectating at the pools, shuffleboard, minigolf, and of course...she ate her fair share of sand. We gave her a break from the helmet most days, but it's back on full time again (probably until she is one). She is recovering from her first black eye, obtained from trying to pull herself up on a shelf at daycare. :( She is getting around with short crawls and lots of scooting on her butt.  Much harder to keep her in one place these days!

Last weekend we got to attend Foster's first NICU reunion at Sesame place. Only a small portion of the park was open, but they did have a live Elmo show for the kids, during which Foster was totally entranced. However, he did not want to get to close to Elmo and Cookie Monster...they were pretty intimidating up close. We saw two of his NICU doctors and a couple of nurses we recognized, but no parents that we interacted with in the NICU. It was a crazy scene, but you would never know any of the kids there (all age 2-5) were preemies! Molly enjoyed some cuddle time with dad during the event. This past Friday on our morning walk to Cramer's, Foster was psyched to find a parked digger on the trail. On our way home, it was busy clearing out the canal. 2 hours later, we finally got home (an exaggeration, but we had to watch the digging for a long time). This past weekend we had Wendy and Don over for brunch. Hopefully we didn't get them sick, since Chris and Foz came down with the stomach bug last night. :(