Miami 2011 Vacation Recap Part I

The rear of the house showing the huge covered porch.

Me lunging in the pool dodging the kids

So for human memories sake (we knnow human memory is horrible), I think I need to recap the 2011 Miami vacation before I forget all of the details.

Pre-Vacation Recap:
The two weeks prior to leaving, 12 year old Enola ( my French cousin Eric’s daughter or my first cousin once removed) stayed with us to visit and improve her English language skills before flying with us to Miami to meet up with them. They had rented a house on the water in Miami Beach where we would be staying with them for a week. Enola’s time here was great, our girls (6 and 7 ½) got along great with Enola. We had fun in the mountains, museums and visited the Renaissance Festival. There was a little bit of drama between the girls at the end which gave us a little taste of what 12 year old drama will be like, I can’t wait.

It felt great to give back a little of what Eric’s parents (my uncle and aunt) gave me when I was in high school and spent a couple of Summer’s at their house in France. We’ll do it again I’m sure.

The Flight Out:
So let’s start from the beginning. The good news is that there was no need for a quick dump in the parking lot like last year. See STORY for details. The almost bad news is that we almost missed the flight as we underestimated the time it would take to get through the TSA “Security” Check point. This “theatre” of the TSA Security Check point is just that, theatre. In spite of the TSA, we made it onto the flight as the last passengers.

As we were the last ones on the plane our options for seating were minimal and as Southwest has ‘open seating’... OH… YOUR… GOD…

I had heard stories like this before but had never experienced it before. I took the middle seat and gave my little one the window seat. The lady I sat next to (on the aisle) was almost halfway into my seat. She couldn’t put the arm rest down and had trouble bucking herself in, she was a large person. Luckily, in every other respect she was pleasant enough and it was only a 1 ½ hour flight. It was kind of hard to watch her pull snacks out of her bag and ingest every last crumb, literally. She licked her finger and stuck it into the chips bag to get the last drop of food/salt, seriously. I stayed strong and kept my mouth shut.

There was nothing I could say to this lady that would help her and her fight with food, I wish there was something I could have said. I assumed she felt bad enough impacting someone else with her eating disorder that I didn’t need to pile on. I felt bad for her yet a part of me always screams out inside, “Stop! Stop eating, exercise more and live longer.” Yes, I realize that for her it most likely an addiction and addictions suck. Addiction may not be fully immune to change but they are a bitch to cure especially with food as you MUST eat to stay alive.

The second leg of the flight out also had me sitting next to another large person although this time we could JUST get the arm rest down although it kept trying to pop up and up. Not a huge deal, no delays, no horrible turbulence and we survived the flights although as usual the airport food vendors raped us for lunch without a kiss mind you.

Reading Material:
The one great thing about air travel is that it creates a great time for some reading. I brought Victor Stenger’s God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist. A very solid read focusing on the scientific reasoning for the failed hypothesis rather than the philosophical reasoning although he does touch on those as well to provide a quick recap of some of his former work. On the way back I also re-read Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation as it is a great quick read.

Miami Arrival:
Wow, it sure does smack you in the face the humidity does, how do people live here? The house was great. It had plenty of room for us all, it was right on the water, a great pool, a great porch and plenty of Air Conditioning power. See picture

I was ready for a NOT "fully packed with activities” relaxing vacation where we had a couple of things planned but not every day. It was good to be unplugged from work for an entire week.

Part II to come.