Florida for the Holidays!

Florida.

Ah! Okay… It's been a really long time chilling in Florida, and we didn't write anything, so now we are going to try and remember and tell you about our family fun holiday with Grandma, Sister Susan & Eric, and Kyle! It is Friday night, but we are exhausted from a day of sightseeing, so cracked open a bottle of red wine, started our Pandora station with Billie Holiday, and declined an invitation to the RV park's $3 buy-in Bingo Game (but we are contemplating going to the Dance Social tomorrow night), to take the time to catch up. . .

When we reached Florida, we spent a few days catching up and gossiping with Grandma. Then, Susan and Eric came to town. We met them at the Norton Museum of Art, in the fantastic Hollywood Icons exhibit, to be precise. They shacked up in the RV, parked at Delray Beach. Then Kyle flew in to spend his much needed vacation days with us! Susan and Eric drove us all to sunbathe at Delray Beach one day, and Singer island the next. The adults walked to the Inter-coastal bridges to see the manatees while Kyle and Nicole anchored down the beach blankets. Nicole learned that Kyle won't go swimming in the ocean because he is afraid of sharks. Susan cooked some delicious, and strength-and-conditioning-coach-diet-compatible, salmon with mustard and almonds and Eric treated us to a lovely and sunny lunch at Testa's restaurant in Palm Beach. They drove us and down A1A Inter-coastal to see John Lennon's (formerly a Vanderbilt) home, a Madoff brother now-for-sale villa, Este Lauder's mansion, Trump's Mar Lago, and an ostentatious Mafia Don's Italianate palace. We window shopped along Worth Ave.

After we all shared Grandma's Beef Bourguignon Christmas Eve dinner and opened presents (the daughters bought Grandma Joanie a Garmin GPS, and Mary and Nicole assured her that they would, slowly, teach her how to use it), Susan and Eric left for their next family festivity destination, and Grandma took the rest of us to the two and half hour long Midnight Mass (first hour - Christmas Carols performed by the local high school brass band and the Vietamese Choir (Fa-rah-rah-rah-rah…). It was. . . lovely. Kyle only nodded off once and Nicole only caught the giggles once when Kyle observed that the giant Jesus on the cross wouldn't look so giant if his head was exactly 30% larger (don't worry, Kyle, Grandma doesn't read the blog!).

And then…. Mary, Nicole and Kyle went to Key West!



Soundtrack -
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
Bing Crosby's Christmas Favorites
The Christmas Story's 24-hour Marathon (Fa-rah-rah-rah-rah…)


For Photos - Click Here!