flordida

if you look closely, you'll see a very small,
fire-engine-pj's-clad boy staring happily
at "all the blue airplanes!"

this past (long) weekend, our little family headed off to florida to gigi and great grandpa's house for "passover." (it's in quotes because the real passover isn't for months, but our family has always been flexible in scheduling our seder around everyone's schedules, and this year we needed to fit it in before my cousin daniel was off to australia for two years!)

we got up eaaarrrllllyy on friday morning, and hustled off to the new orleans airport. (that's right - while everyone else was flooding into the city for the super bowl, we were heading out!) john had been talking about getting on a plane and going to "flordida" for days, so we were all pretty psyched. we had plenty of extra time at the airport, so john enjoyed watching all the airplanes just outside the windows at the gate.

he ran around and played at the gate like crazy - making friends with the other passengers ready to get on the plane. secretly, i was very pleased - if they liked him, maybe they'd be more forgiving of his noise on the flight!

i needn't have worried.

wish you could make out the oh-so-blue
sky that was the backdrop of this sleeping kid!

when we got off the plane, great grandpa and grammie were there to meet us. there was a pretty spectacular moment when john gleefully squealed and ran down the hallway to jump at grammie - i know it made grammie's day!

we went back to gigi and great grandpa's house where we settled in, then grammie and i took john to the most amazing (if slightly overwhelming) playground. it was like a three-story treehouse, with ramps and ladders and slides, and it took up an office building worth of space. john had a fine time and befriended some other kids, and grammie and i only lost him in the chaos once -- and it was just for a minute. i climbed up into the treehouse of doom and found him in the hall of mirrors. i'm not making that up.

by friday evening the whole family was gathered -- gigi, great grandpa, grammie, uncle dick, auntie marie, cousin daniel, cousin other-one-nick (remember from the cruise?), uncle nick, auntie lizzy, and a bonus of uncle howie and aunt laurie. gigi served an awesome dinner and we all hung out and had a grand time.

did i mention gigi's bathtub?

it's more like a swimming pool to john. funny thing is i remember taking baths in that tub when i was just a few years older than john!

we decided john didn't need a crib or pack-n-play, so we just made a little palette/next for him in the corner of our room. and he slept just fine there, thank you very much:

saturday was a trip to the beach while john napped at home with daddy, then a chinese food appetizer, then the traditional maltz family seder. i was SO very proud of john, who did the four questions with a little help from mommy. (i read a few words at a time, he repeated them back to be basically perfectly!) john also got $5 in exchange for cousin daniel stealing the afikomen, which is a pretty sweet deal. (it's a special piece of matzah that is to be the ceremonial dessert after the seder. traditionally the youngest child steals it, then gets bribed for its safe return. daniel just helped the process along until john's old enough to do it himself.)

my grandma (gigi) had a ton of her friends over after the seder, so we visited with them and then stayed up late playing poker. (ok, i didn't play poker, but i hung out with the rest of the family while they did.)

sunday was another trip to the park, and then of course the super bowl in the evening.

and monday we got up and flew home, with john telling me we were heading back to louisiana to go home. (sharp kid, no?)

and last night, john performed the following awesome dance. if you listen closely, you'll hear "i like to move it move it" from madagascar playing in the background. well-done on the videography, daddy!