Florida: Fun Reunion / Evasive Maneuvering
Wednesday of our vacation was a bit overcast so we put the kids in the wagon and walked them up the boardwalk to a playground and had a nice lunch on the beach. We stuffed them in the car around naptime and headed to Chick and Loeta’s place in Cape Coral to see the relatives and luckily everybody fell asleep after a false potty alarm about 45 minutes into the trip that somehow rewarded Cristin with a Starbucks coffee and me with a crying Phoebe on her ridiculous unstable foldable dora potty seat. We beat the rain there and nearly the entire Florida Davis crew was present which was really great. The girls were a bit nervous at first but hit their stride when Aunt Loeta busted out the Legos. Phoebe decided that cousin Adam would be her friend and he proceeded to entertain her through the evening. She was perfectly fine having pizza and playing cards on the porch with him at the other kids tables while Cristin and I stayed inside. Ellie chose Mandy as her special buddy. After things had quieted down, the kids did their usual naked Olympics routine for Chick and Loeta and we hit the car for the ride home. At some point when we reached the middle of nowhere in North Fort Myers, Phoebe decided she needed to use the potty. We found the nearest Publix and dashed into the store around 20 minutes before closing. At this point things were already precarious as it was an hour past her normal bedtime. I took her into the family bathroom and once again, the unstable Dora seat sent her into tears. I knelt on the floor and consoled her and she managed to return to reality. At this point I had to use the potty myself, not unusual ,but Phoebe decided this was the time she wanted to discuss our differences in equipment. I was way too tired for this conversation and decided to distract her with discussions about cupcakes we needed to buy for her birthday and managed to get her off topic long enough to get to the bakery counter. When the woman asked how old she was going to be, Phoebe’s reply was “I don’t have one of daddy’s things on my bum-bum”. Nice.
