A few days ago we returned from our trip to Florida.  It was eighty degrees.  We were on the beach.  There were palm trees.  And we wore shorts, flip flops and needed sunscreen.

Today, in Rochester, it snowed.

In response to a text that I sent my friend Sarah about having a hard time getting home due to flight delays because of Hurricane Sandy, she said, there will come a day not too long from now when there is three feet of snow and you will say, i can’t believe i wanted to leave Florida!  

And that, my friends, is a true story.  I’d like to go back.  Now.

The boys were both ring bearers in their Auntie’s wedding.  I, for the first time in almost sixty weddings, got to be a guest at a wedding.  My sister-in-law was the photographer, so I kept my camera out of my hands for most of the wedding.  With the exception of snapping a few pictures of the kids 🙂

I think these legoland pictures are a repeat, but they were in the Florida stack, so they got included again.

My favorite two parts of the trip were spending time on the beach.  We visited Sanibel Island and the Cape Coral beach.  Though it’s messy and leaves the kids exhausted, there’s nothing like sitting on the sand, with the great expanse of the Gulf of Mexico before you.  Beaches were a great gift from God.

James’s parents rented a house for some of us to stay at, so that was really nice. . . we were all able to spread out a bit and make it so we weren’t in each other’s hair for the entire week.  The gated community we stayed at had a community pool, which turns out sort of was our own private pool because most Floridians don’t swim in late October.  And with a heated temperature of 86 degrees, and a hot tub next to the pool, we were all in our glory.