Florida, January, 2012 Trip

Last week Mason and I went to Florida with my husbands family. Adam didn't go, he said he had too much work to do. When we go to Florida, we stay at my in-law's condo overlooking the ocean. It's so relaxing: pool in the morning, lunch, then shopping and of course, out to eat for dinner. Adam struggles with all of the above except lunch. He can't relax in the sun (or anywhere) and he doesn't shop. He would have slowed us down; as much as we wanted him there, it was probably best for his sanity that he stayed home.
We went to the Miami zoo. If you're ever in Miami, with small children, I recommend it. You can get really close to the animals, which is why I recommend it for small children because they sometimes get bored if they don't see the animal close enough to realize it's real; which is probably why I don't enjoy most zoo's.
We also took the kids to an indoor jungle gym, which was a hit for everyone (everyone meaning the kids, but I got some exercise, like it or not). I'm overly protective and paranoid so I followed Mason around on my hands and knees through the tunnels and down the slides so he wouldn't fall or go down the "green" slide (the one that went really fast and was only for kids over 4. Seriously, they made us sign a form saying we wouldn't go down it). I'm pretty sure he would have survived but the mother in me came out strong, as usual (thanks mom, I get that from you).
The best part about the trip was watching Mason in the condo go nuts over the cruise ships, submarine, sailboats, all boats and airplanes that came and went constantly. He would run to the balcony (22 stories up, he was NOT afraid at all, even though the railing is all glass) and say "ooooooo" pointing, or "big boat, big boat, big boat" or "peee-ple, peee-ple" (not sure who taught him to people watch but I think I have a pretty good guess).
The pool was a huge hit. The first day Mason clung to me for dear life, which I loved having his precious little arms wrapped around my neck, so that was ok. But by the last day, he was kicking to the stairs or ladder, climbing out and jumping back in to whoever would catch him. (No one ever wanted to get their hair wet, and he made a big splash with his big arm and waist floaties). We would say "Mason, where's Papa"? or "go get Papa"! This kid LOVES my father-in-law. He's a very likable guy but he doesn't go out of his way to get Mason's attention, which he claims is why Mason is probably drawn to him. I agree, kids don't like to be pinched and squeezed, but how can you help it, they are so adorable?! He wanted "Paaa-puuuh" long after papa didn't want to play anymore, but being the good papa that he is, played with him anyway.
Mason and his two little girl cousins, Leah and Lily had such a good time together. They play really well together. Lily, who is exactly one year older than Mason, is his little side -kick. Those two follow each other around all day long. They look like the he and she versions of each other and they are almost the same size. Mason is a little shorter than Lily, but he weighs as much, if not more.
Mason has this weird quirk about him.... he's scared of random things, like REALLY scared, and the pattern tends to be faces. When he stumbles upon something that scares him he gets really quiet, tucks his face down to his chest and looks at the object out of the corner of his turned away face with this terrified look and then runs to the closest person he knows and hides his face and clings for dear life with a death grip. There were two things on this trip that really scared him, the first was an elephant head and tusk skull at the zoo and the other was a feminine looking Pharaoh face painted on the pillar in the cheese*cake factory. It's really weird and the funny thing is, you can always tell when he's spotted something he doesn't like just by the sudden change of behavior and the look on his face. If you follow where his eyes are looking (because for some reason he can't stop looking at it) you can figure out what it is. I know Adam had a few things he was scared of like this when he was a kid but not to this extreme and not as often as it happens to Mason.
One last note before I finish getting down all the fun details I don't want to forget: Mason has refused to say "MeMaw" or to even try saying it until this trip. We thought it was just too close to "mommy" and was confused. MeMaw even started referring to herself as Grandma because Mason could say it. Well, he can say "MeMaw" with no trouble at all. In fact, out of the blue one morning, as we were all going about our business he starts yelling "MeMaw, MeMaw, MeMaw" really loud. We all came out of hiding to see who was saying that so clearly, as it didn't sound like Lily's voice and sure enough, it was Mason! Such a Mason thing to do too.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

ABOVE: This is the elephant that scared him. It looks scary here, but it was behind the counter and really not that scary. In fact, it didn't scare the other two kids at all.

ABOVE: Mason and Lily watching the "big boats" and airplanes come and go.

BELOW: The face that scared Mason at the cheese*cake factory.

 ABOVE: playing in the tunnels. BELOW: swimming with Memaw and GG.

 ABOVE: Mason and Papa watching for big boats.

BELOW: Mason, after church, sporting the cute hat Memaw got him, that he refused to wear all day until this point, so I was glad not to have to carry it around anymore. Normally he loves to wear hats.

 ABOVE: feeding the giraffe. He liked it until the toungue came out of his mouth and tried to take the lettuce. He dropped it just as the giraffe tried to take it. He still thought it was pretty neat.

BELOW: getting on his goggle bikini.