Beach Baby

I took my first flight on Eastern Airlines when I was in the third grade. My aunt took me to Disney World. All I remember about that flight was we munched on lifesavers to pass the time. While going on a family vacation to Florida seems like a right of passage for every child, taking Hannah on her first trip was truly a grand adventure for us. The world and traveling is so much different than it was back when I first went, but life's simple pleasure remain the same. It was a great time visiting Mom mom and Pop pop and it was especially great to take Hannah to so many fun things right before her surgery. Seeing her big smile and her zest for life always makes the difficult days easier. She's such a little trooper.

First of all, she did great on the flights, especially on the way back to New York as we were bumped up to first class. We brought a deluge of toys, but she seemed content watching out the windows.

I love flying

Hannah had a lot of firsts on our trip and she kicked off the week with a huge milestone-- she did a full out crawl. She also drank from a sippy cup, read her first financial journal (hey, someone has to take care of us) and took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean and the pool. This city baby is still more comfortable at Saks and taxi cabs than the the open water, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of practice before she's a little swan.

Moving and Grooving

Life's A Beach

A close-up of her Pebbles-esque swimsuit. She's missing the matching ruffled skirt.

We also enjoyed taking Hannah to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Lion Country SafariandMorikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. Lion Safari in West Palm Beach was a pretty cool place and I would highly recommend a visit if you are ever in south Florida and you have little kids. You drive in your own car at your own pace along a four-mile loop to see wild animals. Obviously you will see lions, but there are also lots of ostriches, zebras, hippos and some monkeys. After the drive, you are lead to a huge park that has lots of little parks like a petting zoo, water park, a sprinkling of rides. One of the highlights was when Hannah got to feed the giraffes. We walked up to a raised platform, purchase a few pieces of Romain lettuce and waved the lettuce to the giraffes. Hannah had no fear of the lettuce (she tried it first) or the giraffe. Maybe it's all the time she spends with Sophie.

Hannah and the real Sophie

It was so great spending time together in Florida. Life has been busy and it's so important to take a step back and just enjoy our little girl. It was so amazing to have Michael with us this week and listening to Hannah squeal and just light up in pure delight with her Daddy was just music to my ears.