How time flies...

Where to begin...

Well, we came home from the little mini-vacation we took last night around 7. The original plan was for Jane to go take David and head to New Jersey with another friend and her kids, but our schedule wouldn't let her leave at the right time.

So the plan shifted. Jane decided to still go away, but to see her folks and to take David solo. She would have been gone for a week.

But then we had to start the day care transition - David starts a regular schedule tomorrow when Jane starts her new job. Plus we decided there were smarter things either one of us could do than driving 6 hours solo with a toddler.

So I massaged my schedule a tad, and we left together early Thursday morning. A quick pitstop at my parents' house in CT later, and we were in Absecon NJ by lunchtime.

Well, we had a nice, fairly low-key weekend and left after breakfast Sunday - stopping once again in CT for lunch and some rest on the way. Plenty of pics were taken, and will be posted later this week as part of my first photo update since early July. I'm lazy. Wah.

Highlights from the trip:

- Jane's folks have a nice in-ground pool, and they like to keep the temperature right around bathtub-level. I skipped swimming on Friday (I had some work to do), but otherwise everybody was in the pool every evening. Even David. Encouraging, we got him to float a few times and get in on his own - though he was scared to go beyond the steps for the most part. I could get him into the pool if I let him cling to me like velcro.

- He really liked it when I did a cannonball off the board. And he loved watching people go down the slide. Besides that, he also went up the slide himself and rolled stuff down it.

- The only downside of the pool - greenheads. They're still in season, and they take actual chunks of flesh out when they bite. Ow.

- Jane's parents live way out on the edge of a big marsh, and there's only marshland and water between them and Atlantic City. The view was great - from a distance, AC is a cool place. Up close, less so.

- When you're that isolated, you get to see wildlife. In particular, turtles, rabbits, and an absolutely amazing quantity of deer. To go with the greenheads and mosquitos. David liked seeing the first three on the list. Especially the deer.

- We handled sleeping arrangements by staying in the small two-bedroom apartment that Jane's folks built on top of their house a few years ago. I took the boxspring off the bed in David's room to get him closer to the floor - otherwise he slept in a relatively unmodified room. It worked out pretty well.

- Friday morning we went to Storybook Land - a small-scale equivalent to New Hampshire's Storyland, but still real impressive to David. He rode on nearly every ride they had, except for the roller coaster (he asked to ride it, but wimped out when it was boarding time), and a fast spinning machine that we decided was too much for him. Otherwise he did all of them - including the spinning teacups, the train, the mini-Ferris wheel, and the truck ride. Wait times were minimal, a bonus when dealing with a toddler. He passed out on the ride home after about 3 hours of fun.

- Saturday we went into Atlantic City to go see the Ocean Life Center - a small aquarium they have. It's not much, but it was enough to make David happy. He liked watching the crabs especially. Afterwards, we ate at a nearby restaurant that was undistinguished except for one thing: David discovered the joys of eating squid. I think it might be a new contender for Favorite Food. In general, he ate pretty well on this trip.

- Our drive home Sunday was uneventful except for a couple of things: a lengthy delay due to a car accident on the Garden State Parkway and the longest wait I've ever had for a latte at the Starbucks near Toms River. Otherwise we basically flew home. We spent about an hour and a half letting him charm my parents on the way.

Today's mainly a rest and decompression day. I have to teach tomorrow afternoon, so I was working on that for a while, and Jane's been reading while David napped. We went out briefly for a couple of errands and that's been it. I'll need to get back on the bicycle tomorrow as well. Last week's training rides went pretty well after losing a few days to my cold, but I have less than two weeks left before the benefit ride I'm doing. I'll need to go 40 miles or so this weekend to make sure I'm ready.

I have a pretty busy next couple of days, so I may not get the photos done until the second part of the week. I know you'll all understand.