The Monday Morning Epistle

Despite Mary's claims that the weather in Florida would be sunny and warm, it was still the middle of December, so I packed long-sleeved rugby shirts for our trip. This meant that while I was quite comfortable driving to the airport before dawn on Thursday—when the outside temperature was in the low teens—I was in imminent danger of melting within ten minutes of arriving in Tampa. I'm not sure which was worse: the sunny 78° temperature or the 4,000% humidity, but I spent most of the next four days wearing the same two T-shirts in rotation.

Once on the ground in Tampa, we trudged our way through rush-hour traffic to the Tampa Palms Country Club, where we checked into the second nicest hotel we've ever inflicted our children on. (The first is still the Crowne Plaza St. James in London…) Taylor timed his arrival perfectly to meet us in the parking lot, and—after cheerfully pointing out the alligator lurking near the fountain outside our veranda—led us through even more log-jammed traffic to his fiancée's home. There we met Amy and her parents Joe & Helen Wehle—plus multiple relatives of various ages and sizes—before sitting down to an excellent home-cooked meal. At some point during the evening Jacob discovered that their big yellow Labrador would fetch her tennis ball even if he threw it into the lake, a sport which kept both of them amused (and soggy) until it finally got too dark for either of them to see the ball.

Friday was Alex's 17^th birthday, and we celebrated it by spending the entire day at Busch Gardens, Tampa. Since it was a weekday and local schools were still in session, the park was hideously under-crowded and the lines were non-existent. We rode each of the roller-coasters several times, while Monkey-Boy whined repeatedly to return to the Land of Dragons, which has got to be the ultimate playground for the pre-school crowd. Around noon, Alex and Mary headed off for the ‘barf-bag rides’ while Jacob, Garion & I enjoyed the expensive (but well worth it) Save the Species tour. This was a very up close & personal safari tour of the African wildlife preserve for a group of six people, plus an animal handler/guide and a photographer.

A few minutes into the tour—as we bounced along in the back of an open truck—we couldn't help but notice a fully-grown giraffe determinedly ambling in our direction. The guide started doling out handfuls of Romaine lettuce while introducing us to ‘Dolly’, who lazily snuffled and nuzzled us in search of the leafy green treats. I was initially concerned about Garion's reaction to being so close to such a large animal, but he waved his lettuce leaves over his head fearlessly and shrieked gleefully when Dolly delicately nibbled them out of his hands with her prehensile tongue. In fact, Garion was so smitten with the idea of being face-to-face with wild animals that a few minutes later—when he was standing about four feet from a 2½ ton rhinoceros—he was quite upset that he wasn't allowed to pet it! But after a hurried late lunch and a few more rides on some roller-coasters, we made one last stop at the Land of Dragons before finally galloping back to the hotel to change.

The grand finale to Alex's birthday came when the Harrouns and Neuses gathered for dinner at a nearby steak house; Alex obviously enjoyed being the center of attention, and the birthday presents didn't hurt, either. But thanks to a long day of fun at Busch Gardens, Garion was sound asleep on the floor under Mom's chair by the time dessert was served, so we elected to retire early. (Translation: go back to the hotel, tuck the children into bed, and sit in the lobby drinking wine and gossiping for the next three hours…)

Saturday was graduation day, so the entire Harroun/Neuse/Wehle clan dutifully sat in the nosebleed seats in the Sun Dome and watched Taylor Anthony Harroun receive his Bachelor's Degree from the University of South Florida. Once Taylor and his 540 fellow classmates were officially alumni—and enough of the obligatory ‘cap & gown + random relatives’ photos had been taken—we trooped back to the Wehle's for a pleasantly exuberant backyard BBQ and keg party.

Sunday was ‘Airplane Day’ again, as we stuffed all our dirty laundry into our suitcases and made our final pre-dawn trip to an airport. After we suffered through yet another prolonged debate about whose turn it was to sit by the window seat, we returned home safely and without further incident to clear and cold temperatures and the ever-present threat of snow. But at least we don't have to worry about mosquitoes any more!

KidBit: At one point during Taylor's graduation party, Alex sought me out to complain that Garion was “…playing house with five girls at the same time.” An hour or so later, it was Alex's turn to be the center of attention, as a gaggle of kindergarten-aged girls alternately clamored for Alex's mock affections…or threw stuffed animals at him!

PotW: The birthday boy on the veranda of our hotel room.

Until next week…Tschüß!

,,,^..^,,,

2008.01.21-20:24