Vacation

When you don't have a job, vacations can actually be more work than your everyday routine. Especially with kids. First of all we were in a new house that was not childproofed and of course Noah was not in school. The result? Jonah got to play with a glass Dolphin whit broke on the floor and then bounced onto his foot, thus cutting him even though I pulled him away before he could step on anything. Four stitches and two hundred dollars later we were ready to meet up with my cousin for lunch instead of brunch, which is what we were doing when we were trying to get out the door in the first place. So basically, being in Florida, the  ocean became forbidden for one of my sons. No matter, he can't really swim anyway. But still it would have been nice for him to have the freedom to stomp on waves and other such activities.
We went to the Zoo down there in Tampa, which was awesome. We went to Clearwater Beach which had playgrounds with roofs to shelter from the sun and the rain. Good Thing.
We went on the pier, saw people fishing, cranes stealing bait fish from them, and saw a guy catch a giant Manta Ray, prepare to through it back because he didn't want it, and then instead give it to some Vietnamese Fisherman who said they would eat it. '
The pier experience was pretty cool cause there was a community feel about it that transcended race and culture. Sharing and trading of catches was common because there are laws on how big a fish you can take etc. I never considered eating a Manta ray before. Apparently there is an overpopulation of them because of the under population of sharks. I wonder what Vietnamese style Manta Ray tastes like. We didn't see many Chinese in Florida, but a lot of Filipinos and Vietnamese. Maybe next time we should see if there are any good restaurants of that sort down there. Last year we ate Cuban food at two different places. One was at the mall food court and was surprisingly good. So we went back this year. We also went to a Ballroom Dance studio where now two of my cousins dance. Noah liked it but is still too young to actually learn it I guess. Well not too young. Too rebellious.
Well now we are back in Boston, with our house full of toys and books and crayons and activities for children. Where we have 10 playgrounds within walking distance and so many trees that shade is never an issue. Where Chinatown is a T ride away and yes we have good Cuban food here anyway ironically called El Oriental. Florida was fun but it's good to be back.