Sorry i haven't updated this for a while, but you'll see we've been busy. And truth be told, I was getting kind of lazy. Here goes ...
Nothing quite like having grandparents spoil your kid.
We decided that my father and Natalie's parents needed a visit from their grandchild last week so we decided to torture the employees of Northwest and Delta Airlines as well as all of the people who flew with us. After scrambling to the airport, we drew a collective deep breath and took Anderson through airport security. Those of you who know me know that I *despise* airport security. There's no real protection - a recent report shows that more than 60% of fake bombs make it through - but they insist you remove your shoes, even if you're wearing flip flops. Nail clippers? Clearly a threat. It would be nice to have substance over style at some point, and anyone with half of a brain knows that these procedures don't make us safe, they just slow us down. Don't believe me on the fake bombs? Here's the link ...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15445779
Back to the story. I never knew that you are classified as "special needs" when you have a kid. I associate that with people in wheelchairs and people who drool a lot. We took it, however, because we got to bypass the poor schleps in the line and join other tortured parents in a short, "special" line. So after waking up Anderson to carry him through security (as our car seat carrier was clearly a security threat) we made our way to the gate and awaited Anderson's meltdown.
Never happened. The kid heard the drone of the airplane engine and went to sleep. On all 4 segments. A friggin' angel baby, and every flight attendant compliments us on how sweet of a child Anderson is. Unbelievable. I now plan on flying every night if possible.
So we arrived in Tampa and drove to see my father in Bradenton. I quickly tossed Munchie into my dad's arms and said "Hold him for a little", giving him no choice in the matter. He did this reluctantly at first, perhaps aware of all of the damage he did by repeatedly dropping me. Still, he seemed to grow accustomed to this and actually seemed to enjoy it with time. With the other time we had, we relaxed near the gulf and mentally prepared for the next part of our trip - a visit to the Burger household.
Natalie's mom *loves* Anderson. I'm convinced she didn't notice we were there, which Natalie and I quickly took advantage of by dumping Anderson off on Olga, Amadeus (yes, my father-in-law is named "Amadeus ... pretty cool.) and Natalie's younger sister Diana. The cuddled with him, bounced him on their laps and repeatedly wiped his butt, which they somehow seemed to enjoy. I guess when your city is about to run out of water you appreciate just about anything. Pretty soon the citizens of Atlanta will be begging for you to spit in their face.
We went to a movie and tried to find Natalie some professional clothes, because the thing I like to do most while on vacation is shop for my wife's professional clothes. Uh huh. We did manage to see a movie, "Across The Universe", which was a semi-lame psychedelic trip to the music of The Beatles. Good idea, mediocre follow-through. And the days went by until we had to resume parental responsibilities again. We're now back in Austin ... and my mom (Hurricane Jane) has arrived ...
More info next blog ...
Some pictures follow ...
