Key West, Part 1

Turns out I was wrong about a couple of things in my previous post. And being the kinda gal that I am, I am the first to admit when I am wrong. So, here goes:

1. The number of pictures I took during the Key West adventure? It was more like 400+ ... not counting the ones I deleted. (Have I mentioned lately how much I love love LOVE digital photography? And in case I have not plugged the Kodak 6490 recently: Go buy one!)

2. There was, indeed, a speck of snow left in this town (well, actually, the “suburb” right next to us). Several specks, actually: Yes, the Wal-Mart SuperCenter had a couple of small piles of snow that, somehow, had not yet melted as of last night. Proving, once again, that Wal-Mart does, in fact, have everything.

: )

Not quite sure exactly how to start my vacation babble, as it must also contain some moments from Christmas, which proved to be the best Christmas in at least 3 years (for various reasons), except that sometime during the Dec. 23-25 time span I managed to develop what my mother so eloquently refers to as my “winter hack” (The Lovely refers to it simply as “the crud”). But I cannot begin at the beginning of the vacation because, in my mind, I keep replaying my favorite moment ... though, occasionally, my second-favorite moment interrupts, and I imagine I will get to that one soon enough.

The trip to the Keys included me, The Lovely, her son Karl and his wife Sherry, and their 11-month-old, Kameron. And let me state for the record that I have never traveled with an almost-1-year-old, and after last year’s Disney trip with a 9-, 8-, 5- and 4-year-old, I was more than a little bit ... well, what’s the word I am looking for here? Nervous? Apprehensive? Uncertain? I suppose all of those would apply.

Interruption: Quick switch to The Food Network shows the woman someone called Martha Stewart’s “heir apparent” (yeah, rrrrrrrright!), Sandra Lee, wearing an avocado sweater (the same shade as some 1960s cars and early 1970s refrigerators) that, not so coincidentally, I’m sure, matches the curtains, glassware and a festive wreath hanging in the background. Yikes!

Anyhoo, I have spent quite a bit of time getting to know Kameron over the course of this year, but I had not yet been around him for extended periods of time. I quickly learned that almost-1-year-olds do not sleep, as they say, “through the night”; however, after a couple of wake-ups early in the week from Kameron in the room next door in our most awesome suite, I found myself able to sleep through the night quite easily.

I also learned that, of an evening, Kam tends to fight off sleep. Unlike me, who, according to my mom, quite happily took afternoon naps and enjoyed my early bedtime. (Go figure!)

Song in my head, right now: “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” by Garbage. S’posed to rain a whole inch today/tonight, and y’know what? I believe it!

So, when Kameron gets tired at night, he starts to go into what his parents (or maybe it was his grandma?) call “delirious mode”: thrashing about, babbling loudly, being fussy. One of them would then hold him until he calmed down and, generally, fell asleep; then, they would take him into the bedroom and lay him in his crib, at which point he would either continue sleeping or, more likely than not, wake up, begin crying and start the whole process all over again.

Midweek I discovered that when he entered delirious mode, he particularly enjoyed a game of peek-a-boo with me. Actually, he would make noises from where he was standing on the love seat so that I would look his direction, and then he would smile and laugh. As would I.

“Kameron knows that seeing Di means having fun,” The Lovely said, more than once.

(I, of course, have always known that I am all about having fun.)

: )

On New Year’s Eve, my gal-pal and I decide that we will enjoy an evening in, watching Kameron whilst Karl and Sherry check out the excitement on Duval Street. (And apparently, there was puh-lenty of excitement going on ... but I was not there, so anything I included here would be hearsay ... so use your imagination.) We watched TV most of the evening, saw a movie with Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd and some really cute boy I have seen in something before but could not tell you his name if you paid me (well, OK, if you paid me, I would scamper right over to www.imdb.com and look it up), and just before the movie ended, Kam fell asleep.

He was lying at one end of the love seat; The Lovely was at the other.

“Do you think you could pick him up and carry him back to his crib?” she asked.

“Sure!” I answered, knowing quite well what usually happened.

I slipped my left hand under Kameron’s head, and just as I slid my right hand under his little legs, his eyelids fluttered and his eyes opened wide. Instead of crying, though, he smiled and then, immediately, started laughing.

That. Right then. That was my favorite moment of the trip.

: )