Tampa Visit

Golding Girls trek to Tampa to visit Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Brice. After a long weekend with this crew, I fear our hosts may reconsider any thoughts of providing the Es with any cousins...
The same may be true for our fellow plane passengers...

What? You're happy to give up your seat to give us more room? I can't imagine why...

Actually, the girls were angels on the flight. Elle happily asked questions about the mechanics of the plane (which I answered with the utmost of feigned confidence) and then watched a movie on my iPhone. Elise smiled, laughed, and flirted with everyone in sight, monopolizing the attention of the flight attendants for the duration of the trip. Blame us if your request for a diet coke or warm blanket went unattended.

Upon arrival we were met with seasonally inappropriate warm temperatures and my sweet genetic identical.

Even in Florida, pool temperatures are rather chilly in November. I couldn't tolerate putting my feet in, but Elle insisted she still wanted to go for a swim.

Really, Mommy, it's not at all cold!

Not to be outdone, Elise joined the arctic fun.

Not sure where they got the polar bear genes...

We frolicked in a bay-front park

And pondered life while atop oddly spinning playground apparatus.

There are many differences between my daughters. Perhaps the most divergent is their opinion of the canine world. Big sister adores the fluffy four-legged creatures, and tormented bonded immediately with Stephanie's dog.

Little sister's reaction to being within a 10-foot radius of Kasey made her vaccinations seem like DisneyWorld.(See photographic documentation of a rare successful sneak-up above).

Keep me away from that furball.

We watched Brave, ate cupcakes, and relished every minute of the time spent with our favorite Floridian.

And to cap off the weekend as only we can, Elise pooped in her Aunt's bathtub during the girls' bath one night. Why she chose their guest bathroom for her inaugural Code Brown, after 11 months of sparing ours, I do not know. What I do know is that it would have been our little secret if not for her sister's code of tattling ethics. I lifted Elle out of the tub and calmly explained to her what had happened and asked her to stand there for a minute while I assessed the best cleanup strategy. "Maybe we shouldn't tell Stephanie," I mused, "because this is pretty gross." Elle, dripping wet and buck-naked, vehemently shook her head. "No, no. It's her bathtub. She NEEDS to know!". And before I could stop her, she bolted out of the bathroom in a slippery streak of nakedness, bounding down the stairs to narrate the event to our hosts. Sigh. Those cousins may be a long time coming, indeed.

Back on the plane. Surprisingly, no one took the empty seat beside us...