Well we have just come home after a wonderful several days in John's Island Florida. The weather was chilly and windy, though that sure didn't keep us from having a great time with family and friends.

We stayed with my father and invited our friends Caroline and Winston along with their son Charles. We were fortunate to find that JetBlue recently began to fly non-stop from Portland(ME) to Orlando and so had reasonably simple travel down and back. Aitugan traveled wonderfully, having no trouble with take off and landings, and sleeping almost the entire flight (3 hours).

Being a two Subaru family, we decided to take this opportunity to rent a mini-van to get a sense of what that might be like. Overall, it was apparent what the draw might be in terms of simplicity and space, though I'm not sure we will be heading off to the dealership just yet.

As you might expect, we took a great many photos over the course of several days, so bear with me as I go through and begin to post some of the highlights.

Just to give you a sense of the cull, these pictures are pulled out from over 500 taken over four days, so don't ever believe that every shot we take is a keeper. That said, maintaining order in a library that expands that rapidly takes diligence and time, and is certainly not for everyone.

So away we go!

Aitugan enjoys what is most likely her first encounter with dirt and grass.



Aitugan meets my stepmother Susan, and has now spent time with all five of her grandparents.



Winston with her son Charles









Caroline and Charles share a quiet moment.



Enjoying a certain amount of liberty whilst feeding herself Avocado.



Sometimes there's only a subtle difference between eating and kissing.







Even Poppy pays a price for Tougy's rough explorations.



Off to the beach to introduce both Aitugan and Charles to the wonder of the ocean.









Okay, so maybe we misjudged that wave.





Caroline getting to know her new camera.



How big is Aitugan?



SO BIG!