A Few Days in Florida

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be boarding a plane to return to the icy tundra of Pennsylvania... and I'm not looking forward to it. For the last few days I've been enjoying the sunshine and 80-degree weather of Florida.

My family flew down to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday as part of an elaborate plan to surprise my sister, Beth. She spent the last three months traveling around the world on a ship through a program called Semester at Sea. It's probably the most amazing study abroad program ever created. I'm actually quite jealous and trying to figure out a way I can go myself. She spent time in Brazil, Namibia, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Cost Rica before arriving "home" to Miami on Sunday.

Sunday was so much fun! Abby, Michael, my parents, and I went down to the port in Miami to watch the ship come in. Beth knew my parents were going to be there, but had no clue that all her siblings plus our grandfather had come along to welcome her home. So... Abby, Michael, and I "hid" on the parking garage so we could at least see the ship. Beth didn't actually disembark until later Sunday afternoon. We concocted a fabulous plan where my parents would bring her to the car in the parking garage; the rest of us would be hiding in the other car near by and jump out to surprise her. The way it worked out, we pretty much just ran down the parking garage towards her. She turned around at just the right moment and pretty much just freaked out. We were all crying. Then my dad said, "There's one more surprise." We parted (cause we were all hugging her) so she could see my grandfather making his way toward us using his cane. She started crying even harder and ran to hug him. It was a great moment!! :) Then we surprised her with the house we rented and the fact that we were staying until Wednesday.

It's been so nice just have some time to relax and spend with the family. Beth put her pictures into a slide show which we projected on a wall so she could show us all at the same time. We even got to meet some of her friends from the ship. Now it's our last night here, and I'm trying to prepare myself for the cold weather that awaits in PA... and all the Christmas shopping I need to do when I get home...