2005 Thanksgiving- Day 1- Welcome to Florida

This morning Fuller enjoyed marching around the terminal, only to be horribly upset when he was denied the chance to play with the shiny silver trashcan. Our two-hour layover in North Carolina was an exercise in keeping a very tired Fuller awake, with the hopes that he would sleep on the Charlotte to West Palm Beach flight.

Once on the flight, there were a bunch of high school girls who enthralled Fuller. They were dressed in red, heading for a field hockey tournament in the West Palm area. They surrounded us on all sides and Fuller giggled, grinned, and flirted his way to a great start on the flight.

After take-off we got Fuller settled on our laps, he fell asleep, and we tried to do the same. The flight was about an hour too long, punctuated by the fact that we kept getting a whiff of something unpleasant coming from the direction of our son. It didn’t get worse, so we think the altitude played with his system.

We arrived in West Palm Beach where Sarah-Ginny picked us up and informed us that West Palm Beach is the Malibu of the East Coast. Wow, we did not know.

S-G took us to the premier inexpensive deli, which turned out to be the Publix in the upscale shopping district (Pottery Barn is their Wal-Mart). And then we took S-G to her final class of the day. While she did something about inspirational speeches, we drove over to “the island.” A map
that Nat, S-G’s husband generously drew up so that we wouldn’t get lost, guided us. Palm Beach is beautiful with a shoreline that begged that we stop and take some pictures, after we found Donald Trump’s house first.

Fuller then had his first experience with the ocean. He enjoyed the sand between his toes, in his fingers, and hair. We helped him dip his toes in the warm ocean water, but the dip became a dousing when the waves came in a bit too rough. The amount of water did not deter Fuller from being mesmerized and crying when we dragged him away to go pick up his Tia S-G.

We traveled to Stuart, the city where Nat & S-G live. Fuller was delighted to see and try to play with the lovebirds. Nat brought out Behold, the blue-green bird. Fuller tried to show his excitement by pinching Behold’s head and beak. Behold responded by pecking at Fuller’s chubby hand. Fuller just laughed and giggled at the bird. Our evening was one of hamburgers, television, and relaxing in the Osborn’s apartment, excitedly waiting for the next day.