Vacation, Day 1

After a very eventful and dramatic end to last week (for those not in the know, I spent a day in the hospital after apparently suffering a seizure), we are finally on our family vacation to Atlanta, GA! Unfortunately, the vacation is not off to the best start, as poor Julia came down with a fever last night and has been feeling awfully miserable today. She's getting some TLC from Auntie Shannon at the moment, snuggling up in the bed in Shannon's loft watching a Halloween movie.

Madeleine has found countless ways by which to entertain herself, rendering all the toys I packed utterly unnecessary. As I write, she is thoroughly engrossed in the activity of opening, closing and reopening the same two cabinets and the same two drawers in Auntie Shannon's kitchen. She doesn't attempt to pull anything out of the cabinets, thankfully, just peers inside, occasionally making comments like, "I don't see it!" and then closes them anew. Earlier today Madeleine had a ball playing with all of Clara's dog toys, loudly labeling each one as she pulled it out of Clara's bed. And here I was worried that the girls wouldn't have anything to do at Auntie Shannon's house unless I brought toys and books along.

We haven't even been here a day yet, but we've still had a chance to do some fun family activities, among them swimming in the warm and sparkling-clear pool at Shannon's apartment complex. Both girls had a blast, and Madeleine was especially adventurous, deciding to try going underwater without giving me any warning, so that as I held her in the water she suddenly lunged forward and plunged her whole head under the water, then came back above surface sputtering and crying. You might think that one experience of the sort would be enough to teach her, but this is Madeleine, after all, so of course there were another two such head dunkings to follow. Julia, on the other hand, finally worked up the courage to put a portion of her chin under the water, which, believe it or not, is great progress for her.

The Rowe family has had two fine meals out in Atlanta so far, one being dinner last night, and the other brunch this morning. Madeleine has proven her adventurous spirit and her inner weirdo without a doubt on this trip, last night in drinking straight from the shaker of parmesan cheese at the pizza restaurant we went to, and this morning in both drinking straight from the cup of creamer that was set down next to my cup of coffee, and in eating the whole pad of butter that was on her pancake plate. The verdict on both: not too tasty. In fact, she even spit the butter back out, declaring in a pained voice, "I don't like it!" Perhaps if she had eaten a pancake instead she would have been happier with her breakfast.

Anyway, we are all hoping that Julia's fever will be short-lived and that she'll be back to her usual energetic self soon, and we're looking forward to more adventures of all sorts down here in Atlanta. We will keep you posted!