Vacation Day 1: Fussy flights

We flew out of Cincinnati yesterday morning for Jacksonville, Florida, at an unsavory departure time of 7 a.m. That meant up and out of the door before 5:30 a.m. Tim's dad was kind enough to take us to the airport.

Elliott was completely thrown off by the early flight; he fidgeted and whimpered most of the air time. By the time we reached Jacksonville, he was asleep in the stroller before we even made it to baggage claim.

We're here by the generous invitation of some friends who come every year to stay a week at Amelia Island Plantation. (Their boss owns a condo here.) Let's just say that it is very unlikely Tim and I would vacationing here without their invitation to tag along. Amelia Island is about 30 miles north of Jacksonville. The Plantation is a private resort on the edge of the island with condos, an inn, a beach club, shopping, restaurants, tennis courts, a marsh, nature center, pool and private beach access. I told Tim that this feels like some sort of undeserved reward for spending 16 of the past 24 months pregnant ... or one last hurrah before the insanity begins in August.

After arriving we spent some time in the pool with Elliott. The condo is on the first floor and has patio doors that basically open to the pool that serves only this set of buildings. That makes for a nice quiet place to take a not-so-quiet 16-month-old boy.

We had a special Father's Day dinner at one of the nicer restaurants on the Plantation and then let the kids watch two guys play tennis on the sunken clay court. Elliott was of course enthralled by the tennis ball. He seems to be getting along well with our friends' 2.5-year-old son. They also have a 5-year-old daughter who always surprises me with her sense of adventure.

Unfortunately, Elliott woke up at about 1 a.m. with gas pains. I just slept with him on the couch and then around 5 a.m. tried to bring him to bed. He actually slept a little in bed with us (very surprising). Now he and Tim are out for a walk. I was supposed to try to get more sleep, but I believe the pregnancy insomnia has kicked in. I had forgotten that with Elliott I would sometimes get up for three-hour stretches in the middle of the night. I really hope that doesn't start happening again.