songbird's crazy world

in the early 1970's my grandmother would fly south every winter to spend a month in the new Borscht Belt, Miami Beach.  there were a number of kosher hotels up and down Collins Avenue, catering mostly to Jewish senior citizens.  meals included, social activities, dancing lessons -- a scenario right out of Dirty Dancin' , but without Patrick Swayze. Christmas vacation, 1972.  I was 12 (almost 13) and my sister was 11.  we went to Miami with our grandma, spent two weeks on the beach,  it was the first time I was away from home on a vacation without my parents.  it was the first time I flew anywhere on an airplane -- and in those days, people feared being hijacked to Cuba, so I nervously practiced my few words of Spanish (I had been studying the language for a whopping 3 months) as we sat in the airport. grandma let us wander around on our own all day, returning to the hotel for meals and evening activities.  we spent most of our time playing on the ...

no, not me... Jen and Amanda and Stephanie, two of her friends from school, are headed to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow, for five days of sun and fun. they're staying with Amanda's grandmother, so they're not truly "on their own" and I don't think their trip will be too crazy. but my baby is growing up!

One of the perks of being on the high school cheer team, or the high school dance team, was the annual trip to Central Florida for competition. With neither of my girls on a team this year, I am bereft. I have wonderful memories of these competitions, especially the Florida trips. the girls and I had vacationed in Central Florida many times from 1998 through 2001, visiting Walt Disney World 5 times and Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure once. We hadn't been to Florida since 2001, and going back with the teams was a delight. Jen's sophomore year the team went to a competition at Universal Studios, and Becca and I went with the team. The next year, Jen's junior year and Becca's freshman year, the dance team went to WDW in early March and the cheer team went to WDW in mid March. Ditto last year. (The dance team also travels to Myrtle Beach for a competition at the end of March, but that's a different story.) Going on these trips is a lot different than watching y...