After our 2-day drive south,we had arrived in Vero Beach, to stay with our brother and sister-in-law, and their two kids, aged 17 and 11. We had spent a week with them last December, in their home, and our boys had gotten along great with their cousins, so we were reasonably confident that they would all get along, and it worked out beautifully!

We spent 3 days at the beach, for varying lengths of time, S made friends with a couple of boys that were right at his aquatic skill level (see post “At the beach”).

We ate wonderful meals, relaxed by the pool, and one afternoon, the boys all had a blast swinging on a tire swing belonging to the abandoned house across from the home we stayed at.

The last full day we were there started out for me with a 1 1/2 hour long drive with my brother-in-law, and his kids, driving to the site of the Loggerhead Triathon, to cheer my sister-in-law through the finish line of her first solo triathlon!! So proud of her, and she has inspired me to get back into shape. It’s directly a credit to her that I’ve run twice this week!! And, in the afternoon, my younger brother-in-law joined us, and we took the kids out to the Intercoastal to fish off a pier underneath a bridge. S caught the first of several small fish (we threw everything back, it was all too small), and he was so excited!!! Sorry no photos of the actual catch – too much going on. He has come home with a passion for fishing – we’ll see if it lasts (with two non-fishing parents!).

We returned home to a wonderful meal, and brief sleep, before we left the next morning, with sleeping kids in jammies, to make our way home…