The night after we welcomed Harriet to the family, Eban and I headed to the airport to see Piper get married in Naples, Florida, on the beach. The flights were an all day extravaganza and we had a long layover in Detroit. 
It was great to fly in along the west coast of Florida and see all the white sand beaches as we landed in Fort Myers. Although it was cloudy, it sure was pretty. The humidity that enveloped us after we departed the plane was so thick and heavy. I do not miss humidity whatsoever! 
We drove to the Rainen's home and Eban was able to see his first lizard. He yelled out and pointed, "Look Mama! AN IGUANA!" I have no idea what type of small lizard it was, but it was fun to see them running all over the place. That night was a cocktail party and Eban took off running all over their house, all over the dock, and anywhere else his two little feet could take him. Getting Mike's fishing pole settled him down just a tad, but it was a nice 20 minute reprieve from the constant chase mode. 
We stayed at the boutique hotel, the Trianon, that night. When we arrived, the front desk man (and only hotel worker) said we could use the pool as it was 9:00pm and Eban was wide awake as it was 7:00pm his time. So in we went and another family of boys joined us as they heard the nice front desk man allow to use the closed pool.
The next morning, Eban was on fire and a tad hyper and a new front desk man was working. I could simply sense he was having a bad day and noticed later on that he was glaring at me from across the lobby - I think he didn't approve of how I was parenting Eban. Anyway, as I was taking a picture of Eban in a pink stucco artistic square that was roughly 4 feet off the ground on the back patio of this cute hotel (see below pic), the cranky front desk man came running outside and said, "I TOLERATE A LOT, BUT THIS I DO NOT TOLERATE! Get him off of there!" 
So I was taken aback by the delivery of this request and went inside with Eban to pack up to head to the beach. I wanted to talk to him about appropriate use of words and tone, but knew it would be a lost cause. As I was bringing our suitcase to the front, Eban ran over to the front desk guy and was making noises and taking his ball cap and swinging it from side to side and then he swung it side to side and hit the front desk man. He angrily looked at Eban at shouted, "DO NOT HIT THE NICE HOTEL MAN!" I think I laughed out loud as it was such a contradiction so then I said to him, "You don't have kids, do you?" And he curtly replied, "No I do not." I told him I could tell. Eventually I ran into the nice hotel worker again and told him how much I appreciated the fact that he went over and beyond the call of duty to help us out. I also let him know that the morning hotel worker had no patience or social grace when dealing with situations that were foreign to him.
"My favorite thing was playing at the beach," Eban just said after I read him the above paragraphs as he wanted to know what I was working on. Cara, Ryan's cousin, picked us up in the morning so we could all have a beach day. 
We headed to the Naples Pier so relaxation and fun in the sand. As I was carrying a Igloo full of food and drinks, two backpacks, beach towels, and other items, I saw Eban run off as he caught a glimpse of the beach. Off he ran as fast as he could and behind him flew a shirt, then came pants, then came a hat....as he was running and stripping to get into the water. Cara caught him before he hopped in but it was a close call. 
He wasn't afraid of the water and wanted in - and he stayed in the water most of the time other than playing with a little girl from "Jersey" named Abria. He just elaborated by saying that he also loved the sand and playing with that girl, Abria. 
That night, we went on a dinner cruise. Eban loved every aspect of the four story boat and he just told me that the dinner cruise was totally awesome!! It was really sweet as Piper and Jack ate dinner with us and it was very special. 
Fourth of July was interesting as Eban was going stir crazy in the house after an hour. I figured we'd go for a walk and see if we could find a coffee shop so we could get him a "Starbucks." Lo and behold, I came upon downtown Naples and someone told me that the corner spot was still open and it was one of the best spots to be in. We drank our Starbucks and watched a two hour parade with old cars, military personnel, community organizations and I saw my first real Airboat - the vehicle they use in the Everglades. 
Lunch was a perfect picnic in the park with other parade goers and we headed home to nap so we could head to the hotel for the wedding. Eban put on his tie like a champ and wore it the entire night.
He was all set to be the ring bearer but on his way down the sand beach aisle in the dark, he caught sight of a heart sand castle with the letters J and P in them. I saw him jump away and I heard giggles come from the crowd and about a minute later, I saw one of Jack's relatives holding Eban's hand and walking him down the aisle. Some of the guests said it was hysterical to see how excited got with the sand castle as it was an opportunity to crush it - I mean what would you want to do - Walk down an aisle perfectly or jump feet first into a beautiful sand castle? 
The reception was a party - dancing until the wee hours. Eban crashed around midnight and fell asleep in my arms and another patron drove us home. The next morning, we drove across Alligator Alley over to Delray Beach to see my great Aunt Ruth. She looks fabulous for being 97 and she has long white hair and laughs with everything. She loved meeting Eban and was so impressed that he wanted to know all about her emergency lights in her room at the nursing center. He also loved the automatic soap dispenser in her bathroom and Eban told her it was "SO COOL!" That night, he swam for two hours in the hotel pool where we stayed and he couldn't have been happier. 
We saw Aunt Ruth again for 10 minutes on our last morning and Eban wanted to push her in her wheel chair to breakfast. He succeeded and he couldn't even see over the bars, but he loved pushing her. All the other residents giggled as we entered into the dining room as you could barely see Eban behind the huge wheel chair. Aunt Ruth was so proud to be wheeled in by her great great nephew and not an orderly and she told everybody who he was. I was chopped liver and didn't get introduced. Perfect! I'll upload photos from this visit as they are still on my camera...oops. I'm certainly glad we had the opportunity to see her on this trip. That's it for now, but as a teaser for the next entry, the boys went on their first horses and loved it!
EBAN'S FIRST HOUR AT THE BEACH
