NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

My 3 year old knows that he's not allowed near any lakes where we live.  Last Summer we had a stretch of a nuisance alligators being removed from our neighborhood every week......for two months.  That's a whole bunch of 'Gators misbehaving and getting too close to people.  Our family does not mess around with alligators, ever. Now, I know plenty of people that swim or ski in lakes throughout the state and have never had an issue.  Alligators are programmed to be afraid of humans but, occasionally well meaning folks feed them and then they start to associate food and humans.  That's not good. I also understand that swimming in the Gulf day after day can become predictable.  It sounds like a silly problem to have but, if you're trying to teach a toddler to swim you want the toddler and his instructors to be engaged with new experiences every time you step in the water.  Which is why we sometimes skip the ocean and go a bit native. TO THE LAGOON!!     

Growing up in New England, I saw very few convertibles.  In fact, probably because of Barbie's Dream Car, most guys about my age in the neighborhood thought roofless cars could be cool for their girlfriends to own, but only on really nice days. Then I began watching Miami Vice. Suffice to say, the day I moved to Paradise I drove to a dealership and picked out a convertible coup.  It was the least practice car I have ever owned but driving it made me feel like Sonny Crocket.  Now, of course, I have the opportunity to correct past mistakes and make sure my three year old likes convertibles and is already driving one.   So yes, if you live in Florida you must own at least one convertible in your family.... Rocky Gaudiano with the family convertible.

This one.......

Well....

We just took a family trip to Illinois so our son could visit his extended family and cousins there.  Good time of year to get out of the Florida heat, we thought.  Every day we were there it was hotter, sometimes by 15 degrees and by the way - it was more humid. So even if you calculate in the feels like (what more Floridans  call the 'complains like' - it was still more comfortable in Sarasota than a tree lined street in the midwest. So yeah, I'm fine with 90 degree temperatures when the alternative is 100  degrees and the ocean is 20 hours away, instead of 10 minutes. :-)