Time to hunker down -

- because Vacation is Over. Although we took a relatively lengthy eight day trip down to Tampa, it sure seemed to go pretty quickly. Being thrust back into the Frigid North makes it seem like weeks ago already - we're hoping we didn't take it too early in the season and that Margot doesn't pull a Shining with so long to go until Spring. But thankfully TJ earned his hand-rolled Ybor stogies while we were away by totally shoveling out our driveway and cleaning the cars off to make it look like we were home. He said it was a better workout than the gym, but we've decided not to charge him our monthly fee this time.

Evelyn traveled really well again, making friends on the plane - and then settled back into her routine pretty quickly once home. She was thrilled to re-discover her toys once more, had a music class and a play-date with Chloe - but you could tell she was really missing Unca Jake and her new best friend Michelle when she realized it was just boring Mom and Dad at home. We too are going through withdrawal - missing our personal chef Jacob, being obliged to empty out their apartment of junk-food, and conquering their Wii Fit records of course.

Unfortunately we didn't get to meet up with the Goodchilds and introduce Evie to Addy, but we did get to see Tom and Patsie up in Dunedin - a quiet community on the water with enough charm to woo the Jamestown refugees. And Tampa really is the least objectionable of all Floridian cities after you experience it. We were one of the first to experience the new History Museum that just opened, and you realize what a cross-mingling of peoples have congregated by the Bay - from the early Seminoles and Conquistadores, Buccaneers and Crackers, Cracker Cowboys and RoughRiders, Cuban Cigar Moguls and Freedom Fighters, Northern Socialites and Steinbrenners - the diversity nearly rivals Malden. And in the end, as miserable as it may be during these bleak months - this is home. And Bayshore's got nothing on Revere Beach when it comes to Cruising..