Well, we are back from Florida. We actually got back Monday night but its taken me this long to get re-adjusted. It was so wonderful to see my parents and have Habibi spend some time with them. My mom was very sweet when we were leaving at the aiport--all misty eyed she gave him a hug and a kiss and told him to come back and then very gently threated to hurt the boy should he not take care of me. It was done in such a subtle way that Habibi questioned her seriousness on the plane.

The weather was so warm. We got to go to Silver Springs National Park where the old Tarzan movies were filmed. . They had glass-bottom boats so you could see all the underwater wildlife like gar fish (needle nose) , alligators , bass, snap turtles and regular freshwater turtles . We also got to see the underwater natural springs.

They had areas where you could take a jungle safari jeep ride to see animals native to the Florida wetlands. There were reese monleys (brought over but now rampant) , we saw a mother raccoon and her 5 babies , and deer. There were also all types of different bears-- we had speckled bears whose faces are streaked , black bears and big brown Kodak bears . We got to meet Max, the Kodak bear who the movie "Brother Bear" is modeled after.

We also did a lot of shopping, eating out and just hung out in the house and watched some movies. Very relaxing. We were also all together when we heard about the capture of Saddam Hussein .

I'm hoping to go back (by myself this time) in February or March.

Well, I have a bit of catching up with work to do before I head home for the weekend. Stay safe & happy until we talk again. Enjoy our stories and hopefully I'll figure out this photo uploading thing real soon . Habibi got some great photos from our trip. Again, what a guy!!!

6 more days till Christmas...try to be good!!