| 12:21 | Lisa finishes packing. |
| 3:33 | Lisa's alarm goes off and she lies in bed for approximately a minute and a half before Taking Care of Business comes on the radio, catapaulting her toward the shower in disgust. |
| 4:01 | With the rest of the family and the morning paper conspicuously absent, Lisa sits down for two bowls of oatmeal. |
| 4:31 | Family and luggage are loaded into the car right on schedule. |
| 4:32 | Mom, Lisa and David have evacuated the car on separate "Oh, shoot, just this one last thing..." missions. |
| 4:37 | Dad pulls out of the driveway and Mom, David and Lisa all grab the Oh Shit bars and suddenly feel refreshingly awake. |
| 4:40 | David successfully avoids the booby-trapped drop box at Blockbuster. |
| 5:20 | We arrive at the airport and prepare to wait in line to check in. |
| 5:30 | There is no line. |
| 5:35 | The Helder family manages to walk into the wrong terminal...Which in the GR airport with the wide selection of choices (A and B, I believe) that is quite an accomplishment. It's a good thing that security guard knew where he was supposed to be. |
| 5:45 | Have you heard? Airport security has been improved. For some reason, Dad was the only one who escaped all but being strip searched after walking through the metal detectors. Come to find out, apparently David has two titanium knees... |
| 7:32 | We board the plane to Chicago and take off without incident...Lisa gets the window seat and checks out Holland from the air. |
| Breakfast at Chili's in O'Hare airport. Lisa's second meal of the day, so that would make it lunchtime...just in time to watch the sun come up and a pack of people in wheelchairs cut in line... | |
| 9:07 | Lisa spots the Chicago skyline silhoutted against the pink morning sky. |
| 9:08 | Lisa makes every one else turn around to spot the Chicago skyline silhoutted against the pink morning sky. |
| 9:10 | Lisa realizes that you can see the Chicago skyline silhoutted against the pink morning sky from other windows of the airport too. |
| 9:11 | Lisa makes the suggestion that the family sit where everyone can see the Chicago skyline silhoutted against the pink morning sky. |
| 9:45 | Lisa falls asleep face down on her backpack and wakes up with a very red and very wrinkled nose. |
| Plane boarding and taking off. | |
| Plane landing in Fort Meyers. | |
| Successful baggage claim. | |
| THE BRIDGE TO MARCO ISLAND. | |
| 6:02 | Lisa goes to bed...as soon as it gets dark. |
|
Happy Birthday Grandma! 
To celebrate we went to brunch at the Island Country Club with the four Helders, grandma and grandpa, and Charlie and Ann, two of my grandparents' friends. |
|
 Grandpa and Grandma at the club. |
 Ann, joining the party with Charlie after the church service, spent more of the meal talking than eating. |
 |
After brunch the Helder family walked north on the beach almost to Tiger Tail (I have a postcard which shows this nicely, which I will perhaps insert here in the near future). We walked for over an hour. The beach was nice and quiet. Following that, we sat by the pool and read. Unfortunately, as the sun prepared to go down, the temperature also went down. Some of the group gave up early. Mom, ever the hardy one, stole their towels and continued reading. |
 For dinner we ate pizza and enjoyed an impromptu fireworks display being launched from the public beach access. Mom and Dad ran the clean-up crew... |
 ...while David disappeared into our room to his customary spot in front of the TV...on MY "bed." |
 |
 |
| After vanquishing the stockings, it was time to rummage around under the tree. Somehow I got stuck with those honors. |  |
Mom got a manicure set from her parents.  |
Grandpa got a warm vest courtesy of the Helder's. He can wear it golfing on cool days. It zips down the front so he won't have to pull it on over his head and mess up his hair... |
Grandma got a purse from Grandpa and a Lladro butterfly that my parents bought in Aruba last summer.
 |
|
| Not pictured: |
|
