Miami

Our last day in Vietnam, Karina felt sick, but pushed through it.  I thought everything was fine when we had our lengthy layover in Taipei, and then flying back to Washington DC.  After less than one day at home in Maryland, the kids and I flew to Miami.  When we arrived, I had a really hard time adjusting to the time difference (12 hours) and just felt so exhausted and tired.  It felt like I had been hit by a brick wall, but I assumed it was the jet lag.  At home in Maryland, Nate felt the same, but was going to work anyway.  My mom arrived in Miami from Norway a couple days later.  We finally got the idea that I should take a covid test, and I had covid!  I assume Karina (and possibly Lydia and Derek) had covid in Asia, but had very few or no symptoms.  I felt awful though.  Then Nate came to Miami too, and I assume he also had covid.  Unfortunately, by this time, my parents were already exposed, and so they got covid from us too.  It hit my dad first really badly, and then a couple days later my mom got it, probably even more severely.  She was in bed for days feeling horrible.  This wasn't the way we wanted to spend much of our Miami vacation and we felt badly for bringing them covid.  

Ironically, in 2022, after we went on a safari in Kenya and Tanzania, the kids and I flew directly to Norway to visit my parents, and we also brought covid with us and spent a week sick in turns.  My parents had just had covid, and then when we arrived with it.  First Derek, then Karina, me, and Lydia, and finally we gave it to my brother too.  The 2022 covid was quite mild though, like a mild cold.  The 2024 covid was really hard on the adults, more like the flu.   

The kids luckily felt good, and had a great time in Miami. We went swimming in the morning and evening every day, to avoid the heat. 

Lydia and Derek built a lot of dragons out of Construx. During the day, the kids also practiced piano, and Lydia did math since she was skipping pre-algebra and starting Algebra I in the fall. 

Karina, as usual, liked reading in exotic places. Somehow her Kindle didn't get wet and ruined.  

Derek improved his swimming skills.  We had lessons with him every day, mostly practicing swimming underwater and jumping into the pool independently.  He is now comfortable doing side flips underwater.  The girls do underwater somersaults. 

I don't think backflopping into the pool looks fun, but Lydia disagrees and loves cannonballs too.

We also played Marco Polo and Monkey-in-the-Middle every day.  

After I recovered from the covid, I was able to relax and enjoy the end of our summer travels.  The kids luckily felt fine, so they had a fabulous trip.