Florida

Ok, so the Florida trip.

It was very interesting. We left Friday afternoon and drove all the way through stopping only for gas and other necessary things and got to Daytona Beach by Saturday morning. The drive was pretty fast and we even stopped for a snooze break in Georgia because we didn't want to get there too early. Interestingly, the weather was perfect all the way down. Never hit any rain there was only sunshine during the day, naturally.

We stayed in a friend's house who were a very nice family. They were extremely hospitable and through them we had the chance to meet some other nice people.

Daytona Beach is a very nice Oceanside town. It has some beautiful resorts and many, many gorgeous houses. To me the interesting thing about Daytona is that it is permitted to drive out to the beach right on the sand. Years ago it was free but now they charge a fee for the privilege.

Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to go into the water because we were so busy but we walked on it and were able to stuck our feet in it.

Sunday we had to finalize the Bat Mitzvah arrangements, visited family, and friends and just ran around like crazies.

Monday was the big day. Early morning, at 9, we met with the rabbi because the service started at ten. I admit I was pretty nervous but the rabbi put us all to ease. He is an imposing gentleman and I really feel sorry for him that he is losing his job and congregation.

The service went on without a hitch. Abigail performed flawlessly as well as all the family members me included. My Hebrew knowledge is zero but that was no problem because everything that we were supposed to read was also written down phonetically.

When the rabbi found out that I never had a bar mitzvah he threw that in as an extra for no charge. So now I was also bar mitzvahed. Meaning, that now I am a man and I can marry.

After the service we had a small Kiddush at the synagogue that turned out to be great success. The service lasted about an hour and a half, the Kiddush an hour and then it was all over.

We made a few more family visits then in the early evening set off to New York. The trip home went very easy and we got to our place in Queens by Tuesday afternoon about three o'clock.