Too many members of my family have yet to meet the newest member of the clan and so, with the intention of killing as many birds as possible with one trans-Atlantic stone, we’re going to the United States of America! Florida, to be exact. And what better time to go than the 15th day of the month of Nisan? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: Passover!

I’m looking forward to my dad, sister, aunt, nana, and the rest of those crazy family-types to finally meet Emily. She’s so big now that I think Emily will actually enjoy it, too. I’m also looking forward to Jan participating in her first-ever Passover Seder. We’re gonna be singing Dahyenu like it’s 1999! This really is my favorite holiday.

So here’s the plan: we arrive at Miami International Airport at 14:20 on Wednesday, March 28. We’ll spend some days with my mom, then my nana, and then my dad. And then we fly out of Miami again at 16:50 on Tuesday, April 10. That’s nearly two weeks of Sunshine State shenanigans. Who wants to pick us up at the airport?

I don’t think I’ve been to the US for over two years. It’ll be nice to have the family around so we can pawn Emily off on them while we sip piña coladas by the pool. Oh man, Emily should be swimming by then! Not having any family here in Spain is probably the toughest part of raising a kid. No automatic support system and no free babysitters.

Speaking of free babysitters.. Marli is coming to visit again in a few weeks! I guess we didn’t scare her off after her first visit. Then, just a few weeks after that, Jan’s parents are coming to stay with us for a while. And then, as soon as they go back to England, we hop on our flight for America. If Emily starts eating solid food in the next month (as she promised she would), we could have quite a few babysitters on our hands here. Life is good.