Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

A Southerly Vacation in the Offing?
Turns out that Erika talked to her father yesterday -- pretty much the first chance she'd been able to do so since he originally called about a week or so ago.

He invited Erika and the girls to come over and visit him in the south of France. Sounds like he might even take care of the airfare. He has also invited all of us to come and join him on his yacht in the Caribbean around Xmas-time or New Years.

We talked about it, and we both decided that Annie should stay here for both of those trips. Our experiences with a very young Vanessa in the Virgin Islands convinced both of us that it would be less traumatic for Annie to stay at home. For the trip to France, I would stay here with Annie (and hopefully our current Nanny, Irene would be able to fill in during the day when I need to work). We also decided that we would rather not head south for Xmas, as I'd hate to think of leaving my Mother in the nursing home all alone come Xmas Day, and Erika didn't want to have an Annie-less Xmas either. If we can head down for New Year's, all the better.

I’ve pledged to look up what Erika and Vanessa can do activity-wise while in the south of France, as she’ll be working on her current film almost until the time she'd be heading over.

Things are still really tentative of course, and none of this may come to pass for one reason or another, but I for one am looking forward to the idea (even if that's all it is) of heading south sometime this winter.