With her flippers on

When I was growing up, my grandparents had a winter home in the Cayman Islands, where they lived for six months of the year. I got to visit Cayman several times, which was always quite a fun adventure.

The first time I ever went to Cayman was when I was three or four years old (I am not sure what year it was), and my brother, cousin, and I all made "trip books" to document our vacation. First we found pictures in magazines to make the book covers, and then each day during the vacation, we would draw something that we had done that day.

The trip started off as a road trip, as we drove from Illinois to Florida, and then we flew to Cayman.

Here are some of the highlights of my Trip Book. I dictated the text to my mom, and then I drew the pictures. As you can see, I was quite the artist. I could work a crayon like no one else.

The cover:

Drawing people was my specialty:

My lack of transitions is striking--you should know that contrary to what is suggested here, I did not go swimming on the airplane. Rather, some time lapsed between these two events. It is an effective use of literary flash-forwarding. In addition, This is one of the best drawings. Take note of the brown cloud and red-violet sky.

The naps on the hammock were always a highlight. Apparently in my mind, palm fronds look like models of orbital motion. (The tower I refer to was a tower at the center of my grandparents' round house.)

I am not sure why I am frowning in this picture, since I loved swimming in the ocean in front of the house. Kid Island was a rock that had two big sticks jutting out of it like goalposts, and it was a special place for us.