More Miami plans!

The greater then average number of comments on my last post tells me you guys really do read my personal blog.  I'm sorry for neglecting it the last six months.   And for all those who loved the images I must confess we moved the bed in our bedroom so the light would be more favorable for any future picture ops.  I like it much better with the new arrangement.  

Saturday I stepped in an ant pile during the last part of my photo shoot.  I have never done that before!  Luckily the pain of the first few bites alerted me to an issue.  Somehow with hundreds of ants I only got 4-5 bites. Yeah, amazing!!!  They are also the kind of ants that only leave a minor bite & not those huge swollen bites.

We have made plans to spend the week of Thanksgiving in Miami!  All of us are super excited to go again.  Our wonderful client, Therese, has offered up her condo to us again.  Since I haven't ever shared images from our last trip you get to see a few today.

This is the view from the condo overlooking the Port of Miami and South Beach.  We took our bikes down with the kids seats on the back.  We went on 4 nice long bike rides exploring everything from South Beach to the downtown area along the waterfront to the South.  We all loved the experience getting to know the area by bike.  The Port of Miami is also where our cruise left out of back in March.  Two of the cruise ships are leaving in this image.


Blake thought he'd try out the binoculars our first morning.  This trip was the first time the kids slept in big beds by themselves.  They only fell off a couple times...  It's a good thing we thought ahead to put some pillows along the sides.  Since then they learned their boundaries and haven't fallen off any big beds they have slept on since.


The tram system was great to get around in.  This station was right behind the condo building.


We decided to take the tram & a couple grocery bags to the Publix store.  It was not one of our more brilliant ideas.  We got enough to feed us most meals for the week.  That is a lot of food for four people to carry back to the tram, keep track of two 2 year olds and carry from the tram up to the condo.  DUH.  It would have worked out just fine if we had brought a cart of some kind or even a suitcase.

Blake wanted to help carry some of the groceries.


He did pretty well.


Then Madison wanted to help him.


But...  She decided it wasn't her thing and walked on.  I love the unconcerned look for leaving our groceries behind.


You know, I never realized how badly escalators are designed when it comes to kids until right when I took this image.  In order to get the angle right I had to squat down.  When I tried to get up with balancing the camera, groceries and camera bag I put my hand on the side wall.  Big mistake.  It is stationary!  So it pulled me backwards.  Thankfully, I managed to let go quickly and gain my own balance.  Since kids cannot reach the hand rail at the top there is nothing for them to grab onto except the side wall for balance.


Us in the tram.  The kids were a bit worn out from their walk since we couldn't pick them up with all the groceries.


They perked back up soon enough.


Well, maybe just Madison perked up.


She had to mess him.


Here is another view of South Beach from the condo.


My friend Mary came over with three of her kids since the others weren't feeling well.  We all went swimming at one of the 14th story pools.  They are designed so one gets the sun during the morning and the other at night.  If it is windy it is likely that one of the pools will not feel the effects too.  They had a BBQ area, sand volleyball court, pool table, lounge and putting green out there too.

Guy was trying to get Madison to 'swim' to him.  She has just started trying to swim when we went swimming last week.  It is so funny to watch.  She'll pull the water towards her with her hands and does an upright running man to go forward.  Next year we'll definitely do swim lessons.




Mary's identical twin girls, Jessica & Nicole, along with their big sister Gabi.  Check out the goofy faces the girls were making making Gabi and all of us laugh.   The super full diapers also cracked me up.


Guy was giving Blake a head start push towards the side.  The push is Blake's favorite part.


He definitely wasn't swimming strait, but he started getting it very quickly.


Here is Mary.  She had both girls in her arms most of the time.  Us twin moms develop serious guns with all the double holding we do.  With two kids in your arms there is no way to use your hip to hold them and the other arm can't come over to support the main hold arm as it is the main hold arm for the other kid.  Moms with kids super close together have the same thing.  Though they can use the hip to the side of the heavier child and 'arm' hold the lighter one.  


A view up the condo building from the pool.  We had a great puffy clouds that would come and go while we were at the pool giving the perfect shade and sun combo.


Another shot of the girls showing off a loaded diaper.


Gabi chillin.


The girls all did their towels like capes which Madison and Blake had to do too.  They loved it.  Madison paused for one of her princess poses.


Guy held the gate opened for everyone including his straggler picture taking wife.


Guy started his new position as a Garner High School resource officer this morning.  School doesn't start for a week, but he has some things to get together including meeting the staff.