Miami, Your-ami: Miami Beach at Eden Roc

The rest of the week we spent at Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, a little island off the coast of Miami, separated by the Bay, with beautiful sand.  The bottom of the beach is South Beach, the famed partying place.  Mostly, we just played at the pool and the beach.  I am lazy and do not like taking pictures, especially when I am watching two little boys by myself near water.  So, this is it:

Some thoughts:

• Our hotel was nice but SUPER expensive.  But Katsu’s conference was right inside and, of course, the hotel will all be paid for.  But that is why we brought food.  Get this – a bowl of cereal and a banana - $10!  A dinner, more like $25-40.  An ATM fee - $7!  Using one of those beautiful beach chairs - $10.  Or an umbrella - $15!!!  Like, shouldn’t that come with use of the beach?!?
• There really isn’t much close by, but we did find some.  We found a hidden Subway not too far away that was only $25 for dinner (yes, even fast food is expensive here).  We also ordered in pizza one night.
• For breakfast and lunch, we dined on our poptarts, granola bars, canned fruit, apples, canned mac & cheese, and chef boyardee – so healthy!  Because, we also didn’t have a refrigerator.  Or microwave.  Sigh …
• The door to the toilet and the shower were swinging doors that don’t latch!  Imagine that with two little boys … lots of stuff in the toilet and lots of water escaping from the shower.  Not really made for kids.
• Katsu took an afternoon off from the conference, and we all went to South Beach.  We took a taxi there and then the taxi guy got mad at us for not having car seats and said no one would take us back because they could have a fine.  On the other hand, who really wants to take car seats and then carry them around … to restaurants and the beach, etc. etc.  Crazy.
• We enjoyed walking around the Art Deco district.  And then, we saw more when we took the South Beach loop bus to see the town (and also escape the rain).  And then we saw more trying to find a bus to take us home (took FOREVER).
• South Beach beach was pretty much the same as our beach but much wider.  Seth was not impressed and wanted to leave.
• We ate at a super cute diner that I just loved.  Like the 11th Street diner, or something.  And it wasn’t too expensive either.  The atmosphere was so cute – it was an art deco diner from Pennsylvania that they had transported there.
• Katsu went out to South Beach another day with friends from Michigan who were at the conference, too.  He didn’t get back until 1, I guess, but I feel asleep with the boys.
• The weather was really rainy most of the week.  We got soaked in the rain A LOT and I swear half our clothes were hanging wet around the hotel room.  Saturday was beautiful.
• At first, Seth was pretty scared of the beach and waves, but he warmed up to it by the end and liked to spalsh around in the puddles left behind.  He would stack up all the buckets and then throw random handfuls of sand into them.  Andrew liked to dig holes and then fill them with sand, sometimes getting other kids to cooperate.  Seth refused to sit in his little pool toy and Andrew refused to move around, even with floaties on, unless he was holding on to me.  So, I hated going to the pool.
• Most of the time, there were few kids around.  It wasn’t really a kid-friendly hotel.  Or location.  But we still had fun.

Miami, Your-ami: The Keys

So, what do you do with a few hours to kill before returning your rental car, that just happens to be a bright blue convertible?

“Key Largo, Montego baby why don’t we go … Off the Florida Keys”.

Why not?

We meant to call the hotel before going to the keys to check and make sure we could return the rental car after the office closed.  But before we knew it, we missed the last exit on Highway 1, and we were on our way to Key Largo.  The boys had woken up by that time, so when we got into Key Largo, we pulled off to the side by Shell World, and put down the top.

And wow, the boys DID NOT like it at all.  We enjoyed our little bit of wind blowing through our hair driving through the Keys, humming the beach boys … amidst the kids yelling and screaming “I don’t like this.”  Oh, well.  I mean, how cool can you be in a convertible … with two car seats.  It was fun while it lasted.  We were not so impressed with the Keys.  But you know, we couldn’t go snorkeling and didn’t have enough time for a glass bottom boat tour and we were still in long pants from the Everglades, but it was nice to have gone there.

So, we found a public beach and played at the playground and walked around in the sand.

A lot of the restaurants in Key Largo seemed to be close for the season, but we were all hungry, so we drove back to Homestead and ate our hearts out at Olive Garden.  Much to Andrew’s chagrin, he and I didn’t spot any crocodiles on the way (though Katsu thinks he did).  We found our way finally to Miami Beach to our hotel, but, of course, forgot to fill up the rental car first.  (although it doesn’t look like they charged us on the receipt we got today … weird).

Our little visit to the Keys was fun!

Miami, Your-ami: Everglades

We just got back from a trip to Miami today.  We had fun basking in the sun.  Andrew was so funny, the whole time, we’d say, “We are in Miami.”  And he would say “Yup, we’re in your-ami”.  I don’t think he ever got it right, but it sure was cute.

Tuesday evening, we had an uneventful flight (boys slept through our flights to and from Miami – we never even needed our DVD player), but it was late, so we didn’t get to our rental car place until like 10 pm!  We were all exhausted and it seemed to take forever.  We had never rented a car before (that is a new experience) and was pretty confusing.  When we finally found where our car was supposed to be, we were a little confused because, instead of like an Impala or a Corolla, we had a ….

yup, a bright blue Mustang convertible.  It was super fancy.  At first, we were concerned, but YES, it does fit two car seats (just for future reference).  Around the Miami airport was a mess, but we finally found our way to our hotel about 30 minutes away next to the Everglades.  We still hadn’t eaten dinner, so we grabbed some McDonalds and went right to sleep.

Wednesday morning, we ate a delicious breakfast at our hotel (which actually was pretty nice for a Travelodge, too bad it was just one night).  Then, we drove to Walmart and stocked up on bug spray, sunscreen, and lots and lots of food for the rest of our trips.  Then, we’re off to the Everglades.

We really enjoyed the Everglades.  It was definitely worth renting a car for.  The entire time Andrew wanted to know where the alligators and crocodiles were.  It was like he thought it was the zoo.  We went to the visitor center and then went to the first little hike.  This was definitely the highlight.  About 10 feet onto the trail, we found this just a couple feet away:

yup, a mama alligator.  And here are the babies:

We saw some more baby alligators:

And spent some time with our babies on the trail, trying to keep them from running too close to the alligators.  Andrew REALLY wanted to see an alligator eat a bird like in the movie we watched, but alas, they just sat in the water the whole time.

By this point, the boys were hungry, but we wanted to see all the landscape (we had watched a movie and read books about the Everglades and we thought it was really interesting).  So, we drove to Flamingo (the other end of the park).  We drove through all the environments: the saw grass, the pine and hard wood forests, and cypress mangroves and the ocean.  Flamingo was a little bit of a disappointment – mostly there to take boat tours, but we didn’t think the boys would have the patience for that.  We ate some sandwiches and looked for crocodiles and manatees, to no avail.  Then, we drove back, both boys fell asleep, Katsu explored another trail a bit while we waited in the car, and we finally left our fun adventure in the Everglades.

Seth is 15 months old

Seth will be a month older soon, but I am posting early since we will be in Miami part of the week with Katsu.

New things for Seth … 

• A new high-pitched scream whenever he doesn’t get his way.  It is SO loud & high, I swear, I lost hearing for a minute or two at church today as we were wandering the halls.
• He is throwing more fits.  They are kind of different though.  He gets really upset, maybe tries to hit you, and then runs off to hide in the boys bedroom or my bathroom and screams there.  I am not sure why he hides, but it sure makes the fit easier to deal with because I just feel so bad for him.
• He can GALLOP!  And does it all the time.  I just can’t believe it.  He seems really young to do it.  But he does it half the time when him and Andrew are dancing.  He still loves to dance with Andrew.
• He really loves singing – he tries to sing along at church at the beginning of songs and will do hand motions for “Twinkle twinkle” and “If you are happy and you know it”
• He loves to be outside.  He will run and get everyone’s shoes (to the point, where Andrew refuses to leave until Seth brings him his shoes … ugh!).  He wants to go outside all the time no matter the weather.
• He loves art, but throws and chews everything.  I left him with crayons in his high chair the other day for just a minute or two and I came back and he had eaten lots of crayons and then starting throwing them up.  Yikes!
• Seth can completely navigate even the 5-12 yrs playgrounds.  He is too fast for me to try to navigate on the playground with him, so I usually spot from below.  I think other parents think I’m crazy, but the only other option would be not going to the park at all.
• Seth falls A LOT because he is always taking risks and falling/jumping off the furniture.  He probably has about 5-6 bruises on his face at a time.  I am getting worried he is going to lose a lot of brain cells or something, but the kid will not be restrained.  He is pretty tough, though, and rarely cries, even when he is bleeding.
• Seth talks more, but mostly the same words.  Katsu says he says “tora”, his first Japanese word beyond peek-a-boo which is the word for tiger.
• Speaking of which, Seth has started growling and loves to look at pictures of tigers and lions.
• Seth says Jesus whenever he sees a picture of him and is also learning about prayers.  He will clasp his hands together at the beginning of a prayer and then clap excitedly at the end.  He loves prayer (well, not so much the middle part, but we’ll get there).
• He loves extra time just with me while Andrew is at preschool.
• He is getting much better with utensils.
• He plays pretty well with other kids and was kicking and throwing balls with other kids at the balloon festival.

Fun Things this month

• St Louis Art Fair
• Japanese Festival
• Great Forest Park Balloon Race
• Our upcoming vacation to Miami …
• Long walks through Clayton, especially the park, the library, and the bagel store (aka St Louis Bread aka Panera).
• Zoo & Science Center & Botanical Gardens
• Dancing around the house.
• A new haircut

 

Andrew’s First Day of Preschool

Andrew had his first “real” day of preschool.  Not too much to say.  Andrew was excited to go.  You drop off / pick up the kids from the car, so it’s pretty easy.  Seth threw an ENORMOUS fit the first day we dropped Andrew off.  Andrew was just grinning and Seth was just screaming.  Andrew was an “angel” according to his teacher and just smiles all the time.  They send home a little sheet each day which says what they played with, the books they read, their snack.  Plus a folder of all their activities.  And Andrew gets a literature bag each week with a stuffed animal and a few books to enjoy.  This week he got Biscuit.  He goes Monday and Tuesday mornings and then we have him all to ourselves the rest of the week.  I think it is a good transition.

Katsu got Andrew a bag of his favorite candy, M&M’s, as a celebration treat, which he has been savoring all week.

Great Forest Park Balloon Race

St Louis has an amazing number of festivals and activities, almost all free, every weekend.  It’s hard to choose and they all sound so fun.  This year, we had to experience the Balloon Race.

We got there several hours early to find a parking space by the Art Museum.  Then, we walked a VERY long way through the park to where the balloons were taking off from.  Andrew promptly feel asleep and probably would have been content to sleep the whole time, but after many tries, we finally woke him up (I swear, that kid has slept though more culture than most kids ever see).

We picked up freebies and balloons at the booths and walked around and saw the Purina dog (we didn’t get to see the show because it was later).  We also picked up our Energizer bunny ears.

Then, we got to get close and see the balloons.  The boys were mostly interested (but I still don’t know if it was worth that walk …. many we won’t do it next year).  The favorites were the popcorn bag and also the Pepsi can one (which Andrew insists is coffee).

We took the long walk back, dropped the stroller off at the car, and went to the Art Museum.  We saw a few works of art, but mostly went to the bathroom, got a drink, and cooled off in the AC.  Then, we met up with some members of WUSPA (Washington University Spouses of Professionals Association ?? maybe) right by there to watch the action.  There was about 2 hours before the balloons started (well, till when they actually started, since they got off late), but the boys had tons of fun, running up and down the hill with the other kids and playing ball.  We were so worn out just chasing them!  If you can’t tell, this is ONE big hill.

Finally, we saw the Energizer bunny balloon peeking its ears over the trees!  This is the lead balloon.  I think it drops something and everyone else tries to drop a bag closest, or something like that.

But then the bunny got stuck in the trees right close to us.  Which was sort of anticlimatic (there wasn’t so much wind, so it wasn’t unexpected, I guess).  But it was good, in a way, since then all the balloons stopped close by.

We were SO worn out after many hours of being outside.  We went out for a little dinner and then home.  A fun evening.  Hopefully, better wind next year!