South Beach

So here we are in Miami. Brad called yesterday afternoon and said he couldn’t come home until the end of the week. So within an hour and twenty minutes I had me and 2 kids packed and we made the 5-hour trek. We rolled in to South Beach at 11PM.

Let me just tell you, Madelyn cried more on our little road trip than she has cried combined in the last 10 days. Mainly, thanks to her big brother. She would dose off to a pleasant slumber and then he’d ‘boop’ her nose or start singing incredibly loud. All to wake her up. And he succeeded. And she through a fit. This happened no less than 5 times. And, oh my, her protest lasted 20+ minutes EACH time!

Then my little chatter box. For the first 45 minutes he talked incessantly. Talked about his dad. Talked about the hotel (he LOVES hotels). Talked about the time PopPop and MiMi took him and SoSo to the lazy river hotel and he squirted someone with water. Then wanted to know if we were at the hotel yet. Then wanted to know if it was getting dark. Then back to dad. Where was he? Where are we? “I want my daddy.” Yes, buddy, I want your daddy too!

With all the TALKING and crying and 5 hour drive . . . we arrived. It’s so nice to be together as a family. Even if it is in a hotel room. We’re with Brad.

And the day has been so nice. William swam for 3 hours. Never tiring. He sort of made friends with these 2 grade school sisters. I say ‘sort of’ because they didn’t speak English and W doesn’t understand the language concept. I tried explaining how he learns Spanish in school and we speak English. But, you know, he’s 3. The older one kept saying, “I don’t speak English”. It didn’t stop him. He kept talking to them and following them around. Somehow they figured it out. The talking ceased and the copying began. One would jump a certain way in the water. The other would copy. One would do a trick in the water. The other would copy.

Do you know where I got to be (excluding the first 45 minutes)? Sitting in the sun stretched out on a beach chair. Oh, yes. Tanning. It was so nice. Maddie asleep. William capable in the pool and fully occupied. And me, I’ll say it again, tanning. 2 hours of South Beach rays made the 5-hour trek all worth it. I even got some reading done.

Brad got back and we had dinner by the pool with the ocean crashing into the beach behind us. It was beautiful. Then the boys swam and the girls cuddled under a pool towel. Just lovely.

Tomorrow?
Hopefully a repeat of the same.