Miami Pics--Wannado City & Children's Museum

We took the boys to Wannado City. It is an indoor themepark where the kids can role play almost any type of job imaginable, including working at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. We had been there before and were hoping that Matt would enjoy it since he's 4 now. That didn't really happen. Most of the activities the kids go off with the leader, and Matt didn't like being away from us. However, Adam had a great time. Adam at the circus tent.

Adam is pretending to work at a Coca-Cola bottling plant. He picked Sprite to fill up his bottles.
There was a small carnival inside. Matt, however, didn't like going on the carousel without me.


Next stop--the Miami Children's Museum. We went on a free Friday, so it was packed with kids.
Adam following in his Grandpa's footsteps.

Tough-guy Adam and Grandma Chichi. Vrrooom-vrrooom!

Adam tried his hand at rock-climbing.

Adam and Matt inside the grocery store, busy picking Florida oranges.

Miami Pics--Seaquarium and Zoo

These first five pictures are from the Miami Seaquarium. It was a lot of fun, with different exhibits and shows. As you can see, everyone was really hot and sweaty, and Matt was not too happy about it.
Catch of the Day!

Big Daddy the Sea Lion

Dolphins

The favorite show of all--the killer whale! Adam and Matt LOVED this.



Now, on to the Miami Zoo.

Awesome Adam and Mopey Matt (common poses for both of them)

There was a spray park in the zoo. The boys had so much fun. We forgot to bring their swimsuits, but, oh well. They loved getting soaked and afterwards, the wet clothes kept them a bit cooler.

In Memoriam

On Thursday evening, Robert's cousin Maria Julia "Maju" passed away. She had been fighting leukemia for the past 4-5 years. She was born and raised in Bolivia but moved to Miami as a young adult. When we were down there, we got to visit her a number of times. We are very grateful we got to see her since she passed away only five days after we got home. Robert and Maju were quite close. She was 5-6 years older than him. While he was in high school and college, he would spend a good portion of his summers staying with her in Miami. When her daughter was a baby, Robert and his mom spent the summer months taking care of her so Maju didn't have to get a babysitter. I first met Maju in May 2000. Rob and I had just graduated from college and we wanted to celebrate, so we took a trip to Miami. We stayed with Maju. She was the first relative of Robert's that I had met. She loved photography and always requested pictures of Adam and Matt to put up in her apartment. As this photo depicts, she was ALWAYS smiling and cheerful. That's how we'll always remember her.

Wheelin' & Dealin'

I love me a good deal. And I'm constantly scouring the ads and internet for sales, coupons, etc. Today I landed a dynamite deal. For $3.45 I bought Tide laundry detergent, Cascade dishwashing soap, Herbal Essence conditioner, and Herbal Essence hairspray.
That's right--$3.45!

"Count Your Many Blessings....

Name them one by one."
Robert went to check on our van during lunch today. (It's being repaired after our car accident last month). While working on it this morning, the body shop realized that our back axle is really bent and can't believe we drove to Kansas City and back (800 miles) without any problems. Our prayers were definitely answered that we would be okay driving up to KC.

Back to life, Back to reality...

After our 16-day trip to Miami, we're back. We got in last night. We had a great time, enjoying the beach and pool everyday. The boys really liked playing in the ocean this year. The salty water didn't bug them much, like in the past. Adam ran around shoeless and shirtless and got such a great tan, we started calling him Mowgli (from The Jungle Book). We kept the boys busy so they wouldn't complain about being bored. We took them to the zoo, sea aquarium (loved the killer whale show), Everglades for a airboat ride (saw and held alligators), saw Ice Age in 3D, went to Wannado City (a indoor theme park set up like a city where the kids can do all sorts of jobs to earn $$ and lots of ways to spend $$), Children's Museum, the port of Miami to see the cruise ships, and lots and lots of swimming. Sorry I don't have any photos. Our laptop has crashed and burned. I'm using the kids' computer right now so, we'll see if I can get the pictures on here. Rob took our van in this morning to the body shop to fix the damage from the car accident. It will take a week to repair. Thankfully, they lent us a car for free. So, now it's time to get back in the swing of things. Adam starts school in two weeks. Oh, Adam lost one of his front, top teeth yesterday. It's been lose for 2-3 months. So, he's got that silly, little gap now.

We're Outta Here

----See you in a couple of weeks!