MIAMI FLORIDA - June 19-29

We arrived in Miami on Thursday for the United States Conference of Mayors 76th annual meeting. The first event was held at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. What a beautiful place to visit! Unfortunately, it got dark right after we arrived so I wasn't able to get many pictures plus it was so unbelievably hot!

Saturday we had the opportunity to hear presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama speak. Samuel and his cousins William & Jackson informed everyone that they NEVER want to go back to another speech again....because all you get to do is sit and you can't talk!!! LOL

Saturday night we went to Little Havana for an evening of Cuban food, live music, and musical performances. We got to see Papa play the bongos with the Mayor of Miami, Manny Diaz.

Monday night, the last night of the convention we headed to South Beach. This was by far the most fun! The kids played in the sand, played volleyball, roasted marshmallows, ate candy from the candy bar, collected seashells, participated in hermit crab races, held a parrot and a baby alligator. To top it off we had our own fireworks show as the evening ended.

During our stay we took the kids to Jungle Island, The Miami Children's Museum, and The Miami Seaquarium where we participated in the dolphin encounter program.

The parrots tail was a little to close for Abigail's liking! Poor baby.

Papa brushing Samuel's teeth at the Children's museum

Samuel kissing the dolphin!

After Papa's meeting was over, we moved to the Loews Hotel....We had 22 family members--11 adults & 11 cousins! We had a GREAT time playing at the beach, swimming, playing with cousins,watching movies, having sleepovers, shopping,riding in a limo, eating, and drinking! We even extended our trip 1 day because everyone was having such a fantastic time. Now, we are just trying to catch up after going, going, going for 11 days straight! It's memories like this that will last a lifetime!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Abigail!!!

I can't believe that I was in the hospital having my sweet baby girl 2 years ago today! Time sure does fly when you are having fun! What a sweet, funny, very loving, and playful little girl. We are so very lucky to have you in our lives! Happy 2nd Birthday, Abigail!!
We love you very much!!
Love,
Mommy, Daddy & Samuel

Birth (just minutes old)

One!

Two!

Happy Father's Day...

Thank you for all that you do for us! We are lucky to have such a wonderful Husband/Daddy!! We Love You very much!!

H, S & A

Samuel

~I love that you still say "Old" McDonalds when we ask you where you want to eat.

~I love that you are so proud of my 2007 Christmas present you picked out for me...and you ask me often "mommy, are you wearing your shiny gold necklace"

~I love how you give me the "thumbs up" sign when we are out and things are going well or you really like something I've cooked. During an activity (swimming) you look over at me and give me a thumbs up and a thumbs down sign...then you wait to see which I do back to you so you know if you are doing a good job or if you've forgotten your listening ears.

~I love when I give you kisses and you tell me you are putting it in a special place for when you miss me.

~I love that you are so silly and make me laugh all the time.

~I love you for being you!

Is this really happening?

So today Abby and I went into her room to get dressed...3 outfits later plus a major temper tantrum we walk out. Every outfit I tried to put on, she said "no likey" and refused by kicking and screaming...Are you kidding me, she's not even TWO! I even held her down to put an outfit on her. She showed me...A few minutes later I discovered a naked little girl running around my house! We're in trouble!

A little getaway...

We headed down to the Outer Banks on Thursday for our first child free getaway with some of my high school and college friends. I must admit it was nice to have an uninterrupted night of sleep in a nice comfy bed, sit by the pool without hearing "mommy I'm hungry, I need to go potty, mommy up. Don't get me wrong...I love my kids and I was anxious to get home Sunday night but it's definitely something I want to do again sooner rather than later. ;-)

Abby was so cute when we got home...I opened the front door she literally stopped in her tracks, did some kind of happy dance and ran to me. Samuel came running around the corner with the biggest grin on his face and said "mommy did you miss me?, I missed you!" It was priceless.

LeeAnn & Charlie, Etta & James (James is missing from the photo)
Kelly & Jon, Christine & Craig, Me & Tom

The girls!

Papa and his new toy.

Papa is the proud owner of a 2008 Smart fortwo. What a beauty! ;-) He ordered it over a year ago after seeing it in the movie "The Da Vinci Code" and it just arrived this weekend. Perfect timing since the gas prices are skyrocketing! If you look closely you can see Abby in the front seat driving!