Miami Beach

As I expected, we all slept in this morning and it was nice. We've recovered from the flight and late night yesterday. This morning I left to get groceries at 9:15, first Walmart and then Costco, and then came back with plenty of food to keep us alive. The kids had a late breakfast/early lunch 

We are staying at the Marriott Villas at Doral (4101 NW 87th Ave, Miami, FL 33178, Room 6101). We have a level one room and our back patio walked out to a lake. The kids have enjoyed playing chess and running on the shuffle board.

The kids had all gotten dressed to go swimming, but the pool was closed because there was lightening. Some of them changed out of their swimsuits, some didn't, and a few hours later we decided to go explore and drove to the coast to Miami Beach. Half of us thought we were just going to walk around Miami, so we weren't all prepared for the water. Mel, Natalie, Daniel and Peter were in or brought their swimsuits. 

I was one of those that was not prepared. I didn't bring my swimsuit to Florida anyway, but I would have brought sandals if I knew we were going to be near sand. It was really nice and firm sand though, pretty easy to walk on with our shoes on. I took off my shoes and got my feet wet. Wes didn't. He worked his best to keep grains of sand off of him. 

Cute Daniel.

Mel worked her sand art skills and made Daniel feet to look like he was sitting, then she also made him a merman tail - 

Corey, Wes and Peter. 

Corey's favorite part when when Lily got the velcro of the boogie board stuck in her hair.

Sophi looking like a corpse as she took a nap.

Natalie was busy digging and playing in the waves the whole time. She was the last one to leave the beach when we headed back to the hotel.

I was able to take a few pictures of pretty flowers on our way back to the car - 

Washing the sand off of our feet.

Ethan called on our way home and it was super fun to talk to him as he told us about his week and some funny dreams he's had and games he and other missionaries played, like zombie tag. He said it was really fun to pretend to be a kid again. At the hotel, I made some Thai Green Curry that I got from Costco with rice and lots of sauteed vegetables. It was super tasty! It's a brand I haven't seen in Utah, unfortunately, but I'll look around and it will become a family staple if I find it. Corey got some games from the activity room and they played Clue and Jenga. Peter is a natural at Jenga!

Wes and Corey played a game of chess. Corey won cause Wes choked and lost his rook.

Lily got a nice picture of palms in the sunset.

Corey was worried for how much room we'd have in our rental cars for our luggage, so we only brought ONE violin with us. Sophi and Natalie voted to bring Natalie's new 1/2 violin and share it, so that they could still practice during this trip and keep their streak going. They both practiced for 15 minutes tonight and that makes 71 days in their practice streak! Pretty good!!

Then they went swimming with Corey while I stayed here to blog for a few. It was a good day.