welcome to miami - bienvenido a miami

Bouncin' in the club where the heat is on

All night on the beach til the break of dawn.

I'm going to Miami, welcome to Miami

big willie style ya'll! an opportunity came along for us to take a trip to miami- a FREE trip - our flight & hotel were paid for and we couldn't say no! because we didn't really have anyone to watch the kids and because porter is still nursing, we took the kiddos along. all we had to pay for was landon's ticket, food, and our rental car. pretty sweet deal! we left wednesday late afternoon. our flight got slightly delayed so we left later in the day then planned- which turned out nice because we were a bit behind. then when we got in our car to leave- and our battery was dead. thankfully steven came to our rescue and rushed us to the airport. the flight there wasn't too terrible. the boys did pretty well, considering how late it was. they only lost it at the end. once in miami, we got our rental car and the kids finally fell asleep. our hotel was actually located in north miami [sunny isles], RIGHT on the beach. we had a suite that overlooked the ocean and was right by the pool and jungle gym.

this wasn't landon's first airplane ride but the first he really remembers. he was a bit scared at first but really enjoyed it. this was the view right out of our room [our first room- we moved 2 days later to a higher room with an even better view]. jack the elf brought us our tickets to miami. 

porter didn't mind the plane too much, he fell asleep right away each time. justin was not a happy flyer though- he was pretty mad i would try to document our time on the plane. look at that bity buttcrack. my boys are the cutest.

our hotel had two pools- a shallow kiddy one that was nice but a warmer big pool. they also had a jacuzzi but we felt it best to spare the adults there from our crazy kids.

our first day there we just took it easy. we went to breakfast, played on the beach, then took naps. played in the pool, ocean, and built some sandcastles- very relaxing. the second day we drove to the miami zoo. i can't believe how giant it was! and NO ONE was there. it was kinda creepy because it's built for large crowds and no one was there but that made it incredibly nice for us. we probably only visited a fourth of the zoo before the kids needed to go home for naps, it was so big! justin and landon rode a camel, which was the highlight of the day. my highlight was the slurpee we got on the car ride home. that afternoon we hit the beach again to dig in the sand, then took a dip in the pool. i found a cozy pizzeria located in a condo development- no crowds, delicious food, and a guard gate to keep the crazies away [but not THIS crazy]. on our last day we did some more relaxing. if i had planned better i would have booked this amazing pirate boat cruise i found on yelp a few days before. that would have made me mom of the year. justin being the actual dad of the year, he bought some gold coins then buried them in the sand when landon wasn't looking. then he took landon on a hunt and uncovered the treasure! made landon's day! after some more sand castle building and quick dip in the pool, we had some delicious lunch on the pier. i got vomited on and pooped on by both of my boys [lucky me!] then put those two hooligans down for a nap. after naps we went to a fancy seafood dinner with some friends- which took forever.

the hotel had this awesome playground that was right out our room.

the highlight of the zoo was for sure the camel- even though justin said during the ride landon was more interested in a crossing chipmunk. notice porter snuggling me while meeting the rhino. landon refused to even get in the pic.

notice the pudgy lemur thing- he looked like i felt. 

it was a great end to a great trip! that's what i would like to have said but no, i can't. my poor little pickles did pretty good for most of the trip but they just lost their cookies. porter fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep until landon went down. then he just lost it. after screaming for so long, i gave in and let him stay up a bit. then tried putting him down again. my sweet little booger screamed until midnight. we had to be up at 4am. then flew for 5 hours with cranky, tired kids. it was delightful. and vegas was 4 hours behind- it was like the day that would never end. we hung out at home and landon refused to nap. by the time we drove to mema's for the annual ornament exchange. we let him sleep for a few minutes. when he woke up, dude just lost it. that was fantastic. eventually he calmed down and we had a great party with some awesome ornaments.

i love this selfie justin took with porter- hilarious. two peas in a pod.

that top sand thing was bright blue and i'm pretty sure it was a jelly fish of some sort. or a blue, stringy condom.

jack the elf came with us to miami and did lots of silly things, including building us this snowman the last night . but look at this adorable pic landon took of porter! i love my boys, esp when they sleep.

but seriously, no place like home right?