Christmas in Miami

This should have been posted weeks ago, but I'm a bit behind gathering the pictures.  I'm a super unorganized mom, and forgot to take my camera on vacation ::hits forehead::, so I had to rely on other people giving me pictures, which took a while.

We went to Miami from December 24- Jan 3, during which time we were bombarded with festivities, meals, plans and obligations.  It was both fun and exhausting.

 Flying with a toddler and an infant is something straight out of a horror film.  How do you keep a toddler entertained and seated for an hour and a half?  FOOD!  Marco was stuffed full of cookies, pringles, and juice for a complete hour and a half! Even with that glorious entertainment, he was still climbing the walls.  Jonas did pretty well.  He slept a little and cried a little, but it wasn't too bad.  Thankfully, the airline gave us a 3 seater for the 4 of us to share.  Even though Marco is a lap-child still, he was able to have his own seat, which made our lives a whole lot easier.

We flew in to Punta Gorda, and spent a few hours with my family in Naples before heading to Miami.  My grandparents have a farm behind their house with a chicken coop and horse stalls.  Marco LOVED it!  (Once again, I'm a dork and didn't take a single picture of Marco's cuteness).  He figured out that he could corner the chickens and then run after them.  The chickens, of course, were terrified at this and began flapping and running around... Marco thought this was hilarious.  He chased the chickens for a while and then went to go pet the horses.

When we finally got to Miami, there were a ton of people waiting for us at my in-laws house.  Being "Noche Buena", we were expecting a late night party with lots of food, friends and family.

The next day was Christmas and we headed over to my dads house for our annual Christmas morning breakfast.  We got to see my whole family, and Marco and Jonas got more presents and clothes than we could even count.  By the end of the day, Marco was practically begging for a nap!

 As if Noche Buena and Christmas aren't enough, but the next day was my birthday!  I turned 28 this year.  I can't believe I'm almost 30... eeeeekkkk.  After church we went to a super yummy restaurant (can't remember the name) at the Falls for brunch.  I even had a mimosa!  Mirella bought me the most enormous and delicious cake ever... it was a kalua cake with vanilla filling and chocolate ganache frosting.  Can you say "yum"?

Mauricio kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday, and whenever I'm asked that question, I come up with a blank.  I really don't know what I want.  I'm just a content person, I guess... LOL.  All I really wanted was to have a nice date out with my husband.  So, Mau researched a restaurant and took us to an all organic Italian place on the beach; Escopazzo.  This wasn't your typical "spaghetti and meatballs" Italian place.  As you can see from my picture, I was eating lamb and root veggies.  I loved this place because it was very intimate and romantic... there were only 12 tables in the room!  After our fine dining experience, we drove up and down the beach streets and spent some time talking and holding hands.  Unfortunately it was too cold to walk, but the drive was just what we needed.

The next few days were rather exhausting for me.  Little did I know that I had developed a pneumonia that was wearing me out.  I couldn't make it through the day without a nap and I swore I would never feel better again.  But, I persevered.  There were things to do... people to see!

 Marco got to play with his cousin, Andres, for the first time ever.  They had seen each other on rare occasions, but had never had the opportunity to play together.  Andres is a very sweet and soft natured boy... the opposite of Marco.  Marco kinda beat up on him a bit, as he often does, but in the end I think they became fast friends.

We also celebrated the marriage of my brother, Miguel, to his lovely wife, Alaina.  (This event deserves it's own post with TONS of pictures... look out for it next). 

The day after the wedding, I woke up and told Mau to take me to the hospital immediately.  I knew I had pneumonia and was just waiting for the wedding to be over with to deal with it.  They admitted me to the hospital and I was there for 2 nights... including New Years Eve.  I saw the ball drop from my hospital bed... Happy New Year! 

Thankfully, I knew my boys were being well taken care of and were having loads of fun playing with their grandparents.

We didn't think we were going to make it out in time to catch our flight.  Our flight was leaving from Punta Gorda on Monday morning, and on Sunday evening, I was begging the doctors to release me from the hospital!  Every time they got close to releasing me, something would happen that would delay it.  We were almost in panic mode!  Finally, at 10pm on Sunday night they let me go.  We had to wake up at the crack of dawn on Monday to drive the 3 hours to Punta Gorda to catch our flight... but we made it!

Our vacation was 10 full, packed, exciting and exhausting days.  Once we got home, we realized that what we really needed was a vacation from our vacation.  Whew.