Visit to Miami

One of my dear friends, Rachel, moved to Miami a couple years ago.  Lucky for me, ticket prices from Maryland to Miami are dirt cheap at the moment, so I booked myself a flight to visit her last week.  Her son, Averie, is 10 months old, and this was the first time I got to meet him.  He is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

 I mean, really, is this not a gorgeous baby?

Of course, Rachel is beautiful, too, so its only natural!

We headed over to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, which I had wanted see. Wow, this place is amazing. Hard to imagine this was once someone's home.

Do you see this picture? The tongue? This boy is too precious!

Can you find the lizard?

Beautiful Spanish Moss

After our visit, we headed to Coconut Grove, where we walked down to the marina.

While looking down in the water, we saw a baby shark swim by!  So cool!

Happy boy!

It ended up raining and storming most of the time I was in Miami, but it was a blessing in disguise. I was battling a sinus infection and got lots of rest.  And lots of downtime meant Rachel and I got a chance to really reconnect.  And, of course, I got lots of good bonding time with sweet Averie!

Sunday morning we had a small break from the rain, so Rach and I went for a morning walk on the beach - across the street!

Gorgeous beach (Sunny Isles Beach)!

Rach and I - love her! We've been friends nearly 20 years.

Wrenford (Rachel's wonderful husband), Averie and Rachel. Cutest family!

Love these smiles!

Loved getting to snuggle this sweetie pie!

Can't wait to see them again in November!

March 2012 Trip to Dallas

The first weekend in March, my mother and I went to Dallas to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Both of them turned 40 in the last month, and we wanted to celebrate with them. As I've mentioned before, my brother is battling a very aggressive cancer. Thankfully, he is feeling a lot better than when I saw him in December and he was in wonderful spirits when we were there.

It was fun to get to spend time alone with my mom. Every time we get together these days, we have Marino with us, so it was nice to spend some time with just the two of us. The first day we were there, we took a walk on the Redding Trail in Addison.  This is such an innovative idea...the city built a trail along the power lines. So, they took this underutilized space and made it into a functional and beautiful park, complete with running/walking/biking trails, public gathering spaces (with shade), a great playground (with shaded picnic tables). I went back the next morning for a run there - I just loved it!

We went to Addison Circle Park the next beautiful day. I love love Addison! It's very well planned - everything is very intentional - from the art deco street lights to the public art to the outdoor gathering spaces, its a walking planning lesson!

Here's a picture of my mom with some public art. The sculpture is not amazingly attractive, but you can see it from a mile away, so it creates an identity for Addison. Isn't my mom cute?

Here we are facing the other side of the park. It was a gorgeous day - perfect weather for a walk!

Closer picture of the sculpture and the streetscape. 

Great mix of daytime and nighttime businesses and public seating.

Beautiful park with great tree cover - it felt like we were somewhere more exotic than Texas!

Who needs a fence when you can create public seating instead?

Brendan wanted to check out the Cavanaugh Flight Museum for his birthday. It was good trip for us, since it was a manageable size with lots of cool things to check out.

Holly and Brendan - so nice to see him up and happy!

Holly and her sister (and our family lifesaver) Sally making new friends...

My big bro and I

Brendan and Holly's new dog, Mona. We took her to a great dog park and she was in heaven.

It was a great trip and wonderful to spend time with my family.  

Marino did great without me, in spite of recovering from strep throat.

Back from Dallas

Last Friday, I flew out to Dallas to visit my brother. As I've mentioned, he is knee deep in a battle with cancer. The day I flew out there, he got the results of his latest PET scan and they were not good. The cancer is now throughout his lungs and has moved into his bones.

I was really glad to get to spend some time with him. Although he is very sick, it was nice to be there to keep him company and hopefully help out a little.

Here I am with my big bro (we're 6 years apart)

And here I am with my wonderful sister-in-law, Holly, who is doing an amazing job balancing a full-time job and taking care of Brendan.

While I was there, I had an opportunity to meet up with some friends I've known online for 6 years but had never met before. We had a great brunch and I really loved meeting their little girls.

In the back is Annaleise, Jaime and I. Taylor and Amie are up front.
Please pray for my brother - for his health and his spirits. He needs all the support he can get.

This was my first time leaving Marino overnight, with the exception of the 36 hours I spent in the hospital in Philadelphia in 2010. I was very nervous, but he had a great time with Daddy. It's nice he's at an age where he understands that I will come back and also that we can talk on the phone and skype.

Myrtle Beach

The week before last, Marino and I headed down to Myrtle Beach. We had planned a trip with Jen and the kids but they have some difficult things their family is dealing with right now and couldn't make it. We missed them! But they very generously let us stay at their family's condo, which is just amazing. The resort where the condo is located is so beautiful and quiet. It's really just so peaceful there...you never even hear people talking unless you go to the pool (which is always stocked with playmates for the kids).

I don't have a ton of pictures from our trip (by my standards at least), since we spent most of our days in the water (pool and beach).

On Saturday, my friend Chandra and her daughter Hannah were able to come up from Atlanta and visit with us. Chandra and I worked together for several years in Atlanta and we hadn't seen each other since we both had babies (just a few months apart). It was great to see her and meet the adorable Hannah!

We had a rainy day on Saturday, so after swimming in the pool (in the rain), we headed over to Broadway and let the kids go crazy on the rides.

Marino riding the train with Chandra and Hannah.
Can you tell he liked this train ride?!


In this picture, he's showing me the "awesome" palm tree "with spikes on it".

Sunday was the perfect beach day. We went out early in the morning before the crowds and enjoyed the waves.
...and the sand



Marino kept telling me "the waves are kicking me!"


It was super humid (the whole time we were in SC). My camera lens kept fogging up!
Marino loved the tide pools.

Another early morning on the beach (our last day). Marino loved having so much sand to play in!
Most of our vacation it was just Marino and I and it was a good bonding experience.

He's good company!

Unfortunately, we both ended up with a cold shortly after we got there. This triggered Marino's asthma, and we ended up needing to go to the ER briefly because he was having chest retractions. I knew he just needed oral steroids, but it wasn't like I could just pop over to the pediatrician. The ER gave him a double dose of prednisone and a breathing treatment and by the middle of that night, he was breathing much easier.